Posted February 7, 2017

 

By Devin Steele (DSteele@eTextileCommunications.com)

 

Representatives of Monroe Township, N.J.-based knitting machine manufacturer Shima Seiki USA, a subsidiary of Japan-based Shima Seiki Ltd., visited several longtime customers in North Carolina last month.

 

The three-day tour, which covered four towns/cities in the Western and Eastern part of the state, is one of many Shima Seiki staff members make during the year. They visited a fiber producer, two safety apparel manufacturers and N.C. State’s College of Textiles in Raleigh, N.C.

 

In addition to providing valuable face time with customers, this trip in particular was also a networking and something of a matchmaking event, according to Matt Llewellyn, vice president of Shima Seiki USA.

 

“We usually visit our customers to introduce advancements in our machinery and textile design system,” he said. “However, during this visit, we introduced some of our North Carolina customers to one of our Los Angeles-based customers, BNG Knitting, for potential collaboration.”

 

BNG, a loosely defined “start-up,” recently purchased multiple sets of Shima Seiki’s new SVR123SP knitting machines, along with a WHOLEGARMENT machine, which is capable of producing 3D knit structures and inlay not previously available, Llewellyn said.

 

“Through this partnering and collaboration of fiber manufacturers and machinery producers, new capabilities can be achieved in the safety apparel industry,” he said. “Our N.C.-based customers have a long history of manufacturing the best cut-, abrasion- and static-resistant apparel on the market utilizing composite yarns stronger than steel. With BNG’s unique machinery and a potential partnership with our N.C. customers, we hope a new standard can be achieved utilizing a combination of the most advanced composite yarns and machinery in the market today.”

 

Though BNG Knitting is new, the company and its owner are no stranger to Shima Seiki equipment. Luis Kim founded is predecessor company, San Bo, Inc., in 1996 in Los Angeles and was one of the first companies to manufacture and supply Junior’s apparel into its own wholesale store. By doing so, other companies opened flatbed knitting production in L.A. for the production of Junior’s and Misses’ apparel. 

 

The big advantages of this domestic production were fast delivery and a shortened supply chain, which offered BNG’s customers the advantage of capturing a trend prior to the import of garments.

 

In 2015, Kim sold San Bo and wanted to concentrate of manufacturing knits using the latest technology, so he opened BNG to become a contract manufacturer for safety and industrial applications, thus purchasing the new Shima Seiki machines.

 

“By collaborating with fiber manufactures, industrial textile manufacturers and Shima Seiki, a sort of triangle can be seen that allows for the same kind of growth that was captured in Los Angeles,” Llewellyn said. “With the shortened supply chain, new fibers and new machine capabilities, Mr. Kim believes the timing is perfect for USA domestic production.”

 

Due to an illness, Kim was unable to make the planned tour through N.C., so he sent his wife Cecilia Kim and daughter Andrea Kim in his stead.

 

In addition to Llewellyn, Shima Seiki representatives on the visit, were Shima Seiki USA President Seiichi “Senna” Nakaya and Ken Yong, technical sales support. Also during the trip, they met up with Gerry Springthorpe, the company’s sales and product development specialist, who was spending the week with an N.C. customer.

 

Long history in Western Hemisphere

 

Shima Seiki has had a relationship with two of the three companies, along with N.C. State, for more than 25 years, according to Nakaya. The fourth has been in business and a Shima Seiki customer for about a decade.

 

“Even when the textile industry was disappearing over the past due to import pricing, each of these companies found their own unique way to offer product that has superior value to their customers,” Nakaya said.

 

The No. 1 priority for those purchasing Shima Seiki knitting machines is customer service, he added.

 

“Our machinery, from the SFG-I glove machine to WHOLEGARMENT machines, are just a tool,” Nakaya said. “Most important to our customers is teaching and supporting them on how to maximize the machine’s capabilities and maintain the machine’s efficiency.”

 

Shima Seiki’s products serve a diverse customer base, he said. Since 1986, the company has sold more than 3,000 machines into the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and it currently has more than 80 customers operating in those three countries, he added.

 

“From knitting of the world’s finest cashmere to stainless steel and fiberglass, it’s the same machine,” Nakaya said. “We have customers producing small-quantity, high-end apparel through e-commerce and boutiques all the way to companies such as our N.C.-based customers that supply the automotive and food-handling sectors with safety apparel.”

 

Shima Seiki’s popular WHOLEGARMENT machines revolutionized knitting when it was introduced at the 1995 ITMA in Milan. Its lineup of WHOLEGARMENT machines produce knitwear in one entire piece, three-dimensionally and without seams, directly on the knitting machine.

 

Shima Seiki also provides an accompanying proprietary Apex 3D design system, which offers comprehensive support of the entire process of knitwear production, from planning and design to production and sales promotion – and it’s also capable of virtual sampling.

 

In the spring, Shima Seiki will host its third Global 3D Knitting Seminar & Workshop at its Design Center at the California Market Center in downtown Los Angeles. During the event, more than 25 speakers will discuss many aspects of textiles, including fiber, textile design and merchandising, manufacturing of knits and wovens and retail and supply chain. It’s an ideal time for networking and discovering capabilities from concept to store shelf, according to Llewellyn. For more info or sign up for the next seminar please contact Shima Seiki USA at info@shimaseikiusa.com.