“We are Very Pleased with the Orders, We Received in 2022”
We interviewed with Itema Group CEO Ugo Ghilardi for our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. Evaluating Itema Group’s sales in 2022 and the developments in the weaving machinery sector, Ghilardi also made important statements about the Turkish market. Regarding the opening of a branch of Itema in Turkey, Ghilardi talked as follows: ” The opening of Itema Türkiye aims at enhancing our local presence and increasing efficiency while serving our ever-growing customer base, which represents a significant part of our global turnover.” Ghilardi said, “We have seen a consistent growth of the Turkish market, which increased the export of different fabrics taking over the role that before belong to some Asian markets.” Here are the important headlines from the interview with Itema Group CEO Ugo Ghilardi…
“We Increased Our Market Share”
The Itema volumes of weaving machines sales for the year 2022 are the perfect reflection of the fact that the Itema technology and its added value are today widely recognized by the market. We increased our market share, we maintained our existing customers renewing many important partnerships but what made a real difference last year was the opportunity to penetrate new markets and gain many new Customers, especially in some strategic textile districts and in segments like denim, silk and silk like, and furnishing. Especially when it comes to rapier weaving technology, the Itema rapier weaving machine is the real best-seller of 2022 high-end market, and this is mainly due to our superior textile mastery. We gained new customers also in the denim sector thanks to our unique iSAVER®, which is already considered as the best innovation for a sustainable weaving process of latest years. We are very satisfied with the orders collected over the last year and we aim at doing even better in 2023.
“2022 has been a record year for Itema in terms of Sales”
The textile industry withstood the pressure and, in terms of sales, 2022 has been a record year for Itema. Nevertheless, as most of the actors in the textile machinery sector, all these events impacted our business and our value chain. However, thanks to the flexibility of our production system and to the solidity of our Group, we have been able to rearrange our production processes to reduce as much as possible the impact on our customers.
“We Get Good Feedback from Our Customers about Our Turkey Branch”
The opening of Itema Türkiye aims at enhancing our local presence and increasing efficiency while serving our ever-growing customer base, which represents a significant part of our global turnover. In addition, this initiative is in line with the Itema strategy to build up a stronger presence in major weaving markets. Our proximity to our valued customer base reaffirms our customer focus and commitment to their success and we are very glad to receive good feedback from them. Indeed, from the point of view of our customers, we wanted nothing to concretely change: we are even more present thanks to new organizational hubs in the region but our customers continue to have the same reference points with Itema, as it was in the past.
“We will Continue to Make Our Customers’ Life Easier”
The topics of digitalization and sustainability are on everyone’s lips and this does not stop at the textile industry.
As Itema, we are tirelessly working to reduce the footprint of our production processes, as well as the impact of our technology while finding new ways to make our customers’ life easier by working intensively on the development and integration of digital technologies. In particular, tools for monitoring, controlling and thus further improving production play a central role in pursuing this goal, thanks also to intelligent troubleshooting systems.
“We Have Seen the Turkish Market is Growing Stably”
In the post-pandemic scenario, due to the raw materials and transportation costs increases, we saw the return of some European markets and a consistent growth of the Turkish market, which increased the export of different fabrics taking over the role that before belong to some Asian markets. Some of the main textile countries are now experiencing difficult times, emblematic is the case of Pakistan. As a weaving machines provider, what we can do is supporting our Customers in their growth by providing them with the best of our technology and a 360 degrees service system.
“We Can’t Wait to Host Our Customers at ITMA”
The year 2023 is an important one for us – ITMA indeed will be back in Italy, in our country, and we cannot wait to show what we prepared to welcome our customers at our home. What I can anticipate now is that the selling process for Itema is just one step of the machine’s lifecycle. We have therefore been working to provide our Customers with an ample portfolio of opportunities to get the most out of their weaving machines.
Interview: Dilek Hayırlı