Tekstil Teknik Dergisi Tekstil Haberleri, Tekstil Sektörü, Tekstil Teknik
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The yarn treatment using steam is the result of a long history at Superba with the very first Turkish customers having trusted us as early as the late 70s to provide machines like “SPIROVAP” to treat their hand-knitted yarns.
This steaming process under atmospheric pressure that we have been using since 1975 is suitable treatment for the bulking effect it brings to the fibre. In 1992, SUPERBA partnered with SAMOTEKS in Istanbul (Mr. Milyo SABUNCU), an agent of high quality based on their strong expertise in the textile field, and which in addition, perfectly speaks French. Since then SAMOTEKS and SUPERBA have been analysing the carpet market throughout Turkey, from Istanbul to Gaziantep, Kayseri and through Uşak. Our history extends more than 20 years since Turkish manufacturers purchased their first TVP2S heat-setting line for carpet yarn in 1993.
At that time, the machines could only process 24 or at most 36 yarns with manual winders at the exit of the lines, which required many employees and a constant process monitoring. These lines produced at most 3000 to 4000 kilograms of yarn in a day; Superba’s original method of heat-setting in saturated steam under pressure had immediately seduced the carpet manufacturers for its high setting power, in turn, giving the fibres an excellent resilience.
SUPERBA ’s lines evolution over time
Today, our latest generation of heat-setting line TVP3 in its most complete version can produce up to 12 tons of yarn per day and more, simultaneously treating 72 ends with efficiencies typically greater than 90%. The process is entirely controlled by an in-built automatism with the possibility of having Supervisor software to handle the production of a whole factory. We even offer smartphone applications that enable the display of lines remotely. At the exit of the line, our 72-end B401 winders have the best automatic doffing efficiency on the market and therefore require little production labour on the line. Today, we seek to sustain the investments of our clients by providing on-going improvements to our latest generation of “TVP3” machines. Our goal is to listen to our customers in order to provide even higher quality, performance and production, focusing on our expertise in the field of heat setting, rather than hastily proposing machine range renewals that does not offer significant benefit to our textile customers.
SUPERBA’s market evolution
Since the late 70s, SUPERBA has been prominent around the world where carpet and rug yarns are produced. Our very first TVP lines were installed in the United States in 1978. Although many lines have been updated to newer generations, a significant number of lines are still in operation almost 30 years later… We continue to sell lines throughout the world, in China, the Arab countries, Eastern Europe, Pacific-Asia, and South America. However, it is clear that this market is now heavily concentrated in two major areas, the United States and Turkey. Regarding specifically Turkey, the activity is highly concentrated around Gaziantep which has steadily become the carpet capital of the world. Now, the production capacity has reached a point where the Turkish industries satisfy the carpet needs of all the Middle East while also exporting heat set yarns throughout the world, and even to the United States, until now the largest producer of carpets and rug yarns. This new direction is attributable to the fact that the Turkish industry has remarkably and quickly managed to adjust to the high quality criteria required by the export of heat-set yarn and final products. The touch and aspect of the yarns treated on SUPERBA’s machines are so characteristic that we speak of “Superba standard” for the yarns, which became a common reference made by customers worldwide wanting to buy yarn on the Turkish market. Thanks to the significant investment our customers have made in our TVP3 heat setting, they can now not only meet the increasing demands for quality on the domestic and geographically neighbouring markets, but also the most demanding international standards. In 2012, SUPERBA sold in a single year, more TVP3 lines than in the previous four years, since the release in 2008 of the latest generation of machines. The decisions of our customers to invest at this rate affirm their confidence in our equipment.
SUPERBA’s market share in Turkey and position in relation to competitors
We have always been a leader in this market and our sales over the past year have reinforced this position, especially on the Turkish market. We take pride in our status as the worldwide leader, but we are subject to some reactions as a result. Of course there are several other manufacturers of heat setting machines as well as other processes than Superba, each with its own characteristics, its results in terms of effect on the fibres, different levels of price and technology. Given the undeniable commercial success of our lines with our Turkish customers, sophisticated technology comparisons are released. Regarding the comparative marketing, our policy has always been to keep promoting our own machines and process. Each method has its advantages and addresses these market segments and customers must give consideration to these in determining which machine fits their needs. In this case, it is clear that our best selling argument presently remains the repeated choice of the textile market for the SUPERBA lines. Furthermore, there have always been some tendencies to reproduce all or part of the original processes of our initial design and this trend continues with our success. Superba reinvests a significant portion of its revenue in research and development and in the protection of intellectual property. Our strength lies in our design offices who work hard to develop the expertise and reliability of our technology.
New local organization and support in Gaziantep
The importance of our machinery park in Gaziantep has led us to think about our service organization with our Turkish customers, which is why we started a partnership with the company “ BILGE “ (Mr. Nahsen upurbaş), located in the heart of the area of Gaziantep industrial activity close to our customers. Based on the locale and expertise of this partner, we can be reactive and respond immediately to any request for service, parts or support, thereby improving the rate of operation and efficiency of our lines, already known to have very high rates, often beyond the 90% mark. This relationship was founded last September and is successful, with a clear positive response among our customers for whom our partner BILGE has a significant stock of components and readily available. We also have a large team of experienced French technicians, very present in Gaziantep, who have established strong business relationships with our customers. Some have been serving our customers for many years now and almost speak Turkish fluently, which greatly facilitates the exchange and the quality of the provided service.
Future of the company and recent developments
The flooring industry is always looking for innovation, alternative and differentiating development areas. In the past, a high proportion of carpet was even not heat-set. Today only low cost products are not heat-set. On the other hand, the trend in the carpet sector is moving as quick as in all other textile industries. Moving from styles such as “shaggy” carpet with very thick frieze yarns, the industry is now going the opposite way with movement to small denier yarn with high density on the carpet. On the fibres side, we have seen Nylon replaced by polypropylene, with expectations of Turkish
trends towards polyester, based on the booming success of this fibre type in the USA. SUPERBA heat-setting process is versatile and perfectly suitable for all this range of fibres. SUPERBA is constantly working on new developments, such as the GREENTEX machine, an innovative texturizing process for artificial turf. This continuous process is able to texturize all kind of fibres (PE, PP, PA) to be used on different type of artificial grass for sports or for landscaping. We have our first line in production located in Brazil, with a second one planned for Europe soon. As for carpet, we are developing a new frieze machine, a new version of our dyeing machine for carpet yarn which is able to dye 72 ends continuously at the same time. As always, we are developing concepts which are still confidential by now.
