Interview with Dr Michael Schürenkrämer

Over the past few years we had to overcome a severe crisis in our industry. However, our international orientation and adjustment of capacities has helped us to cope with this situation. We also have used this time to restructure and develop new products. Today, the formation of the three business units SPINNING, NONWOVENS and CARD CLOTHING allows us to operate in a wider customer oriented and targeted manner. At the same time our service has become more regionalized, enabling us to be closer to the customer here as well.

Naturally, the decline in demand in 2008 and 2009 led to a capacity shortage among our customers. But already at the end of last year we noticed an increase in demand. Since the beginning of this year we even experience a sharp rise in orders. Based on the current stable level of orders on hand, we expect 2010 and 2011 to be a successful year for the whole textile machinery industry.

Our greatest strength lies definitely in our international orientation, with production sites in India, China, Brazil, USA, and of course in Germany. Today we practice an intercultural corporate philosophy, maintaining close links between our companies. This makes us more efficient, faster and also more market oriented. Our products are adapted to the requirements of the markets. Thus, for instance, we offer different variants of the same machines in the various markets.

Starting with a joint venture, we have been present in India for more than 30 years with a production site in Ahmedabad. Due to the requirements of the Indian market, until recently the focus of production was on previous-generation machines marketed under the name of TRUMAC. At the same time, the latest machine generation was imported from Germany.

This situation has changed fundamentally in recent years. Today, the machine generations produced in India are the same as in Germany, but they are adapted to the specific requirements of our Indian customers. In order to point out the significance of our products, TRUMAC was renamed to TRUETZSCHLER INDIA a few months ago.

Independent of current trends we remain focused on efficiency, reliability and durability of the machines. This will not change. Today, the only possible trend we can see is that robustness and simplicity have priority over technical gadgets. The customers request high-tech machines that are easy to handle. The energy consumption of the machines also plays an ever-increasing role. Energy is becoming more expensive and India is also experiencing bottlenecks. This is an area where we can score with our energy-optimised technologies.

During the last five years we have significantly expanded our activities in providing machines for the nonwovens industry. The acquisition of FLEISSNER and ERKO and the formation of the TRUETZSCHLER NONWOVENS division give us a good position in this rapidly growing market.

In its capacity as system provider, the TRUETZSCHLER NONWOVENS division is dedicated to produce and supply leading technologies at reasonable prices. This includes not only individual technologies, but also complete solutions from a single source. The product range covers the entire staple fibre preparation and web formation with roller cards or aerodynamic web forming machines. Crosslappers and web drafters enable the production of the required web weights and working widths. TRUETZSCHLER NONWOVENS is the only provider that offers all web bonding methods. The experts at TRUETZSCHLER NONWOVENS have the right solution for every application, whether it concerns needling, hydroentanglement, chemical or thermal bonding methods. Different nonwovens equipment options and systems for the production of hygiene articles round off the product range. In addition, through Fleissner we are also able to deliver production lines for synthetic fibres up to 60 t / h.

Our main nonwovens markets are North America, Europe and Japan. However, during the last three years we have also been noticing rapid growth in countries such as Turkey, China and India. The potential of these markets is far from being exhausted.

Of course we continuously work on improving our products, but also on new machines. ITMA 2011 – where we traditionally introduce new products – is around the corner. Allow yourself to be surprised by our exhibit.

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