After a successful JIAM show, the year 2013 is gearing up to host two technology events – CISMA in China and Texprocess in Germany. With the market conditions so slow, many in the industry are questioning the prudence of holding two mega technology events in the same year. However, the organizers of the shows are very confident that there is no clash point with each show having its USP which is distinct. While CISMA is focused on the Chinese market and is more or less the show for dealers, Texprocess is more concentrated on latest developments or innovations, providing a technology platform at a broader level. Further, while visitors at CISMA are mostly garment manufacturers from China mainland and south eastern countries, Texprocess gets its visitors from Europe and East European countries.
For CISMA, which has been happening for some time now and Texprocess, which premiered last year, clashing in the same year is a co-incidence because the latter has been conceptualized to be held parallel with Techtextil as both these shows have a lot of synergies. Techtextil is held after every two years which was already scheduled for 2013, hence Texprocess is being held simultaneously. In a freewheeling discussion with StitchWorld, the organizers of the mega events share what gives them the confidence to go ahead…
All the signs indicate that Texprocess, a leading international trade fair for processing textile and flexible materials, scheduled to be held in Frankfurt from 10 to 13 June 2013, will be a complete success. With almost a year left, over 60% of exhibition space has already been sold and the market leaders are on board. Moreover, numerous international companies from all parts of the textile-processing chain have also signed up to take part for the first time. With a re-vamped sourcing platform concept and themes including sustainability, Stefan Seitz, Brand Manager, Texprocess is very upbeat of the upcoming fair…
What is special at Texprocess 2013?
The highlight of the show will be the IT area located in a high-profile position in Hall No. 4.0 with a new name, IT@Texprocess. This concept will help in providing successful solutions for the fashion industry. Other concepts to look out for include sustainability which is attracting more and more people. Since energy prices are a big issue especially in Europe and the consumption of the same by machines is still very high, exhibitors need to showcase machines which use lower consumption and produce better efficiencies.
In addition to processing technology at Texprocess, trade visitors from the fashion industry will also be able to find out about ‘functional apparel textiles’ at Techtextil. There is a strong synergy between both the fairs held simultaneously as Techtextil provides an additional opportunity for machine manufactures to showcase their heavy duty machinery for technical appliances as well as for the apparel sector.
What type of visitors are you looking for at Texprocess this time?
We believe that Texprocess is the most innovative fair of its sector and we promote the fair internationally which is also the reason why we are present here in JIAM. While one can see the standard mass technology for the Asian market in the Chinese show, at Texprocess one can see national and international innovation as it is an innovative-driven trade fair for the industry. At the debut show we had more than 50% of international visitors coming from European, South America and Asian countries, and to maintain and increase that level we will definitely strengthen our promotional activities towards India, South East Asia and western hemisphere including America as well.
What is your strategy to attract maximum visitor from various countries to Texprocess?
As far as I know already various companies from Texprocess have invited their key players and made travel arrangements for them. Apart from this, we have started a program called ‘Texprocess Upgrade’ where we will offer regular entrance vouchers and besides that we have added some special features to make it more effective for people to come to the fair from designated groups which we think are important for the fair. But we still think if you are in the industry and you would like to know where the industry is going and what the future is going to be, then you should automatically visit the fair, though it is smaller than the Chinese fair.
What is the positioning of ‘Source IT’ in 2013?
We will continue with the concept and to increase more visitor traffic the first step will be to move ‘Source IT’ to Hall No. 5 where all the sewing machines will be placed. We will focus more on participation from national pavilions and national institutions so that the export promotion agencies of the country itself promotes the country as a sourcing base. Additionally, the ‘i-tex’ apparel sourcing system enables representatives from contract manufacturers and apparel labels to get in touch online before the fair, and to make optimum preparations for the fair. Secondly, we will also find the right kind of contract manufacturers to exhibit their capacities and try and incorporate their ideas to make the sourcing platform a successful event.
Preparations for CISMA 2013, scheduled to be held from 25-28 September 2013, are underway. He Ye, Chairman of China Sewing Machinery Association shares why it is ‘a must’ visit for Asian manufacturers…
What new can visitors expect this coming CISMA?
The focus is on making it different from the last show by increasing quality of participation and giving it an international appeal. There will be greater emphasis on automation and smart technology as nowadays China is facing very serious problem of lack of labour resource affecting the productivity of the whole apparel factory. Secondly, we are working on improving the service levels at the fair. We are trying to put the show online, so we will change the means to access the exhibition, may be next year you can download the fair information on your cell phone.
How is the world economic slowdown impacting the sewing machine manufacturing industry and what is the strategy moving forward?
China is the manufacturing centre for machinery and will remain so for quite some time in future also, as I don’t think other countries can substitute China in machinery in the near future. Yet, the changing economic order has made us rethink and today the Chinese manufacturing is moving up the value chain and we are working on a new strategy whereby there is a transformation from ‘expansion without profit’ to ‘profit without expansion’ namely by moving from ‘making profit quickly’ to ‘making profits steadily’ and from ‘imitated’ development to ‘independent innovation’. This is only possible if we concentrate on ‘differentiation strategy’ as against ‘low added value from the lower end of the industry chain. This change in attitude is reflected in the 291 patents that were authorized in 2011 of which 77% was from enterprises that are domestically funded.
We have seen an increase in output value of 17% even under significant pressure and with this increase the rising wages is only incidental and not determining.
[bleft]The fair will greatly emphasize on automation and smart technology as China is facing very serious problem of lack of labour resource. Working on improving the service levels at the fair will also be introduced and soon one will be able to download the fair information on cell phone.[/bleft]
Is garment production shifting from China?
China as a manufacturing base has many advantages over other countries. Besides having huge capacities we have a complete chain of inputs to produce garments, which serves as the other advantage. Because the cost of the labour and other input costs are going up, many factories are shifting base to low-cost South East Asian countries. The products which have shifted out are very basic products and not those that require higher technologies. So the competition is still there and also it is important to remember that other countries may have cheaper labour, but they don’t have skilled workers like China does. China is doing more value-added products now for which more automated and flexible machines are required, whereas the low wage countries will require our basic machines. For both the categories, CISMA is an ideal place to identify all kinds of technologies, so the fair will continue to attract visitors. It is like a chain reaction.
How do you wish to present CISMA to the world?
Even though we do not have offices all over the world to promote CISMA, but we are very much in contact with our participants, who are also our partners in promotion since they have offices in all parts of the world and they help us to reach out to our visitors. Besides that, a lot many advertisements and marketing activities are undertaken by us including road shows.
