In anticipation of the forthcoming ITMA in Barcelona, Spain, the Rupp Report is taking a closer look at some exhibitors that will take part in the exhibition in Catalonia's capital city. Here is the first story:

At ITMA 1999 in Paris, there was an exhibit in the booth of Germany-based Grosse Jac Webereimaschinen GmbH that had never before been seen: a UniShed Jacquard machine that did not have a harness. It was one of the very few sensations in Paris. After that, not much followed. Now the company has come back to the surface under a new name. The Rupp Report interviewed Dr. Roberta Boscoli, sales director of GITEC Grosse Internationale Technologie GmbH, about the future of the company.

Grosse was founded 1878 in Greiz, in the eastern part of Germany. Over time, the company became one of the leading producers of mechanical Jacquard machines, offered under the Unirapid name. And, as mentioned above, the company introduced the UniShed harnessless Jacquard machine in 1999. However, after that event in Paris, the company somewhat disappeared from the markets.

Quite unnoticed by the public, Grosse was taken over in 2005 by China-based Hisun Group Co. Ltd., which consequently led to the establishment of GITEC Grosse Internationale Technologie GmbH in Ulm-Lehr in southern Germany, as a daughter company of the Hisun Group.

Same Expertise
Today, GITEC Grosse is in the same business as before: the company produces electronic Jacquard machines in sizes ranging from 1,344 up to 12,000 hooks. Potential users are the traditional weaving mills producing a broad range of products, including home textiles, as well as producers of industrial fabrics. Ninety-five percent of all products are exported - at the moment, mainly to China, India and Turkey. Furthermore, its product line includes the latest generation of harnessless Jacquard machines, the UniShed 2 for the production of airbag fabrics. This optimized model will be shown in Barcelona.

Boscoli said the company is working with a kind of cluster network in the global textile regions, such as China, India and other regions. In the clusters, field representatives are in constant contact with the customers, but also GITEC Grosse staff in the respective countries are taking care of the customers, supported by the field personnel.