German technology can play a major role making the environment cleaner and increase energy efficiency of the textile industry, according to a discussion among the VDMA member companies during the opening of ongoing ITMA ASIA + CITME 2016, Asia’s foremost trade fair dedicated to textile machinery, held in Shanghai, China, from October 21 to 25, 2016. The VDMA booth (H1F81) at the expo is the first contact point for visitors interested in German technology. Visitors can get a compact overview of manufacturers and their products in the useful pocket guide, listing all exhibiting VDMA members by halls and showing their stand location in the hall plans. With their products and services, the VDMA member companies have already taken steps towards Industrie 4.0, in China called intelligent manufacturing. Visitors to the event will have an opportunity to appreciate the high level of technology being proposed by more than 100 German machinery manufacturers. Fritz P. Mayer, chairman of VDMA textile machinery and associate of Karl Mayer Textilmaschinenfabrik said, “VDMA member companies have been focussing on the issue of sustainability for their products, in order to satisfy the demand for efficient technology solutions that effectively cut back on consumption, and consequently on production costs. New technology is the number one key to better products and competitive production. And, technology is one precondition for resource and energy saving, he explained. Professionally investing customers are happy to pay for sustainable technologies and improved energy efficiency. VDMA calls this “Sustainability meets profit.” VDMA started its sustainability initiative Blue Competence, to which over 40 textile machinery companies have adhered. IT conducted an analysis that examined the energy saving effects over the entire production chain of five textile products: A cotton T-Shirt, a functional T-Shirt a textile billboard, an architectural textile, and a hygienic nonwoven. In the production of these products up to 30 percent energy can be saved with German technology of today compared to the one available 10 years ago. Details of this analysis are available as a brochure at the VDMA booth. Thomas Waldmann, managing director, VDMA Textile Machinery said, “Leading customers are increasingly interested in condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, including remote services. Immediate advantages of Industrie 4.0 are improved plant efficiency, more economical production processes, energy savings, more flexible production, just to name a few.”
