“We Experienced an Unexpected Surge of Demand in the Home Textile Field in Turkey”
As Toyota Industries develops its textile machinery with the technological expertise accumulated over the years, it is highly praised by customers around the world for its high reliability and productivity. Especially the flagship air-jet weaving machine has the highest share in the industry.
Toyota Industries, one of the leading manufacturers of weaving and spinning machines, is constantly working on new technological solutions based on the principle of “kaizen” = continuous improvement. Toyota’s purpose is; to meet the growing demand for exceptional quality, maximum flexibility and productivity.
Markus Lichtenstein, Toyota Chief Operating Officer (COO)
“The Pandemic Process Has not Been As Bad As For Toyota”
We interviewed with Markus Lichtenstein, Toyota Chief Operating Officer (COO), for the “Weaving Special Section” of our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. We first asked to Lichtenstein about the effects of the global pandemic crisis on Toyota. “The Covid-19 pandemic has not been as bad as anticipated for Toyota so far.” said Lichtenstein, “Due to the deterioration of established global supply chains and a general trend away from globalisation, textile production has shifted to a certain extent from Asia to Europe. Especially in the home textile filed we experienced an unexpected surge of demand in Turkey.”
Markus Lichtenstein said that they see trends such as the increasing application of sensor technology, servo motors instead of mechanical gear drives and the intelligent use of data in the weaving machinery sector in the last period; and expressed that thanks to these features, the machines can regulate themselves without human intervention. Lichtenstein emphasized that low energy consumption has always been a topic trend in the textile industry.
Reminding that the requirements of its customers generally remain the same, Lichtenstein listed these requirements as follows: Low production costs, maximum productivity and flexibility.
“We Expect further growth as the pandemic gets under control”
Turkey is undeniably one of the major textile markets worldwide – not only in relation with its production volume, but also in terms of fabric quality, creativity and local know-how. We asked the importance of Turkey for the textile industry, and Markus Lichtenstein gave the following answer. “Along with other important markets, Turkey has become one of the major markets for textile production in the western hemisphere. As long as the political and economical situation remains stable, we strongly believe that this trend is going to continue for the next few years.”
A few years ago, Toyota started a new approach in order to conquer this important market and has meanwhile achieved the number one position in Air-Jet technology in Turkey. It is Toyota’s strategy to underpin this position even more in the future.
Continually focusing on working on new solutions, Toyota is very satisfied with the results it has achieved so far in 2021, when the effects of the pandemic continue. “We expect further growth as the pandemic (hopefully) gets under control soon.” Lichtenstein said.
“We Have Always High Expectations from ITM”
Toyota Industries is also one of the important participants of the ITM 2022, which will be held on 14-18 June 2022 and which textile machinery manufacturers are eagerly waiting for. Stating that they have started preparations for the exhibiiton, Lichtenstein said, “Our expectations from ITM are always high as Turkey has become one of our most important markets in the world.”
Interview: Dilek Hayırlı
