About 600 decision-makers and experts from the textile and textile machinery industry attended two VDMA conferences themed German Technology meets Vietnamese Textiles on 5 July in Hanoi and on 7 July in Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, a VDMA training seminar for 200 students took place on 8 July at the HCM City University of Technology.

The participants came from various countries, such as Vietnam, Germany, France, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Turkey. They received information about state-of-the-art technology from 24 participating VDMA member companies representing the entire textile chain, including spinning, knitting, weaving, nonwovens, dyeing and finishing.

Higher productivity, sustainability (energy, water, material efficiency), new textile applications, quality improvements, as well as Industrie 4.0 - opportunities for the textile industry were some of the topics discussed in the lectures, during the panel discussion and at the B2B Matchmaking.

VDMA events

In 2015, Germany exported textile machinery and accessories worth EUR 35 million to Vietnam, which is a 13% increase compared with 2015/2014. The federation believes that these events will help contribute to further deepening of the relations between the industries.

“Vietnam needs the high quality and efficiency of German machines to further invest, in particular, in fabric production as well as dyeing and finishing,” said Truong Van Cam, Vice President and General Secretary of Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association – VITAS, during the panel discussion in Hanoi. “This will help the textile and garment industry to meet the local content requirements and to take benefit from the Free Trade Agreements, such as TPP.”

The VDMA events were supported by VITAS (Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association) and various media partners.

Textile manufacturing location

“The framework conditions for the VDMA conferences in Vietnam were promising. Due to the recently signed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the country is increasingly becoming a much preferred textile manufacturing location by companies worldwide,” explained Thomas Waldmann, Managing Director of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association. 

TPP will reduce 18,000 tariffs. Vietnam is almost a sole supplier of textiles among the Trans-Pacific Partnership member countries and an important supplier of textiles and garment to big consumer markets, like the US. Textile and garment exports from Vietnam to the TPP markets are expected to grow by more than 10% in 2016/2015.

Leading textile machinery and accessories builders discussed their latest solutions at the conferences. These included Andritz Asselin-Thibeau, Brückner, Erhardt+Leimer, Fong’s Europe, Groz-Beckert, Has Group, Heusch, Mahlo, Mayer & Cie., Karl Mayer, Memminger-Iro, A. Monforts, Oerlikon Barmag, Reiners+Fürst, Reseda Binder, Georg Sahm, Saurer Accotex, Saurer Texparts, Setex, Textechno, Thies, Trützschler, Welker Spintech and Xetma Vollenweider.

Manufacturers of textile machinery

VDMA German Engineering Federation represents over 3,100 companies in the capital goods industry, making it the largest industry association in Europe. About 130 of the most important manufacturers of textile machinery and accessories from all sectors of the trade are affiliated within the VDMA Textile Machinery Association.

Most of the member companies are medium-sized enterprises which stand for approximately 90% of the entire sector volume. In 2015, the branch produced textile machinery worth about EUR 3.1 billion.

Further reading

www.germantech-vietnamesetextile.de

www.machines-for-textiles.com

www.vdma.org