Stoll Focuses on Price-Performance Ratio in Its New Machines

Regional Sales Manager Lutz Vogel joined the ITM 2022 to exchange ideas with his customers.

We interviewed Lutz Vogel, Stoll Regional Sales Manager of the Karl Mayer Group, for the ‘German Textile Machinery Industry Special Issue’ of our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. Vogel, where we talked about the developments in the knitting machinery sector, Stoll’s newest technologies, targets and expectations for 2023, “Regarding new technologies, please be surprised at ITMA, which will take place in June,” made the statement. The highlights of the interview are:

“Keywords: Digital Collection Development and Product Individualization”

We are currently seeing that sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important. On the one hand, this concerns the processes and also the yarns that can be used, but on the other hand, it also concerns the service life of our machines and the possibility of always keeping them at the current technical level. This is also closely related to the topics of “machine networking” and “Industry 4.0”, which are all about increasing the effectiveness and productivity of the entire machine park.

In general, the topic of software is becoming more and more important. Keywords here are “digital collection development” and “product individualization”. We serve the requirements from this with our extensive software packages, and we offer our customers complete solutions together with service and spare parts sales.

“We focused on price-performance ratio and customer benefits on our new machines”

In recent years, we have primarily focused on the price-performance ratio of our machines and the corresponding customer benefits when developing new machines. With the BMS 52 ki, we have launched an attractive model for the commodity market that is fully integrated into the Stoll software world and can take advantage of all the corresponding benefits. In addition, we have continuously provided our established machines with numerous customer-oriented updates and optimizations that increase productivity and significantly enhance customer benefits.

In addition, with Stoll-knitrobotic® we offer the possibility of automating process steps that usually occur after knitting directly on the machine. This enables significant time and cost savings. We have also received a very positive response to the Create patterning software introduced last year, which has a modular and open structure. It significantly simplifies and accelerates the program creation process and can be easily integrated into customer-specific 3D workflows.

“We also see the potential to break down the previous limits of flat knitting technology”
One of our key principles is the claim to supply our customers with machines that offer maximum flexibility. This enables us to achieve high machine utilization rates even under rapidly changing market conditions.

In this context, it is also important to consider not only the individual machine, but the system of many machines that must be operated efficiently. New technological possibilities, e.g. from the fields of artificial intelligence and automation, will be able to be applied here in the future.

In addition, as part of the Karl Mayer Group, we also see the potential to break down the previous limits of flat knitting technology and to open up new types of possibilities.

Stoll will use the experience of now 150 years to advance these topics in the coming years.

“Our Most Important Markets; Turkey, Bangladesh and Italy”

Our most important markets are the classic textile manufacturing countries, Turkey, Bangladesh, Italy and in the Far East. However, markets such as Germany – where we are leaders in machinery to produce technical textiles – or North and South America with many opportunities for us are also important. We are also always looking very carefully at Africa. This market has great potential in principle but is still somehow dormant. We have a strong position there, sell successfully, and are convinced that we can develop the business positively in the long term.

“Our Sales Team Carries Out Permanent Market Analysis”

The experience of the past two years in particular has prompted our customers to constantly search for new production sites where they can produce even more effectively or reduce the risks in the supply chain. Proximity to the sales markets (consumers) is also playing an increasingly important role, which is also driven by the demands for sustainability. It is clearly noticeable that textile production is slowly but surely shifting more towards the consumers again.

Our very broadly based sales team also carries out permanent market analyses together with colleagues from the other Business Units of the Karl Mayer Group in order to identify trends at an early stage and to play an active role in shaping them.

“Our hearts are with the earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria”

We want to further expand our market position with innovative products. As an integral part of the Karl Mayer Group and together with our worldwide partners, we have a strong team that is ready to meet the challenges of the coming years. Regarding new technologies, please be surprised at ITMA, which will take place in June. We are very happy to welcome all our customers there and wish peace and health to the whole world. At the beginning of this year, we were saddened to learn of the severe earthquake in Turkey and Syria. We have many clients there and feel with them in the tragic aftermath.

Interview: Dilek Hayırlı