At the onset technology providers unanimously agree that the global market has been slow, negatively affecting their business. But now there seems to be a renewed interest in the knitting segment with technology providers of both circular and flat knits very upbeat of the growth opportunities. “We see rising enquiries for high-end technology,” says James Wang, President, Pai Lung, a 35 years old Taiwanese knitting machine manufacturer. The company produces almost 2000 knitting machines every year, both flat and circular knit.
Andreas von Bismarck, Managing Partner of German machine manufacturer Terrot exemplifies, “India is at a turning point, the same as was in Turkey a few years back before the crises. In Istanbul, there were lot of knitters making the same old fashioned knits but as the crisis escalated, they had to differentiate their product to compete. Similarly, the competition and economic crisis of today is expected to push India to the next level. We already have a few customers here who are doing specialized fabrics in knits.” The market for Rajul Y Shah of Maleka Polycot, Ahmedabad offering circular knitting machine of Fukahama, Taiwan has also picked up in the last 3 months. “2013 is going to be a good year,” anticipates Shah.
In the meanwhile, Gianni Zamarco, Area Sales Manager from Steiger, an Italian company offering flat knit machines, foresees a future of 30-40% market share in India for his company. According to him the entire subcontinent is growing in quality. Now that the company has become a part of huge Cixing Group, positive results with new range of products is expected. “Even Bangladesh is adapting more and more new technologies and gradually substituting hand flat knitting with computerized machines. I am sure there is growing opportunities for our standard range of machines like our Gemini to more sophisticated ones like the new ‘RS’,” says Zamarco.
Cixing Vice-President, Johnny Lee, endorsing Zamarco’s optimism adds, “Flat knitting technologies may have been limited to Ludhiana (India) in the past, but new enquiries are coming up from other centres also. People are becoming more aware that for high-end garments they have to move to flat knits. ColorPlus, the famous brand from the Raymond Group is having 80% of their male T-shirt range in flat knits. If the big brands are moving towards flat knits, the manufacturers will have to follow. In fact, of late the domestic market has been driving a lot of growth.”
Marcus Mayer, Managing Partner, Mayer & Cie, which has been working in India for over 10 years and enjoys a 20% market share in the country, feels that the Indian market is now ready to expand the applications in knits from just T-shirts to areas like mattresses also. “We have been offering a mattress ticking machine for mattress covering, which is washable and a rage in Europe. The market is showing interest in this machine,” says Marcus.
James Wang defines versatility and customization as the edge that Pai Lung enjoys in the Indian market. “Pai Lung’s strength is that it is a 100% made to order company. “We are involved in 80 different models, diameter wise from 4 inches to 64 inches, coarse gauge of 4 to 6 to finer gauge of 50-60, and offer our customers choices up to 1,92,000 configurations. We can also run our machine with stainless steel fibre, so it can be used for car industries,” says Wang.
Steiger is very confident that they have the right technology to woo the Indian market. “Our technologies are peculiar of the Indian market, they offer the possibility to knit interesting and complicated patterns with many colours, thanks to our motorized feeder technology which gives 30-50% more productivity,” says Johnny Lee, who rates his company far ahead of the competition. “After the acquisition of Steiger, we have become biggest knitting machine manufacturers out of China. The R&D of Steiger and Cixing has also been merged and now we are offering machines with European quality at slightly higher than the standard Chinese prices,” he adds.
Even if the best of technology is not supported by adequate after-sales-service and technical assistance, the industry is apprehensive in investing. Encouragingly, all the technology providers claim to be well geared up for the challenge. While Steiger provides full after-sales-service from Italy, both in terms of technical assistance and training, Mayer & Cie credit their suppliers for the service. “We are together with Batliboi since almost 40 years and they are doing a good job for us. They have service stations all around India. They setup the machine with the customer then provide training and problem solving. Also technicians from Batliboi visit our German facility once or twice a year and bring back solutions,” says Marcus.
KP Exim, the Indian vendor for Cixing has recently invested in putting up a well-equipped showroom for Cixing in Ludhiana, in 3700 sq metres. It includes the training centre, maintenance facility and storage.
Many companies eyeing India with economical machines
Like many other segments in the Indian market, knitting too has seen the advent of Chinese options, which are fast picking up in the country. Among them Young Knit, China has been in India for the last five years with Shrutex Overseas, Panipat and claims to be doing good business. “The market for our circular knitting machines is picking up in smaller centres and very recently we have supplied 29 machines to Golden International, Panipat,” informs Andy Lin, Sales Director, Youngknit.
In the meanwhile, Zhenlihua Industry & Trade of China, a 12 years old manufacturer of circular knitting machines, has just entered the international market and is very hopeful about India. “India is a new market for us but we are very hopeful for good orders from India as we produce high quality low cost circular knitting machines and Indian customers always prefer these kinds of machines. Indotex India, Gurgaon is the Indian representative of the company,” informs Andrew Zhang, Export Manager International Department at Zhenlihua.
In the same track Chang Shu Guosheng Knitting Machine Mfg. Co., manufacturing computerized flat knitting machines has just entered the Indian market about six months ago with its Indian agent Arora International, Ludhiana. “Our machine is more efficient in production and easy to handle than other comparable machines, as it can produce lace pattern and heavy jacquard easily,” claims Tan Jingshuang of the International Business Department. The company is also exporting machines to Bangladesh, Indonesia and Cambodia.
Other options in the market include knitting machines on offer by Narinder International, Ludhiana which has circular knitting machine of Senher Precision Machinery, Taiwan and computerized flat & jacquard knitting machine of Kauo Heng Precision Machinery, Taiwan. For those who believe in indigenously manufactured machines, Omex brand of Ludhiana is a popular option with its semi-computerized flatbed knitting machines. “Cost is the factor in our favour, for basic work our machines have no challenges as our range starts from Rs. 3 lakhs; fully computerized options are almost three times more expensive. We have also introduced zero wastage machine which saves yarn during the sleeve making process as the sleeve automatically takes shape,” informs Jagvinder Singh of Omex Mechanical Works, Ludhiana.
Maharashtra and Gujarat are future growth markets
Although many players are looking for markets all over India, few are targeting specific areas for growth. Zhejiang Tying, flat knitting machine’s Indian representative Deep Machinery Works is particularly targeting the western part of the country. “Mumbai is an emerging market for us so we are planning to appoint sub dealers in Mumbai and Gujarat. Our machine is new for Mumbai, which is using mostly local made power flat mainly for collar making, but our machine is fully computerized fashion knitting which can make full garment with pocket, raglan etc. Further, the competition in circular knitting based products is on the increase in Mumbai and margins are less so the products made of flat knit are the new option for this market and people are going for this,” says Pradeep, representing Deep Machinery Works. The company offers flat knit machines in 8 and 10 gauges.
An important player of circular knits machines Pilotelli is also looking at Maharashtra and Gujarat as a growing market along with south India. “We have been receiving many inquiries from companies in Maharashtra and Gujarat for our sinkerless technology which can be used in our existing machines to upgrade the machine without investing in a new,” says Fabio Vaccari, Sales Manager, Pilotelli. With the use of sinker less technology one can use the heavier GSM fabric in the normal gauge. ATE is the representative of Pilotelli in India.
