The company is also religiously working on being close to its customers in these tough times.
“The recent global lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is clear proof of the importance of having local presence and ensuring we are close to our customers.
This deliberate choice was made by Picanol not just recently but several decades ago. The company heavily invested in building service centers in all of the important textile regions in the world. Now more than ever before, this is really paying off for our customers. Most of our technicians are local people, well-trained and, as we like to say: “just a phone call away”. Put simply, we don’t have to fly any of them in from overseas to provide assistance to our customers. Of course, in light of COVID-19, when assisting customers nowadays, our technicians take all of the necessary health measures such as social distancing, the use of a face mask, disinfection, etc.
The group’s first local service and sales organization was Picanol of America, established in the US as far back as the 1960s. This formed the bridgehead for servicing North and Central America. From there, Picanol China followed and since then it has created Sales & Service centers in Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, India, and Turkey. Meanwhile, in other significant textile regions, dedicated Picanol service engineers in close cooperation with agents were deployed.
“This means that in total approximately 150 technicians made up of more than 30 different nationalities are on standby to help its customers. They are well-versed in the local customs, they speak the local languages, and they know their counterparts at all of the mills on a personal level. They are also familiar with the functioning of each and every weaving shed in their region and they come to our headquarters in Belgium at least once every year for an in-depth training program on the latest technological evolutions of our weaving machines.
SmartShed now available for sheeting applications up to a width of 360 cm
SmartShed is a direct driven motion of the harness frames that Picanol offers on the OmniPlus-i airjet weaving machine. SmartShed has been designed for weavers who want to combine maximum digitization and flexibility with maximum performance in the weaving process.
The Picanol SmartShed shedding motion offers some unique features such as a load indicator, a smart tool to maximize the machine performance, as well as an integrated stroke measurement.
SmartShed was introduced on the OmniPlus-i airjet weaving machine in 2019. We’re pleased to announce that with effect from July 2020 onwards, SmartShed will also be available for larger widths up to 360 cm for sheeting applications.
