We interviewed with Mr. Kurt Lamkowski, Worldwide Sales Manager of Picanol that is one of the world’s leading weaving machine manufacturers, about major topics such as innovative technologies, four basic principles on which their machinery and technologies are based on, product range, new online platform and digital services, and sustainability. Mr. Kurt Lamkowski highlighted the importance of ITM 2022 Exhibition where Picanol can respond to various customer demands with its new online platform Picconnect.
Q. Would you give some information on the innovative technologies produced for the weaving industry by Picanol NV?
A. Mr. Kurt Lamkowski, Worldwide Sales Manager- The weaving industry is facing an evolution in recent years, partially also triggered by new trends and the environment created by the Covid-pandemic. Weavers expect more than just a weaving machine. Weaving mills expect total solutions and support to optimize their machines and to get most out of their equipment. Picanol is developing and designing machines around some basic principles. We have to do more than just a few picks faster than the previous generation. Today the world is all about connectivity, user-centric and user-friendly design, intuitive controls, self-learning capacities of the machine and sustainability.
Performance is the first requirement for any machine or feature. Not only the theoretical maximum speed, but especially the effective and practical speed and efficiency under all conditions are of upmost importance. We call this ‘’Smart Performance’’, achieving this with an intelligent machine design combined with self-setting software.
When it comes to preventing waste and reducing energy consumption, Picanol has always faced up to its responsibility and shown to be a pioneer in having the most energy-efficient machine, combined with real waste Management. Our machines are designed with ‘’Sustainability Inside’’.
We all know that digitization is becoming more and more important. Important data has to be captured and made available for artificial intelligence, making the production even more efficient. With the new generation of our machines we continue to be a trendsetter and further deploy Industry 4.0 in the Weaving industry. Picanol machines are really ‘’Driven by Data’’.
But we also design our machines to be used effortlessly and intuitively.. Our principle of ‘’Intuitive Control’’ is making all operations easy, self-explanatory and intuitive just like a smartphone.
Q.Would you briefly mention about the product range of Picanol NV? What are your core strengths and capabilities and which key markets are under close observation?
A. Mr. Kurt Lamkowski, Worldwide Sales Manager- Picanol has become the benchmark in rapier and airjet weaving due to our machines designed according to the principles explained above. Few months ago Picanol has launched the newest generation of Machines: the ‘’Connect-generation’’. New features, more sensors, more data captured … all leading to more control and increasing the performance of your weaving process. The weaving industry has become so competitive that everything matters to optimize.
In order to increase our support to our customers Picanol also introduced our online platform offering digital services: PicConnect. We will be offering a wide range of features from industrial IoT to service related services. PicConnect is a web-based application that can be accessed through a web browser on any device and it functions as the gateway to all Picanol’s digital services. The platform is cloud-based and it allows connecting the Picanol weaving machines to the platform in order to leverage its full extent of possibilities.
Q. What advantages offered to the market in terms of energy and cost savings with Picanol NV machinery? What are the distinctive features of Picanol NV machinery to stay competitive in the market?
A. Mr. Kurt Lamkowski, Worldwide Sales Manager- Picanol always wants to give the best value proposition to our customers. We strongly believe we have so many unique features helping our Customer to have the highest performance. And certainly, in current mindset of sustainability, several features like our main drive concept, wasteless systems unique prewinders, features like AirMaster, ARVD II plus, ERGO, Ecofil, etc are contributing to have the lowest waste and lowest energy consumption.
Furthermore, in our new ‘Connect’-machines we can monitor the real electrical power consumption in real time, allowing the weaver to manage in a better and more sustainable way.
Q. What is the importance of Turkish market for Picanol NV? Would you share your thoughts on the potential of Turkish market in weaving production?
A. Mr. Kurt Lamkowski, Worldwide Sales Manager- Since many years we also see the growing importance of digitization and sustainability awareness at our Turkish customers. And this is exactly what Picanol is bringing as a solution. The input and feedback of our Turkish customers is also crucial to understand their future wishes and requirements.
Picanol is happy that all novelties introduced in the last few months can be shown again live during exhibitions in 2022. As a matter of fact, the first exhibition where Picanol will show the new ‘’Connect’’-generation machines and demonstrate the first applications of the new digital online platform PicConnect will be in June 2022 at ITM-Istanbul. We are glad to give this première to our Turkish customers.
