Four days of GTE ’17 and four days of technology, innovation, opportunities, demands, value-addition and much more… Over the years, many technology providers have been displaying new technologies and innovation providing the industry with labour- and time-saving machines or solutions that would benefit the company with increased profit. Besides, another distinguished part of the GTE are the ‘complete solution providers’ that serve the industry in keeping pace with the industry demands.
The garment manufacturing and exports industry has been going through a lean patch for a long time not only due to the slowdown in both the US and the EU, but also due to the changing customer needs towards travel, food and possession of electronic gadgets. And the latest to impact India was demonetization, according to Bharath, Director, Mehala Machine India. However, he is still positive of good orders in the current financial year due to the serious enquiries he has been receiving for the past months now. He states, “The trend is changing now. Customers are now more focused towards labour saving. The ultimate way to achieve this is automation, otherwise, it would not be possible.” Similar views were expressed by Akshay Sharma, CEO, Magnum Resources, who shared, “Companies today need to increase the productivity, quality and reduced manpower, for which automation is the key. We too believe in automation. That’s why we have brought under our umbrella the global leaders in sewing, cutting and finishing technology,” adding, “Not only empowering export houses, we also want domestic players in the market to get adaptive to the new technologies and automation. That’s why we are also focusing on the potential domestic market.”
Mehala Machine India has made its own mark in the apparel industry because of its customized solutions adhering to customer requirements and after-sales support. With a strong focus on maintaining long-term relationship with the clients and generating active solutions on timely basis, the company has become quite adept at the changes happening in the industry and has moulded itself to the evolving needs of existing customers and new customers. With 17 offices and over 400 sub-dealers nationwide, Mehala is a distribution partner to companies like Duerkopp Adler, PFAFF Industrial, Siruba and Macpi.
The major highlight at the company’s booth at GTE was its in-house brand Orbito projector-based cut piece pick up system. “It is a projector assisted pick up system of cut parts, so that there is no mixing up of parts and mistakes can be avoided,” avers Bharath. Another attraction was Siruba elastic ring making machine.
Even manufacturers like Magnum Resources Pvt. Ltd. have shown the potential to keep pace with the latest requirements of the Indian apparel industry with an array of machines from Eastman, Brother, SIP Italy, Sakho, Martin Group, Pegasus and Zoje. Working on the phenomenon of ‘Continuous Improvement’ and ‘Mechanized Processes’ which lead the path for automation as discussed earlier, Magnum Resources now provides a complete range of machines used in apparel and home furnishing. Of course with the added advantage of being a part of one of the leading retail industries in India, it was seen displaying several interesting machines catering to the latest product categories in this growing technical textiles sector at GTE ’17. The three products which attracted the most attention this time at GTE were the SIP Italy range of special machines for denim jeans, Eastman automatic spreading machine and Brother 7300 DigiFlex Technology with IoT. The SIP Italy range of machines use Brother heads which are specially designed and assembled in Japan and Italy. The Eastman ES-660 spreader can handle different type of fabrics with power consumption at less than 1.6 kW which shows its emphasis on sustainability. Brother demonstrated the IoT concept in Brother 7300 with high-tech progression at the back of its mind and this will be introduced in the market after six months. Synchronized with Wi-Fi, it will enable to track real time production data even in remote locations. This proves that quality, accuracy and precision are of prime importance to this company apart from saving of resources.
Among the few technology suppliers who had a comprehensive range of technology to offer, IIGM was one of the most sought after stalls at the GTE Delhi fair. IIGM can also be counted among the handful of professionally run solution providers with 35 years old history of serving the apparel manufacturing industry in India with new and evolving technology.
Representing companies like Juki, GSD, Eton, Jack, Yamato, to name a few, IIGM, with its core philosophy of ‘customer satisfaction’, has 15 offices across the country employing over 500 professionals who work diligently to satisfy its clients base. Raghav Sharma, Director, IIGM says, “Excellent after-sales service and zero complaints are our motto. IIGM has always been strong in customer service and our target is to take customer relationship to the next level.”
IIGM has warehouses all over India to facilitate a quick customer service when needed. The company showcased a complete range of solutions catering to all segments such as apparel, leather and denim at the fair. “With many small clusters mushrooming up in India like North-East, Jharkhand, Orissa, we see a number of opportunities coming through in the future. And we are gearing up for the same,” concludes Raghav.
