“The First Signs of Recovery in 2024 have Emerged from Chinese and Indian Markets”
Interview: Dilek Hayırlı
Thomas Oetterli, CEO of the Rieter Group, said: ” The first signs of a recovery in the 2024 financial year have emerged in the key markets of China and India. We expect demand to increase in the coming months.”
We interviewed with Thomas Oetterli, CEO of Rieter Group, for the special issue of our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine ‘Swiss Textile Machinery Industry’. Stating that sales and order intake decreased in 2023, Oetterli said that they expect an increase in demand in the second quarter of 2024. In the summer of 2024, Oetterli gave the good news that they will move to Campus, their new company headquarters in Winterthur / Switzerland, and stated that they will launch the new air-jet spinning machine J 70 in the same period. Regarding the products they will exhibit at ITM 2024; ” We will bringing to ITM 2024 a line-up of tried and tested innovations in automation and digitization coupled with unrivalled textile expertise so Rieter customers can seize the opportunities ahead and gain a competitive advantage.” The highlights of the interview are as follows:
How was the year 2023 for your company? Can you evaluate it in terms of your production volume, orders and export markets?
We closed the 2023 financial year with slightly lower sales of CHF 1 418.6 million (2022: CHF 1 510.9 million), down 6% on the previous year. In line with expectations, the order intake of CHF 541.8 million was considerably below the prior year period (2022: CHF 1 157.3 million). That said, the first signs of a recovery in the 2024 financial year have emerged in the key markets of China and India. We expect demand to increase in the coming months.
“In Türkiye, the Greatest Challenge Spinning Mills Face is the Lack of Qualified Personnel”
What are the most common problems faced by yarn manufacturers?
This depends on the region. In Türkiye, the greatest challenge spinning mills face is the lack of qualified personnel. The answer to the industry’s labor crisis is automation.
What kind of solutions does Rieter offer for these problems?
As a system provider, Rieter knows the automation and logistics requirements for spinning-mill systems inside-out. For complete installations, the efficiency of various automated systems can be evaluated with specific reference to the customer and country. Rieter devises and provides sophisticated solutions, tailored exactly to customer requirements and the size of the customer’s operation. An example of such a solution includes Rieter’s fully automated combing set which can reduce the number of personnel in the combing section by up to 50%. Another one is ROBOspin – the industry’s first fully automated piecing robot for ring and compact-spinning machines – which helps spinning mills reduce their manpower requirements by up to 50%.
“We are Building Out Essential with the Help of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analysis”
How soon will we be able to see a completely automated textile machine that would not need any human involvement during the production process?
Automation is quite advanced in the spinning industry. Now it is about harnessing digitization and artificial intelligence so that mills can run autonomously, intelligently, and sustainably at the simple click of a button. Essential optimize, the latest module in our digital spinning suite Essential, represents an important step towards reaching the vision of a fully digitized spinning mill. Essential analyzes data of the entire spinning mill in real-time and provides meaningful key performance indicators. We are building out Essential with the help of artificial intelligence and data analysis to create an intelligent system that will further optimize spinning mill efficiency.
Do Rieter machines work on new types of fibers and yarns such as cotton, blended, synthetic, wool, silk, hemp and banana, orange etc.?
Rieter cooperates with many different partners to work and improve the spinnability of all suitable short stable spinning fiber types. These are fibers with a length of up to 65 mm. For this purpose, Rieter operates two fully equipped Spin Centers in Switzerland and China, where various trials can be carried out. Next to spinning classical fibers like cotton or man-made fibers, the current focus is on spinning recycled fibers, both mechanically and chemically recycled fibers, as well as different types of bast and leaf fibers, such as hemp, nettle or banana.
You presented the J 70 air-jet spinning machine at ITMA 2023. Are you satisfied with the sales of the machine since the exhibition? What kind of feedback do you get from customers about the machine? How is the interest of your Turkish customers in J 70 and other Rieter solutions?
The new air-jet spinning machine J 70 made its debut at ITMA 2023 and attracted great interest from customers. With its individually automated, independent spinning units and optimized technology components, the J 70 can produce high-quality yarns with maximum efficiency. The delivery speed of 600 meters of yarn per minute makes it the fastest air-jet spinning machine on the market. We now have prototypes running and are installing the “zero” series. Customers are impatiently awaiting the sales release which, if all goes to plan, will occur in the summer of 2024.
“We will Move to Campus, Our New Company Headquarters, in the Summer of 2024”
Reducing production costs is a priority for all textile factories, how can your machinery help manufacturers in this field?
Rieter technology is all about making customers more competitive, helping them minimize yarn production costs, which is achieved through savings on raw materials, energy, labor as well as productivity advantages. The good news is that this also enables sustainable yarn production.
As a company, do you have new investments and new machine developments on your agenda in the near future? Can you tell us about your 2024 targets?
We are moving into the Campus, our new corporate headquarters in Winterthur, Switzerland, in summer 2024. We are concentrating all our expertise in this innovation hub, which houses the most modern Spin Center of its kind. The focus of development is on automation, digitization and artificial intelligence, in order to allow our customers to fully exploit the potential of their spinning mills.
“We will Attend ITM 2024 with a Tested Product Range in Automation and Digitalisation”
As Rieter how are you preparing for the ITM 2024 Exhibition? How do you think the ITM Exhibition will accelerate the textile machinery sector, which has stagnated in the last period?
As mentioned, we are seeing first signs of a recovery in key markets. Our job is to make sure our customers are in a pole position when markets pick up again. This is why we are bringing to ITM 2024 a line-up of tried and tested innovations in automation and digitization coupled with unrivalled textile expertise so Rieter customers can seize the opportunities ahead and gain a competitive advantage
