The latest developments in the Italian Textile Machinery Sector were highlighted at the seminar organized by the Italian Trade Commission and the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT).

The seminar was a follow-up of the visit of the Italian expert Giovanni Sommariva to Pakistan in March, 2007. Mr. Sommariva evaluated the technological status of the dyeing, printing and finishing sectors of the textile industry of Pakistan. The proceedings and technical presentations of the seminar are briefly reported below.

Welcome Address by Representative of ICE

As Dr. Marco Pintus, the Italian Trade Commissioner could not participate in the seminar, welcome address was delivered by his representative Mr. Francesco Doria. Anticipating the Challenges of the global free trade regime (WTO), big textile groups and individual textile companies started balancing, modernization, replacement (BMR) and expansion. The Textile Commissioner’s Organisation (TCO) reported an investment of $5.5 billion during the period 1999-2005.

Investment recorded in the Spinning sector was the highest, i.e., about 48% of the total investment. However, investments in the value-added dyeing, printing, finishing and garment sectors have been much lower to date.

The textile and clothing products of Pakistan are not finding access to the international export market being costlier and lacking quality and value-addition. During the FY 2007 textile exports growth was a meager 5.3%. In the first quarter of FY 2008 growth of textile exports was dismal at 0.5%. The textile machinery imports by Pakistan have also declined substantially to US $ 500 million in The FY 2007 from an all time high  of 930 million US $ about  2 Years ago.

The main issue confronting Pakistani textile companies is the low level of quality and value-addition of their textile products. This seminar is  specially focused on how Italian textile machinery manufacturers can help Pakistani companies to enhance quality value-addition of their textile products in order to become more competitive in the international export market.

Consul General   Mr. Dominico Benincasa

Mr. Benincasa, the Italian Consul General reiterated Italy’s strong commitment to Pakistan. He mentioned that the objective of the initiative is to find out how two countries can cooperate to improve the performance of the textile industry of Pakistan as vast margins of improvement are possible because of Pakistan’s huge textile potential. The technical presentations by Italian exports during the seminar highlight the latest technology available for uplifting Pakistan’s textile industry for the manufacture of best quality textile products at competitive prices.

Overview of Italian Machinery

Mr. Giorgio Calculli, Incharge technical and training areas of ACIMIT activities presented a short overview of Italian textile machinery manufacturing industry as follows:-

These are about 300 companies manufacturing textile machinery in Italy employing about 20,900 workers. Machines are manufactured and marketed for processing all kinds of fibres and cover all sectors of the textile Chain including spinning, weaving , knitting, wet processing and finishing. Machinery is also offered for the manufacture of Technical Textile and Non-Woven products.  

Italy is the second top manufacturer textile machinery in the world today. The technological level of the machinery is considered to be of the highest standard and meets the requirements of all importing countries. The value of the Italian textile machinery production amounted to 2.68 billion Euro in 2006 out of which machinery worth 2.091 billion Euro i.e., 78% was exported to about 130 countries.

The area-wise break-up of machinery exports in 2006 is as under:

v     Asia 46% is the main export area.

v     Europe 35%.

v     South America 7%.

v     North America 6%.

v     Africa 6%.

China was the top importer of Italian textile machinery in 2006 amounting to Euro 365 million followed India Euro 183 million and Turkey Euro 178 million.

The category-wise break-up of Italian textile machinery exports in 2006 is as follows:

1.         Spinning machinery 24%.

2.         Weaving Machinery 24%.

3.         Knitting machinery 20%.

4.         Dyeing, Printing and Finishing machinery 21%.

5.         Laundry, dry cleaning machinery 11%.

Some of the distinctive features of the Italian machinery are excellent quality, reliability, efficiency and durability. Furthermore, The Italian manufacturers endeavour to understand the needs of their customers and try to offer solutions which guarantee greater production line efficiencies.

The Italian machinery manufacturers are in general organized as Small and Medium-sized enterprises making close  contact with customers. ACIMIT presently enjoys effective membership of 80% of the Italian Textile machinery manufacturing companies and organises seminars and other trade promotion activities in collaboration with ICE. ACIMIT and ICE are aiming to promote cooperation between local industrialists and Italian machinery manufacturers. The evaluation of wet processing sector of the textile industry of Pakistan by Giovanni Sommariva is a part of these efforts.

Chief Guest Mr. Muhammed Idrees The Textile Commissioner

Mr. Idrees appreciated the efforts of ICE and ACIMIT who sponsored the evaluation of the wet processing sector of the textile industry of Pakistan by an Italian expert in March, 2007.

Mr. Idrees mentioned that  this report will definitely facilitate the local industrialists to enhance the value-addition and quality of textile products being manufactured by their respective units.

According to Mr. Idrees, the wet processing sector of the textile industry constitutes a weak link in the textile chain in Pakistan. Investments are needed for technological upgrading of this sector involving replacement of old and obsolete machinery with modern machines based on the latest technology. This will improve the performance of this sector and it will be prepared to meet the modern challenges.

A major break through has been witnessed in the Printing Sector where the industry has modernized its production facilities by adoption of Rotary Printing Machines.  The wet processing sector  can utilize the recommendations of the Italian expert to improve their performance. The market share is solely determined by the capability of the entrepreneurs to supply products conforming to the quality required by the end-users at competitive prices.

India has invested heavily in the textile sector to improve its performance during the past three years. The investment increased from Rs 116.28 billion in 2004-05 to Rs 310 billion in 2006-07. Similarly, the textile industry of China has made spectacular progress. The value of textile exports from China in 2007 was US $ 149 billion about 13 times more than that from Pakistan!

Nevertheless, Pakistan’s textile industry possesses inherent potential for improving performance. Pakistani entrepreneurs need to utilise this potential to increase exports. They must control cost of production, improve value-addition and product quality. They must focus on technical innovation, brand development, skill development of workers and cost-effective production to make production to make progress in exports.

Mr. Idrees informed the audience that four textile cities and three garment cities are being planned by the Government of Pakistan (GoP) and incentives are also being provided to entrepreneurs to set up textile units in these cities. Mr. Idrees sought cooperation from ACIMIT and ICE in setting up these cities and thanked the organisers for organising this important seminar.

Mr. Shamim Ahmed Shamsi President Karachi Chambers of Commerce & Industry

Mr. Shamsi in his address that with a population about 58 million with literacy rate being as high as 99% Italy is a very important market for Pakistan’s textile goods.  On the other hand, 50% of total imports of textile machinery in Pakistan are from Italy. Pakistani entrepreneurs must endeavour to export higher value-added textile products of the required quality to Italy.

The local availability of cotton is running short of the requirements of the textile industry by about 3 million bales which is met by imports of cotton.  According to manufacturers the cost of production in Pakistan has increased by 300% since 2004. In order to facilitate textile exports from Pakistan to E.U. duty structure needs to be reconsidered by the E.U.

ACIMIT is in a best position to play a leading role in the transfer of modern technology to Pakistan. By utilizing modern techniques and modern machines, Pakistani industrialists can achieve progress in product diversification, product designing and developing brands.

Mr. Shamsi urged ACIMIT to consider establishing textile training institutes or collaborating with the existing institutes in Pakistan to improve the knowledge base in the industry.

Address by Mr. Iqbal Ibrahim, Vice-chairman of APTMA

We are grateful that Italian textile machinery manufacturers are visiting Pakistan at a time when the textile products from Pakistan are no longer competitive in the international export market. As is well-known that textile industry plays an important role in the economy of Pakistan. It contributes about 64% to the total exports from Pakistan and is therefore a major foreign exchange earner. It accounts for about 11% of the GDP and provides 40% of the employment in the industrial sector. Since the announcement of Textile Vision -2005 policy by the Government of Pakistan in 2000 major changes have occurred in the textile trade. Global free trade regime (WTO) commenced on 1st January, 2005.

Migration and relocation of textile industry from West to East has been witnessed. The textile industry of Pakistan has failed to adjust itself to the global changes and has not learnt from the experiences of the Italian industry. We have by and large concentrated on cheap, low quality production without focusing on value-addition. The initiative of ACIMIT is welcome because it is based on scientific procedure for technology transfer to Pakistan.

The dyeing, printing and finishing sectors have been evaluated and now the Italian experts and Pakistani industrialists will participate in a workshop at the end of the seminar to decide what type technology and modern machines are needed for the textile industry of Pakistan in order to improve its performance. Pakistani industrialists will learn how to be more efficient, add value, reduce costs, improve quality and export more.

Presentation by Giovanni Sommariva, Pakistan’s Textile Finishing Industry

Mr. Sommariva has been associated with the textile industry since 1965.  As a professional and textile expert he shares  his vast knowledge with mill managers, technicians, engineers and textile technologists in order to help them to solve their problems.Mr. Sommariva visited 13 companies in the finishing sector of the textile industry of Pakistan from 22nd to 30th of March, 2007. The status of these companies was evaluated by technological check-up and interviews. The technology level in different process stages and suggestions for the improvement of production efficiency and product quality are offered in the from of S.W.O.T (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.) analysis as follows:

Strengths

v     Huge local production of cotton.

v     Sufficient man-power.

v     Low Labour and reasonable energy costs.

v     Trained and skilled technicians as well as open-minded and motivated managers.

v     Production is generally organized in the form of large lots.

v     Owners and top managers are effective decision makers and keen to invest in new technologies.

v     Textile Institutes and universities produce trained textile graduates and diploma holders and meet the requirements of the textile industry.

Weaknesses 

v     Finishing of products is carried out mainly by mechanical treatments. New chemical, heat-setting and coating techniques are rarely used.

v     In general, the companies face problems in layout of machines due to lack of floor space. The flow of production is not straight. The u-turns in production flow affects production efficiency.

v     The process and product control is inefficient and process automation is generally lacking.

v     Production flexibility is low and energy recovery does not receive serious attention.

v     The textile technicians of the companies lack on-the-field experience. At least 6 months practical experience on a dyeing machine and 3 months in the quality control laboratory is essential before employment in the production department.

v     Cluster formation is a modern trend in the textile industry of the world. Clusters of groups of manufacturing companies are well-prepared in handling threats and exploiting opportunities through collaboration and competition. Cluster formation is not receiving enough attention by the textile industry of Pakistan.

Opportunities

v     Formation of clusters by the SME’S to promote collaboration, innovation and competitive ability.

v     Local production of synthetic fibres

v     Increasing discontinuous production in short lots by the use of rope and open-width machines.

v     Product development to support fashion textile industry.

v     Investments in the garment making industry.

Threats

v     Pakistan faces strong competition from neighboring countries e.g. China, India and Bangladesh.

v     Logistics infrastructure within the industrial zones is not very good.

v     The quality of process water is poor and Reverse Osmosis treatment is required.

v     Quickly rising energy and environment costs have made Pakistan less attractive for foreign investors than other countries.

Conclusion

In order to survive in the dyeing and finishing industry it is compulsory to be innovative as well as to use updated technologies. Pakistani industrialists must upgrade their units with new dyeing and finishing machines based on updated technology and process innovation. This will facilitate improvements in product quality, saving in energy and water costs and competition the export market.

Machinery and technology highlights

The product range of CORGHI includes winding machines with 6”, 8” and 10” traverse size and complete with electronically controlled 100% anti-ribbon system and electronic tensioning device. Winding speed is upto 1400 MPM. Soft density packages can be wound on BR SOFTAP machine and filament yarn packages on PW winder. Data storage facility is available on all machines. Pneumatic springs maintain constant tension throughout the winding process from start to the end. Constant length of yarn is wound on each package by means of measuring meters.

ISO certification was achieved by CORGHI recently. CORGHI has 350 employees with a turn over of 100 million Euros.

Corghi is represented in Pakistan by Associated Textile Machinery.

LORIS BELLINI S.P.A. (Mr. Mauro Fassi)

 Loris Bellini was founded in 1949 and manufactures completely automated plants for yarn dyeing, drying both for hanks and cone packages, bumps, warp beams and loose fibres. The latest development is FLEXIBEAM a revolutionary fabric beam dyeing machine, with an exclusive concept of variable loading / constant liquor ratio (1:5).

Loris Bellini also specializes in mercerizing of cotton for shirting, underwear etc. The process flow chart for marcerising and dyeing of yarn in hank form is as follows: 

1.         Reeling from cone to hank (50 ton tension).

2.         Singeing.

3.         Hank mercerising with high caustic concentration.

4.         Hank dyeing.

5.         Drying.

6.         Re-winding from hanks to cones.

Loris Bellini dyeing machines are well-known for lowest running cost and therefore, the investment is easily recovered. The liquor ratio is about 40% lower (1:10) and dye utilisation is from 90 to 95% saving more than 10% dye. Lorris Bellini markets dyeing machines of a very high quality because of the belief that “Bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” 

Loris Bellini is represented in Pakistan by Punto Italiano.

JAEGGLI MECANOTESSILE

Jaeggli Meccanotessile is one of the world’s leading companies specializing in yarn mercerizing technology.  They have launched on the market the latest evolution of Hank mercerizing Machine HL200X equipped with “ Fixed Tanks system suitable to for best and even results with the cotton yarns for improved brilliance, strength, dimensional stability and the dyeing affinity necessary to reach the top quality goal in fashionable and also in traditional high quality textile products.

Jaeggli Mecanotessile is represented in Pakistan by Punto Italiano.

MARIO CROSTA S.R.L (Mr. Adriano Molteni)

Mr. Mario Crosta founded the first Italian textile finishing machines manufacturing company “MARIO CROSTA” in 1925. During 81 years of history MARIO CROSTA has been a pioneer in technology, research and development in the field of fabric finishing.

High quality and precision parts are used and machines are manufactured accurately. The product range includes following machines:

1.         Raising Machines with 20 to 36 raising rollers.

2.         Shearing machines from 1800m.m. to 5400m.m. width.

3.         Ceramic and Carbon Sueding Brushing machines.

4.         Rotary Press.

5.         Decatizing machines.

6.         Combines machines (brushing-pol-rotor-shearing.

7.         Tasssels raising machines with shrinking and steaming machines.

All machines are equipped with automatic electronic controls to produce high quality finishing effects such as raising, shearing, shinning, emerizing etc. 

For protection of fabric seams and control of fabric waste the “O” Zero raising energy point is activated at the passage of the seam. The seams are protected from being damaged by the raising effect.

A new patented system was also developed by MARIO CROSTA in 1995 for seam protection called the SEAM JUMPER.

Mario Crosta is represented in Pakistan by Al-Ameen Trading Corporation.

Stalam (Presented by Mr. Fabio Scotton)

Stalam was established in 1978 and specializes in the development, design and manufacture of Radio Frequency (RF) equipment for drying of textile fibres and yarns. At present more than 1600 Stalam textile RF dryers are in operation in more than 50 countries. Stalam exports about 80% of its production. The power rating of the equipment is in the range of 3 to 250 KW. The Voltage and power supply is regulated as required.

The RF Drying Equipment is based on the principle of Dipolar Vibration. The RF field operates at a speed of 27.12 million HZ, i.e. 27 million times / second. Since molecular water cannot rotate, it will vibrate, reach boiling point and evaporate. The textile products, textiles fibres or yarns will be dried in a short time.

In conventional drying heat transfer is by forced convection. RF drying involves indigenous heating. The rate of evaporation of water can be exactly controlled. The quantity of water to be removed from the textile products can be regulated. The RF drying process does not affect the textile product. Some of the advantages of RF drying are:

1.         High energy efficiency.

2.         Outstanding drying quality.

3.         High operational flexibility.

4.         No problem of contamination.

5.         Working parameters can be controlled accurately according to the requirements.

6.         RF process is not affected by atmospheric conditions.

7.         Minimum conditioning time, improved working conditions and worker friendly process.

8.         Exact residual moisture within +1% can be achieved and there is no yellowing effect on all types of products processed.

9.         RF dried yarn has reduced hairiness and soft handle.

The RF drying equipment is simple, can be installed quickly, is only 2 meters long and therefore, it optimizes floor space. The cleaning and maintenance requirements are low, with low overall running cost. The equipment cost is therefore paid back rapidly.

Some of the machines manufactured and marked by Stalam are given here:

v     The "RF" and "RFA" standard and air assisted conveyorized dryers for all kinds of textile fibres and yarns; the RF series includes the recently upgraded "RF 105 kW" model, which has been so far the highest capacity single-generator textile radio frequency dryer available in the world markets.

v     The "LTRF" and "RFA/S" low to medium drying temperature conveyorized dryers for loose stock, unwound tow/top slivers and yarns in hanks.

v     The "TCRF" thermo-controlled batch type dryers for temperature sensitive yarn packages and tops in bump/bobbin form.

v     The "RF/C" carousel-type radio frequency dryer for yarn package columns.

v     The "RF/T" continuous drying and finishing equipment for woven fabrics.

Stalam is represented in Pakistan by Associated Textile Machinery Enterprises.