His passion for technology knows no bounds. At an age when most of entrepreneurs will be resting on their laurels, he is on an inventing spree. His RoCos revolutionised spinning and now he has more new gadgets up his sleeves. He is none other than the one and only Mr Hans Stahlecker, Chairman of Rotocraft AG.

Mr Stahlecker's formula for compact spinning is RoCos, which according to him is unique by its simplicity and reliability. Lakshmi Machine Works, India and Jingwei of China chose RoCos for their compact machines. Millions of spinning heads have already been fitted with RoCos. Do we need any more testimony for this simple device to spin high quality compact yarns?

Rotorcraft has a full-fledged office in Pune. It opened a representative office recently in China. Mr Hans Stahlecker, an icon in textile technology with big names like Suessen associated with him, was in his inimitable self when Samuel Joseph, Editor of The ITJ met him at his Stand in Hall A6 at ITMA 2007.

Excerpts:

ITJ Editor: Can you tell me about the response to RoCos in India?
HS: Well, in India, after we have partnered with LMW for fitting them in their compact machines, there has been very positive trend. The technology has been fully accepted by the Indian industry. RoCos is the only way to spin perfectly clean compact yarn, and also at a very affordable price. People have also started realising year after year how effective RoCos is in spinning compact yarns. Today, we have millions of spinning heads all over the world fitted with this simple device.

ITJ Editor: What is so unique about RoCos?
HS: RoCos is the only most economical way of spinning compact yarns. More and more people are realising it. And the most important thing is the energy cost, and in this RoCos has a great role to play in controlling the energy cost. This is more relevant for countries like India, where energy is scare. RoCos also helps in preventing the occurence of variations in spindle to spindle, which is the bane of many other systems. By the opening of ITMA 2007, Rotorcraft has sold the 1 millionth spindle of the RoCoS compact spinning system.

ITJ Editor: How's the market for RoCos in the last few years?
HS: This compact spinning device has been doing extremely well since the last ITMA Asia in 2005. Today, our main markets are India, China and Pakistan, where we are concentrating our efforts. For India, we have an exclusive deal with LMW, which is a very excellent company, and their compact machines have been doing well in the market with RoCos fittings. And for non-LMW machines, our Pune office with Mr gautam Bose as its head is making efforts to fit the RoCos. This has also brought good results.

ITJ Editor: What about the new development from Rotorcraft?
HS: Well, we have come out with a half dozen of new inventions and there are some patents pending too. Top arms have been launched here for the first time. The sales in India will start within the next two weeks. Besides, here Rotorcraft has introduced new additions to its RoCoS line of compacting systems: CORE RoCoS for core spun yarns, and TWIN RoCoS for siro spun yarns. As with all our innovations, these additions result from listening closely to the wishes of our customers, who have been demanding RoCoS solutions for spinning these speciality yarns. Trials are already over, and results have been excellent.

Solidrings, for opening rollers, made by Rotorcraft are in operation all over the world and used in different OE-Machines. Now, these high quality Swiss made Solidrings are available for all BD Machines.

ITJ Editor: How do you foresee the future for spinners?
HS: There will be always ups and downs as in the past for the textile industry, particularly the spinning segment. But one should know where quality lies and pursue those objectives that will help them win the market. Today the competition in yarns or textiles is between only two countries - India and China. And achievement of top quality will decide who is the winner. I am very optimistic about the Indian spinning industry and they are on the right track. Technology will always play an important role.