The Italian based Lafer SPA, has acquired an important market with its dry cleaning machines. since the day it was established in 1974. Lafer, which has a wide production range, is also known for its solutions in the new finishing fields such as compacting, drying, etc. The company’s product range includes raising machines, woven and knitted fabrics, machines with emery and brushes, fringing and cutting machines for scarves and blankets, felt compactors for knitted fabrics in open or tubular form, vacuum dryers for woven fabrics, open width sanforizing machinery, open width solvet machine and diamond emery.
The headquarters of Lafer, the producer of finishing machines, is located in Schio (province of Vicenza), located 100 km west of Venice. Schio is known for its high quality woollen fabrics. By transferring the experiences of the region, which has a long history of textile, to the production it performs, the company achieved a successful line. In its early years in the sector, Lafer SPA entered the raising machine market and proved its superiority in double drum raising machines on many fabrics compared to the single drum machines. This development brought about several advantages; a lesser floor space requirement, easier machine management and lower investment costs compared to the two single drum machines. As Lafer’s double drum raising machine achieved a great success within a short period of time, the other raising machine producers began manufacturing duble drum machines, which has become a common standard.
Lafer is also known as the first company to introduce automation on raising and shearing machines. PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) based control system, memorise the parameters and complete the process in a user friendly way. It is stated that the PLC based control system will soon become a standard among the raising and shearing machine manufaturers.
With its know how and the R&D studies it carried out, Lafer developed itw own in-house hardware and software development division Texen. The division both increases the competitive power of the company in the global market and guarantees the customer satisfaction owing to the fact that it allows a continuous development of new systems within the company.
New Technologies New Standards
The product range of Lafer SPA, which has been organized in important markets in order to supply products on a global scale includes; sueding machines, raising machines), felt compactors KS-500 Runner, shearing machines and dryers. In the last 5 years, Lafer managed to supply 800 Ultarasoft and Microsand sueding machines to 45 countries in 5 years.
With its tubular feature and greater brush, UltraSoft-T machine allows sueding the greige fabric more effectively compared to the open width sueding before dyeing process. By allowing less lengthwise elongation, the special fabric width expander offers dimensional stability advantage
Lafer also produces the Mercerizing Range that provides a great deal of added value especially in denim and shirtings. Permafix liquid ammonia allows an eco-friendly production process during the mercerizing of shirtings, bottomwears and denim. This range has been designed for the production of cellulose based fabrics such as cotton, linen and blends. In addition it can be used in wool and blends. This system provides various advantages such as providing precise control and various effects, crease recovery, dimensional stability, resistance to abrasion, dyeing uniformity, dyestuff affinity and colour solidity.
Lafer; We Never Sleep!
Larry Fontana, Sales Manager at Lafer SPA, made special statements to Textil Dünyası and stated that they’ve introduced their finishing technologies with eco-friendly liquid ammonia at ITMA Barcelona. Fontana emphasized that this production process, which is carried out successfully on shirtings, bottomwears, denim, cotton, linen and blends, both decreases the procution costs and increases the product quality. Underlining that these all are types of cellulose fabrics, Fontana stated that the fabric is given an easy wear effect. “A stronger fabric, a better appearance and a better handle are all offered at the same time. In addition you can eliminte the moisture. And the important point is very little water is required for the production. Basicly no water at all. Today, many buyers attach importance to using less water. Technologies develop in this direction,” said Fontana.
Stating that liquid ammonia is used instead of water in this method, Fontana said that ammonia passing through the dry fabric during the production process is later evaporated and the fabric comes out dry from the machine. Stating that this line is already running in a factory in Turkey, Fontana said that the line receives great interest on the global level. Fontana continued by saying; “We have in Turkey only one line, which is installed in Orta Anadolu, the denim manufacturer and 18 Permafix accross the world. The officials from Orta Anadolu stated that they’re really satisfied with our line. We receive very good feedbacks from the market. There is a demand for the samples of our newly developed products.”
Stating that they’ve recently received great interest from the manufacturers in the South American market, Larry Fontana underlined that the Latin-Americans at ITMA Barcelona visited the booth of Lafer. Fontana also stated that in addition to the South Americans, the visitors Turkey, India and the Middle East countries examined their booth at the fair. Underlining that Lafer has always been a company engaged in developing new things Fontana said; “We never sleep. We always have something new in mind.”
We do not Have a Machinery Manufacturer Partner in Turkey!
Larry Fontana stated that they used to have a Turkish partner in the production of textile machines but today there are none. Fontana explained why they separated with this company and said; “We had different opinions about what should be done. Lafer focused on achieving top quality in its machines and concentrated on developing them. We adopted different philosophies with them. Separating was the best way.” Fontana added that this company changed its name after an agreement done a couple of months ago and it is no longer using the name ‘Lafer’ in Turkey or in another region. Fontana also remarked that it was a mutual agreement rather than a sue.
Larry Fontana stated that Lafer SPA proceeds its activities in the Turkish market through its local agent Alfredo Modiano. Reminding that since they had a Turkish partner, they’ve been not engaged with the Turkish market directly for the last 10 years, Fontana said that with Modiano, they’ve focused directly on the Turkish maket and determined on how to build up a relationship with their agents.
Fontana remarked that their machines, which are really expansive, do not enter a cost competition in the global market and that they do not regard high prices as a bad thing. Fontana stated that they’ve adopted the principle of offering the best machine to the market without making a price comparison. Fontana added that they have have competitors with cheaper prices however that Lafer’s machines can perform two times more amount of production. “In fact, considering the production carried out with the new machines, we are cheaper than the others. And considering the whole package, you save time and increase your consistency and productivity. In other words, there are many fields in which you can compete,” said Fontana.
They can not Sell Machines by Using Our Name
Larry Fontana, whom we reminded that production had been carried out with the technology and name of ‘Lafer’ in the Turkish market, asked “Now, will your former Turkish partner will perform production with the same quality? How do you approach the issue? Fontana reminded that previously, their former Turkish partner produced only raising and shearing machines under the name of ‘Lafer’ in the Turkish market. Fontana underlined that they have no idea about the compact equipments and the finishing technologies with liquid ammonium, which will be introduced to the Turkish market in the following period. “Now they’re productin the basic things for finishing process but when we compare our machines and theirs, the difference can be clearly seen. They can not compete with us thanks to our superiority in technology an usage. They are not either the copy of Lafer. Besides they’re already using a different name. Lafer’s name is the guarantee for quality,” said Fontana.
Stating that they’ve received unverified information about their name being used unauthorized, Fontana finished by saying; “In same cases it is easier to perform sales by using the names of big companies. However they con not compete with the quality of our machines. Many of our Turkish customers state that they have a really bad quality. For that reason we experience difficulty in persuading our customers. We are different from them. We guarantee a very high quality and technology.”
