During the inauguration of ITMA Asia+CITME 2018, Ernesto Maurer, President of Swissmem (Swiss Textile Machinery Group) set the tone for the whole show with his brief, succinct speech: “The sixth edition of ITMA Asia+CITME 2018, made possible by the combined forces of Cematex and Chinese interests not just a tradition, but definitely a success story…. The times are bigger, faster and heavier. Now is the time for more specialised, cleaner and environmentally-friendlier technologies and this is the important hallmark of this year’s show.â€Â
Maurer continued in his clear, inimical style: “As the markets and textile productions are changing and so are the machinery manufacturers. When we see the teaming up of Europe and China for this great show, we see one remarkable thing – we all have the same goal and we all strive to achieve the same goal. And the new rising phenomenon is digitalisation!â€Â
“China, European Union and India account together for two-third of worldwide textile exports. So, what we are doing in Shanghai is trend-setting. In Europe, the biggest country still is Germany, followed by Italy and then Switzerland as far as textile machinery industry is concerned. Nevertheless, I also mention Japan here, which has fielded 35 exhibitors in 3,500 sq m at this year’s ITMA Asia+CITME. This teaming up of Japan with others is a significant development of the show. The tradition segments of spinning, weaving, etc. has increased by 15 per cent. The printing sector has now doubled to 22 per cent, which is significant,†concluded Maurer.