Interview with R Anand

R Anand
Chairman
Marzoli Textile Machinery Manufacturers Pvt Ltd (India)

Spinning industry's moving out is a challenge for European machinery makers

The global fashion industry is highly demanding, and Italy has remained successful in meeting most of its demand. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, R Anand, chairman of Marzoli Textile Machinery Manufacturers Pvt Ltd (India) talks in detail about the impact of the shifting spinning industry on the overall Italian textile machinery industry.

What is the size of the global machinery market in your segment?

The short staple segment is assessed at 10 million spindles per year with about 245 million short staple spindles in operation. The amount of fibre consumed in short staple spinning is 40 million tonnes.

What are the challenges facing the machinery vertical, and what would be your three-point formula to resolve them?

The main challenge facing the European textile machinery suppliers is that the textile spinning industry has shifted from Western countries and the major markets are China, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. There is domestic production of spinning machinery in countries like China and India, where the cost of production is substantially lower. Marzoli's strategy in the last two decades has been to focus on automated spinning plants. Such automation demands that the machines produced have to be of very high quality with small tolerances on components and a high-degree of electronic software. The result in the last decade was that the largest number of fully-automated spinning plants in the world was sold by us, particularly in the United States. Marzoli and the Italian machinery manufacturers, in general, are known for bringing in not only new technologies but also appropriate automation depending on the needs of the industry and the country. We have fully-robotised plants – right from opening to warehousing since many years. Many of these installations were already introduced more than a decade ago by Marzoli. Marzoli has been able to reduce the investment cost in spinning substantially by continuous innovation. Marzoli was the first cotton spinning manufacturer to develop a ring frame dedicated to denim segment, thanks to the cooperation from world leaders in high quality denim based in Italy. This was a defining moment in the history of the denim industry as manufacturers moved from open-end to ring-spun yarn. To cater to the specific needs of the eastern market, Marzoli has set up a manufacturing unit in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, from where we shall be able to offer a high level of customer support.

What was the impact when manufacturing gradually moved out of Italy?

It is obvious that we had to increase our share in markets like China, India and the Far East, where we were able to successfully compete by demonstrating to the customers that due to technology, lesser space per spindle and reduction in man power, they can improve their bottom line.

What is the size of the yarn manufacturing industry in Italy? What is the pie that the fine-count yarn would comprise?

Italy has an installed capacity of 2,80,000 short staple spindles, and the industry is focused on niche markets with higher value realisation. As is well known, Italy is the world leader in fashion industry which is highly demanding in its need for speciality yarns, which our industry has been highly successful in meeting.

Where is a bulk of the textile sourcing done from?

Our sourcing will depend on the level of technology needed for specific items. Some countries may be strong in software like India, some in hardware, etc, and hence sourcing will be machine-specific as well as technology-specific.

Which is your biggest market?

Our major markets include Turkey, India, the US, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Latin America and Central Asia.

Which are the three main sustainable policies followed at your units?

Our sustainable policy is to continuously save energy, be environment -friendly and have a value for money.

Published on: 09/10/2015

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.