A New Solution for Athleisure from Mayer & Cie.: MJ 3.2 E
For the circular knitting machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie. this year’s ITMA ended with a satisfactory result. The company exhibited five machines at exhibition.
Benjamin Mayer, Managing Director of Mayer & Cie., and Wolfgang Müller, Head of Sales as well as Preand After Sales met with press representatives at a roundtable. Mayer and Müller shared their views on developments in the circular knitting industry.
The industry leader’s focus was on sporting uses, with one exhibit dedicated yto Mayer & Cie.’s innovative ideas.Digital offerings that Mayer & Cie. put together under the bane knitlink rounded off the presentation. Sharing information about Mayer & Cie, Benjamin Mayer said, “In 2018, we sold 1200 machines and realized a turnover of approximately 110 billion Euros. But there is a decrease in the orders we received in the last 1.5 years. I think this is the case for the entire textile machinery industry.
Since 2018, we have been facing a slight or middle crisis. We will see how ITMA will help us in this process. Many customers want to buy new machines and continue their investments. ” said.
Explaining the reasons for decreasing orders Mayer: “The trade wars between the US and China affect the whole world. Turkey is a large and important market for us. Over the past year had led to volatility in the exchange rate issue in Turkey and our sales declined for 1.5 years, and maybe longer. Nowadays, things are reviving, but the problems we had last year were serious. For example, due to sanctions in Iran, we are currently unable to sell machinery to Iran. We are planning to sell 1200 machines this year and I hope we can achieve this goal.”
Wolfgang Müller said that, “Last year we made a very versatile planning in our machine program and we continue to develop innovations in this fair. This year, we estimate that our export volume will reach approximately 3 billion. We aim to stay in the market by showing presence in every segment.
Although there is no stable growth, improvements will also occur in bed fabrics. We entered the mattress fabric segment in the 1990s and developed 100% woven fabrics.
Over the years, the circular knitting segment will also develop. Today, 50% of circular knitting machines are used in major markets such as North America and Europe. As a machine developing brand, this is an easy process for us to follow and we doubled the long-term targets we set in 2007. In addition, diversity in production is as important as speed. We have an approach that simplifies the decision-making process of customers.”
Müller, gave information about the machines they exhibited at ITMA 2019. In Barcelona Mayer& Cie. exhibited five machines four of which focussed on sport. The new MJ 3.2 E is an electronic single jersey machine that specialises in the production of mesh and body mapping structures, both of which are very much in demand for sports-and athleisure fashion wear.
The OVJA 1.1 EETT’s sports focus is on the manufacture of shoe upper fabrics and sports outwear. It combines double electronics and bidirectional transfer selection and can knit an almost infinite variety of patterns, including hole structures. It can also knit multi-coloured spacer fabrics.
The OVJA 2.4 EM makes a special contribution toward optimal post-sport regeneration. This new member of the OVJA family is the most productive machine in the market fort he manufacture of mattress cover fabrics. An established machine with new features is the Spinit 3.0 E, which Mayer&Cie., exhibited ITMA in Barcelona. The fact that the Spinit 3.0 E now also processes polyester, is capable of a higher working speed and is linked to the knitlink digital platform makes the spinning and knitting machine an even more attractive proposition.
WEFNIT-AN INNOVATION WITH A BRIGHT FUTURE
Mayer & Cie.’s Weftnit machine study demonstrated how a long-established knitting method can be taken forward successfully into the 21st century. In contrast to a conventional circular knitting machine that uses latch needles, the Weftnit, inspired by weft knitting, uses bearded needles. That has advantages in stitch formation, which for one is much more gentle than when latch needles are used.
For another, the stitch structure is finer than that of a conventional circular knitting machine with the same gauge. In addition, Mayer & Cie. expects the bearded needle technology to increase the machine’s production speed.
“Our ITMA machine was initially equipped with 1.6 rather than the planned 3.2 systems and reached a speed of 20 rpm,” said Marcus Mayer, Mayer & Cie.’s technical director. “Yet the advantages of the Weftnit were plain to see – so much so that we were repeatedly asked when the machine would be available.” The answer to this question will have been less to the potential customers’ liking: “Sound development takes time. We will probably not be presenting a production-ready Weftnit 3.2 until the 2023 ITMA.”
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