Innovation in Swiss textile technology is founded on over 3,000 years of experience of its companies. The country’s innovative spirit has been demonstrated many times through inventions spanning various fields of human experience. Their impact on the global textile industry has been among the most notable, with continuous and significant developments. Swiss textile machinery companies have been at the core of this naturally-evolving tradition of inventiveness. Today, the producers of machines and components and service providers in Swiss textile machinery sustain that heritage by a commitment to ongoing innovation that will influence the textile industry worldwide in future.
Tradition of innovation evolves
Years ago, most Swiss enterprises were family businesses, often built on the founders’ invention of a technology or machine which was then further developed and improved over generations. Many companies have a history dating back more than a century – and some are still family-owned. The tradition of innovation evolved naturally over decades for the Swiss textile machinery manufacturers, component producers and service providers.
The list of some of these innovations includes Caspar Honegger’s weaving loom, Georges Audemars’s rayon artificial silk, Isaak Groebli’s shuttle embroidery machine, Karl Friedrich Gegauf’s hemstitch sewing machine and later inventions such as Othmar Winterhalter’s zip (1923) and George de Mestral’s Velcro fastener.
Inventing is still a way of life in Switzerland, and the fruits of this philosophy were demonstrated at ITMA Asia + CITME 2018, where 30 members exhibited their latest offerings.
Prioritising customer needs through innovative solutions
Across the generations of Swiss textile machinery firms, expertise has been handed down – along with the ‘inventor gene’. Driving it all, however, has been a recognition that customer requirements are the priority. Meeting those needs through innovative solutions is the real goal.
Some of the standards set by the Swiss textile machinery companies have been established for decades – as readers might know from textbooks during their studies. With the progress of Industry 4.0’, new technologies and standards are expected to be launched.
