Posted December 9, 2015

 

By Devin Steele (DSteele@eTextileCommunications.com)

 

MILAN – Cyril Guerin, president of Picanol of America, Inc., repeated a mantra heard frequently in the 11 halls of this year’s ITMA.

 

“ITMA 2015 was an outstanding event for us,” he said. “The quantity and quality of visitors in our booth was beyond our expectations. ITMA is always a special event and, while it is too early to conclude the true impact of ITMA Milano, we are very hopeful that this could turn out to be one of the best ITMAs ever.”

 

Indeed, the large Picanol stand buzzed with activity around its weaving machines during eTC’s visits on several occasions. And visitors were “serious” about investment, Guerin said.

 

“People came to us with very specific questions indicating that they had thought about their visit beforehand,” he said. “It also is an indicator that they have plans and we sure hope to be included in those.”

 

Guerin and other representatives of Picanol of America, the North American arm of Belgium-based weaving machine maker Picanol, were on hand to answer questions and meet visitors in the stand.

 

“We experienced a very diverse crowd,” Guerin said. “Our guests came from all four corners of the world. Our friends from North America visited us at a much higher rate than we had anticipated. And again, those visitors did not come in just to chat – they all had a purpose, which made ITMA 2015 a truly successful show.”

 

This year, Picanol is celebrating 40 years of manufacturing rapier weaving machines and, as such, it globally launched the new OptiMax-I and the TerryMax-i machines. Based on the successful platform of the OptiMax, this new model is now the fastest and most versatile rapier machine on the market, according to Guerin. The TerryMax-i is its latest rapier development that weaves high-quality terry cloth.

 

“Our visitors recognized all its advantages so the interest generated by this machine was amazing,” Guerin said of the latter machine.
 

In addition, Picanol presented several new developments in air jet weaving to allow customers to benefit “to the max” their investment in a Picanol OmniPlus Summum machine, Guerin said.

 

“At Picanol, we always make sure that some of the new developments are compatible with some of the previous models, so we had a nice exhibit introducing such upgrades and their compatibility with older Picanol weaving machines,” he said.

 

The company also introduced the TerryPlus Summum, the fastest terry air jet loom available on the market, he added.

 

“All of the above was showcased on our open booth, where our guests were able to get a piece of the Picanol experience,” Guerin said.