Over 250 textile specialists attended Coating Solutions and Further Profitable Alternatives, the first Monforts webinar held on October 21 specifically for companies in India. And in a poll during the event, 69 per cent of those taking part revealed that their companies were actively exploring the possibility of entering the field of the coating and finishing of technical textiles within the next 12 months.
Attraction
It is without doubt India’s response to the global shortages of face masks and other PPE items which has alerted many to what is just a part of the vast technical textiles market, but Gurudas Aras, Director of the Textile Engineering Group of A.T.E., the representative for Monforts in India, provided a few more reasons why it is now so attractive.
The global market for technical textiles was estimated to be worth $194 billion in 2019, and to grow to $250 billion by 2027. India’s share of this market in 2019 was just $19 billion, and the nation remains dependent on imported materials for medical implants, sanitary protection, protective materials and much more.
Over 41 per cent of India’s technical textile production is still in the relatively low-profit area of materials for packaging, but much bigger opportunities are to be found in areas such as transportation (Mobiltech), sportswear (Sportech) and construction (Buildtech). Meanwhile, India’s population currently consumes just 1.7 kg of technical textiles per capita, compared to 10 to 12 kg in the countries where the markets are the most developed.
Under the National Technical Textiles Mission, the country’s government plans to build India’s market to a value of $40 billion as early as 2024, via a package of investment-friendly incentives for both domestic players and foreign investors.
Montex®Coat
Monforts Head of Technical Textiles Jürgen Hanel outlined the extraordinary flexibility of the Montex®Coat coating system which allows users to exploit no less than seven separate coating techniques. This provides opportunities to target a huge number of technical textile end-use markets.
Various successful high-speed line configurations of the Montex®Coat, the Eco Applicator minimum add-on unit and the Monforts padder, operating with Montex stenters, were then explained by Head of Denim Hans Wroblowski. He also outlined the many opportunities that exist for the retrofitting of existing lines with these latest Monforts technologies.
ATC
Textile technologist Jonas Beisel stressed that despite any current travel restrictions, the Monforts Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) is fully operational for industrial-scale trials which go beyond lab or pilot plant testing, to be run by highly experienced staff on behalf of customers.
Since its opening in 2013, over Euro 3 million has been invested in equipment at the Monforts ATC, which over an area of 1,200 sq m, houses two full finishing lines, engineered to accommodate an extremely diverse range of processes and based around the industry-leading Montex stenter including high temperature and split temperature fabric treatment, in addition to a Thermex range for the continuous dyeing and the newly developed process of yarn dyeing.