Bianco finishing machines make rapid strides

Bianco S.p.A, a leading Italian machinery manufacturer and brand, for the 26 years, has been most trusted name for advanced technology machinery for the textile industry of India, catering to a full range of wet and dry finishing machines and accessories for textile finishing entirely designed and manufactured in-house in Italy. Bianco’s India North Agent, Amiya Kumar Swain at Delhi and agent for Bianco, shares the company’s strategy for the Indian market and what makes it the first preferred choice for Indian customers.

The company has seen a surge in its business in India, with a market share that is more than 75 per cent compared to its European competitors. What makes the company a success for the Indian consumers is its growing adaptability to the consumers need and market condition.

Bianco has accepted the price-sensitive nature of the Indian market and aligned its strategy keeping this is mind. “We realise that the Indian market is not for making quick profits, but rather it’s a market for volume. India is buying a lot of machinery but without giving much profits but at the end of the year, when we mix good markets (giving profits) with a market like India with volume, we have a collaborative average of profits in order for the company to sustain growth,” claims Amiya. Apart from this smart strategy, the company is working close to its customers by having a strong outreach pan-India through 3 agents, one handling North India like Delhi, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Kolkata, etc, another covering Gujarat, Maharashtra and the third one covering South India such as Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Chennai, etc. In fact, each of its agents has developed a fleet of technicians through the company’s support, who are regularly trained in Italy and provide prompt after-sales services and delivery of spare parts that are stocked with them.

Over the years the company has benefited from India’s large pool of buyers and this is mainly what sets the company aside from its competition. “First priority should be the buyers and India has a lot of potential buyers. Secondly, we are a good quality brand accompanied with good pricing and we adjust to consumers demand and never try to let go of the business and thirdly our agents are very good and organised. Bianco’s policy is that we believe a lot in relationships,” explains Amiya.

A continuously growing Indian market with a more quality conscious consumers and a pro-government policy is providing scope for companies such as Bianco to push further growth and investment in the Indian market. “It’s a growing market and I think in the next few months it will grow even more. Now the yarn cotton price is going down and reaching a point of stability so the market will improve very soon. And the new government is giving a lot of benefit to the textile industry and the direct exporter is also getting help from the government, which will eventually push the textile industry and for us it will increase scope to sell our machines,” believes Amiya.

The company is known in India for its rope opener and weft straighteners, Open compactors, slitting line, happy scour digital print entry which are among the oldest range of the company. Within the last three years, the market has provided better opportunities for Bianco making it the biggest manufacturer of open-width felt compactor, thereby reflecting a mature market for technology as these machines itself are not for increasing production, but rather to provide value addition to the fabric. “This means that market is mature and looking to gain and jump up, one more step on the quality scale,” states Amiya. The company provides a mix of machinery for woven and knitting and therefore is able to cater to all kinds of blends, fabrics and compositions.

Recently, the company has developed two new systems — one is weight gsm fabric control system – ‘Bianco Weightex’ that is capable of providing on line gsm fabric control without contacting the fabric through x-ray technology, thereby improving the fabric quality. “Thanks to the sensors the machine doesn’t stop and customers are able to get better efficiency in their production while maintaining consistency in gsm throughout the fabric,” maintains Amiya. The other new system is called ‘Bianco Happy Scour’ that allows the consumers to do the scouring process but with reduced consumption of chemical, water and energy while saving time as well.

The company has also attained green label certification for this process and it also reduces the processing cost for its customers. In fact, all the machines from the company qualify to meet sustainable parameters and the company gets its certification revised time to time. “Thanks to this scouring process we are able to reduce the overall cost by 10 times,” adds Amiya. Last year, the company sold 75 pieces of Happy Scour globally and in India the first machine has been bought by Babbu Sachdeva of Mercury Fabrics after he saw the machine at the Milan show last year. This machine will be displayed at India-ITME 2016 in Mumbai.

Though the Italian manufactured machines are more high-end and technologically advanced than the India produced ones nonetheless through its wide range of products targeting different market segments, Bianco has made its niche in the textile industry. In fact, by targeting the right product at an affordable price towards the Indian audiences, the company’s share of business is on an upward climb with many manufacturers eager to invest in the latest technologies.