Performance testing equipment market is missing imagination
Roaches International is a UK based manufacturer of equipment used for the manufacture and quality control of textiles – known and respected worldwide for its suite of laboratory dyeing and testing equipment. David Buxton, Sales Director, Roaches, spoke to Fibre2Fashion about the company’s positioning and reach in the world market, its best-selling textile performance testing equipments, and the growth expected in the next 5 years.
Give us a background of Roaches. Where is the company positioned in the domestic and international market today?
Roaches International is a globally recognised manufacturer and supplier of laboratory dyeing/finishing equipment and textile performance testing instruments. The brand has been operating on the world stage for more than 40 years and under the current ownership from 2008.
How did Covid affect your way of product development for customers?
Covid has affected many businesses and Roaches International is no different, but we were in a very fortunate position that our day-to-day business operation did not change. Product development continued throughout 2020 as normal.
How are you trying to reach brands with tradeshows cancelled, travel bans, and customers not working in the office?
With the lack of trade shows, travel etc we have all had to look again at new ways of reaching out to customers. Our main source of influence would have been through digital means such as web-based shows offering customers the chance of a direct communication through Zoom or other similar channels.
How does your supply chain network work? What regions of the world are part of your supply chain?
As a UK based manufacturer, we feel it is vital to, wherever possible, ensure our supply chains remain within the UK so we can offer equipment under the “made in UK” banner. The majority of our core supply chain can be found within a short distance from the Roaches manufacturing plant near Leeds in West Yorkshire.
Which brands & retailers are you currently associated with?
Historically and currently we have always maintained strong relationships with UK based retailers and brands including (but not limited to) M&S, Next and Burberry. International brands include Adidas and Decathlon. Our equipment offering, whenever technically possible, will have the correct specification to conform to many other UK and International retailer testing expectations.
What do you think the textile testing machinery industry is missing today?
We believe the performance testing equipment market is missing imagination. Conforming to a test specification is a pre-requisite but we are now pushing the boundaries of design. Instruments for the same test do not need to all have the same generic appearance.
How do you see your market segment growing in the next 5 years both locally and internationally?
Roaches International has in place a number of initiatives that will push for an expected growth of around 20 per cent year on year for next 5 years. In the last 6-12 months we have noted a very clear increase in UK based enquires and sales, we fully expect this to increase. As the retailers return to placing orders in our key overseas markets, sales of Roaches product will also increase. As a break down our projected 20 per cent year on year increase--this will be 12 per cent from overseas customers and 8 per cent from UK based customers.
Who are your competitors in the international market?
There are many businesses around the world that manufacture products that will fit under the “textile performance testing” umbrella. We could class each of them as a competitor, but we do not make that link as we believe our products are best in class.
Where is the manufacturing/ production done? What is your installed capacity? How is the demand and supply worked out?
All equipment is designed and built in the Roaches premises near Leeds in the UK. To offer the best prices to our customers we only build to order. In general, we do not make to stock, although on rare occasions and for some core products, stock has been raised. Roaches is well positioned with a small but very adaptable, versatile and skilled team of engineers and technicians; capacity planning and upholding promises to customers can be achieved by the ability of our team to operate in any manufacturing section. This allows us to operate on a necessity rather than a ridged production line mentality.
What are the new launches / product offerings to look forward to in the current year?
2022 is gearing up to be an exciting year with a number of new releases being planned. A new “unique take” on the traditional Crock meter will surprise everyone. We always look at alternative approaches whilst adhering with the test method requirements. The new Crocktec will stretch that to its limit. There will also be new Pilling, a Contact Heat and an instrument for digitally assessing the “feel” of a fabric. The fabric assessment is one of the collaborations with a university research project.
What are the short and long-term sustainability goals set at Roaches?
In terms of direct sustainability, it is difficult to offer anything that is tangible for products that are by and large made of metal and contain electrical components. As I have mentioned we do source from the local supply chain wherever possible, and we do look at alternative materials where current technology allows. However, I feel that our sustainable credentials can be quantified elsewhere. There is currently a consumer led change from “disposable” clothing to products that have significant longevity and/or offer some technical performance enhancement. Both these changes in consumer thinking ask the brand/retailer and supply chain a way of ensuring their respective product is fit for purpose. In this we can see an increase in product testing to provide evidence of consumer expectations. Roaches International will be well placed to help provide the evidence and this in turn will encourage further move away from “disposable” clothing. Any reduction in wasted production and less landfill products must be good thing, right?
What is the USP of your products?
Roaches equipment in general has the advantage of being manufactured in the UK, this in itself is a major “plus” but much of our equipment has specific sales advantages, from the Martindale machine with its totally unique storage drawer to the ability of the Pyrotec4 lab-dip machine to use 9 different size dye pots (not at the same time) in the same machine. As a general USP, we have a depth of knowledge and experience built up over 40 years in this fabulous industry. To know the industry as we do, gives Roaches an enviable and un-equalled foundation on which to build customer trust and relationships.
What is happening on the R&D side?
R&D is an integral programme in the Roaches International plan for growth and further exposure in the marketplace. We have currently a number of initiatives in an advanced state of manufacture with imminent release. We have strong relationships with several university research programmes taking pure research to a commercial instrument and a global dye machine manufacturer to develop laboratory-based lab-dip (colour recipe generation) equipment.
The Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 – all machinery is being increasingly geared towards that. How is Roaches keeping pace with that?
Industry 4.0 is an interesting concept for the textile testing sector as most equipment will have and continue to have significant human interaction, from loading the sample for testing and in most cases some manual assessment. Industry 4.0 in its true form is therefore limited, but there are certain areas that we feel can be exploited. Roaches is looking at this with the Orbis control and operating system. This will (in time) be included on all our equipment and will allow full connectivity of the instrument, bluetooth and internet, direct to a central reporting system and/or a registered cell phone. It will offer the user a facility to see what is happening in real time on a particular machine, it will be able to record who is using the machine and stop un-authorised login by means of RFID. It will record the batch number and date of operation.
What are your future expansion plans?
As part of our ongoing sales growth in the near term, we are actively looking for suitable agents in countries/regions that we feel can be beneficial in finding new business. In addition to this we are looking to enter a number of new and targeted advertising campaigns and to attend a series of relevant trade shows in 2022.
Which are your best-selling products, and which have the largest market-share?
In a purely quantity-based analysis, our range of textile performance testing equipment is by far the best-selling range of products. Within this offering the Martindale, Washtec and Opti-dry are probably all around even in terms of highest unit sales.
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