Powerful manufacturer of textile finishing processes in the global arena, Monforts made a successful fair organisation at Techtextil while showing its importance as an actor of the global market. At the visit we paid as Textile World Group, Vice president of Monforts Business Group Germany, Klaus A. Heinrichs, made assessments about their firms and the sector. Expressing that they felt very pleased to see the interest shown in the Monforts Innovations, Heinrichs emphasized that visitors were also closely interested in the fair. Heinrichs said that: “We, as Monforts, follow Techtextil Fair closely. We establish successful business ties with important companies of the global arena at such exhibitions.” Explaining that visitors from Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Germany and the USA showed a great interest in the event, Heinrichs stated that Monforts displayed its systems for finishing processes of technical textiles at the fair.”
Stressing that technical textiles industry has a broad range, Heinrichs recorded that it is not possible to display all the products. Heinrichs continued by saying: “Technical textiles sector has a very broad product range including furnishings, medicine sector, geotextile, hygiene sector etc. It is not possible for us to display all the machines for these areas. However, we show how assertive we are in the technical textiles sector with the application experts and samples of fabrics manufactured at our machines.”
We Increase Production without Compensating the Quality
Making assessments about the sale of Monforts shares to Fongs, Heinrichs stated that they did not experience any change except for some organisational changes. Reporting that they did not such a change that will be reflected to the clients, Heinrichs added that: “Some small changes related to the internal functioning of the firm are on-going. For instance, we moved our spare parts warehouse from Germany to Austria. Apart from this, manufacturers can still purchase the machines produced in Europe. We still provide our after-sale support and Teleservice from our headquarter in Mönchengladbach. Montex factory in Austria has continued manufacturing since more than 30 years.”
Explaining that Monforts facilitated its works in the area of technical textiles especially after the sales process, Heinrichs reminded that the sales of technical textile machines had a share of 25 % in the total sales amount. Emphasizing that classical textile machines still preserve the share of 75 %, Heinrichs said that they achieved successful sales figures at both areas. Heinrichs continued by saying: “Our technical textile machinery sales amount is increasing considerably. We have new references in Australia and North America in terms of carpet finishing and in Germany and Pakistan in terms of membrane technology. We offer our innovations to the market in the area of technical textiles. For instance, we presented at Techtextil our new modular coating head on a 3D monitor. Innovative “Exhaust air cleaning” with UV-light and maintenance free technology which we displayed in the Techtextil fair for the first time is also among our most important innovations. We don’t only provide heat recovery. With our new technologies, we re-define the environmental protection habits. In this respect, we support sensitive approaches of firms with our technologies.”
Steps Taken in China Meet our Expectations
Expressing that they conduct works with CHTC and Fong’s in Chinese market; Heinrichs stated that Chinese market was not growing that fast as expected. Stating that their factory in Zhongshan reached successful production figures despite this fact, Heinrichs added that: “Today we make full-capacity production at this factory. I can say that we obtained the highest level success in comparison to the global production standards. We offer the best quality machines not only in the production lines in this region but we have most advanced laser cut, bending and punching machines, robots for welding and painting as well as the machines with the highest level finishing standards. Well, this new factory in Zhongshan, China, is designed according to the latest production standards. These policies enable us to operate in the Chinese market successfully.”
Denying the allegations that the factory located in Austria would be closed down as a result of successful policies in China, Heinrich emphasized that they manufacture stenter production beyond 200 units in China. However, he reported that they manufacture special machines used in the field of technical textiles in Austria. Heinrichs added that: “We also manufacture classical machines for our clients preferring European machines in this factory. Our machines for the firms operating with wide-width are also manufactured in this factory. We invite all our customers to visit our production plant “Montex” in Austria”
Monforts Became the World Leader with the Factory in China
Claiming that all the important innovations seen in the stenter production in the last 30 years of textile sector have been realized by Monforts, Heinrichs stated that: “We continued growing rapidly with the Monforts innovations after PLC Control. Lastly, we opened the factory in China and now, we have the biggest factory of the world in the stenter production. In addition, I need to express that we manufacture the best stenter technology. We received patents for many products we develop.” Expressing that global competition is still highly intensive in spite of all these achievements, Heinrichs emphasized that especially Turkish manufacturers offer state of the art finishing machines to the market.”
Our Expectations for 2012 were met
Giving information about 2012 sales amounts of Monforts, Heinrichs reported that they reached the expected target in this period. Explaining that the most prominent machines are eco-booster which has the feature of heat recovery and Montex 8000 stenter machine, Heinrichs emphasized that energy efficiency machines get attention in the market. Sharing his opinions about the first half of 2013, Heinrichs stated that: “As of now, we realized our budget expectation. I can say that 2013 is better than 2012 for us. With good progress in the area of technical textiles, it would not be wrong to say that 2014 will be even better than 2013. In other words, while Monforts provide clients with high tech machines for special applications, it also manufactures standard machines for classical textile field.”
Stating that the financial crisis four years ago affected them slightly as many other machine manufacturers, Heinrichs reported that they managed to preserve themselves with special precautions. Adding that they continued investing despite the crisis, Heinrichs stated that they entered into the restructuring process in Mönchengladbach but they recovered this process without much trouble although investments increased significantly. Explaining that they will provide the clients with new innovations through a new technology centre, Heinrichs continued by saying: “We are preparing a new showroom as twice bigger as the previous one to display our machines in the new technology centre. We will display 3 machines in this space under the real production conditions. Stenter machine for knitted fabrics, stenter machine for technical textiles and woven fabrics as well as continuous dyeing machine for Econtrol®-process and other special applications are among these technologies. Bookings for fabric trials in the new Monforts Technology Centre are possible as of now”
Turkey is an important market for us
Sharing his opinions about their operations in Turkey, Heinrichs stated that Turkey is one of their most important markets in volume. Emphasizing that they have an ever growing structure in Turkey owing to its history-based power, Heinrichs concluded his remarks by saying: “In terms of competition conditions, major opponents are local firms in Turkish market. They realize production and sales in a really active manner. Except for this, the clients show their attention for quality output and the energy saving issues by buying our machines. They show interest in our machines which are environment-friendly and energy efficient, which gives honour and pleasure to us. For the clients, all kinds of energy such as drying energy, heating energy and electricity are important. In this respect, we are currently carrying out a successful work with Elitez. Our representative is strengthening our power with a highly successful maintenance service. In addition, we have a sound maintenance network supported by our centre in Monchengladbach for Turkey. They conduct active operations when necessary. What is more, we see that Turkish clients are becoming specialized in high value products day by day. Standards are elevated constantly. Manufacturers are now focused on this high value production. We follow this situation closely.”
