“Most of Our Members Have A Backlog of Orders of About 5 to 6 Months”

Interview: Dilek Hayırlı 

Christian Guinet, Secretary General of the French Textile Equipment Manufacturers Association (UCMTF), said that their annual turnover has returned to the pre-pandemic figure of 1 billion euros. Reminding that the negativities affecting the sector have decreased and that its members have 5-6 months of order accumulation, Guinet said, “Now it’s time to think positively.”

We interviewed Christian Guinet, Secretary General of the French Textile Equipment Manufacturers Association (UCMTF), for the ‘France Special Issue’ of our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. Guinet started the interview by conveying his condolences to those who lost their lives in the earthquake that took place in Kahramanmaraş on February 6 and that affected Syria as well as Turkey, and conveying his wishes to their relatives. Guinet continued his words as follows: “Before answering your questions, I would like on behalf of all our members and personally of course, present our sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible earthquakes which struck Turkey and Syria on February 6.

We have many customers, particularly in Gaziantep, they are not only customers but partners and friends.  From the information we receive, may I only say that we admire the resilience of the workers. Many factories have been back to work incredibly fast. That may be the best homage to the victims!”

First of all, how was 2022 for French textile machinery manufacturers? Can you explain this with machine production, machine sales figures and growth figures?

In 2022, our sales were back to a “normal pre-pandemic” 1 billion euros annual turnover. At the beginning of 2023, our orders books are quite good. Most of our members have a backlog of orders of about 5 to 6 months, but there are some headwinds. Inflation is hurting the final consumers and it seems that the textile factories are reducing their production levels impacting immediately our spare parts sales and the preventive maintenance. Nevertheless, our members, as they want to be as close as local partners, are continuing to improve their global network of service. Concerning new orders, we believe that the new equipments we will show at ITMA will have a very positive effect in the second part of the year.

“Apparel, Home Textile and Carpet Production will Increase”

What is the rate of exports of French textile machinery manufacturers to Turkey? Which were the most exported machines respectively?

For many years Turkey has been our second most important market. We have very close partnerships with many of our Turkish customers. We understand each other very easily as our customers and our members are mostly SME’s run by long term-oriented entrepreneurs. For the long run, we believe that the apparel, home textiles and carpet productions will increase with the world population and the economic growth and that many new applications will fuel the technical textile sector. Then, new investments in equipments will be needed both to keep up with the growth of our customers and to modernize their factories. To be sustainable, this growth will need much more recycling but recycling is also a new sector by itself which needs as many equipments and workforce as the more traditional sectors. In Turkey, our customers are mainly in the apparel and carpet industry located in Bursa and Gaziantep.

Energy crisis, Russia-Ukraine War, increase in raw material prices, etc. problems affect the textile machinery sector as well as all other sectors. How are UCMTF member companies affected by these crises? What is the roadmap of companies regarding this process?

War, logistical disruptions, high energy prices and inflation, higher interest rates make up for the headlines. It is when everything looks complicated and difficult that good news may come in. Logistical disruptions seem to ease substantially, transportation prices are going back to normal levels, the inflation peak seems behind us or is at least levelling and interest rates even if they still go up, it is at a lower speed. Then, it may be time to be positive.

“We are focused on smaller or even niche markets”

What kind of changes will occur in the export markets of the world textile machinery manufacturers? Do French textile machinery manufacturers carry out a study on these markets?

We are particularly strong in long fibre spinning (wool, acrylic …), yarn twisting and control (including technical yarns), space-dyeing, heat setting for carpet yarns, carpet systems, bleaching and hydro-extractor equipments, dyeing and finishing, felts and belts for finishing processes, precision machining and textile ERP. Our customers have to adapt more and more quickly to their own markets’ demands. They have to offer new products with zero defects and less environmental footprints. Then, they need flexible equipments and many services from us. Our members have to be agile to design, produce and service the equipments which are needed even for small orders. Offering off-shelves equipments for mass markets productions is not our strategy. We are focused on smaller or even niche markets, then we have to be prepared to adapt our equipments to our customers specific needs and have design and production capacities to do this at industrial prices. This has been our strategy for many years now, and this is why most of our customers are long time partners.

Especially with the energy crisis, the emphasis on sustainable and environmentally friendly production began to gain weight. What will be the priorities of French member companies when developing products in the new period?

Concerning sustainable developments, the demand comes from the end consumers themselves. The well-known global brands as the smaller ones cannot just follow this trend but have to be leaders. Then their own suppliers, the textile (fabric) manufacturers have to adapt their own production processes. This is where, we, as equipment manufacturers, have our own responsibilities. Offer energy, water, chemical, raw materials savings thanks to new design of our equipments.

For the long term, I think it will have a positive effect on our companies. Just one example: one of our members, a few days ago, showed me the energy savings from the replacement of an equipment he had computed with a customer. The pay back of the equipment he was offering was less than a year compared to the machine which was installed in the customer’s factory!

The equipment we sell may run for many years but the old equipments are not energy efficient, new investments have very quick paybacks, I believe that this is a real argument to invest and then an additional chance for us to sell new equipments.

Also about sustainability, may I introduce a new UCMTF member, Hemp-Act. As you know, hemp is a very promising fiber for a sustainable textile future as cultivating hemp stores CO2 Then I am particularly happy to report that HEMP-ACT has joined our association and will exhibit at ITMA in the “start Up Valley” area.  They offer a complete and modular solution to grow and transform hemp.

 What are your expectations about the World Textile sector and especially the textile machinery sector in 2023?

2023 is an ITMA year. Yes, it is quite sure that ITMA 2023 will be a great edition. I just received some statistics from the ITMA organizers. More than 120 000 square meters are booked and there is no more space available. This is about 10% more than the final figures for ITMA 2019 in Barcelona (before the pandemic broke). This increase does not come from the number of exhibitors but from bigger stands reserved by many exhibitors. We can suppose this means that they think positively and have many equipments to show, many improvements of course but also quite a number of breakthrough technologies. This is quite a thriller, let’s wait and see!

2023 will be a year with intense exhibitions. How do French member companies prepare for ITMA 2023 exhibitions?

In fact, to be prepared for ITMA is to maintain a permanent effort in R&D, not from ivory towers but in close connection with our customers. Our strategy is to have talented teams who work closely for the benefit of our customers, on a long term perspective.

We also have to offer the best-in-class service and visit our customers as often as possible. ITMA will be a great opportunity but we have many more: our local agents or subsidiaries, our sales manager who travel from France, the expos like ITM, seminars that we organize like in Bursa and Gaziantep.

In Milano,27 exhibitors are from France, most of them are UCMTF’s members.

In hall2, Fil Control, the sensor expert, will show its latest developments using electro-mechanical, optical, inductive and reflective technologies.

In hall 3, Superba, the heat-setting solutions provider will introduce a brand-new automating knotting system assisted by a robot.

NSC, the world specialist for processing long staple fibers, is coming back with a new flyer frame.

Hall 11, Alliance, to dye small quantities of high value fabrics will show a very water and energy efficient equipment. Natural dyeing equipment will also be an attraction.

I hope all the other French exhibitors will forgive me not to cite them. All of them are awaiting to welcome our customers in Milano.