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Among representatives of A.B. Carter, Inc., Gastonia, NC, are (L-R)
Rag. Piero Nangeroni, Eng. Edmar A. Ferraciolli, Rick Craig, Fred Rankin,
Diego Romero, Henderson Wise and Jay Coggins.
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By Devin Steele
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - The International Exhibition of Textile Machinery (ITMA) trade show, staged here in October, continues to get rave reviews.
"The success of ITMA 2003 is beyond our expectations - halfway through the show we had already taken more solid leads, prospects and actual orders than during the whole of the ITMA exhibitions in Paris (1999) or Milan (1995)," said Mike Viniconis of Argus Fire Control, Charlotte, NC.
Daniele Pellissetti of Savio said that establishing a solid relationship with the show's organizers went a long way in helping to make the event successful for the Italy-based company.
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Bob Titzer (C) of National Textiles, Winston-Salem, NC, visits the
Adaptive Controls booth, manned by Mike Lynch (L), company president,
and Tony Webber, sales director
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"(Representatives of the National Exhibition Centre) even visited Italy to meet potential exhibitors through our trade association, which was excellent and which no other venue organizer has done," he said. "A large part of the success of ITMA 2003 is due to the Organizing Committee and its commitment to developing partnership relationships with exhibitors."
Following are more impressions of the show, the organization, the venue, the city, etc., collected through surveys and post-show interviews, from ITMA exhibitors.
Adaptive Control, based in Charlotte and whose principals live in the UK, was not disappointed with ITMA, even though its stand wasn't in the most ideal location, in Hall 16 - a temporary building tucked inside the horseshoe-shaped collection of halls.
"We invested in a stand and felt we got the response we had anticipated," said Tony Webber, sales director, who is based Charlotte.
"We had arranged many appointments prior to the show and made special invitations to our American clients," he added. "These worked well and the feeling that we were there to support our American clients was interesting. I guess the fact that Adaptive Control is an American company run by two Brits made us a great source for travel information. Several major American textile providers were given presentations at our stand."
A highlight product was the Adaptive Control APC-12, a fully integrated PC touch-screen control system with wireless technology. The wireless "hand-held" control and monitoring system was also well received, as was the "dyehouse-in-your-pocket" concept, Webber said.
The e-Plant Explorer Host system also gained attention, he added.
"The simplicity of use of the control system host and the simple graphics made this a real winner," he said. "Clients want simplicity, a clear precise screen and lots of graphics. These tools can all be used to improve efficiency and productivity."
Adaptive sold its pH Sampleflo 2000, an inline pH monitoring system, off the stand. The company also was given the approval from one U.S. client that it would be continuing to retrofit two more machines at his facility early this year, Webber said.
"We also had many meetings with OEM dyeing machine makers," said Webber, adding that Adaptive's business increased 300 percent in 2003. "The fact that Adaptive Control is non-proprietary and we can use any open components make our system of interest on a global scale. We have established a new agent for South Africa and have an active inquiry for 12 controllers. We discussed agencies in Thailand, China, India and Mexico."
Adaptive is a supplier of controls to Gaston County Dyeing and "this is a significant step forward for both companies," Webber said.
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Harrell Ligon (L) of Lang Ligon & Co. and Hideki Ide of LGL Electronics stand by the company’s new Primo knitting feeder. |
Italy-based LGL Electronics said that most U.S. visitors, though sparse, were "on a mission," according to Harrell Ligon, vice president of Lang Ligon & Co., Greenville, SC, which represents the company.
"While we saw but few English-as-a-first-language visitors, our principals were quite pleased with the quality of visitors and for the first five days, even the quantity was strong," he said. "And this indirectly is good news for us as U.S. and Canadian agents to see that our principals are healthy. "Most U.S. visitors there were gathering information for future steps they were actively planning. We made valuable contacts."
Ligon's biggest surprise about the eight-day event was the number and quality of visitors, he said, with "quality defined as being able to make decisions and the fiscal health to act on them."
LGL's spotlight product was its new Primo knitting feeder, introduced to the world at the International Hosiery Exhibition (IHE) in Charlotte last May. Since then, the product has "matured in market acceptance," Ligon said.
Also, LGL and Sultex showed for the first time the new LGL Jumbo feeder on an L5400 airjet machine running spun polypropylene, which has been a project of some years now in development.
As for Birmingham, Ligon said he found the city easy to get around in and "not any worse than other venues regarding inconveniences of caring for so many people. I think they did a good job of a complex situation. And the 'small' town meant less time spent traveling to and from the hall."
Representatives of Morrison Textile Machinery Co., based in Fort Lawn, SC, said that the company, as many exhibitors, was apprehensive about ITMA going in. But the manufacturer made a great effort to promote itself prior to and during the show, which paid dividends, according to John "Jay" Morrison White Jr., president.
"This is the single most expensive and time-consuming marketing effort for our company, surpassing the marketing costs of any three years proceeding and ITMA added together," he said. "As early as the night before we opened, one of our competitors came by and asked me If I thought this would be the last ITMA held in Europe, because everyone was feeling a huge shift in business to Asia, particularly China. Three of the 'monsters' in textile machinery - Rieter and Saurer from Switzerland and Toyoda from Japan - had chosen to skip the Birmingham show all together."
But those who chose not to exhibit made a mistake, White said.
"With more than 1,300 exhibitors from 44 countries, attracting more than 110,000 visitors from 140 countries, ITMA proved again that it is the premier single event in the textile industry," White said. "China is and will always be a major player in textile world trade, but there were plenty of other companies from all the other continents visiting, planning, learning and buying."
White added that the diversity of the visitors impressed him most.
"We saw every kind of customer - old Morrison customers, old KTM customers and prospects we knew from years back," he said. "But the surprising part was the number of prospects we met that were truly new. We met people from Sweden, Peru, Africa and Brazil that we did not know at all. Pakistan, Turkey and India were very well represented and there were many companies new to us coming in with real projects.
"Yes, and some from the U.S. too, both the big mills we know but also the technical fabric manufacturers we are working to know much better."
Significant interest and positive comments were received regarding Morrison's newly designed SPECTRUM™ Indigo Dye and Wash Boxes for rope and sheet dyeing.
The FCS Process Control introduced the latest technology in control and monitoring of process, including indigo dyeing, integrated denim finishing, compressive shrinking sanforizing, pre-treatment and pad steam dye ranges.
The displayed Micro Saturation for high speed (up to 250 m/min) high wet chemistry and dye applications received tremendous acceptance, with several orders pending for this innovative application in scouring and bleaching, White said.
The SF Rubber Belt Unit demonstrated Morrison's high level of technology offering Digital Controls for precise tension control at the industries highest process speeds for fabric shrinking/sanforizing, he added.
Continued field activity and order bookings following ITMA qualify the company's participation in this event as more successful than recent ITMAs, White said.
Birmingham was "generally stressed" with the size of the show, he added. Transit was jammed much of the time and most amenities and meals were overpriced, he added. "But show organizers did a great job in the face of counterproductive CEMATEX cronies," he said.
Likewise, Tube-Tex, of Lexington, NC, wasn't sure what to expect of the show, but it ended up a big winner, according to the company's Will Motchar.
"The level of interest was very high," he said. "The overwhelming majority of our visitors were senior-level executives and/or owners. They came with specific projects in mind and a general idea of what equipment they needed to purchase. We had good attendance from the U.S. as well. Several customers such as National Textiles, Russell and Quaker Fabrics brought multiple personnel."
Motchar added that he was most surprised by the number of visitors from Syria and the number of new machinery manufacturers, mostly Asian.
Tube-Tex, which owns Marshall & Williams, Greenville, SC, did place some orders on the floor, Motchar said.
"We sold two of our machines that were on the booth, one to Turkey and one to Greece," he said.
Among highlight products was brushing equipment for both woven and knit fabrics, infrared pre-dryers and compactors.
Motchar said he was impressed with the NEC complex, but traveling to an fro was nightmarish and expensive.
The exhibition also surpassed the expectations of Lawson-Hemphill, according to co-principal Mike Honeycutt.
"Most people attending our booth were very interested in what we were showing," said Honeycutt, whose company is based and Spartanburg, SC, and Central Falls, RI. "It was an ITMA that the people showed genuine interest and were not in a hurry. The Americans attending were positively impressed and had an upbeat feeling about their particular niche in the textile industry."
The company, which specializes in testing equipment, placed two orders during the show, he added.
"One was completed after more than two years working with the company," he said. "The president came and spent more than an hour with us to complete the sale. This was the sale of our Draw Force Tester and Knitter."
Lawson-Hemphill's Hot Draw Knitter/Draw Force tester also was of great interest, he said.
"This was the first time this combination of testing had ever been shown," he said. "Everyone was impressed with the ability to combine at least two tests into one instrument. It saves on price, labor and produces more accurate results than anything on the market for all types of stretch yarns."
The company's biggest surprise was the attendance, especially since Rieter and Saurer scratched its plans to exhibit, Honeycutt said, adding however that booths were often difficult to locate even with a map.
"There were many complaints from people saying they could not find our booth without walking around searching for long periods of time," he said.
The show also exceeded expectations of the West Point, GA, company, according to Sharron Hill Farrar.
"ITMA 2003 was a success to West Point," she said. "The number of leads generated from visitors has given us a good direction for the upcoming year. Our booth location was OK and traffic was good.
"Visitors to our booth came for a reason, and we were there to show them the newest technology we had available."
Gaining the most attention was WestPoint's denim preparation and corduroy cutting machines, Farrar said.
Editor's note: More ITMA reviews are forthcoming in subsequent editions. If you have yet to respond to surveys sent out by e-mail, or did not receive one, please send e-mails to editor@textilenews.com.
