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Friday, March 29, 2024

An Interview with Mr Christian Straubhaar – Itema at ITMA Asia 2018

Christian Straubhaar: Innovations meant to make its Customers saving money, resources and time: the Itema way to support the industry 
Itema has a rich heritage as a well-known manufacturer of textile technology. Itema is a leading global provider of advanced weaving solutions, including best-in-class weaving machines, spare parts and integrated services. The Company is the only manufacturer in the world to provide the top three weft insertion technologies: rapier, airjet and projectile, with an ample product portfolio and a commitment to continuous innovation and technological advancement of its weaving machines.

Itema guarantees the right weaving machine for any type of woven fabric: from commodity to high-end fashion or industrial fabrics, Itema has the right weaving machine for any application. Weaving machines with the well-known brand name Itema leave the company manufacturing sites in Italy, Switzerland and China every day. Itema has a tradition of almost 200 years with an installed base of over 300,000 weaving machines in operation. A global presence in more than 100 countries ensures a fast and reliable service.

Mr Christian Straubhaar, Itema Group Sales and Marketing Director, during an interview at ITMA Asia in Shanghai with TEXtalks said, “We have a great heritage. Since 2011 we summed up the best features of  Somet, Sultex and Vamatex technology to provide to the market with one single rapier machine, the R9500 and one single Airjet machine, the A9500 – under the brand name Itema. Of course, besides the best know-how from the past, we injected the new machines with fresh and breakthrough innovations. This strategy has been recognized and appreciated by our customers. Since that time we have seen very great results and we have been able to more than double the sales of our weaving machines.”

He said that it is very important to bring innovations in weaving technology. Since a very long time no new innovations were introduced in the industry,  and Itema worked relentlessly to provide the market with never-before-seen and substantial innovations, such as  the brand-new iSAVER™. The new device, featured on the denim dedicated rapier machine R95002denim, allows denim weavers to eliminate the waste selvedge on the left side of the fabric and this leads to a saving of around 6 cms of fabric. This may seem little but overall this makes on average 2.000 euros of savingper machine per year. And there’s much more. You don’t only save money but you also save water and cotton. Savings of around 1.000 kilo of cotton are achievable and since cotton needs a lot of water, the saved water can be used for something else. So, this is not only beneficial for entrepreneurs  but it is good for the planet as well.

Talking about power being a major cost component he said, “We  launched the second generation of our rapier machines. We optimized the main mechanical systems to gather a significant energy saving. And a saving up to 18% is now possible. This feature is also available on the R9500denim Second Generation , so we are not saving only on the left waste selvedge but also on energy consumption. We have worked on Airjet technology to reduce air consumption and our machine is well known in the market in comparison to others for lower air consumption, reduced energy consumption and  for dedicated devices that help reducing the air consumption.”

Not only weaving machines. MyItema, the online portal to purchase OEM spare parts and upgrade kits,  is helping all customers worldwide to order in real time exactly the part they are looking for. User-friendly and interactive, the portal also give the possibility to track shipment details and to keep records of previous orders.Upgrade kits for current and previous machine models (also for Somet, Sulzer and Vamatex) are available and can be easily checked.. We provide five accounts per customer, one per the person in charge of purchasing and four other accounts for anyone else in the company. It’s a smart feature which saves time for a lot of people.”

Highlighting the scope of Itema in Pakistani market he stated, “Pakistan represents one of the leading fabric producing country in the world and is growing fast. The most diffused weaving technology in the country is air-jet but we are experiencing an increasing demand for rapier technology as well. Itema invested in the country with the establishment in 2017 of the state-of-the-art training center ItemaCampus in Lahore , and we are in contact with all the main Pakistani weavers. We believe that with our machines, we can serve this market very well. In 2018 we started important partnership with companies such as  Artistic Fabric Mills, Gul Ahmed and Azgard 9, and this is just a starting point. I am sure that Pakistan will play an even more major role in the worldwide textile industry of the future and Itema is here to support and facilitate this growth. ”

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