BEIJING, China — With two days of Texcare Asia under their belts, representatives of exhibitors based in the United States or with significant operations there spoke favorably of the event during interviews Thursday.
While still carrying a great deal of activity, the show floor at the China International Exhibition Centre wasn’t as busy on this second day. Final attendance figures won’t be available until after the show.
Tingue, Brown & Co. opened a fully stocked warehouse for its flatwork ironer supplies and accessories in Hong Kong earlier this year, so Texcare Asia is an opportunity to alert its customers and distributors throughout Asia about this potentially cost-saving resource, says Export Director Dan Koebel.
“This is a growth market,” Koebel says, whose company shared a booth with two others, United Machines and D&S Exports. “That’s why we’re putting such an emphasis on it.”
The challenge has been demonstrating the value of ironer felts, guide tapes, chest/bed lubricants and other must-have supplies to a customer base that’s largely focused on machinery at this stage of their market’s development, Koebel says.
Hoffman/New Yorker found the show’s timing to its liking, as it introduced its new Slim-Line drycleaning and laundry presses, and a new single buck shirt pressing system. All had been introduced stateside at this summer’s Clean Show.
“We’ve been pleasantly surprised (by the response),” says Thomas Bolan Jr., sales manager. “When you tell them that your main lines are completely new or redesigned, that gets their attention.”
Bolan sees great potential for these products in China in serving an expanding hospitality industry and a growing middle class with an increasing need for private drycleaning services. The new products have given the company’s Asian distributors “some ammunition” with which to sell against their competitors, he adds.
While it has sent representatives to Texcare Asia previously, Maytag Commercial Laundry chose to exhibit for the first time this year to inform distributors serving this part of the world of new products on the horizon, and to see China’s emerging manufacturing base up close, says Nick Koukourakis, senior category manager for Global Commercial Laundry at Whirlpool Corp., Maytag’s parent company.
“I would say that most Western exhibitors are keeping an eye on the China market,” adds Koukourakis, who says most interest in Maytag products at the show has come from the on-premise laundry segment.
Fred Schwarzmann Jr., president of A.L. Wilson Co., a provider of stain removers for the laundry and drycleaning industries, says the show has met his expectations. While his company’s products have been represented here for many years, he felt it important to exhibit for the first time to meet personally with this region’s dealers.
He also introduced EasyGo, a new cleaning aid for use in removing ground-in soil and stains when drycleaning with hydrocarbon or perc.
Alliance Laundry Systems, maker of laundry equipment under the UniMac, IPSO, Speed Queen, Cissell and Huebsch brands, has a large booth featuring representative models of equipment from every brand.
Hong Kong-based Castic SMP is displaying its wide range of equipment manufactured in Asia under license, including Pellerin Milnor washer-extractors, Multimatic and Secomatic drycleaning machines, and Secomatic tumbler dryers.
Texcare Forum Asia wrapped on Thursday, completing two days of educational sessions presented by experts from leading companies and industry associations. While Wednesday’s program dealt with market trends, branding, and organizational issues, Thursday’s programming covered best practices in industrial laundering, sustainable processing, and other topics.
Texcare Asia closes today. The International Trade Fair for Modern Textile Care will return to China in 2011, but the precise location and dates have yet to be announced.
Click here for previous Texcare Asia coverage.
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