2021 marks the 20-year anniversary of Trützschler’s first subsidiary in China, the world’s largest textile market. For two decades, our colleagues at the 42,500-square-meter facility in Qingpu, near Shanghai, have been building customer relationships – and building business success for Trützschler Textile Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. It’s a story of great people, amazing innovations and outstanding service. And we’ve got big plans for the years ahead…
Deep roots and steady growth
Today, Trützschler has a strong presence in China – but we had to earn that position by listening to customers and building our knowledge of this fast-paced and constantly changing market. Our learning process began in 1988, when we started exporting our DK 714 carding machines from Germany to China. As demand for our machines grew, we collected regular feedback from our customers in China to understand their needs and offer value-adding innovations. By founding Trützchler Textile Machinery Shanghai (TTMS) in 2001, we committed to our customers in this country and began developing next-generation machines that could meet their shifting requirements. The TC 05, which was launched in 2008, in particularly, was an incredibly popular innovation that opened up the Chinese market for Trützschler. It was followed by further successful models like the TC 8 and TC 10 up to our latest card generation, the 1.28-meter-wide TC 15, which already set new benchmarks. With the delivery of the 8.000th card to the Chinese market in 2021, we have reached a big milestone in the history of TTMS.
TTMS building in Shanghai
This passion for customer-focused research and development is at the heart of our success in China – and it will be at the heart of our future success too. Our teams continue to upgrade and reimagine our products and services to maximize the value we create for our Chinese customers. Trützschler’s mission is to lead the development of the textile industry by constantly exploring new technologies, and we are only able to do this because our customers trust us and collaborate with our expert teams. As a family-owned company with a culture of honesty and integrity, we interact with our customers in an open and uncomplicated manner. This combination of innovative technologies and excellent service enables Trützschler to be quick and flexible, which is extremely important in such a dynamic market.
Embracing Chinese culture and empowering Chinese customers
Harald Schoepp has first-hand experience of our company’s progress in China. He is General Manager of Trützschler Textile Machinery China, and has worked for Trützschler Group for more than 40 years. “When I came to China in 2003, I faced the same challenges in my own life that Trützschler faced in this market,” he said. “We didn’t know enough about the Chinese culture and the textile market here. That’s why we were so lucky that our Chinese colleagues helped us to understand the way of doing business in China and supported our efforts to adapt our products and strategies for this unique market.”
Harald Schoepp, General Manager Trützschler Textile Machinery China.
“At the beginning, our products were designed to meet the needs of a small segment of the market in China, and our sales volume was quite small. We wanted to introduce our products to more Chinese spinning mills and show how they boost productivity and quality without raising costs. As we gained a better understanding of the needs of Chinese customers, we changed our designs to support them even more effectively. For example, twenty years ago, we found out that Chinese customers only needed one licker-in roller instead of three. Now, as machine-picked cotton becomes more common, we have switched back from one licker-in to three. It’s important to keep up-to-date about market changes – and we’re going to make sure we do exactly that as we develop our next generation of innovations for China.”
A success story supported by strong service
Trützschler’s achievements in China are a direct result of our unwavering commitment to dedicated and expert customer service. “Our Sales team wins us the first order from a new customer, and the outstanding performance of our machines wins their respect. However, our success in China is built on strong and long-lasting relationships with our customers. Those relationships exist because we provide outstanding after-sales service – it makes sure equipment provides our customers with reliable and value-adding performance for a very long time.”, says Chen Jie, Spinning Machine Sales Manager for TTMS. He joined TTMS in 2001 and meanwhile looks back on ten years of professional experience in service as well as another ten years in sales. “Trützschler is a family business and it feels like a big family – among our customers, as well as our team. My work makes me realize that our great reputation in China is also generated by the close cooperation between all our departments working hand in hand every day.”
Ms. Yang Si, management of Hubei Shufeng Textile Co. Ltd., where the 8000th card was installed in 2021 (r) & Chen Jie, Spinning Machine Sales Manager for TTMS (l)
Our Customer Relationship and Technical Marketing Manager for China, Mr. Yuan Dezhu, echoed this sentiment. “Trützschler Textile Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.’s presence in this market is a powerful example of how a foreign-owned enterprise can succeed in China, especially in the textile machinery industry,” he said. “Our market share is still growing as we continue to introduce advanced technologies for our customers here.”
Looking back on our success and looking forward to more
The 20-year anniversary of our factory near Shanghai is an important moment to reflect on our experiences in the Chinese textile market – and to reinforce our ambitions for the future. These ambitions include a strong focus on our nonwoven business, which has constantly expanded during our time in China. In fact, Trützschler established a second wholly-owned subsidiary in China in 2019 to produce and sell nonwoven equipment, and to provide a range of spare parts and service options. A new site for this business is now under construction and will be completed in November this year.
Of course, we plan to invite our colleagues and customers to celebrate the opening ceremony for this new facility, and to honor the 20th anniversary of Trützschler Textile Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Together, we can share memories from our success in China – and turn this great momentum into great momentum for our shared future.
