With increased awareness for cutting room solutions, technology providers of the segment are anticipating huge growth in India. The common understanding among technology suppliers is that manufacturers really want to absorb technological innovations now and thus are doing their analyses. Arising from factors such as increased participation of the next generation in the business, automation is becoming an essential utility rather than a premium showpiece and expectations of solid paybacks, the cutting room solution providers are breaking all the myths of the trade and delivering products that satisfy the customers. Cutting room solutions, compatible with multiple platforms are now flexible to use for both large and small order quantities. Another strong indication for growth came from the fact that the domestic manufacturer is no longer shying away from investing in advanced cutting room solutions. At the same time, exporters continue to express interest in CAD solutions. “Everybody is now keen to design in-house giving better and increased design inputs and suggestions to the buyer,” avers Ganesan KJ, VP-Engineering, Tukatech.
Meanwhile, reduced lead times continue to loom over the industry triggering the adoption of technology in pre-cutting and cutting operations at an increased rate. “It is important to have a powerful planning tool, whether the order quantities are large or small as the investment in raw materials is on a rise and therefore managing it is imperative,” reasons Anandakumar, MD, GA Morgan Dynamics, the Indian subsidiary of Morgan Tecnica Italy.
Morgan Tecnica presents flexible end-to-end cutting room solutions
Morgan Tecnica with their team
Manufacturers have now begun to look at solutions for optimizing cutting room operations as necessities, and Morgan Tecnica continues to give them more reasons for adopting such technologies. Apart from being flexible, the cutting room solutions of MORGAN are responsive and holistic. “Our machines can give a feedback on the user’s plan and report whatever is executed,” informs Anandakumar. “Today customers are looking for flexibility of being able to manage both small and large order quantities, and our products can handle not only small and large order quantities, but also diverse product categories,” explains Anandakumar. The company is equally equipped with software for cut order planning and rolls allocation as Anandakumar feels that a powerful planning tool is extremely important since fabric is a raw material that is characterized by several variations that impact its usage.
Anandakumar shared that the established companies in Bangalore are expanding and customers are coming forward and embracing technology, a sign of informed decisions. “The approach is more professional than ever and the technical knowledge is equally sound. The customers are not just looking for solutions blindly, they now want solid paybacks,” elaborates Anandakumar. With a strong foothold in South India, the company is now looking at tapping the potential of North India. “We have an extensive presence in south India, and in the north we already have implementations at Orient Craft, Gupta Exim and Bodycare, going forward that market holds huge potential for our products,” reveals Anandakumar, hinting at the next step in Morgan’s strategy.
Tukatech claims increased styles and diverse product categories triggering technology adoption
“Worldwide, the reputation of India is transforming from just a manufacturing hub to a manufacturing hub offering quality design inputs, which marks the emergence of a market for CAD tools waiting to be tapped,” says Ganesan KJ, VP – Engineering, Tukatech. Ganesan goes on to explain the reason for pronounced changes in the market is that the quantity per style is getting smaller and the design input is increasing, making the Indian manufacturer develop design collections. According to Ganesan even the domestic manufacturers are beginning to take notice of the benefits of the technological intervention in pre-sewing areas. “What started two years ago is finally taking shape as even region-specific small companies are coming forward,” he adds. But still Tukatech’s existing customer contributed to 60 per cent of the growth of the company – a sign of ever growing design interventions by them.
However, the Indian industry has not always been upfront about technology adoption, especially CAD solutions though software solutions remove redundancy and non-value adding activities. “We should be slightly more forthcoming, adaptable and proactive instead of waiting for the buyer to recommend,” avers Ganesan. “In countries such as China, Sri Lanka innovative machine launches are awaited and encouraged by all levels of the organization and a positive approach to become a first user for that technology is followed. It is heartening to see such an approach coming in here, also since we are here to not only help our customers but exceed their expectations,” he concludes.
Studio Next highlights effective pricing to accelerate technology adoption
The challenges of decreasing manpower and increasing real estate prices in metro cities have necessitated the move towards automation. “Automation in the cutting room not only reduces manpower requirements but space requirements as well,” reasons Vishal Sher, MD, Studio Next, the channel partner of Shanghai based cutting room solution provider, Yin Japan Co. Ltd. As the manufacturer warms up to the idea of automation, Vishal thinks that it is important to offer the products at the right price to the industry and empower it to use the technology, even if basic and then allow it to graduate.
Addressing short runs of a particular style, Studio Next offers Yin’s HY-S1624 automatic cutter. The 1600 mm X 2400 mm machine comes with an effective cutting width of 1.6 m and employs a high-density brush method.
After having generated immense positive response for its automatic cutting machines, the company claims that Yin’s products are replacing the products that were in the factories for the past 10 years owing to their service, stability of the machines and low running cost. Yimin Ni, Manager – South Asia, Yin Japan adds, “Competition has made us better, else we would have been selling one-third of our products what we are currently selling. We are not here to fight competition; instead we will together make the market bigger by educating people and we anticipate huge growth in the Indian market.” Currently Yin is working on developing a flexible solution for high fashion as well as basic garments and supplying machinery to the Ordinance Factory of Indian Defence.
Optitex predicts virtual sampling to be a norm soon
The US based CAD and 3D prototyping software solutions provider Optitex has had a successful year. “Buyers have started asking for more value and the lead time has shortened further. At the same time, on the domestic front the growth and awareness is unprecedented due to the spike in e-commerce where extensive physical sampling is not feasible,” shares M Sridharan, GM, Optitex. “Pleasantly enough, now the domestic manufacturer is at par with the exporters in terms of technology, indicating the positive trend of technology adoption,” he adds.
Concerned for the overall low acceptance of 3D technologies in India, Sridharan is optimistic that the industry will gradually transform into a place where virtual samples will become the norm. Buyers like Coach, Target, Armani, Adidas, Disney, Roberto Cavalli, Academy Sports, Merrell and more have been using Optitex’s 3D solutions for last 4-5 years now. They don’t need to wait for samples for days as it can be done within a day. Sooner or later, virtual sampling will trickle down to the manufacturers of all sizes and the acceptance will rise,” avers Sridharan. Placing firm belief in extensive training for a wider reach in the market, Optitex has been providing its software for the purpose of training the students on Optitex at professional institutes such as NIFT and has even been training pattern makers in factory premises on their software.
Optitex is offering a one of its kind cutting room planning software Cut Plan Pro. “We have already received 15 bookings for Cut Plan Pro including Ashwath INC, Geena Garments, JG Hosiery, Winder Blues, White Field etc. and in Sri Lanka Maliban, Sumitra, Winter Quilts & Bosy Line (MAS),” reveals Sridharan.
IMA feels that frequent style changeovers not a concern anymore
Riding high on its success of the many installations all over the country, the Italian cutting room solution provider is looking at improved business prospects. Defeating the challenge of automation, acting as a hurdle for manufacturing value-added products in smaller quantities, IMA completed two installations in Tirupur – both small order quantities of high-fashion garment manufacturers wherein the IMA team streamlined the processes for the companies under 50 days. With the awareness regarding automation setting in, the acceptance of technology in one area is triggering the realization of intervention of technology in subsequent processes. “When people shift to automation, they start talking about efficiency and utilization and begin to figure out the gaps in the value chain,” said P. Guna Sekaran, Managing Director, IMA-India.
Speaking about the Indian market, Guna Sekaran, and Gian Pietro Rossi, Marketing Manager, IMA-Italy, shared that Bangalore, has witnessed massive investments with big players like Shahi, Jockey and Texport adding to their existing capacities and responding to increased demands. Furthermore, North India is also doing well as Guna Sekaran speaks of IMA’s recent installations at Shivalik Prints and Shiv Naresh. The hardware of IMA’s cutting room solution comes with a software platform that is compatible with other software solution providers in the market. Backed by its loyal customers such as Sri Santosh Garments who have IMA’s cutters from all three generations, Rossi projects a growth trajectory of 100 per cent in the coming three years.
Displayed at the event was the FORMULA EVO PLUS 919 automatic cutter, equipped with a knife assembly capable of cutting lays of any height, right from single ply to 7 cm compressed. Features such as flexible configurations for the optimization of the cutting process, a new compact design, fast, noiseless and precise Human Machine Interface for real time data feedback, digital controls and energy saving makes the machine an astounding package. “All IMA machines have Mitsubishi equipments that are highly capable, compact and have a high precision and life span,” informs Guna Sekaran.
GeminiCAD re-strategizing for the Indian market with its partner Onyx Solutions
Romania based CAD software solution provider GeminiCAD through its channel partners Onyx Solutions has a strong presence in Gujarat, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Tirupur, Ludhiana, Delhi and Maharashtra and offers a complete range of CAD solutions for pre-sewing operations starting from pattern making to marker plotting.
Thriving in a competitive market, GeminiCAD sets itself apart by delivering standard packages containing the PC station and individual softwares for pattern editing, cut planning and nesting running on one platform. “GeminiCAD assures that its users have a plug-in free experience,” says Vishal Agarwal, CEO, Onyx Solutions. The solutions are compatible with a wide range of plotters and digitizers and can work on files imported from other software solution providers, he elaborates. “No matter whether the manufacturer is small or big, GeminiCAD products can be scaled to any proportion of production and pricing,” reveals Vishal. The parent company keeps a tab on day-to-day production problems, process optimization, hardware integration and compatibility issues faced by its users and releases monthly updates.
Looking at the considerable growth of the company, Onyx Solutions has also introduced cutting edge technology such as high speed inkjet flat bed cutting plotter, pioneering vertical inkjet with cutting plotter in its range and an automatic cutting and spreading machine with their China partner Wuhan Creat Photoelectric Technology Co. Ltd. for complete cutting room solutions. Pattern Dynamics – Onyx Solutions’ distributor for South India for GeminiCAD – is looking at 15 installations in the coming year, expecting to increase its share in the market by 50 per cent.
