Our Upgrade Kit for OV 3.2 and D4 3.2 Machines was Very Well Received in Turkiye

Interview: Dilek Hayırlı

“China, Turkey and India have long been among our most important markets. Uzbekistan has also been one of our most important markets for several years. We also see great potential in Bangladesh and hope to re-establish this market in 2025,” said Stefan Bühler, Regional Sales Manager at Mayer & Cie.

Stefan Bühler, Area Sales Manager at Mayer & Cie., one of the leading manufacturers of circular knitting machines, and Kerem Öğretmen, the second-generation family member at Mayer Mümessillik, the Turkish Mayer & Cie. representative, answered our questions for our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. Assessing Mayer & Cie.’s performance in 2024, Bühler and Öğretmen shared important information about opportunities in Turkey, innovative products and future investments. The interview also discussed Mayer & Cie.’s roadmap regarding the hottest topics in the sector, such as digitalization, artificial intelligence and sustainability.

“We Proudly Produced and Shipped Our First MR-11 Equipped with 48 Carriers” 

First of all, how was the year 2024 for your company? Can you evaluate your production volume, export figures, employment numbers and export markets?

Stefan Bühler: Mayer & Cie. faced a lot of challenges last year like most of the companies in the textile and also other businesses did. Therefore, the current position of Mayer & Cie. is more or less the same in comparison to our competitors. Of course, the whole industry is waiting for a sustainable recovery to improve the overall economic situation. Till then our roadmap is to adapt as fast as possible to an ever faster changing world.

Nevertheless, we kept up our R & D efforts up and brought our development projects to series production readiness. This applies to our new high-speed Interlock machine D4-4.4, our optical defect detection system knithawk as well as Control 5.0 and knitlink. The latter is our hub for all information and services relating to circular knitting machines. In our braiding business unit, we proudly produced and shipped our first MR-11 equipped with 48 carriers.

To your question on export markets: China, Turkiye and India have long been our most important markets. Uzbekistan has been one of our top markets for several years, too. We also see a lot of potential in Bangladesh and hope that we will be able to regain ground here in 2025.

Turkiye is an important market for the textile machinery sector. What kind of strategy do you follow as Mayer & Cie. in your activities in Turkiye? What opportunities do you see in the textile sector in Turkiye?

Kerem Öğretmen: Turkiye underwent a difficult year 2024, too. It remains to be seen whether the measures to curb inflation will bear fruit and provide a reliable framework for economic development in Turkiye. This will be crucial for future development in order to regain the confidence of international investors and the Turkish economy.

In December, the key interest rate was lowered slightly, from 47.1 to 44.3 percent. This gives hope that a positive change is imminent.

Apart from this overall situation, our upgrade kit for OV 3.2 and D4 3.2 machines was very well received in Turkiye. With our upgrade kits, customers can further develop and secure the strengths of their circular knitting machine. This ultimately also ensures the sustainability of a machine.

For the future, we expect smart and sustainable solutions such as knithawk to meet Turkish customers’ demands.

“Quality will Remain on the Top of Our Agenda”

Mayer & Cie. is transforming quality control in the sector with innovative solutions such as knithawk. Apart from this technology, what new products or developments do you plan to introduce to the market in the future? What is your innovation strategy, especially in fabric production and knitting machines?

Stefan Bühler: For the future, quality will remain on the top of our agenda. This makes our machines stand out for their durability and production consistency. Rising energy costs and high labour costs make German products more expensive, so we need to rely on our engineering and digital innovations to maintain a balance between quality and affordability.

The textile machinery sector has been changing rapidly in recent years. How does Mayer & Cie. evaluate this change and what predictions can you share about future trends in the sector? What is the direction, especially in terms of sustainability and efficiency?

Stefan Bühler: Of course, sustainability and digitisation are top of our agenda. In terms of sustainability, we have further improved our Relanit 3.2 HS II in that respect. The relative technology in combination with the newly developed spring sinker technology offers the greatest advantages in terms of a further reduction in energy consumption and CO2 footprint. The same applies to the longer service life of the knitting elements with the known best fabric quality.

Sustainability is a topic that is closely interwoven with digitalization, because it enables us to work more efficiently and thus conserve resources. Let’s take knithawk as an example: The tool for optical defect detection stops the single jersey machine immediately in the event of a knitting error – and not only after many meters of fabric have been knitted and therefore a lot of material has been processed unnecessarily.

Then there’s Senso Blue RS, Mayer & Cie.‘s machine-integrated lubrication and needle oil recycling system. It reduces needle oil consumption by up to 20 percent. Combined with a recycling rate of up to 40 percent, the total oil consumption can be reduced by up to 50 percent – compared to presently available lubrication systems.

What steps are you taking as Mayer & Cie. regarding the integration of technologies such as digitalization and artificial intelligence in knitting machines and production processes? What do you think about the short- and long-term effects of this transformation?

Stefan Bühler: As far as artificial intelligence is concerned, we see great potential in production and the further improvement of our processes. For example, consider needle bed inspections: so far, this has been a manual 100% inspection—very time-consuming and demanding. Thanks to modern measuring technology with AI and image recognition, automated solutions are now available that are faster, more precise, and less reliant on personnel availability. The cam box process can also be automated. Parts are measured, inspected, assembled, and labelled in a cell using robots, using advanced sensors, and AI-enabled cameras.

“We Increase Our Own Productivity by Investing in State-of-the-Art Production Machinery”

Mayer & Cie. is making investments, especially in advanced production processes. In this context, what investment plans and strategic moves are you focusing on that will make the company more competitive in the coming years?

Stefan Bühler: A few years ago, we introduced a new laser hardening process for our cylinders and rib dials. This ensures a yet more even quality of these key components. Furthermore, we invested in the latest machinary for drilling, milling, turning, grinding and gear cutting, all on one machine.

By investing in state-of-the-art production machinery, we are increasing the efficiency of our own processes and thus their sustainability.

What is your foresight about future workforce needs in the face of increasing automation and digitalization trends in the textile machinery industry? What kind of changes will new technologies cause in the skill sets of operators?

Stefan Bühler: New technologies, such as increasing automation and digitalization, will significantly reshape the skill sets required for machine operators. While traditional hands-on expertise will remain important, operators will need to adapt to more digitally-driven workflows. With smart interfaces, remote monitoring, and predictive maintenance becoming standard, operators will need to become more proficient in handling such process. As automation takes over repetitive tasks, the role of the operator will shift towards monitoring, adjusting, and optimizing production processes rather than manual intervention.

With our new machine control generation Control 5.0 we want to give our customers the opportunity to design this transition individually. There’s the SmartControl option, which means full access from remote via tablet – for the knitting mill manager, for instance – and limited access from the machine itself via SmartKnobs. Customers who appreciate full access to Control 5.0 in one single place – and for an operator with the above-mentioned skills – can opt for ClassicControl.

How do you collect customer feedback as Mayer & Cie. and integrate it into your product development processes?

Stefan Bühler: With Mayer Mümessillik, our long-standing Turkish representative, our customers in the region are ideally positioned. Our local team is in close contact with their customers, collecting their feedback first hand. Mayer Mümessillik replaced their old paper-based follow-up system with a new database. All technicians work with this system that has shortened evaluation processes significantly. It makes the whole service process more efficient and transparent.

What are your expectations for the textile machinery sector in 2025?

Kerem Öğretmen: We expect 2025 to be another challenging year. Long-term Covid-19 effects, a war right at our doorstep, fresh memory of high inflation rates … We could easily continue this list. Domestically, we are facing high energy costs and the requirements of the transition to a CO2-neutral economy. In addition, German companies – just like Europe-based companies in general – are increasingly confronted with protectionist tendencies and growing competition from emerging economies on the global markets.

Thus, we have planned the year cautiously. However, and that’s another lesson learnt in the past five years, the situation can change overnight.