Asia is, and will continue to be, a
lucrative market for the global textile machinery building sector – a market
that should be nurtured carefully. Karl Mayer, too, has seen a growing demand
from the countries bordering China, especially for tricot machines.
Together with its sales operations, this
leading producer of warp knitting machines and warp preparation machines has,
therefore, also been expanding its service operations in this region. This
targeted expansion in capacity has focused on Vietnam, Bangladesh and India.
According to Karl Mayer, it relies on its
global network of subsidiaries, particularly on Karl Mayer (China), to provide
its customers with technical support more efficiently on site.
“Our Chinese service technicians are,
therefore, located close to our growth markets - in terms of location, culture
and language,” explained Martin Hornig, the Head of Service Division. This is
all the more important since many business people of Chinese descent located in
the countries bordering China also operate in the warp knitting sector.
Help from neighbours: support for Vietnam
and Bangladesh from China
Karl Mayer has taken on two service
technicians to provide its Vietnamese warp knitting customers with technical
support, and they were trained for their future practical jobs in the spring of
2017.
The training was carried out by the Karl Mayer
Academy China. These highly qualified specialists are now based in Ho-Chi-Minh
City and Hanoi, so that they can be deployed from the north to the south of the
country.
Karl Mayer also relies on its Chinese
subsidiary for its operations in Bangladesh. Service technicians from Changzhou
City and other service hotspots in China are supporting their colleagues in the
region with carrying out a large project.
From February to the end of May 2017 alone,
roughly 60 two-bar HKS machines were installed at the premises of a domestic
producer of mosquito nets. More machines are to be sold in the middle of the
second quarter. A colleague from India also helped the Asian team with the extensive
assembly work.
Thu Minh Tang, the Supervisor of Service
Projects, provided this high level of coordination from the parent company in
Obertshausen. As far as warp knitting machines are concerned, Bangladesh is a
relatively new market for Karl Mayer, but one which is currently developing in
a very promising way.
India: a market requiring technical support
India is seen as less of a new market and
more as a market offering a great deal of potential. Since the end of April,
Peter Stutz has been working in India as Karl Mayer’s new Service Manager in
order to strengthen the company’s customer relations in the warp knitting
sector in this traditional, textile-producing country, and to be able to react
even better to their needs.
The experienced specialist is shaping the
dialogue there, and is also coordinating the operations of the company’s own
technical support team. This team, which provides technical support for warp
knitting machines, is currently made up of 12 service technicians and three
employees working in the office.
Meanwhile, Karl Mayer is currently
introducing its KARL MAYER CONNECT app onto the Indian market to effectively
complement its technicians operating there. If required, customers can
communicate efficiently and without any errors with the service organisation of
this textile machinery manufacturer via mobile terminals.
To send off a service request, all that has
to be done is to scan in a QR code from the machine’s touchscreen display. The
main machine data are transmitted in order to explain the problem. Pictures and
comments can also be sent.
All the machines operating in India built
from the year 2010 onwards can be given a specific software update to enable
them to use this communication tool as quickly and easily as possible. The work
is scheduled to take place from the beginning of February to the end of June
2017, and applies to about 630 machines.
Close network provides rapid support
To strengthen its customer relations in
Asia, Karl Mayer is also stepping up the activities of its customer service
engineers. These highly qualified specialists are helping to strengthen
customer relations in the long term. They visit customers, determine what their
needs are, help to solve problems, and act as trend scouts as they go about their
business. The team of eight is made up of German and Chinese people and one
Japanese person.
“With our global network of customer
service engineers and service technicians, we can offer our customers technical
expertise and a high degree of flexibility, especially in Asia. Roughly
three-quarters of our customers operate there. Wherever our technical support
is needed, we can be on site quickly to provide expert technical assistance,”
says Martin Hornig.