Zimmer, which offered the digital printing machine Colaris to the Turkish textile manufacturers, managed to be one of the companies to receive the most interest in 2012. With its innovative machine Colaris, the Austrian based Zimmer Maschinenbau Gmbh, one of the important names in digital textile printing, covering, dyeing and finishing technologies, seems to have reach the target in the fair held in İstanbul. Josef Osl, Sales Manager of Zimmer, made special statements to our magazine and gave information about their new technologies and evaluated the market in general.
Osl underlined that Colaris, offered to the market by Zimmer, which develops solutions for the carpet and textile fields, has great differences from the other printing machines and that this digital printing machine delivers a successful performance also in heavy textiles. Osl remarked that Colaris is an outstanding machine with regards to ink usage and to the amount of the dyestuff and chemicals used. “Colaris is successful in the fabrics manufactured for fashion and for other purposes but its main superiority is in heavy textiles. “You need a high level of friction speed in heavy textiles such as upholstery and this can only be achieved through a system that has various applications and studies on this matter. With this combination of Colaris, we are provided with pre-treatment opportunities. For cellulose fibers, you need to make the necessary treatments on the fabrics with correct chemicals and you have to be sure that you ensure a sufficient penetration. By this way you get a higher printing quality with a better penetration,” said Osl and added that the reactive inks for the Colaris will be sold at 34 a kilo and disperse inks at less than 40.
Josef Osl stated that they’ve sold more than 20 units of Colaris since 2011 and added that the machine is highly demanded in Austria, Germanyi France, Italy, Portugal, United Kingdom, China, Czech Republic and Russia, which are important countries. Osl said that Colaris is not sold in the Turkish market and that they do not include the Turkish market among their targets in this period. Osl added that for the time being, the Turkish market is focusing mainly on the fashion industry and on light fabrics, which are not the main target for Colaris. Osl remarked that Colaris focuses on printing applications on heavy substrates such as decorative fabrics, velour, towels, flock fabrics and even floor coverings.
Turkish Carpet Manufacturers Prefer Us
Osl stated that Zimmer has a significant position in Turkey, especially in the carpet industry. Osl said that they have a close cooperation with the big carpet manufacturers in Çerkezköy, Ankara and especially in Gaziantep and that they are the number one machinery brand preferred by these manufacturers.
“In addition to the significant printing segments, we have very important bases for rotation printing in the textile market. As I said before, today, the people are more interested in fashion industry so we have to prepare the market for this atmosphere. People are in need of the machines designed for the fashion industry and we aim to manufacture these machines,” said Osl and added that they want to focus mainly on the fashion industry and upholstery, decorative fabrics and technical fabrics used in the automotive industry.
2011 was Perfect for Us and We Made a Great Start to 2012
Josef Osl described 2011 as ‘a perfect year’ in terms of the machinery sales and he remarked that ITMA Barcelona 2011 was a great starting point for 2012. “Everything is great in terms of production and we have expectations from 2013,” stated Osl. Osl compared ITMA withITM 2012 and underlined that ITMA is a more international organization and sales area. Osl continued by saying; “We regard ITM as an international area too, but it focuses more on the local market. Of course, the groups participating in this fair come from the surrounding areas. For example our German customers did not attend the fair but the Turkish customers did. Besides, more and more people visit the region in order to observe the machines and what the market offers to them.”
Osl made evaluations about ITM and said that the exhibition was a good organization overall, however they were surprised at the limited amount of time given to them for machinery setup. “If you do not have enough time for the machinery setup, you can not be prepared for the first day. Only four days are not enough for such a big organization. I wish it had lasted 6 days. The machine manufacturers should be given enough time for machinery setup and for the presentation of these machines, said Osl.
We’ve Taken an Environmental Stance for a Very Long Time
Osl remarked that the manufacturers focus on the eco-friendly and cost-reducing technologies in the global market and that Zimmer has been focusing on the environmental issues for a very long time. “Zimmer had already started to perform production using recycled printing machines and waste ink in the late 1800s and in the beginning 1900s, when nobody was thinking about these issues. And when we look at the situation today, it is obvious that Zimmer has always aimed to protect the environment and reduce the production costs. If you use the wastes – whatever it is – effectively, the production costs will surely decrease. We are not considering to make money from ink or distribution or etc., we focus on our customers’ demands and becoming number one for them,” said Osl.
Osl stated that Zimmer conduct studies for new machines and new markets and is continuously expanding its product range. Osl finished by saying; “We continuously expand our product range, just as we did with Colaris, which we diversified as Colaris NF (narrow fabrics). Colaris NF can be used in all kinds of narrow fabric used as ribbons, belts and decorative accessories. Narrow fabrics are used in many fields from automotive to decoration. Currently there is no manufacturer focused on this issue, which we continue to bring innovations to.”
