纺织设备制造商必须是一个创新极客

自从疫情开始，法国纺织行业经历了几个不同的阶段。服装和家纺的商店没有想象的那么重要，关闭过好几次。我们可以想象到，2020年零售营业额大幅下降，2021年可能会再次低于正常水平。至于技术纺织品，情况就大不相同了。大多数是其他产品的零部件，比如汽车行业。汽车的销量下降了纺织品的销量也下降了。但也有一些重要的意外：想想医用纺织品，尤其是口罩！随着口罩的短缺，口罩的销售变得十分疯狂。这些产品大部分是从中国进口的，现在法国已经恢复了全国性的生产。

四月初，我们在感染人数上涨和疫苗的接种过程之间展开了一场竞赛。我们相信疫情会在今年夏天结束，但与此同时，我们也不得不说接下来的几个月将是非常困难的几个月。

对于我们的公司来说，2020年我们有很多好的积累订单，也有许多新项目正在与我们的客户进行研究。然而疫情来了。来自不同国家的许多客户的工厂被完全或部分关闭接近两个月。我们部分的工厂也关闭了。在这场全球的动荡中，服务需求和设备的销售几乎停顿，许多项目被推迟。因为我们的首要任务是保护自己的员工，并为客户提供他们所需要的少数但往往是紧急的服务。

在出口方面，我们一直致力于为纺织生产商提供最先进的技术。我们为合作伙伴设计了许多特殊的设备，并帮助他们引入新产品到相应的市场。我们的研发不是在象牙塔里完成的。我们是中小型企业，就使得信息在可以在商业、技术和研究部门之间快速流通。让我们与客户建立比纯粹商业关系更远的关系成为可能。我们可以提供硬件、软件和服务等他们需要的解决方案。

本届纺机展上，我们有三家优质的法国企业参展。 SUPERBA就是其一。该公司正在扩展其应用领域并帮助其客户介绍工业4.0的概念。新的SUPERBA B403自动络筒机带来了真正的技术突破。通过单独的主轴电机驱动，每个位置结合一个张力传感器，来实现恒定的张力卷绕过程，精确的筒管长度测量，以及每个纱线位置的独特质量控制。它在风量自动方面开辟了新的机会。B403是工厂4.0概念的一部分，通过云计算连接到新的VANDEWIELE TEXCONNECT监督系统。它可提供现成的纱线张力数据，可以实现预测性维护并减少纱线浪费，使制造商能够以最经济的价格生产出最高质量的地毯。

工业4.0同时也体现在FIL CONTROL提供的传感器。日益发展的纺纱市场也开始拥抱FIL CONTROL开发的运动反射传感器。该公司满足了环锭纺纱机械MRS-P速度传感器的高需求。据悉该传感器可以监测、控制和优化纱线制造商的生产效率，以更低的成本获得更好的质量。此外，为轮胎和地毯纱线加捻而开发的新型运动纱线张力传感器也吸引了众多纱线制造商的瞩目。

服务型公司HANNECARD也是一家十分优质的展商。他们的主要业务是对工厂进行实地技术访问，以提高技术气缸的效率（如挤压率）、橡胶涂层的使用寿命、收缩机的收缩率、s型辊的完整维护操作和完整钢基气缸的供应（标准或抗弯曲）。

创新是多面的，可以在设备、服务、和合作伙伴的沟通渠道等方面实现。除了我们经常提到的，创新的主题还有生态责任、工业4.0、循环和精确成本分析这四个主题。法国纺织设备制造商一直致力于长纤维纺丝（羊毛、腈纶等）、纱线加捻和控制（包括工艺纱）、空间染色、地毯纱的热定型、地毯系统、染整、毛毯整理工序、非织造布、纺织工厂的空调、以及纺织材料的回收等。

我们所有的公司都在促进纺织智能化和可持续性。纺织企业将智能化生产的概念融入到生产的过程中，从一个或几个设备，再到他们整个的生产过程，甚至到他们与供应商和客户之间的信息流动，去获得真正的竞争优势。对于如何实施可持续性的问题，必须从每台设备开始到整个生产过程，实现节约能源、水和原材料。说起来很简单，但执行起来却需要管理层的全面参与。

中国是我们最重要的市场，以2020年来说，我们的销售额低于前几年。印度市场的情况也是如此，投资的决定比我们想象更慢一点。其他亚洲市场也很活跃，印尼、泰国、越南和韩国等许多市场的投资情绪都很积极。在伊朗，纺织工业正处于起步阶段，使用的纺织机器过时很久了。美国的经济也在逐步上升，东欧、西欧和中亚也做的不错，但还是不能弥补中国增速降缓带来的影响。

由于国际市场的原因，我们相信中国纺织工业将很快实现重新反弹。我曾经去过中国，那里的人们热衷时尚正如热衷智能手机一样，他们已经准备好了在服装方面的消费支出。我认为中国的国际市场将以最快最好的速度得到提升。生产服装、家用纺织品和技术纺织品的企业也将越来越需要那些最高效、节能的设备。

企业讨厌不确定性，但我们却习以为常并对我们的公司进行了重新安排以应对这份不确定性。但不得不说，自新冠疫情大流行以来，我们从未面临过如此不确定的环境。举个简单的例子，接受采访的今天，距离ITMA ASIA还有两个月的时间，我们仍对旅行限制的要求一无所知。我们可能面临着入境前的隔离。这些不确定性也限制了除中国以外的客户，以前他们经常参加ITMA ASIA展。在这样一个特殊的时期，我们的策略是比以往任何时候都更多地依赖我们当地的组织、子公司、代表和代理商。

我们对未来的纺织业还是很自信的。当我们在看全球纺织品生产的统计数据时，纤维消费的增长率相当稳定，每年約为2%或3%，这意味着行业必须进行经常性的投资。这可能会迅速改变每个国家的增长率。纺织产业正迅速地从一个国家转移到另一个国家，主要是向亚洲转移。服装和家用纺织品的升级和技术纺织品的发展也是未来行业的趋势之一。

ITMA ASIA是亚洲最重要的纺织机械展会之一。这次展会是一个不同寻常的展会，因为外国的展商将比以往要少很多，并且出席的展商也可能会有较以往少些的工作人员参加。外国的参观者也将有所减少。不论如何，由于中国市场的重要性，ITMA ASIA 2020的举办是必须的。我们作为欧盟的一员，ITMA又是CEMATEX下的一个重要品牌。对于ITMA AISA的成功举办，我们表示非常开心，并且我们也会继续推动展会的进一步发展。

紡织行业未来的发展趋势——创新，创新，还是创新。

纺织设备制造商必须是一个创新极客。作为一个协会，我们也在创新。现在，我们正在设计一个虚拟的展览，这会是一个非常有用的补充展览。提前透露一个重大消息，这个虚拟展览包括了许多3D设备的展示，敬请期待。

Textile equipment manufacturers have to be innovation geeks

Interview with Christian Guinet， Secretary General of UCMTF

In France， there have been different phases since the beginning of the pandemic. Stores selling apparel or home textile are not considered as essential. They have been closed several times. Then you may imagine turnover at the retail level was way down in 2020 and probably will be again lower than usual in 2021. As for technical textiles， it is quite different. Most are components of other products， for the automotive industry for example. Sales of automobiles have been down then these textiles sales also declined. But there are important exceptions： think of textiles for medical uses and particularly for face masks！ Sales of face masks went crazy as shortages appeared. Most of them were imported from your country China but a national production has been put in place.

Beginning of April， we are in a race between the increase of the number of people affected by the virus and the vaccination process. We believe the pandemic will be mostly over this summer but， in the meantime， the next few months will be very difficult.

For our companies， we started 2020 with very good order backlogs and many new projects were being studied with our customers. Then came the Corona virus. In many countries， our customers factories have been closed or partially closed for around two months. Ours too were partially closed. During this global turmoil， demand for services and sales of spare parts came nearly to an halt and many projects were postponed. Our priorities were， of course， to protect our own employees and to give our customers the few but often urgent services they needed.

On the export side， we have been committed to providing textile producers with the most advanced technology. We offer the textile producers state-of-the-art technologies. We design many special equipment to be our customers partners and help them introduce new products on their markets. Our R&D， we do not develop it in some ivory towers. We are SMEs in which the information flows very rapidly between the commercial， technical and research departments. This is how it should work and it does. It allows to go much further than purely commercial relationships with the customers. Then we can offer them hardware， software and services which are the solutions they need.

We have three high-quality French enterprises participating in this textile machinery exhibition. SUPERBA is one of them. SUPERBA is expanding its area of applications and helps its customers introduce the industry 4.0 concept. The new SUPERBA B403 automatic winder marks a real technological breakthrough. With its individual spindle motorization drive， combined with a single tension sensor per position， it enables a constant tension winding process， a very accurate bobbin length measuring as well as a unique quality control for each yarn position. It opens up new opportunities in terms of winding quality. Connected through cloud computing to the new VANDEWIELE TEXCONNECT supervision system， the B403 is part of the Factory 4.0 concept. It provides readilyavailable data on yarn tension to supply the predictive maintenance and reduce yarn waste， allowing manufacturers to make the highest quality carpets at the most economic prices.

FIL CONTROL provides sensors also needed by Industry 4.0. The ring spinning market is now ready to welcome the Motion Reflective Sensor developed by Fil Control. The company is meeting a high demand for their MRS-P speed sensors for ring spinning machinery that allows monitoring， controlling and optimizing the yarn manufacturer productivity for better quality at lower cost. The new Motion Yarn Tension sensor developed for tyre and carpet yarn twisting is attracting many yarn manufacturers.

HANNECARD is an example of a service-oriented company They include： technical visits at the mills to enhance the efficiency of the technical cylinders （e.g.， squeezing rate）， the lifetime of the rubber coatings， the shrinking rate of the shrinking machines， complete maintenance operations of the S-rolls and the supply of complete steel base cylinders （standard or anti-flexion）.

Innovation is multi-face. Innovations can materialize in equipment， service， communication channels with our partners. There are 4 major themes for innovations which go beyond the usual ones； Eco-responsibility， industry 4.0， recycling， precise cost analysis. The French textile equipment manufacturers are particularly strong in long fibre spinning（wool， acrylic， etc.）， yarn twisting and control （including technical yarns）， space-dyeing， heat setting for carpet yarns， carpet systems， dyeing and finishing， felts and belts for finishing processes， nonwovens， air conditioning of textile plants， and recycling processes of textile materials.

All our companies are promoting textile intelligence and sustainability. I just gave you some examples of how they help their customers integrate the factory 4.0 concept which is really a disruptive innovation. The textile producers who will integrate it in their production process， starting from one or a few equipment and， in a second phase， to their all-production process and even to the flow of information between themselves and their suppliers and customers will gain a real competitive advantage. Concerning your question about sustainability， the answer is quite similar. To save energy， water and raw materials， you have to start from each equipment and in a second phase to the whole production process.The idea is quite simple， the execution requires the full involvement of the management.

In 2020， on our most important market， your own country， China， our sales were lower than the previous years. It was also the case on the Indian market where investments decisions are slower that we had imagined. Other Asian markets are active and the investment mood is positive in many markets like Indonesia， Thailand， Vietnam or South Korea. In Iran， the textile industry is in the starting blocks as the machinery is outdated. The US economy is clearly growing and markets like Western Europe， Eastern Europe or Central Asia are doing quite well but are not big enough to compensate the slowdown in China.

We believe the Chinese textile industry will rebound thanks to its national market. When I travel all over China， I see that most Chinese men and women like fashion as much as smart phones， that they are ready to spend money on apparel. Then I think that the Chinese national market will grow at a fast rate and that the best， most efficient， energy conscious equipment will be more and more needed to produce apparel， home and technical textiles.

Business does not like uncertainty but we are used to it and have re-engineered our companies to cope with it. But， since the beginning of the global Covid-19 pandemic， we have never been in such an uncertain environment. One example related to the timing of the interview： today， two months ahead of ITMA ASIA， we do not know what the travel restrictions will be. We may face a quarantine to enter China. These uncertainties are also a constraint for our customers from outside China who are used to visit ITMA ASIA. Then， our strategy is to rely more than ever on our local organizations， our subsidiaries， representatives and agents.

I have to say we are quite confidence about the future of the industry. When you look at the global textile production statistics， the growth rate in terms of fibers consumption is quite stable around 2 or 3 % per annum which means the industry has to invest on a rather regular basis. What may be changing rapidly is the growth rate in each country. The industry is shifting quite rapidly from one country to another. There has been a major shift towards Asia， now the industry is shifting within Asia. Other major trends are the upgrading of the apparel and home textiles and the development of the technical textiles.

ITMA ASIA is the most important textile machinery show in Asia. This edition will be an unusual one as the foreign exhibitors will be less numerous than usual and the ones who will exhibit will have less staff from their head office. Foreign visitors will probably be also less numerous. Nevertheless， the Chinese market is so important that ITMA ASIA 2020 remains an absolute must. As you may know， we are members of the European organization， CEMATEX which is the owner of the ITMA brands. We are very happy of ITMA ASIA success and we have promoted this show since the beginning. We will continue.

The future development trend of textile industry is innovation， innovation and innovation！

The textile equipment manufacturers have to be innovation geeks. We， as an association， we innovate too. Right now， we are designing a virtual show which will be a very useful complement to such shows as ITMAs. May I give you a breaking news： this virtual show will include 3D demonstrations of equipment.