India is one of Mayer & Cie.’s most important markets. In the premium and mid-market segment the Albstadt-based family firm’s market share is 36%, due mainly to its longstanding successful collaboration with local representatives Batliboi.

This year, Mayer & Cie.’s Knittech presentation was also a joint exhibit with the Batliboi team. The Indian knitting technology trade fair was held in Tirupur from 1-4 March - Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, South India, has a reputation for being the country’s textile capital and it is also known for its cotton knitwear manufacturing.

Small wonder that many Mayer & Cie. customers are to be found in this region. “It is all the more regrettable,” says Timo Schramm, Mayer & Cie.’s regional sales manager for India, Iran, Indonesia and Uzbekistan, “that framework conditions for this important trade fair tend to get worse by the year. The level was so low that the organisers faced a large number of complaints, which is why efforts are now under way to hold Knittech at the Coimbatore trade fair complex in future. Conditions there are much better.”

This year 230 firms exhibited their products in a space of about 11,000 square metres; they included 63 international exhibitors and 18 knitting machine manufacturers. Mayer & Cie. shared a stand with mainly Italian equipment manufacturers and showed two Relanit machines, which attracted the attention of numerous trade fair visitors.

The Relanit 3.2 HS, currently one of Mayer & Cie.’s most popular circular knitting machines, was on show in Tirupur with a 30-inch diameter in gauge E28. This high-performance machine is one of the most productive in the market and is suitable for a variety of uses, but especially for knitting single jersey outerwear. The open-width version exhibited produces open wear in keeping with the current trend. The Relanit 4.0’s focus is on productivity and efficiency for simple single jersey fabric and the model on show is also suitable for manufacturing tubular knitted fabric. At a speed of up to 50 rpm the Relanit 4.0 can produce up to 1,080 kg of fabric per day.

“With their high productivity the two Mayer & Cie. machines on show correspond precisely to the needs of Indian spinning mills that are increasingly investing in knitwear and aim to step up their output,” Mayer & Cie. says. That is why Timo Schramm sees positive prospects for 2019. “We are already well established in South India,” he says, “and in the Surat region too, where a large number of polyester producers need warp and circular knitting machines and we have already done good project business.”

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