A.Monforts Textilmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG, serving as one of the world's leading suppliers of powerful textile machinery, offers significant advantages to textile enterprises with innovations in heat recovery and exhaust air cleaning systems. The Company that focuses on high-tech customers has a significant market share in the high-tech segment.
In the special interview conducted with Monforts Vice President Mr. Klaus A. Heinrichs, Director Business Unit Service Mr. Wolfgang Stenzel and Head of Design & Development Mr. Hans-Peter Prinzen at their Headquarters located in Mönchengladbach, Germany, the Editors of Textil Dünyası Publication Group obtained information regarding the companies’ market targets for 2017 as well as their new technologies.
Can you provide information regarding Monforts' technological solutions that offer textile enterprises with high efficiency in terms of flexibility and productivity?
Klaus A. Heinrichs: For Monforts, first of all, we could mention the Eco Applicator. It is produced by Monforts and many cases can replace a padder.
This Eco Applicator unit is for minimum liquid application and you can imagine when you apply less liquid to the fabric then you need less energy. This concept of Eco Applicator is so far a success story for Monforts and we have many reference costumers who have applied for the Eco Applicator and many ranges of Monforts are nowadays equipped with the minimum liquid application, the so-called Eco-Applicator. This gives the advantage to the textile producer as it requires less energy for drying the fabric. So the unit itself does not save energy, it only applies less moisture but as a result, drying is shorter and more effective. And we are going to widen up the spectrum of application even now to knitted fabrics, so in our technology centre we have the version of Eco Applicator even for knitted fabrics.
In the past, the Eco Applicator was only for woven fabrics, nowadays it can be used for knitted fabrics. And of course we have a very prominent customer in Turkey and he is one of the biggest denim producers in the world. He is applying the denim fabrics also with the Eco Applicator and by doing so, saving a lot of energy. So that is the first step, especially in denim we have contributed further to higher productivity and less energy consumption with the new Eco denim concept. We have references nowadays in Vietnam and Mexico. By stretching denim now in the modified Thermex chamber under moisture, we can do the stretching of the denim with the modified chamber and so far this saves a lot of steam.
In the past, we had to use a lot of steam in cylinder dryers and now with the modified Thermex chamber, it is possible to generate the same effect under new conditions. So I think especially in denim, Monforts is contributing further to one’s economy, ecology and finishing processes.
What kind of advantages does Monforts provide to its customers regarding heat recovery and exhaust air cleaning systems?
Klaus A. Heinrichs: We have seen over the recent years the rising demand for exhaust air cleaning worldwide. So in the last years we mainly had demand for exhaust air cleaning here in the, let’s say, Central European region, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands. Exhaust air cleaning was a major issue there. But nowadays this topic is going worldwide. We see big demand in China; we see this of course in Turkey as well.
But we see it also in markets where we thought this question would never come up. Like in Algeria, we have it in Bangladesh. So the question of exhaust air cleaning is, I think, nowadays a worldwide issue also under the climate regulation, although one big country is wanting to get out of it. And we have the Eco Booster. It is a heat recovery unit and this heat recovery system has been offered in the past by Monforts as manual cleaning, and the customers had to stop the machine for maintenance, for maintenance of the heat recovery. Nowadays with the Eco Boosters, the whole cleaning process is going on automatically without any manual cleaning of operators. So, it is an automatic system, it is very proven. Even the well- known Turkish denim customer whom I mentioned before, he has this system working in five units to his highest satisfaction and what I wanted to mention, the heat recovery has a certain exhaust cleaning effect. But we go further now that we can add to heat recovery as well an exhaust cleaning, an integrated system. This is the latest technology for Monforts. Monforts was the first to have heat recovery as a standard system while all the other manufacturers offered heat recovery system as an option. So Monforts was the first to offer this as a standard, and we are going again ahead of industry by offering integrated system for exhaust air cleaning nowadays. So we have the first units placed in the market and I think this demand will rise constantly also in Turkey.
Can you explain the advantages offered by Eco Booster that presents a significant advancement within this field?
Klaus A. Heinrichs: The advantage is the self-cleaning. Eco Booster is equipped with an electric drive which permits computer-controlled optimisation of the heat exchanger performance to the prevailing exhaust air streams. The automated cleaning system eliminates standstill times during the production process.
Wolfgang Stenzel: When it is soiled the pressure inside the system is measured and it is a sign and indication to clean it, then the cleaning process is proceeded. We have a special program for this. With the first indication of the screen, cleaning has to be started. And then the operator is starting automatic cleaning. Without interrupting the production.
In pursuit of the acquisition of Timatec, which is positioned as an effective producer especially in Central Europe, what amount of strength did you gain in the market with the addition of the ‘texCOAT’ coating series in to your portfolio?
Klaus A. Heinrichs: I think that the significant additional strength for Monforts is that nowadays we are the only manufacturer that can offer a complete coating line from a single source. So we have now coating machines in our portfolio. We now have an integrated line that nobody can offer from a single source. So that means the machine is tailor made to the subsequent Monforts drying. We have shortest fabric path from the coating unit into the stenter, we have all the system available in coating like knife over air principle, knife over roller principle, magnetic knife or even printing head. So all the options in coating can be fulfilled by Monforts even in wider-width, so I think this is a unique position now for Monforts. We can do service, we can do engineering and all from a single source. I think that is a big advantage.
And in the past Timatec was a well-positioned company. But due to their size they sold machines only in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, in this area. I previously mentioned that we have references in Mexico, Pakistan and other markets. So, well-proven products can be sold world-wide. Right from the start, Monforts has had well-proven products. The coating principle is proven and now it has been improved with Monforts technology. We say it has been “Monforized”.
What strategy has Monforts set for Industrie 4.0? To what extent has Industrie 4.0 innovations been contributed to your products and systems?
Klaus A. Heinrichs: Everybody is talking about Industrie 4.0 and in reality many people don’t know what it is about exactly. We are working towards Industrie 4.0 as a target for ITMA 2019 in Barcelona, that is our target and this is a key focus for Monforts. I cannot give you details right now. But the ideal is to have the machine integrated into the whole production process and that we have, I think, for the mill owners. The machine, let’s say, is a kind of networking, that the machine is fully transparent in all processes and traceable for the products being processed. And this is I think with our new visualisation that we introduced at last ITMA, it means that the machine can be monitored from remote. That is we are already in the first steps. So we are not starting Industrie 4.0 from scratch but we are building up this further. I think further points are, on behalf of Mr. Stenzel from the service department, spare parts supply and preventive maintenance, all these things, will be included into Internet 4.0.
Wolfgang Stenzel: I think one main statement from our side is, by discussing so many aspects of Industrie 4.0, we have already started the main issues on these ten years back. From that time, we have divided each and every range connected though web, so we can get access for a decade almost to the PLCs, PCs, drives and settings all that is reality for long to us. And with the Industrie 4.0 discussion, we want to extend this.
Klaus A. Heinrichs: We see ourselves as a Technology Leader and as Mr. Stenzel explained, all the machines are already equipped with tele-service as a standard for a decade and we are building upon these basic elements. We are starting from that platform, not from the scratch just as we described before. So there are third steps still to come until the next fair. But again the question and discussion is very different. What is included in this Industrie 4.0? I saw many reports and many presentations covering one or two aspects. Occasionally also running machines from outside, which is very critical from safety aspect. We have discussed this many times. Our policy is not to run machines outside unless knowledgeable operators on site. Because we can’t take the risk we do not see what is going on the machine. With most critical part, our policy is not to go beyond this border, we do settings we do support but pushing the button has to be on site. Human must be always there.
As a company, where do you position the Turkish textile industry? Can you provide information regarding your market share in Turkey?
Klaus A. Heinrichs: As you know we are in the high-tech marketing segment of machines and we have new competitors in the market which came up over the ten to fifteen years in the Turkish market. They are building good machines for finishing and the competition has become stronger in Turkey as you can imagine. Let’s name them, local manufacturers in Turkey they can offer attractive conditions to the customers for financing, they have short ways for supplying the machines, they can put them on a truck and deliver them within short distance. Monforts is concentrating on the high end for customers who want to produce highest quality for export and so far the market share of Monforts in the high-tech segment is relatively high.
So no doubt Turkish manufacturers are making good machines but Monforts is going on the high end, you know with coating, with all the PLC controls, quality controls of the fabric, special machines for denim, we still have a very good market reputation in Turkey. Customers know Monforts for decades. I think they rely upon Monforts further on. Many machines for replacement are from Monforts. So we have, together with our powerful representative Neotek, excellent access to this high-tech market segment. On the other hand, local manufacturers have their market segments.
How would you evaluate the first quarter of 2017 in terms of your targets with respect to the Turkish market? What sales figures do you aim to achieve by the end of 2017?
Klaus A. Heinrichs: The year 2017 started quite promising for Monforts referring to Turkey, after the referendum, the market activities peaked up, we did not expect to be honest. So, the market development is positive for Monforts. I looked into the files just before I came here. Twelve projects in Turkey are under negotiation. We have already sold significant numbers of machines in 2017. So we are very happy that the Turkish market is developing very positively.
What are your goals for the global markets in 2017? Could you mention about the markets that you have a strong presence in and your goals set for those markets?
Klaus A. Heinrichs: The goals for 2017, is to widen up the segment of technical textiles. We have nearly 25 % of the Monforts turnover is related to machines for technical textiles. Technical textile is a wide spectrum, of course, it can include machines for coating, and it can include the machines for giving textiles functionality. This is the goal for 2017 is to widen this up. The most important markets for Monforts are India, China, Pakistan, and Bangladesh that means south-east Asia. We see that the markets in South America are behind target, especially Brazil. We have a very good market here in Central Europe especially in Germany with a good number of machines. But let’s say, nearly exclusively to the technical textile machines segment for medical textiles, filter textiles and technical felt, so these all are special machines. The European market is concentrating on technical textiles, on special textiles. Even here in the area of Mönchengladbach we still have a couple of textile producers but they mainly concentrate on textile textiles for automotive industry, car industry, smart textiles, coating. So, this is the target for 2017 as we are coming closer to the end of this year. We can say that we have achieved our targets. We have good upturn in India, we have very positive results in the area of denim finishing with a new Monforts Eco denim concept and so far, we can say that we are quite pleased with the economic situation we are facing right now.
Thank you for answering our questions. Is there anything else you would to add?
Klaus A. Heinrichs: I think Turkey is still a key market. We have very good relations with the Turkish customers. Also, from mentality, it is very easy to communicate, sometimes easier than other markets. We have never had problems with Turkish customers when it comes to payment terms, let’s say all the things related to organization.
We see that the Turkish customers have a very excellent knowledge of textiles. We hope that Turkey will come back to its former strengths; we see the first results already in 2017. We are prepared to give full support.
