These were three good reasons for customers to visit KARL MAYER on its spacious stand, which was showcasing many interesting applications.

Turkey is making a comeback on the market for classic warp-knitted textiles The latest generation of the HKS 3-M formed the focus of the presentation of the company and its products. This flexible, high-speed tricot machine was introduced onto the market at the turn of the millennium and was upgraded in 2007, which involved changing it over to using CFP components. Integrating lightweight components, among other things, increased the speed by 25%, but the most recent modifications have increased the operating speed by another 15%. The HKS 3-M can now reach speeds of up to 2,800 min-1 at a working width of 210" – a production rate that definitely secured the machine’s place on the stand at ITM Texpo Eurasia 2012. For some time now, Turkey has again been emerging as an important market for KARL MAYER, and demand there has been increasing surprisingly well. “Turkey was one of the five most important sales regions for our warp knitting machines in the last financial year,” explained the sales director, Oliver Mathews, in an interview with Engin Buz, the editor of the magazine, Tekstil Dunyasi, which took place during the fair. KARL MAYER used to have a large customer base in Turkey, especially in the net curtain sector. After excellent financial results in 2006 and 2007, demand declined rapidly in the wake of the global economic crisis – a decline that lasted until about 2010. “Now the Turkish market is back in business,” declared Oliver Mathews optimistically. It is difficult to predict what will happen for the whole of the 2012 financial year, but demand did increase during the first quarter. Sales are expected to rise over the next few months – in complete contrast to the general trend. “Business on the Asian market declined this year compared to 2010 and 2011. On the other hand, the number of orders from Turkey and India has increased surprisingly,” said Oliver Mathews. The HKS 3-M has proved to be a particular best-seller. Manufacturers of embroidery grounds, net curtains and upholstery fabrics, as well as producers of stretch lingerie and semi-technical textiles, are expressing great interest in this high-speed machine. Bastian Frisch, KARL MAYER’s sales director for warp knitting machines in Turkey and its agent, Erko Textil, had plenty of reason to look back on the fair with some satisfaction. “This year’s fair has been the best organised, has clearly expanded at a global level, and also recorded a large number of visitors,” said this experienced sales manager. The visitors not only came from Turkey, but also from Iran, Syria, Egypt and even Georgia. “All our regular customers paid us a visit and we had conversations on some very specific issues. We spoke to people who were very knowledgeable and extremely innovative. Textile producers are no longer merely content to follow trends, they also want to develop their own products and introduce new innovations. Of course, their enquiries related mainly to the new HKS 3-M. The performance and quality of this machine, which is now even more productive, was received enthusiastically, and attracted the interest of potential new customers in the embroidery and weaving sectors,” concluded Bastian Frisch. “Consequently, ITM Texpo Eurasia was an important trade fair for us.”