Interview with Paolo Piana

Paolo Piana
Paolo Piana
CEO
Sinterama
Sinterama

The situation in Europe is penalized by the strong Euro in particular.
Paolo Piana, CEO of Sinterama, summarizes the market of yarn that is on the European and global level in an interview with Fibre2Fashion Correspondent Ridaa Saiyed. Synopsis: With its head office in Biella (Italy), Sinterama is a leading European manufacturer of polyester yarns, mainly coloured, for the automotive, home textile, apparel and technical products industries. It is a multibrand group, present in 7 countries with 8 production sites: Italy, Great Britain and Bulgaria in Europe, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico and China. The Group achieves with 1000 employees a sale of almost 40,000 tons of specialty filament yarns and a turnover of 200 million USD. Sinterama is partner of Indorama Venture Limited, Bangkok (Thailand), holding Trevira, polyester staple and filament producer in Germany. Paolo Pia na,aged 65, is the CEO of Sinterama. He is the Board member of Euratex, European Textile and Apparel Association. Mr. Piana is the founder of Tespiana (1970), textile yarns producer, which merged with Sinterama in 1990. He is the founder and present owner of Incas (Italy, 1981), logistic automation company. Mr. Piana holds a degree in industry finance and accounting. Excerpts:

Give us an overview of the European yarn market.

If we talk about the sector in general, what we can say is that the first nine months of 2013 were quite flat, and the last quarter was a little worse globally. But more recovery is set in 2014. The situation in Europe is penalized by the strong Euro in particular. It means that the weak dollar is facilitating import at all levels of the supply chain. The story is a little bit different in Turkey where 2013 was quite good with growth of around 4 percent as compared to last year, and imports were of 3.5 percent.

Discuss the applications and functions of yarn in different sectors.

For each application, there are different yarns and generally, it is not possible to compare such different types of yarn. You have to consider yarns according to their applications, the different quality, volumes per item, suppliers, and other such factors.

Highlight the recent advancements in the methods and strategies used for yarn production?

More simple and bulk yarns are generally imported in Europe. The room for European manufacturers is what specialties are. Working on specialties innovation process is key and tends to continue. So you have to constantly improve your products, to develop new versions, to increase the performances, in one to add the specialty touch to your products. Then you can make new products or identify new applications for existing products. Different approaches, same result as innovation!

What is the role of product research and innovation in the production of yarns?

Research and innovation is the key to our business. It is mandatory to be absolutely excellent!

How is the yarn market in Asian countries and the other countries of the world?

What I see now is the market a little bit stable in Asia. China is a little more focused on the domestic market than towards exports, it means less pressure to sell in Europe also. It is not bad but it is calm.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the European yarn market?

European market is the most difficult as quality, innovation and service demand. So, on one side this is a difficulty. On the other side to be skilled for this market means to become a fit and excellent supplier for any other market outside of Europe. For example, Sinterama, we sell 40 percent for automotive fabrics market, 30 percent for home-textile and 30 percent for luxury apparel fabrics. Very often, our customers are global. So, what we do in Europe is also produced and delivered to the other markets in Turkey, North America, South America and China. Almost one third of our products are produced out of Europe and everywhere we deliver our yarns with the same quality and mainly the same level of sophistication.

Can you discuss a few notable achievements by Sinterama?

It is just a repetition; we have a production of very high specialty yarns. Sixty percent of what we sell are customized products made on customer request. Eighty percent of our production is of colored yarns, where "colored" means specific custom color on request. We can say that eighty percent of our products finally become customized products. What is also very important to European market, further the brand and the capability, is this kind of service, i.e. working on specific customer demand. The second point that we can give as our achievement is that we are quite global, because we have companies and production units in Italy, England, Bulgaria, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico and China. So our products are also sold to global customers with domestic lead time and sale service. This is quite important for our customers and us. To give such kind of service is a huge achievement for us.

How do you foresee the growth in the production of yarn in European and global market?

Sinterama is renowned for high value and highly specialized applications. With regards to the growth in this industry, the picture in our mind is very focused. What we can say is not something covering all the markets, all the applications. We see our automotive business outside of Europe is becoming more and more important. There are two main reasons for such kind of success, one is the growing number of cars produced and sold in the growing countries and second the higher quality requested for the interior.

How is sustainability encouraged in the European yarn industry? Please cite a few examples.

Sustainability is attained in the industry when the consumers are sufficiently aware. Consumers in Europe are more and more interested in and informed about this issue. So, as producer you have to talk to the market about your efforts towards sustainability, both about your processes and about your products. For example, we see the growing success of our product Newlife, a complete line of yarns made with post-consumer polymer, I mean from recycled bottles.
Published on: 30/01/2014

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.