In 2011, the Swiss machinery manufacturers earned $ 1,224 billion worth of income with an increase of 12 percent compared to the previous year. The sector that achieved an increase in demand in the first period of 2011, was faced with a sudden shrinkage at the middle of the year. The fact that the global crisis continues to affect the center of Europe and the regions using the overvalued Swiss Franc, played important roles in this shrinkage. ITMA Barcelona, the important event of 2011, held in September, was followed with great attention and interest by the Swiss machinery manufacturers. At the event, significant business agreements were made and important orders were received for 2012 and 2013. The umbrella organization of the sector SWISSMEM puts its signature to important studies for its members in these kind of events.
SWISSMEM, which is a national organization, brought the important Swiss machinery manufacturers on a single platform at ITM 2012, where it participated with many of its important brands. SWISSMEM established a national pavilion of 169 sqm and presented both its innovative products and FACTOR+ campaigns in detail to its visitors. Especially the narrow weaving machine Jakob Müller, which was exhibited in running order at the fair, managed to attract the attention of the visitors.
There will be a Recovery in 2012
In the statement he made to Textil Dunyasi, Lukas Sigrist, Secretary General of SWISMEM, evaluated the results for the sector in 2011 and the expectations from 2012. Sigrist said that he was impressed by the size and quality of ITM fair but at the same time he was a little bit disappointed with the customer flow. Sigrist argued that this was partly because the fair coincided with the national public holiday and he added that a more careful planning should be made the next time while deciding on the organization calendar.
Lukas Sigrist stated that as Swiss machinery manufacturers, they had a really perfect market condition at the beginning of 2011, when they had difficulties in procurement process due to high demands. However, Sigrist said that in the middle of 2011, a sharp decline was experienced in demand. “Many companies experienced a difficult period of struggle in this process. The companies coping with the problems caused by the sharp decline in demand, were again faced with the same decline at the end of the year. The higest level of the decline took place in December,” said Sigrist and added that although they do not expect very exciting or surprising developments, they expect – on behalf of the sector - a slow growth and a recovery and an improvement in 2012.
Sigrist, whom we reminded that the global markets are more fluctuant compared to the past, explained how the Swiss companies protect themselves under these conditions by saying; “As Swiss machinery manufacturers, we protect ourselves in this global challenge with a broad flexibility that can be applied on various fields and we can take the positive results of this flexible way of business making. On the other hand, we decreased working hours due to the market conditions. The sector is coping with a really big challenge.”
Investments Continued in the Crisis Period
Sigrist emphasized that despite the negative conditions, the Swiss machinery manufacturers, the leaders of high technology, didn’t give up on their targets of growth. Sigrist emphasized that making investments and turning to the new technologies is the only way to survive this process and he added that not to make investments even in bad times would be more dangerous.
Sigrist stated that China, India and Southeastern Asia have become important markets in general and especially in the period of financial and economic crisis, which affected Europe deeply. Sigrist remarked that the Swiss textile machinery manufacturers continue their investments in this region and that their products are situated partly in this region.
We asked Lukas Sigrist weather the Swiss machinery manufacturers competed with the French, German and Italian manufacturers, which are their traditional competitiors, or with the Asian based competitors in the crisis period and he answered by saying; “You always do have competitiors if you’re good at your job. At this point, you should realise what kind of competitors you have. We can clearly say that we have technological competitors. Some of the eastern companies are now much more developed compared to the past and they have become our competitors too. For example the Japan machinery manufacturers are one of them. However we have competitors, which sells products for cheaper prices and these companies are mainly located in India, China and Taiwan. However, when we look at the works of the Swiss, Germany and Italy-based companies, we see that they have the status of international companies. For that reason it is now harder to tell which country they are from.”
Lukas Sigrist underlined that SWISSMEM is the top organization of mechanical engineering industry in textile machinery and he added that they have members from various segments. Sigrist remarked that they’ve been in a relationship with the state and the government in order to create policies to strengthen the domestic market and the manufacturers. Sigrist added that this support is crucial for the global competition. Stating that as SWISSMEM, they provide technical training on the sector and support to establish the legal relations of the companies, Sigrist said; “We also support our members to participate in the activities abroud such as fairs. The Swiss machinery manufacturers mainly experience financial problems arising from the global uncertainty and the most basic determinant is the crisis in Europe, above which lies the overvalued and strong Swiss Franc. Problems occur related with these issues.”
The Turkish Market Ranks Among the Top 3 and It is Growing Rapidly
Lukas Sigrist stated that China, India and Turkey are the most important markets on the global level for the Swiss machinery manufacturers. Stating that the Turkish market has a really advanced position, Sigrist said; “I don’t know why, but Turkey was not affected by the crisis very much. As Swiss machinery manufacturers, we expect our sales to increase and our service to expand in 2012 in the growing Turkish market.” Sigrist added that within the frame of the figures recorded in the first quarter of 2012, they received hopeful results from the Middle Eastern and Central Asian markets, such as Uzbekistan.
What is FACTOR+
The Swiss textile machinery manufacturers, which constitute an important manufacturing power in reaching the key markets over the world and in supplying sales and after sales services to them, describe their quality with ‘Factor+’. Factor+ quality label, led by the umbrella organization SWISSMEM, consisting of more than 40 textile machinery manufacturers, guarentees Quality + Lasting Value, High Tech + Reliability, Creativity + Success, Strength + Partnership, Performance + Sustainability.
SWISSMEM’s next stop will be ITMA ASIA CITME, which will be held in June. 31 machinery manufacturers have been announced to take place at the national booth at the fair.
