By Zhao Zihan

During the five-day ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018 that just ended in Shanghai， Rieter Group exhibited Essential — Rieter Digital Spinning Suite， SSM with world first winding machine CWX-W， etc.， and launched the ring spinning machines G 37 and G 38 as well as the compact-spinning machines K 47 and K 48. The autoleveler draw frame RSB-D 26 celebrated its premiere in Shanghai. In addition， the exhibits also covered modernization solutions for existing systems， customized spinning systems for maximum efficiency and competitiveness， and premium-quality technology components.

On the opening day of the exhibition， Rieter held“Rieter Digital Day”， during which Mr. Norbert Klapper， CEO of Rieter Group， gave a brief introduction to the technologies required to achieve digitization and the benefits that these technologies can bring to the customers of Rieter and the entire spinning industry. Taking the customers of the UPtime system as an example， he explained how these technologies digitize the spinning process. Meanwhile， he also analyzed the challenges involved in the realization of digitization and pointed out the way forward.

According to Norbert， Rieter has always been attaching great importance to customer needs and feedback. Among them， low margins， lack of experts and shortage of operators are the main problems that the spinners are facing. These three requirements for spinners are what Rieter considers giving solutions to when seeking new technologies. Rieters equipment is just designed to meet these needs of its customers and truly solve the problems that lead to inefficiencies in spinning process.

How to control costs and benefits and ensure that companies can make a profit is the key to implementing smart manufacturing. Smart manufacturing is not suitable for all enterprises， but depends on actual situation. In this regard， Norbert made a very good suggestion to Chinese spinners. “At present， Chinese spinners are not in a easy situation. Firstly， the labor costs in China， compared to other Asian countries， are quite high. That is the fact， and also an issue that Chinese spinners are concerned. Secondly， there is no such big profits anymore in March when the government stopped the government subsidies for new spinning mills in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The third issue is that our Chinese customers are heading toward the United States. So when we meet our customers for these three reasons， they tell us that we need to invest into automation， digitization and efficiency of the factory. To take efficiency out of what we still have， we must upgrade the existing equipment to higher productivity and better quality. This is the way we try to help our Chinese customers stay competitive.”

Rieter has always been concerned with the development of textile technology with a goal to lead the development of the entire industry. The next step is to achieve the digitization of spinning， for the reason that Rieter， as the worlds leading supplier of systems for short-staple fiber spinning， is the only supplier worldwide to cover spinning preparation processes as well as all four end spinning processes currently established on the market. Moreover， Rieter is well equipped with specialists in service， R&D;， production and quality departments. It is believed that Rieters expertise in the field of spinning， combined with digital technology， will certainly bring considerable benefits to customers.

Whereafter， Mr. Huang Wei， Head of Marketing& Communication at Rieter （China） Textile Instruments Co.， Ltd.， introduced the layout features of the Rieter stand to the media. On the stand， Rieters four spinning technologies had corresponding four touch screens which showcased the characteristics of spinning system equipment and selected some practical cases to show customers. There were also three touch screens exhibiting Rieters digital technology， including Essential — Rieter Digital Spinning Suite， UPtime and SPIDERweb， of which the Essential — Rieter Digital Spinning Suite was newly launched.

Rieter has three business groups， Machines & Systems， Components and After Sales. This year， the three business groups were unveiled for the first time in a unified overall image. Compared with the previous editions， the biggest change this year is that the display focused on “digitization”. Without a lot of machinery exhibited on the stand， what visitors could see were a large number of screens， including seven 65-inch 4k touch screens， four LED screens， and multiple screens of different sizes. Huang Wei said that perhaps this is a trend of textile machinery exhibition in the future.