Interview with S Senthilkumar & ND Mhatre

The size of the global market for textile-related machinery is stable at $30 billion per annum. The global textile machinery market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.02 per cent till 2018 where Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France and China are the major manufacturers of textile machinery. At present, of the domestic demand of ₹11,898 crore, only 40 per cent i.e. ₹5,650 crore (₹4,925 crore by machines and ₹725 crore by spares) is met by the Indian textile engineering industry; where short staple spinning is 17 per cent ($5200 million) followed by 14 per cent each of synthetic and industrial stitching ($4000 million), and weaving & finishing at 11 per cent each ($3200 million). India is next to China (115 to 120 million spindles) with respect to installation of spindles to an extent of 45-48 million spindles out of 280 million spindles installed all over the world. Thus, India can claim that the spinning machines manufactured by India are fulfilling world class standards, besides meeting the demands of the domestic textiles industry, apart from yielding good export volumes. Considering the global scenario in the shift to man-made fibres (with cotton’s share of total fibre production expected to fall below 21 per cent by 2030 – the total fibre demand is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 3 per cent per annum reaching 137 million tonnes in 2030); the scope for manufacturing of sturdy or machines with high class quality of metallurgy will be there. Thus, countries like India that develop machines on the principle of sustainability will record a good share. Those countries that manufacture machines on the principle of “use & throw” will have to change their concept, especially for working with man-made fibres which cause fast wear and tear of machines.

Considering the manufacturing of conventional textile machines up to the shuttle technology in case of looms, India was considered to be a potential manufacturing textile machinery hub. However, due to the inception of the state of- the-art and hi-tech technologies in the European textile machinery industry and India neglecting its technology development due to various reasons at the same time, the situation changed. Also, handloom products as well as handicraft products, which are well accepted in the international market and which are usually manufactured on handlooms and conventional machines, have not encouraged Indian industrialists to go for state-of-the-art technologies. This is reflected in the same type of machines being demanded from the Indian textile engineering industry. Further, during the mill strike period in India, the so-called composite mills structure was converted into a decentralised textiles industry where Ichalkaranji, Bhiwandi, etc, took the lead in formation of these powerloom clusters. Today's demand of installation of hi-tech technologies, e.g. shuttleless technology, has encouraged many entrepreneurs to go for them for enhancing their business. Also, as many entrepreneurs are from the MSME category and doing business in the decentralised powerloom sectors, the Union Ministry of Textiles came forward with a TUF Scheme to encourage them to upgrade their technology. However, the outcome of this scheme was the installation of preowned machines on a large scale. Further, as there were no special schemes like after-sales service, maintenance activities clubbed along with, to take care of the sustainable production and product quality, the same resulted in a huge junk of low performance machines with high technology. Such activities like after-sales and maintenance programmes are being taken care of by new machine manufacturers, and so you find that at least for 10 years these machines deliver a sustainable, productive and good quality product. Thus, the technological gap needs to be overcome through JVs for technology acquisition (applied research) and R&D centres like Common Facility Centre. Also, human capital needs to be built up through innovative courses like "adding to the skills" which shall bring users and suppliers under a common platform for exchanging information on new developments and requirements. The factories need to be refurbished by implementing programmes like 5S, Lean, Six Sigma, Design Clinics, etc. It is a general trend that for new machines say worth `40 lakh, the owner is ready to pay for accessories worth `2 lakh in order to maintain the productivity and performance. However, the same owner hesitates to go for ₹2 lakh worth spare parts or accessories of the same nature while installing it on a pre-owned machine worth `10 lakh. Now, considering that 75 per cent machines in India are pre-owned, the demand from the textile accessories sector is 'high quality or good quality at lower cost'. To overcome these roadblocks which is hampering the growth of textile engineering industry, the association has taken following steps:

• Developing an innovative training programme known as "Adding to the skills" which brings the technologist from the textile manufacturing industry and engineers from the textile machinery manufacturing industry together on the same dais, thus resulting in the exchange of R&D requirements for delivering state-of-the-art manufacturing.
• Many members being MSMEs, and others being traders who are carrying out certain activities under one roof; the implementation of programmes like 5S, Lean, Six Sigma, Design Awareness and Common Facility Centre is helping them improve their infrastructure set-ups, process of manufacturing, and ultimately deliver higher productivity at lower cost.
• Innovative schemes implemented under the ITAMMA banner/pavilion at competitive cost like Share a Table Scheme, Share a Stall Scheme, Catalogue Display Scheme, etc, give our members first-hand information on the global industry and its requirements.

It depends purely on the tendency of the entrepreneur. Many a times, we find entrepreneurs having new machines go for unbranded/local/low quality spares and accessories, while it is the opposite in many cases where owners of new machines go for only branded and good quality spares; the trend which is usually observed in the European market. Further, the equation of going for branded and high quality, high value spares also depends on the cost of machines and the category of technology used. For instance, no entrepreneur at present is taking the risk of going for unbranded or low quality accessories or spares for machines manufacturing technical textiles. Also, during the implementation of the TUF scheme over the last 10 years, a huge number of pre-owned machines have been installed in India - that of so-called good technology at lower cost. Thus, entrepreneurs running such machines will prefer to go for branded spare parts at lower cost or sometimes low quality accessories from domestic market, considering the depreciated value of these pre-owned machines that are 10-15 years old.

About 80 per cent of ITAMMA members are manufacturers and traders of textile accessories. We have a comprehensive database of accessories manufacturers, and are aware of their problems. Accordingly, ITAMMA has come out with various initiatives to help these categories in technological development and also to give them an opportunity and a platform for enhancing their businesses. Activities like implementation of 5S, Lean Manufacturing Competitive Schemes, Design Awareness Schemes, Common Facility Centres and Product Development with the help various of textile research associations have been constantly organised by the association at different textile engineering clusters at Ahmedabad, Coimbatore and Mumbai. Further, as mentioned earlier, to help this category explore their business potential, competitive schemes like Share a Stall, Share a Table, Catalogue Display, and Delegation are implemented under the banner of ITAMMA pavilion at various international exhibitions. The global trend followed earlier by manufacturers was taking care of manufacturing activities of accessories while manufacturing the machines too; and so branded and precise accessories were available from machine manufacturers themselves. However, as European machine manufacturers shifted their activities to countries like China, the activity of manufacturing spares and accessories were discontinued and were started by the other Asian countries, especially India. Further, today's trend is that machine manufacturers supply machines as per the product that needs to be manufactured by these very machines. This has resulted in inception of different types of makes of machines; for example, in looms we find different types of companies and makes involved in the same technology, say of rapier technology. Thus, the scenario has created a Herculean task of concentrating on manufacturing of accessories and spare parts. ITAMMA has a mission plan with a vision: "To make India the hub of textile machinery and accessories by the year 2020". ITAMMA has realised that henceforth we need to play the role of a proactive partner, rather than only as a facilitator, and ensure that there is an active involvement of suppliers and users in all our activities. In accordance with this mission plan, a systematic roadmap of various activities has been prepared and executed every year, involving other associations and government bodies as well. We help our members to enrich their knowledge through 'News & Notes', a user-friendly website, and extend R&D support. We help them enhance their business through competitive schemes like Share a Table, Share a Stall, Catalogue Display, in the various exhibitions under an umbrella of 'ITAMMA Pavilion' and organise events like catalogue shows, mill visits, seminars, workshops, and publishing their business profile through a buyer's guide called 'Textile Stores & Machinery Directory'. The Export Cells at Ahmedabad, Coimbatore and Mumbai and in North India help members with the latest information of exports to overseas markets which we receive from embassies of different countries.

As per a survey of the Textiles Committee, there are about 4,000 machinery and component manufacturing units, out of which nearly 300 units produce complete machinery and the remaining produce various textile machinery components. However, not all units work to full capacity or even optimum capacity levels. Except for units in the spinning sector where machineries are of international standards, machinery manufacturing for sectors like weaving, knitting and wetprocessing lack standard of quality and performance to compete with European manufacturers. Further, only 25 per cent have Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines. The total production is about `5,650 crore, with 13 per cent being spares and accessories.