Following a challenging year of economic recovery in 2010, the 150-year-old Swiss manufacturer of textile finishing and tire cord production machines, Benninger, which has a global presence and has expanded its activities in the important region of Asia, especially in India and China, is expecting more strenuous demand from the textile finishing sector next year, when ITMA 2011 will be held in Barcelona. ATA Journal and AdsaleATA.com have spoken with the company's CEO, Heinz Michel.

ATA: ATA Journal and AdsaleATA.com
Mr Michel: Heinz Michel, CEO, Benninger

ATA: What have been the changes for Benninger since the market started to recover late last year?

Mr Michel: We had a very difficult 2009, and had implemented a restructuring program, so we're leaner than before now. We have observed that the market rebounded very fast after the crisis. 2010 has been a much better year in terms of turnover, though the finishing sector is not catching up as fast as spinning and weaving because textile finishing is towards the end of the production chain.

The finishing sector has a relatively moderate growth after the financial crisis compared with the other sectors, but we expect next year will be a better year than 2010, because we have got many projects from customers who want to invest. They have built up capacity in weaving; they have the fabrics and would need to finish the fabrics. That's why we expect more customers to invest in finishing.

ATA: What is the most important market for Benninger at the moment?

Mr Michel: To Benninger, the most important market is India. We have a strong position in India. It's a demanding market but it's a market that's expanding not only in textile finishing, but also in other sectors like spinning and weaving. The Indians are investing heavily right now. I think they have a target to be one of the biggest players in textiles.

Other countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan, and even some small textile industries in Europe, are also getting more important. During last year, they (these markets) were very reluctant to invest, but now I can see that they are recovering and have some ideas of how to improve the capacity.

ATA: How about the China market, which is always in the spotlight as a fast-growing market?

Mr Michel: I think in the coming years Chinese companies will be focusing more and more on local business. The buying power of the Chinese is getting better and the quality of the clothes in shops located in the more sophisticated cities like Shanghai is quite high. China knows how to produce good quality products, and the clothes in retail shops are not so cheap nowadays compared with 10 years ago. Our customers in China are supplying to a wide market range and they are looking for high-end machines from Benninger.

ATA: Benninger is going to take part in ITMA Barcelona and ShanghaiTex next year. Could you reveal a little bit about the exhibits, or the direction of the technologies to be highlighted?

Mr Michel: We have invested time and money in different areas of our textile finishing machines to improve the flexibility of our machine concepts as well as the efficiency of our main components. Furthermore we increased the engineering capacity and efforts in the knit line to fulfil the fast growing demands for open width knit finishing ranges. Our focus is in lowering energy, water and chemical consumption. Benninger wants to be at the forefront of the green technology. At ShanghaiTex we will present our Küsters DyePad produced in China mainly for the domestic and Asian market.