The Diversity of Visitors to Our Stand Shows the Success of ITM 2024
Mehmet Özcan, General Manager of Iteks, said: “Turkey’s lack of visa problems provides a great advantage for ITM fairs. Visitors came to our stand from all countries, especially Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Uzbekistan and many other countries. The arrival of visitors from all countries in this region shows that ITM 2024 has reached its goal.”
Representing the world’s leading machinery manufacturers in the dyeing-printing-finishing and technical textile sectors in Turkey, Iteks-İnter Tekstil celebrated its 40th anniversary at ITM 2024. Located in Hall 12, the celebration took place at the Iteks booth and attracted great interest from the managers and visitors of the companies represented by ITEKS. Iteks General Manager Mehmet Özcan, whom we interviewed after the celebration, made evaluations about ITM 2024 Exhibition and textile machinery sector.
During ITM 2024, you celebrated the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Iteks. What would you say about the past 40 years?
I am happy and delighted to have come to these days. This 40-year period has not been an easy one. In 40 years, we have experienced all the economic ups and downs, successes and failures in Turkey and we have carried our company to these days. We were first established as a representative company, and over time we have become a strong team in technical support and service. I think that we have also contributed to this point where the Turkish textile industry has reached. I hope that the next generation after us will lead our company to many more 40 years.
Which areas did the companies represented by Iteks focus on the most at ITM 2024?
The primary issue we focus on is Industry 4.0, which is much talked about but never fully implemented. As a company, we want to have robotic systems in the field of dyeing, printing and finishing machines, which is our field of work. We encourage the companies we work with to carry out R&D studies in this field. There is an efficiency problem in Turkey. For this reason, we emphasise efficiency, economy and recycling with our solution partners, customers and manufacturers. Because what matters is the cost per kilogram of production. We strive to minimise these costs. The issue that we emphasise the most, perhaps the issue that we will be more active in the new periods, is recycling. We will continue to work on both energy recovery and the recovery of waste in the product.
The slogan of ITM 2024 Exhibition this year is ‘Discover the Future’. What are your predictions for the future of the textile industry? How are you preparing for the future as a company?
As a company, we want to hand over the duty to the new generation in our 40th year. For this reason, we train young people both in our management and technical staff. More than half of our staff has been renewed. In addition, we talk about the future of Turkish textile with all our companies abroad and try to transfer ideas by sharing this with our customers working with us.
As in all sectors, the textile machinery sector has been going through an economically turbulent period, especially in recent years. Why is ITM 2024 so important for the sector this year?
2024 is a difficult year not only for Turkey but also for the world textiles. We are alone with the problems we are experiencing in our own country, we are struggling with this. However, do not forget that our textile industry produces not only for Turkey but also for the world. Turkish textile continues to take rapid steps towards becoming a world brand. Therefore, the crises in the world affect our textile sector very seriously. We are discussing the solutions to overcome the crises in the world together. ITM 2024 Exhibition was established in such a period. It has achieved a very important success and reached this point. ITM Exhibitions make a great contribution in shifting the weight of the textile industry to the Turkish market.
Does the fact that the exhibition is organised in Istanbul, which connects Asia and Europe, satisfy you in terms of visitor diversity?
Yes, absolutely. Many exhibitors and visitors from Asian and African countries cannot come to the fairs organised in Europe due to visa problems. Turkey’s lack of visa problems provides a great advantage for ITM exhibitions. Visitors came to our stand from many countries, especially Pakistan, Iran, Egypt and Uzbekistan. The arrival of visitors from all countries in this region shows that ITM 2024 has reached its goal.
How has the industry changed in the last 2 years – since ITM 2022 and how has your company adapted to these changes? Which textile machinery trends are you currently seeing?
There is no big difference in terms of textile machinery. However, the expectations from us and what we are trying to put forward is to reduce water consumption. In dyeing, printing and finishing machines, we focus on solutions that will save energy costs such as water consumption, steam consumption and electricity consumption and we try to offer them. Our new machines attract great interest in this sense.