The majority shareholding in PFAFF INDUSTRIAL is now with SGSB Group Co. Ltd., China, the company which also holds the majority share in Duerkopp Adler. StitchWorld talks to the Executive Board Members of PFAFF INDUSTRIAL, Friedbert Schulz and Quing Wang, along with Cornelia Mast, Chairwoman Executive Board, to understand the significance of this change.
“There is no culture change, our product quality and integrity as a company remains the same. SGSB is a strong group with a long-term vision, and this takeover has been of bilateral advantage. They have brought us into a profitable zone; and we bring to them our sources, our technological background and our connections in this field,” highlighted Friedbert Schulz. What was quite obvious at PFAFF’s booth at Texprocess is that this merger serves the company well. “What is fantastic is that all the customers that have visited our booth still trust PFAFF. And this is an invaluable capital.” shared Friedbert Schulz.
Contrary to the popular belief that PFAFF INDUSTRIAL mainly deals in automats, the company has a fair share of basic level machines in its range, which are produced in Asia. However, more sophisticated automated machines are being manufactured in Germany. “A good portion of our market is in low wage countries where they are struggling to afford our high-end machines, hence we cater to this region with the standard machines. Yet, even though, we are working in price-sensitive regions like India and Bangladesh,” said Friedbert Schulz. Cornelia Mast reasoned, “We are not a copier, we invest in a lot in R&D and design. So our cost would always remain higher from an extreme low-end manufacturer.
“This takeover has been of bilateral advantage. They have brought us into a profitable zone; and we bring to them our sources, our technological background and our connections in this field.” Friedbert Schulz, Member of Executive Board, PFAFF
More and more European daily newspapers are highlighting the slow but continuous migration of apparel manufacturing back to Europe. The PFAFF booth presented a clear indication to the same by hosting visitors from Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland. Affirmed Friedbert Schulz, “I had a talk with one of the largest European shirt manufacturer, he advocated that for American export it doesn’t make sense to order shirts from China anymore, as transport and logistics wise it comes out to be costlier than Honduras, which also gives better tax benefits to US, and their reaction time is much quicker.”
The motivated management of PFAFF INDUSTRIAL took Texprocess as an opportunity to present its innovative control system for standard industrial sewing machines at the Texprocess, called Smart Seaming, which uses a consumer-type tablet and a downloadable app. The system is capable of controlling an entire standard sewing machine, and offers the customers a range of new opportunities in terms of operation, maintenance, service, remote control, ERP connectivity and evaluation. This system received the Texprocess Innovation Award 2013 of Messe Frankfurt.
PFAFF INDUSTRIAL also had many new sewing and welding solutions at Texprocess developed to cater to the needs of apparel industries as well as non-apparel industries like automotive, filter, environment, protective goods, etc. The 3590 Portal is a large area sewing unit, with sewing area of up to 1200×1000 mm, promising even bigger machine of area 2000×1200 mm in near future. The sophisticated technology, based on PFAFF’s XXL vertical hook and a unique seam-optimizing system provide the highest seam quality and a perfect stitch quality in a multi-directional sewing over the whole sewing area. All complex and decorative stitching options can be mastered with this new PFAFF 3590 Portal.
The PFAFF 8312 CS dual is its ultrasonic welding machine which cuts the edges, seals them and seams a second weld seam as reinforcement in a single operation. It uses two anvil wheels, one for cutting and sealing and the other one to realize the second weld seam; running in sync with each other.
