KARL MAYER will be showing an HKS 3-M at Febratex

Febratex, the Brazilian Textile Industry Fair, will again take place from 21 to 24 August 2018 for the 16^th time. This leading textile machinery will is open to visitors in the German Village Park in Blumenau (SC) and will show innovations for the entire global production chain. More than 2,400 national and international companies will be exhibiting, including KARL MAYER. This global company will be showcasing its Warp Knitting Business Unit on the stand 67/68/81/82, sector 1, street 6, of its regional agent, MBR – Máquinas Têxteis Bernhard e Rampani. One of the first high-speed tricot machines, type HKS 3-M, with a working width of 130″ and featuring the KAMCOS^® 2 computer platform, will be on show.

The Warp Preparation Business Unit will also be exhibiting at Febratex 2018 on an infostand showcasing products that can be manufactured on a variety of machines and equipment for producing warp beams.

Scoring points with country-specific machines

For KARL MAYER, Brazil is a market with a long tradition. Many small warp knitting companies are located there, as well as many larger ones that are becoming increasingly well established, thanks to their vertical production strategies and willingness to invest. “We also want to appeal to smaller customers in order to increase the range of products on offer,” says Nelson Da Cruz, a Regional Sales Manager at KARL MAYER. As a result of national protectionist policies, most of the products manufactured in Brazilian warp knitting companies are sold on the domestic market. The market been experiencing a recession since 2015, but this now seems to have bottomed out. “We are hoping for a recovery in the near future,” says Nelson Da Cruz. His expectations are supported by the number of orders placed for tricot machines over the last few months. This Sales Manager hopes to get an even better understanding of the market, so that he can offer his customers new business opportunities. “We must supply products for niche sectors and meet the specific requirements of this country,” explains Nelson Da Cruz, since domestic manufacturers do not focus on mass production, nor are they innovative pioneers. Instead of this, they tend to follow trends in areas that are already well established and where there is no strong competition.

KARL MAYER is also targeting its exhibits at weft knitting companies at Febratex. In Blumenau, an HKS 3-M will be processing elastane to produce a stretch filet fabric for use in sportswear. This product and the performance of the machine are designed to offer producers of weft-knitted fabrics an attractive, alternative technology.

Fig.: Warp knitting elements of the HKS 3-M