More than 240 exhibitors from Germany—one of the largest exhibiting nations at ITMA—are showcasing various machinery and technologies aimed at sustainable textile future at the ongoing fair in Milan. Over 100,000 trade professionals, who are expected to visit the eight-day international textile machinery expo will see ‘Master the Art of Sustainable Innovation’ as one of the performance commitments that will be delivered by the German companies, said the German Engineering Federation VDMA in a press release. Textile manufacturers are facing a multitude of challenges, and in the coming years they are expected to shorten the production intervals more and more. Further, due to most versatile specifications, especially of technical textiles, machinery and equipment have to be adjusted frequently. In addition, quality, productivity and resource efficiency are equally important in the business. “VDMA and Blue Competence members provide best practice examples for resource and energy saving, sustainable corporate culture and strategies, integration of functions, automation and steps towards Industry 4.0. Additionally we support our customers with technological advice over the whole manufacturing process as we believe that first class machines also need first class consulting and support,” said Regina Brueckner, managing director Brueckner Trockentechnik and chairperson of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association at the VDMA press conference on ITMA. At ITMA, the German industry is presenting a new edition of the VDMA energy efficiency guide on textile machinery. In addition, German experts are demonstrating the energy savings along the entire textile production chain of well-defined textile product categories. Profound calculations cover the full textile production cycle of cotton T-shirts, functional shirts or textile billboards, hygienic nonwovens and woven architectural fabrics. “These five product examples stand for thousands of textile products. Total energy savings of up to 30 per cent are possible by using German state-of-the-art technology compared to the machinery generation 10 years ago,” confirms Karin Schmidt, head of Technology of VDMA Textile Machinery.
