Leading warp knitting machine builder Karl Mayer is preparing for recovery in the Chinese market just one year after building a new factory in Wujin, in Jiangsu Province. The company has built more than 400 machines in China this year and says that the order situation is steadily improving.

Karl Mayer says it is concentrating increasingly on its role as a global player and is ensuring that its subsidiaries all over the world make maximum use of the specific advantages of operating in these locations. The logical step in this strategy was to build a new factory for Karl Mayer(China) Ltd last year and the company officially opened the new building on 26 July 2008 and can now look back on the first successful operating year of its Chinese subsidiary.

The company says that Karl Mayer(China) Ltd now operates a high-tech plant, and has a highly efficient management structure. Processing machinery carrying well-known trade names, such as Okuma and Mazak, are setting high quality standards in the production department, and are used as the benchmark in the well-organised paint shop and assembly sections. Warp knitting and warp preparation machines, which operate at the highest level of efficiency and flexibility are produced, which Karl Mayer says are the perfect production machines for textile manufacturers who are trying to gain the edge over their competitors in the slowly recovering market. Karl Mayer claims its machines are tailored to suit the market and this is confirmed by the fact that orders for its machinery come from all over China. Karl Mayer’s Chinese customers are mainly located in the eastern provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong.

Machine range and demand

According to Karl Mayer, unlike the international warp knitting market, demand in China is divided relatively equally between high-end products on the one hand and mass-produced goods on the other hand. Warp knitting companies in China either produce high-quality goods for well-known international labels, or else they produce ready-to-wear items. Karl Mayer(China) Ltd supplies machines and spare parts and carries out service operations for both these sectors of the market, effectively supporting its customers during the current recovery.

The reason for the recovery, according to Karl Mayer, is the various economic and political measures that have been taken to stimulate the market. New measures taken by the Chinese government mainly relate to wages and VAT, and are encouraging textile producers to start investing in their manufacturing plants again.

In the battle to win customers, the machines made by Karl Mayer (China) Ltd are able to profit from the company’s increasing knowledge and expertise, innovative flair, service operations and logical quality management system, the company says. Karl Mayer says that this level of expertise has ensured that the high-speed warp knitting machines are selling particularly well, with some of the most successful models coming from the company’s TM range.

More than 400 warp knitting and warp preparation machines have been produced this year in the Chinese factory. This positive result was preceded by a fall in orders during the second half of 2008 as a result of the global crisis. However, since the end of last year, the order situation has been improving steadily. The number of orders received in the first half of 2009 is particularly encouraging, and machine orders are now increasing month on month. To meet this unexpected upturn in orders, Karl Mayer says that Karl Mayer(China) Ltd can depend totally on its highly motivated, highly qualified workforce and on the total support of the parent company.

Karl Mayer(China) Ltd is not only concentrating on the current business situation, it is also looking forward to the future. The company is continuously optimising the functional features of its products and service activities to ensure that its clients continue to have faith in it into the future and to win over new textile manufacturers.

Education and training

An important element in Karl Mayer’s support and management strategy is its own training academy. Despite the difficult economic period at the end of 2008, Karl Mayer(China) Ltd continued to invest money and manpower in various courses for its customers as well as for its own workers. So far, Karl Mayer instructors have trained about 70 textile specialists in the company’s own training centre. The training courses are available all year round, and their aim is to improve the competitive ability of Karl Mayer’s customers by ensuring that their workers have the necessary skills and qualifications. At the same time, these joint training courses help to foster good relations between the textile machine builder and its clients.

Workforce as a success factor

According to Karl Mayer, the success of Karl Mayer(China) Ltd is basically determined by its employees, and the company ensures that they are well looked after. The workforce was invited to attend a number of training courses this year and a party was held in the spring to celebrate the company’s success. The training courses for the workers have proved to be particularly successful. On the one hand, they help the employees to increase their knowledge and expertise and, on the other hand, they strengthen the team spirit and company culture. They become more confident in themselves and in the company.

All this means that Karl Mayer(China) Ltd is one of the strongest arms of the Karl Mayer Group in Asia, and its machines are the basis on which Chinese warp knitting companies will be able to successfully do business once the crisis is over. With its modern, high-tech plant, the extensive expertise of its workforce, and successful management culture, this company has definitely made a name for itself as a leading brand in China.