Walter Nadalin who is the CEO of Sultex Limited, a member of the ITEMA Group, was born in 1956 and
What are Sultex’s most important markets? How do you separate markets by different needs?
"Sultex is doing very well in China, Turkey, Japan and the Middle East. But also in India and Italy, we have seen an upswing in the last months and we are convinced that India will be even more a major market in the future for Sultex. We separate the markets with our product portfolio and our local service network. Sultex is the only weaving machine manufacturer, offering all 3 major insertion systems (rapier, projectile and air-jet). Having all 3 insertion systems in our product portfolio, we can fulfill the requirements of all markets. Sultex has established a world-wide sales and service network in all major textile markets with local personnel. These experts and technicians have been trained in Switzerland on the Sultex Textil weaving machines and services. This secures technically high qualified people with local understanding of the mentality of our customers in each market. "
How has the weaving machine business changed over the last five to ten years, and how has your company adapted?
The market for common textiles is moving from USA and Europe to ASIA. In Europe more and more weavers are producing in niche markets. We see this trend in the future also in ASIA. For instance, more and more inquiries from India are reaching us for value adding, high quality fabrics in the field of apparel as well as for industrial fabrics.
so why has Sultex been so successful?
sultex is adapting its product portfolio steadily. For instance none of the actual weaving machines is older than 2 years. We are investing 5% of the turnover into R&D each year to secure to offer always the latest generation of weaving machines.
In the future, do you plan to focus your production on a specific type of weaving machine or series of looms?
Our strategy is offering all 3 weft insertion systems for demanding weavers worldwide. With our Customized Weaving Technology (CWT) we provide tailor-made solutions of highly specialized fabrics. These individually adapted machines for special fabrics such as agrotextiles, geotextiles, conveyer belts, sailcloths, cinema screens filtration and awning fabrics.
Looking ahead, what kind of market share do you see for each of the weaving machine technologies (rapier, projectile, air jet,) in terms of machines purchased?
Energy costs are more and more an important issue. After major investments in air-jet machines in the last years, many customers realized now that in the long term low energy consumption and reliability are very important factors and will not be covered in the best way with the air-jet technology. Therefore, we see now an increase in the sales of projectile and rapier weaving machines.
How important is India for Sultex?
"India is a huge and important market for Sultex. Since many years, we serve our customers with our own subsidiary Sultex (India) Ltd Pvt. In Mumbai including an own training centre. Branches are located in Delhi and Coimbatore. India has also a long history for Sultex. For instance we installed the first weaving machines back to the year 1964. Important weaving mills such as Malwa and Raymond are producing their fabrics on Sulzer Textil weaving machines. Approximately 20,000 Sulzer Textil machines are running in India in approximately 750 mills. "
What are the events held by Sultex?
A close contact to our customers is very important to us. To demonstrate this, we participate at exhibitions and organize Symposiums world-wide. For example, we recently participated at the Swissmem Symposium held in February in Delhi, Coimbatore and Mumbai.
Published on: 10/04/2006
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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