India is the most promising market for us in 2023

SedoTreepoint globally develop and supply integrated systems for the textile dyeing and finishing industry. Their aim is to create lasting relationships with the customers by offering the very best available in both equipment and service. Werner Volkaert, Managing Director, Sedo Treepoint GmbH and Alberto Rimoldi, Global Sales Manager, Sedo Engineering SA, while displaying their latest innovations at India ITME 2022, shared their expansion plans and why India is an important market to them.

What is Sedo Treepoint displaying at India ITME?

We are now highlighting the new generation of controllers that we specifically created to integrate with all systems already on the market and be compatible with industry 4.0. We also emphasise energy management because it is crucial in today’s world where energy and energy costs are concerned. We have products with Energy Master where we monitor and help with reporting to find solutions to either find the cause of a leak or to blend the production in such a way that you have optimal energy consumption, peak saving, so there are no energy peaks. We also monitor and help with reporting where you have a high consumption or high consumption costs for certain articles or certain machines as well as when you lose energy.

We have a new controller range planned for India. We offer solutions for small machines since you need a solution for both high-end and low-end controllers or machines that, of course, provide the same quality. As a result, the controllers are modular and may be expanded as needed to combine simple and complex devices.

We are also offering Smart Indigo. This product is for the denim business. My colleague, Rimoldi, will elaborate on this product.

Rimoldi added- Smart indigo is a brand-new patented invention from Switzerland . We are the only company in the world producing this technology, and it will be valid globally until 2028. For the most part, just to sum up briefly, our technology is based on the electrochemical synthesis of indigo. As a result, we use electricity rather than chemicals to manufacture 30% of the liquid indigo with our equipment. Thus, our device operates with no hydrostatic pressure. Water, Indigo grain, and Caustic Soda are the only ingredients placed into our machine. We employ no sulphur content in our technique, making it the most environmentally friendly method of obtaining indigo. Since we don’t use hydro, the wastewater’s salinity and TDS concentration are reduced as a result. This is the major reason we advocate for a highly sophisticated and highly environmentally friendly method of making denim materials.

We are aware that ecological and economy go hand in hand. As a result, it is also far more affordable than any other indigo liquid or indigo powder on the market.  If you use our technology, you save a lot of money every year. Therefore, it can be modified or switched in any circumstance at any time. Additionally, we have clients using both smart Indigo and traditional Indigo simultaneously across the globe. Therefore, we are not seeing any intensity shading issues.

Last but not least, we recently received a ZDHC level three certificate with blue signs and a 6.0 rating. So, for sustainability, we have the most recent advanced certification. This primarily serves as an explanation of technology. There are currently 20 operating machines worldwide. Considering that we only began in 2017, and that we are still not present in every country, but are expanding into two or three more each year, that can be seen as a respectable amount.

Our top priorities are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, Italy, and Peru, where we also have 20 active machines. And since May 22, we have been in India working with the customer and the denim manufacturer. We believe and are quite certain that between the period of January through February 23, when we will have the first machine in India, because we have already finalised with a few customers. Because we have contracts in place with one Japanese customer and one Egyptian customer, we will determine that for the number 23, we can already count. Thus, expanding our options makes the world a stronger place.

How has India responded to Smart Indigo?

We have received tremendous response. Thanks to the thriving economy. While I wouldn’t state that India is currently in perfect shape, it is the nation that can unquestionably offer better response more quickly when compared to other nations. Therefore, it’s a good thing that India consumes goods and denim internally. It is solely an export issue. But it goes without saying that India, with its 1.3 billion people, has a huge internal demand. Since we had all of the denim manufacturer’s clients in attendance at this event, they were aware of our technique. The fact that we are evolving and accepting who we are as a result makes us joyful.

How did the company perform in 2022, and what are you expecting from 2023?

Sedo had a successful year in 2022, and we are pleased with the revenue we have at this point in time. What we see is that while China’s economy is declining, other nations are gaining ground. We’ll have to wait and see what the coming year brings, but what we do know is that India has the greatest potential for economic growth, which is another reason we’re here to be present and display our products. India is the most promising and expanding market for us in 2023.

The latest trend in the textile industry is sustainability and digitalisation. How is your company preparing for these trends?

In order to optimise the production planning for sustainability, we automate the dyeing and finishing machines and employ a MES system with a colour master. This is because there is a large variation in the condition of sustainability. One factor is the machine’s utilisation, we can produce the same amount of work with one fewer machine. By predicting the recipe, we can save resources in the long run and eliminate the need for adjustments by doing things correctly the first time. This is vital in dyeing finishing.

The less water you use for chemical dyestuff in this, the fewer corrections you need to make, and the less water needs to be treated. Therefore, these are all areas in which we have expertise and in which process optimisation and resource conservation are also major concerns. The great thing is that what is good for the environment is also excellent for the economy since you are saving both resources and money. Unfortunately, they must go together, and if your machine is too expensive, no one will buy it. The two types of solutions must therefore be combined: economical and ecological.

What are Sedo’s expansion plans for India?

Every year, our growth is continuous. We also explore potential markets . Therefore, it is challenging to estimate or forecast how much we will grow. Since there are so many factors that can affect this in the modern world, no one has a crystal ball to look into, but we do anticipate growth of about 10% in the upcoming year. If this is significant and the Chinese economy recovers, there will be a boom. We can only hope that this will be the case following Chinese New Year and there will be a global boom. The denim business is currently in crisis. Since individuals are currently too hesitant, production facilities are operating at 50% of their potential. Where do you save, then? Avoid purchasing your clothing or jeans. And we’re hoping it just catches up in, say, the second quarter of next year.