Last ITME in Mumbai, I was there browsing again the new technologies in Textiles and then came the announcement that Oerlikon has sold out its natural fibre processing machines division to Jinsheng group.
Oerlikon would have certainly done that sooner or later. It was never their business at the first place and had only acted as an equity investment company to await the right opportunity for offloading. I will not be surprised, if the man made fibre machine division is also spun off to a suitable suitor .
Textile is a processing technology and Machines are where the Process Technology is loaded. Machine making is not a simple workshop assembly, but a complex design and mathematical calculation to arrive to the material and shape specifications. It needs a very high degree of sophistication and capability to make world class machines.
Germans and Swiss have been world class machine makers for the last 200 years and machine making is in their blood. Whether, it is a simple watch to a complex CNC machine. The best always rolled out of these two countries.
Now, this whole Industry of Textile Machine Making has been kissed good bye and send packing to China. Which was actually the other end of spectrum in machine making.
Well, thanks to the supply chain management of Asian Textile companies that was not willing to invest a little higher into European Machines. The supply chain is altogether lost. The skill , the design capability, the precision, the new solutions, the flexibility is all gone forever.
At ITME Mumbai, if one was to really see any machine worth its salt, it was the Trutzcheler stand, where they displayed the carding and the blow room. It was such a piece of engineering marvel. But only the remnant of what is now left out in Europe. Though, I would also appreciate that SSM, despite getting moved to China has still kept very high standards of quality and the machine does not look Chinese in any way.
In one of my last post, where in I wrote about " Europe does not , how to sell Textile Machines " . I also listed some of the weakness these companies had shown to penetrate the Asian markets.
But, now I would blame the Asian consumers to have pitched the prices so low that the whole supply chain has been lost forever. I am not surprised on this. It is not just that European textile machines have gone missing , but also the good Asian companies will face the same consequences, where the user pinches the few cents to buy a cheap product.
Last month, I was with the materials manager of one of the largest textile company of India and I was shocked to see the behavior of the materials manager, who argued that he did not care, what went into making a superior product or no matter , what technology was used or what management practices were being observed . He was only interested in the low price as what a mistry type workshop was offering. He further went in to comment that , he wanted European Quality with Chinese Prices. This is the level of thinking of a very well educated supply chain manager. No wonder, if a Top company has this approach towards its supply chain, there is very little chance of either European or a good Local companies to survive.
European quality comes with European prices and Chinese quality comes with Chinese prices. There is no such thing as European Quality with Chinese prices. Except that the managers feel very proud in buying cheap or very cheap products and saving money for their companies in short run and screwing up in the long run.
It is a little strange that while for personal use, most Asians would jump on the top brand and empty their pockets to starvation However, when taking decisions for their own companies, the heroism is in buying the lowest price product. Low price is generally low quality.
In case of machines and accessories, these are long time work horses. A cheap machine or accessory runs for 6 months or 1 year very good and thereafter for all the years, you keep putting money into it.
Anyway, European Textile Machines will be a lost Civilization. Though on weaving, there are still some companies surviving .
Oerlikon would have certainly done that sooner or later. It was never their business at the first place and had only acted as an equity investment company to await the right opportunity for offloading. I will not be surprised, if the man made fibre machine division is also spun off to a suitable suitor .
Textile is a processing technology and Machines are where the Process Technology is loaded. Machine making is not a simple workshop assembly, but a complex design and mathematical calculation to arrive to the material and shape specifications. It needs a very high degree of sophistication and capability to make world class machines.
Germans and Swiss have been world class machine makers for the last 200 years and machine making is in their blood. Whether, it is a simple watch to a complex CNC machine. The best always rolled out of these two countries.
Now, this whole Industry of Textile Machine Making has been kissed good bye and send packing to China. Which was actually the other end of spectrum in machine making.
Well, thanks to the supply chain management of Asian Textile companies that was not willing to invest a little higher into European Machines. The supply chain is altogether lost. The skill , the design capability, the precision, the new solutions, the flexibility is all gone forever.
At ITME Mumbai, if one was to really see any machine worth its salt, it was the Trutzcheler stand, where they displayed the carding and the blow room. It was such a piece of engineering marvel. But only the remnant of what is now left out in Europe. Though, I would also appreciate that SSM, despite getting moved to China has still kept very high standards of quality and the machine does not look Chinese in any way.
In one of my last post, where in I wrote about " Europe does not , how to sell Textile Machines " . I also listed some of the weakness these companies had shown to penetrate the Asian markets.
But, now I would blame the Asian consumers to have pitched the prices so low that the whole supply chain has been lost forever. I am not surprised on this. It is not just that European textile machines have gone missing , but also the good Asian companies will face the same consequences, where the user pinches the few cents to buy a cheap product.
Last month, I was with the materials manager of one of the largest textile company of India and I was shocked to see the behavior of the materials manager, who argued that he did not care, what went into making a superior product or no matter , what technology was used or what management practices were being observed . He was only interested in the low price as what a mistry type workshop was offering. He further went in to comment that , he wanted European Quality with Chinese Prices. This is the level of thinking of a very well educated supply chain manager. No wonder, if a Top company has this approach towards its supply chain, there is very little chance of either European or a good Local companies to survive.
European quality comes with European prices and Chinese quality comes with Chinese prices. There is no such thing as European Quality with Chinese prices. Except that the managers feel very proud in buying cheap or very cheap products and saving money for their companies in short run and screwing up in the long run.
It is a little strange that while for personal use, most Asians would jump on the top brand and empty their pockets to starvation However, when taking decisions for their own companies, the heroism is in buying the lowest price product. Low price is generally low quality.
In case of machines and accessories, these are long time work horses. A cheap machine or accessory runs for 6 months or 1 year very good and thereafter for all the years, you keep putting money into it.
Anyway, European Textile Machines will be a lost Civilization. Though on weaving, there are still some companies surviving .
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.