By Flora Zhao

This October， ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018， Asias foremost trade fair dedicated to textile machinery， was once again marked by a significant presence of German companies both in their number and in the quality of their technology. Visitors to the fair had an opportunity to appreciate the high level of technology being proposed by more than 100 exhibitors from Germany， including more than 80 VDMA member companies. They covered nearly all different machinery chapters with a focus on spinning， nonwoven， weaving， knitting， warp knitting and finishing. The overall exhibition space occupied by German machinery manufacturers was more than 7，000 square meters， confirming Germanys leading position among exhibiting foreign countries. The German exhibitors increased their booth space by approximately 15 % compared to 2016.

“Choose the original — Choose success” is the message of the VDMA Textile Machinery at this trade fair. On the occasion of the VDMA press conference on the opening day of the exhibition， Ms. Karin Christine Schmidt， Technical Director VDMA Textile Machinery， emphasized：“Copycat machines may look similar to the systems they are designed to emulate. But only originals do not simply follow but are pacesetters of technological progress.” Original technology is a keystone of innovation. It has the potential to successfully turn visions of entirely new possibilities in the textile production into reality.

This approach was visualized at the VDMA booth. The stand achieved attention and emotion through the picture motif： Neuschwanstein Castle. This world-famous tourist magnet is more than that： it is also a successful original. A vision， which could be successfully implemented in the long term through innovation and technology.

During the press conference， 18 spokespersons of renowned VDMA member companies showed how original technology can indeed play a major role in Chinas and other Asian nations efforts to increase the resource efficiency of the textile industry and to interconnect information technology and manufacturing processes.

Topics of the companies included automation， performance improvement， quality， sustainable solutions （raw material， energy， water saving）， Industry 4.0 （in China called intelligent manufacturing）， digital AR/VR services， platforms and software. For example， Antonia Gottschalk from Karl Mayer said：“Digital solutions considerably extend the possibilities to enhance the efficiency of our customers production processes. The newcomers main objective is a rapid and flexible development of efficient digital solutions for the clients benefit， solutions which will be offered under the companys own， new umbrella brand.” Jürgen Hanel from Monforts said： “Monforts is ahead of progress in the Internet of Things / Industry 4.0 Technology by using latest interface and visualization technology with slider function for machine operation. This system can also be connected to a so called WebUI where current production parameters are monitored on mobile devices via remote service. The proven teleservice is also based on remote service， updated and extended to predictive maintenance possibilities helping to reduce machine standstill. Furthermore， the energy consumption can be improved by automatic optimization of machine parameters.”