Interview with Necip Guney

Necip Guney
Chairman
Teknik Fuarcilik

ITM will remain the epicentre of the world's textiles industry

Teknik Fuarcilik organises the International Textile Machinery (ITM) in collaboration with Tüyap along with Hightex, a global fair for technical textiles and nonwoven technology in Turkey. Chairman Necip Guney updates us on the recently concluded ITM and Hightex 2018.

How has ITM Turkey evolved since its inception?

With the motto 'Textile exhibitions must be done in the country of textiles', ITM Exhibitions continue to grow each passing year. Becoming one of the world's leading events in the industry and a huge meeting point too with number of both visitors and participants, ITM has become an important brand of Turkey. Considered to be a key avenue for reaching the region, ITM has been a bridge for textiles between the East and the West. Looking at the number of companies and the diversity of countries participating at ITM 2018 which we organised in April, ITM has proved itself to be a global brand.

What were the highlights of ITM 2018?

Being held in Turkey where countries are considered to be geographically closer to each other, ITM is also the biggest exhibition in the region. Key points of ITM 2018 can be listed asunder:

ITM 2018 has been the venue for industry representatives for introducing their newest technologies to the world. Many leading textile machinery brands launched their latest innovations at ITM.
ITM's most significant feature was the qualified mass of visitors. Most participants during and after the event said that they had closed important business deals with many qualified visitors.
Another key point this year was the remarkable increase in the number of official and commercial procurement committees from countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Iran, Uzbekistan, Russia, Egypt, Morocco, Panama, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
This year, a surprise country attended ITM 2018 Exhibition-Panama 's Colon Free Zone participated at ITM with their booth.
Another key point was the announcement by important companies of the partnerships they have built with each other, and the debut shows by new brands in the industry.
Finally, the visitor profile from all over the world at ITM 2018 was spectacular.

How many companies participated, and what was the footfall at ITM 2018?

ITM 2018, held from April 14 to 17, hosted 1,150 companies and representatives from 64 countries. With a total of 58.942 visitors from 94 countries including 14.248 foreign visitors, ITM 2018 has broken the record. With a significant increase in both diversity of countries and number of visitors compared to the previous ITM events, ITM 2018 received even more positive feedback from companies and visitors.

Any approximate figures on the business conducted at the fair?

Leaving marks that will not be wiped away from the minds of business owners, company representatives and visitors, ITM 2018 also offered unimaginable commercial opportunities for all professionals who want to watch the industry closely. Participating companies have not revealed sales figures, but many companies who we interviewed remarked that they had inked several million euros worth of sales agreements not only with Turkish companies, but also the ones abroad. Leading brands broke records with machine sales at ITM 2018. Many companies put up the "Sold" signs on machines they exhibited.

What percentage of the exhibitors were Turkish manufacturers?

About 30 per cent of the companies were Turkish. Looking at the diversity of companies and countries participating at ITM this year, we can say that ITM is an international event and proved itself as a brand.

What were the highlights of Hightex 2018?

Hightex 2018, which was held for the seventh time, hosted visitors at Hall 9. At Hightex 2018-the most important industrial meeting point of the entire Middle East and Eastern Europe in its field, the latest technologies, products and production techniques in technical textiles and nonwovens were exhibited. All domestic and foreign participants expressed satisfaction. They found Hightex quite successful in terms of both visitors and business potential. In addition to companies requesting us to keep their existing spots for the next event, some have even asked us to enlarge their booths.

How many companies participated, and what was the footfall at Hightex 2018?

Around 130 companies and company representatives attended Hightex 2018.

Which regions did the exhibitors hail from (at ITM and Hightex)?

ITM and Hightex exhibitions have increased significantly in terms of diversity of both countries and participants compared to the previous editions. They were attended by companies and representatives mainly from Europe (countries like Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France), as well as from India, Pakistan, Iran, Malaysia and China.

What are the latest textiles and technical textiles technologies that the Turkish are investing in?

Turkish manufacturers participating at ITM and Hightex have made investments in the production of yarns, weaving, dyeing, printing, R&D, quality control, knitting, nonwoven (spunbond, spunlace, airlace, etc) and high technological fabrics. Turkey, especially with its high value-added products in the technical textiles and nonwovens field has developed in recent years and become one of the important centres of the global textiles market. Manufacturers exporting tonnes of technical textiles and nonwoven raw materials and final products to the world are making continuous technological investments and strengthening their R&D centres in order to both renew existing technologies as well as increase their capacities. Another branch in Turkey, where manufacturers prefer particularly meltblown, spunbond, spunlace, thermobond and waterlaid technologies, is smart textile production which has been growing in recent years. In addition, as a country where high-quality and niche fabrics serving the fashion industry are produced, investments in yarn, weaving and finishing are increasing. Also, quality control investments are on the rise, especially by manufacturers. In addition to this, companies also focus on R&D investments in order to develop innovative products. In dyeing and finishing technologies, eco-friendly and innovative technologies that reduce the use of resources draw interest.

What are your thoughts on Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0 means a shifting to a period of green energy, and transition to the age of communication between machines, thereby equipping industrial production with cutting-edge technology. Countries implementing Industry 4.0 can increase productivity and shorten the processes of product launches. For this reason, we are witnessing a steady increase in the usage rate of Industry 4.0 technologies in many fields such as factories, supply chains and stores. In 2020, we will see increasing autonomy with robots.

There will be some negative changes-with the start of Industry 4.0-in our lives. For example, some people think that production by robots will reduce the need for manpower and that-in a sense-robots will take over people's jobs. But it is also a fact that people should not work in heavy and dangerous jobs. In industries which require heavy workloads, the work of robots and machines will be both more productive, more time-saving and more beneficial to human health. Employees in these fields can spend more energy on jobs which require more creativity and fine workmanship. With Industry 4.0, China, India and African countries will increase the number of new citizens at middle -income levels. It will bring advantages to optimise efficiency, quality, elasticity and supply chain management.

What are the challenges that the Turkish textile machinery industry is facing?

For the Turkish textile machinery industry to strengthen its current position, it needs to be able to keep up with the technology era, and to focus on information products and products with high added value. For this, it is necessary to attach importance to P&D and R&D activities, and to allocate resources for the same. However, as far as I can see there is a lack of vision and strategy in the textiles industry. For this reason, assistance and contributions are needed from businesses, the government, chambers of commerce and industry, universities, exporters' associations and relevant NGOs in order to establish long-term strategies. Compared to foreign competitors, basic costs such as energy, natural gas, labour, taxes and insurance are quite high in our country. Those need to be drawn at the global price level. Textile machinery manufacturers, like other exporters, are also facing exchange rate risks.

In general, there is a shortage of qualified staff in the textiles and textile machinery industries. Attempts to build cooperation between universities and businesses fail. The industry cannot make designs; thus, brands cannot be created. R&D investments cannot be made sufficiently. In order to be able to overcome these problems, it is necessary for the industry to invest heavily in knowledge, P&D and R&D. Companies should further their vision by providing necessary trainings for employees.

What are the challenges in getting people adapt to newer technologies?

For the Generation Y who are already using this system, it is not difficult to stay up-to-date. A great many of them are closely following the technology, learning about new devices immediately, and starting to use them too. However, the vast majority of the population are having difficulties in recognising new technology, and cannot catch up with the speed of the newly-developed devices. The slowest adapters are those over 50. It is difficult for this age group to understand the new world's jargon and adapt to it. Evaluating the approach of companies and owners to technological innovations in the Turkish textiles industry, it is necessary to draw attention to the following two points. First, in Turkey, companies look for a technology until they find one which fits their standards, and it is then adapted to their company's needs. Second, if they fail to find the technology which suits their own processes, they resort to updates over the closest alternatives according to their own standards.

What kind of revolution do you envision in the coming decade for Turkey's textiles industry?

Turkey being a country of cotton, textiles was one of the industries that played a key role in industrialisation. At the same time, our textiles industry has been able to maintain its competitive and dynamic structure in global markets by renewing production methods and tools, and producing high value-added products such as technical textiles. Considering the gross value added, net exports and foreign exchange gains and employment and entrepreneurship, textiles is one of the most important industries in our country as confirmed by export figures. Indeed, in 2017, the textiles and raw materials industry broke a record by closing the year with $10 billion worth of exports. In the third quarter of 2017, a growth of 11.1 per cent was recorded. I believe that manufacturers would protect the important position Turkey has in the forthcoming 10-year period.

On the other hand, Turkey's textiles market is known all over the world as having a very high investment capacity. The high-volume production trend will continue in the next decade. The relationship between volume production and low costs will maintain its importance. Turkey is a middle-income country using middle-level technologies. The importance of labour-focused competition will diminish. In the next decade, we will invest more in technology and witness the use of less labour. Product diversification process will accelerate, and product differentiation will affect competition power.

In addition, logistics is becoming increasingly important all over the world. Turkey needs to work more on this area. New technologies, storage systems and online distribution channels will become even more important. Turkey will develop in these areas. Over the next 10 years, developments in textile technologies will be more oriented towards automation. Multi-purpose smart cloths will be produced. Synthetic fibres will gain importance and will increase proportionally in the total fibre consumption. Logistics, especially procurement, storage and distribution planning, will play an important role in the supplier-consumer chain. Therefore, the importance of information technologies will increase greatly. Turkey will continue to maintain its position in the textiles industry as long as it does not keep away from these developments.

What were the top three innovations at ITM and Hightex?

ITM 2018 and Hightex 2018 have been events where many companies have made their global launches, and most of them exhibited their latest innovations. That's why it's a bit hard to talk about the top three innovations about ITM and Hightex. The leading brands in the textile machinery industry such as Picanol, Itema, Stoll, Karl Mayer and Saurer launched their latest products for the first time at ITM.

What will be the focus of the next ITM and Hightex exhibitions?

The points we will focus on at ITM and Hightex-which we will hold on June 2-6, 2020, are;

to turn these exhibitions from global meeting points for textiles into platforms where innovations and global launches in textile technologies are made;
to be the meeting point for the world's textiles industry by increasing the number of visitors;

We will continue on our path as being the epicentre where the world's textile manufacturers make decisions on machinery investments by closely examining the innovations, and meet the world's leading brands which introduce their technological innovations for the "first time". (HO)

Published on: 07/06/2018

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.