Promotion of Made in German Technology @ ITMA show (China)

Occupying 6,402 square meters of booked space, Germany already won the European Championship at ITMA ASIA + CITME 2012, leaving all other compettors from Europe behind. The German exhibition area increased by 18 % compared with the 2010 edition of the show. Measured by square meters, Germany is the biggest foreign exhibiting nation at the major fair for the Asian market.

Altogether 112 German companies present their products and services in Shanghai, ten of them are new exhibitors. All renowned German manufacturers are present. The German exhibitors cover all different machinery chapters. The biggest one is spinning, followed by finishing, knitting and hosiery, nonwovens and weaving. For visitors it will be easy and convenient to find and visit German exhibitors as most of them use "Made in Germany" and "German Technology" logos. Furthermore, VDMA has initiated German sector groups in hallW2 (spinning), E2 (finishing), E5 (knitting & braiding).

Sustainable textile production is the hot topic at ITMA ASIA 2012. Ecological design and increasing efficiency are the subjects which the textile branches in Asia are increasingly confronted with by consumers, retailers, and by legislation. The 12thfive-year plan, for example, is setting high goals for the Chinese textile sector: Enhanced productivity, substantial energy and resource savings and emissions reductions are objectives textile manufacturers will have to meet within the current plan period. But not just national legislation provides a challenge for the domestic industry. Other Asian nations are leveraging cost advantages to compete with China on the international textile markets.

“Sustainability is a topic with hard economic and ecological aspects”, explains Thomas Waldmann, Managing Director of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association on occasion of the VDMA press conference at ITMA ASIA. “Increasing efficiency is a task that requires technological upgradation. German technology showcased here in Shanghai can be the key for optimizing the conditions for manufacturing textiles and for resource-saving, low-energy production methods”, Waldmann continues.

In Shanghai, VDMA and its member companies are presenting the Blue Competence initiative for the first time in Asia. This sustainability initiative provides the framework for intelligent technologies enabling customers of German machinery manufacturers to conserve resources and to operate more efficiently. Blue Competence is the international trademark for sustainable solutions of the machinery and construction sector. It distinguishes those companies that have aligned their development and production to the principle of sustainability.

Within the Blue Competence initiative the German exhibitors are providing concrete answers on how Chinese textile producers can meet the ambitious objectives of the five-year plan. At the VDA booth (E7, booth C10), success stories from member companies are presented that provide examples of saving raw material, lowering energy and oil consumption as well as optimising gas consumption with the help of German technology. In addition, the VDMA energy efficiency guide “Conserving resources –securing savings-potential” is distributed at the VDMA booth and at the booths of 40 German exhibitors. In this publication the determining factors for a comparing assessment of the energy efficiency of textile machinery is worked out and provides textile manufacturers a clear orientation.

After two excellent years, the business climate is becoming more moderate in 2012. The incoming orders in the first quarter 2012 were clearly under the figures of 2011 but still on a satisfactory level. The German textile machinery exports reached 713 million Euro in the first quarter (minus 6 % year on year). The export of spinning machinery reached 317 million Euro (plus 2.9 %), the exports of weaving machinery amounted to 45 million Euro (minus 1.4 %) those of knitting and hosiery machinery 192 million Euro (-27.4 %). The exports of finishing machinery increased by 13.8 % to 160 million Euros.

The most important export destination was again Asia. Textile machinery worth 392 million Euroswas shipped to this region. While the exports to Asia saw a decrease of minus 17 %, other regions were catching up. The German shipments to Latin America for instance performed very well in the first quarter and increased by 63 % to 80 million Euros, yet another proof of the ever changing textile world.