Sustainability meets profit

The VDMA represents 3,100 mainly medium member companies in the capital goods industry, making it one of the largest and most important industrial associations in Europe. Machinery and equipment is a key technology and the driving force for the economy. With sales of 205.8 billion euro (2013) and 986,000 employees (2013) in the domestic sector is the largest industrial employer and one of the leading German industries insgesamt. Die products and services of machinery and plant are highly regarded worldwide. About two-thirds of the German production is exported. VDMA In the entire process chain – from components and plant manufacturers, system suppliers and system integrators to service providers. We reflect the wide range of customer-supplier relationships along the value chain and enable industry-specific and cross-border cooperation.

Thomas Waldmann, Managing Director, VDMA Textile Machinery Association, Germany, in an exclusive interaction with editor of the Indian Textile Journal, shares how the German textile machinery has been performing globally.

ITJ Editor: How has the German textile machinery been performing globally in the last year?
Thomas Waldmann (TW): The German exports performed again well in 2013. Altogether machines and accessories worth 3 billion Euros have been shipped abroad. This was only two per cent below the very successful year 2012. So business was on a quite good level again. The biggest segment was spinning machinery (exports 1.49 billion Euros), followed by knitting and hosiery machinery (748 million Euros), finishing machinery, including washing, bleaching and dyeing machinery (628 million Euros) and weaving machinery 200 million Euros).

ITJ Editor: What are the results of German industry´s efforts in the Indian market to boost its presence?
TW: Orders from India were lower in 2013 but nevertheless Germany shipped textile machinery worth 230 million Euros. But there are signs that business is picking up again. In general, given the big potential of the Indian textile sector the perspective is encouraging: The Indian middle class, target consumers for many companies, is expected to swell up to 267 million people in the next five years, up 67 per cent from the current levels, thus providing a great market opportunity for textiles. So in the mid-term perspective, the Indian textile sector could benefit not just from exports but also from a huge domestic market.

What enforces our presence in this market are of course the VDMA representative offices in Noida, Kolkata and Mumbai (http://india.vdma.org). Furthermore, there are numerous German textile machinery companies that are already producing machines at plants within India, in order to be closer to the customers. Regardless which strategy a company has taken – producing in India or exporting from Germany to India – the VDMA member companies are present in the market. Only in December 2013 a big VDMA conference themed ´German Technology meets Indian Textile´ took place in Mumbai and Coimbatore attracting roundabout 300 decision makers form India (www.germantechnology-indiantextile.de).

ITJ Editor: Blue competence has been making waves. What is the latest information on its influence on the German industry?
TW: More than 30 companies of the textile machinery business in German have joined the sustainability initiative Blue Competence in the meanwhile, representing two third of the branch´s turnover. Altogether, more than 400 companies of all different mechanical engineering branches are participating. Efficient textile production in terms of energy and resources is a main topic of Blue Competence for member companies of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association. Technology experts demonstrate that latest German technology increases profits by higher energy efficiency. Therefore they are examining the energy saving effects over t