The celebration, which was held at the company’s headquarters on 6 July 2017, brought together customers from all over the world. More than 750 guests came from 50 countries. Some of the visitors accepted long and troublesome journeys, coming for example from India, China, Taiwan and Japan.

Karl Mayer was presenting itself to the visitors as a company, which is ideally placed to face the future. During a guided tour, they were shown the completely renovated Component Production Department, an Assembly Hall, which was only opened at the end of last year, and the modern Development Centre.

Over the last five years, Karl Mayer has invested extensively in improving the competitiveness of its high-tech locations in Germany, Italy and Japan, and has spent a total of € 60 million. The money was invested in new plant, modernising the production facilities, and new IT systems.

During the tour of the halls, it quickly became clear that Karl Mayer is passionate about the future. “The company has changed enormously since my last visit. The facilities and general atmosphere are extremely modern and progressive,” said Ning Yi Shen, the Managing Director of Tianhai Lace, thus, stating the general impressions.

„We are presenting ourselves successfully as innovative world market leader. All the customers are impressed by the new factory hall added to our headquarters and by the new and innovative further developments of our machines," confirmed Arno Gärtner, Karl Mayer's CEO during the event."

Facing the future with a modern innovation show

In the Development Centre, the guests were treated to a unique, multimedia innovation show. Progressive solutions have enabled the company to grow. Karl Mayer is a world leader in its business fields of warp knitting machines, technical textiles and warp preparation. “The product innovations which, in many cases, we have developed in cooperation with you, our business partners, have been a decisive factor in our success over the last 80 years,” said Arno Gärtner, during his welcoming speech. Innovations will also be important in the future, and there will be a demand not only for progressive, technical systems but also for innovative services, processes, new organisational structures and new ways of operating. The whole textile value-added chain will be optimised by intelligent systems, automation and lean processes.

Digitisation is an important aspect in this case. “Digitisation is changing our world rapidly. This applies to both how we work and live,” explained the CFO, Dr. Helmut Preßl. Sustainability and the efficient use of resources also present huge challenges to the textile machine sector. Karl Mayer is working on all of these aspects. In keeping with its motto, “We care about your future,” the company always has one eye on added value for its customers. “We know that, without you, our business partners, Karl Mayer would not be so successful,” said Dr. Helmut Preßl to the assembled guests. Right from the beginning, the founder, Karl Mayer, focused on close collaboration and cooperation with his customers, and set up company sites on its main markets.

The impressive, in-house show clearly demonstrated what could be achieved for its customers through team spirit, passion, a high level of expertise, and an understanding of the market. The musician, Alex Auer, was also inspired by the noise of the machines and created the Sound of Innovation, a piece for the guitar and high-tech production technology.

The in-house show was demonstrating nine partially revamped and newly developed machines from Karl Mayer’s Warp Knitting, Technical Textiles and Warp Preparation Business Units, as well as new textile developments having the potential to generate new business. The visitors were extremely impressed by the show. “Karl Mayer is extremely innovative and progressive in all its machine sectors. The machines feature a high level of automation, operate at an impressive level of efficiency, and are easy to operate. They are the kings among the machines available on the market,” said Leo Wu of Wu Luen Knitting Co., Ltd.