“Turkey is A Very Key and Strategic Market for Us”
Japanese manufacturer of spinning machines Murata which has a deep-rooted history for 85 years, also has a significant market share in Turkey. The main products of the company in Turkey market QPRO conan LINK EX and EX Vortex is 870.
Murata, which İnta Makina is the representative is among the leading manufacturers of air-jet spinning machines. Murata QPRO and FPRO traverse winding machines continue to be the preferred winding machine for spinning mills. We interviewed with Yoshimasa Kitai, Automatic Winder Product Manager of Murata, for the “Yarn Technologies Special Issue” of our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. We talked with Kitai about Murata’s latest technologies, the importance of Turkey market and the measures taken by Murata during the pandemic period. Kitai said; “Turkey is a very key and strategic market for us due to the high quality of the factories and demands from the European market.”
Can you talk about the major functional improvements you recently made to your automatic winder products, and how this will benefit the textile industry?
We have 2 major improvements. One is ‘Motion Control’ which enables to minimize production loss thanks to less machine stoppage. The other is Air splicer (called SAS = Stretch Air Splicer) for spandex core yarn. Splicing spandex core yarns requires that the spandex core remains inside splice point but this is not easy by air splicer because the spandex core shrinks immediately after yarn cut.
With out specially new designed SAS splicer, the core can remain inside the splice point. This is big innovation in textile industries that results in high quality yarn without causing big spare parts consumption such as in the disc splicer.
What popular requests do you receive from customers these days regarding their machinery?
Our customers are always looking for two main qualities of the winding machine ‘Maximizing benefits’ and ‘Good quality package’. In order to realize ‘Maximizing benefits’, we as Murata succeeded to develop PC Module system which is the combination of Bal-Con, PC tensor and PC sensor. This system enables the difficult task of ‘High Quality and High Productivity’ and the same time. In terms of ‘Good quality package’, we developed PAC-Drum system which can avoid the initiation of patterning on the package by changing the drum groove 2.0W/2.5W. This system is Murata original function which requires high technological capabilities and production skills. In addition we have our FPRO machine with the unique traverse motion technology that enables us to do very precise density and shape on final packages.
From which countries is the demand most for your machines? What are the main products of Murata for Turkey market?
Due to its big volume and market size China has the biggest demand. However Turkey is a very key and strategic market for us due to the high quality of the factories and demands from the European market. The main products of Murata in Turkey are QPRO EX Link coner and Vortex 870 EX.
As you know, the whole world is struggling with the coronavirus pandemic recently. What are your plans for the post-pandemic period?
We have developed Muratec Smart Support. We call MSS. By connecting internet to Muratec Head office, our customers can get analysis reports of their machine performance at every week and every month. Thanks to MSS, even without visiting our customers, we can understand the machine conditions and analyze the cause of problems. Our customers also can get performance data, Job list, Maintenance schedule, Troubleshooting etc with their PC.
We believe the demand for factory management by machine manufacturers will get stronger and stronger. We are sure MSS is the solution of this demand.
What is your annual R&D budget? Any recent or upcoming projects you would like to discuss?
We as Murata company are active in multiple industries besides textiles, such as logistics, automation and cnc machinery in addition to Textiles. Our R&D has very big importance for us not only for Textiles but also as technologies cross between our industries and share know how with one another. We have laboratories at many locations in addition to our headquarters constantly making new developments. As whole Japanese companies our R&D is one of our biggest strengths.
Interview: Dilek HAYIRLI
