ADVERTORIAL
Mayer & Cie.’s Relanit
celebrates anniversary
Relative technology: cutting edge, trendsetting, 30 years old
Relanit, one of Mayer & Cie.’s most
important and most successful
machine types, was first launched at
ITMA in 1987, when the trade fair
opened on 13 October in Paris. Relanit
uses relative technology, the circular
knitting machine manufacturer’s
proprietary development.
In its current version the Relanit 3.2
HS is one of the most productive single
jersey machines on the market. At the
same time, its energy consumption
is 30 per cent below that of a
conventional knitting machine. Relanit
is also part of Mayer & Cie.’s latest
innovation, its spinitsystems technology.
From the 1987 ITMA on, Mayer
& Cie. began to receive orders for
machines with relative technology.
The first three Relanits were shipped to
Berlin in January 1988. Jürgen Müller
assembled them. He is still with Mayer
& Cie., as are his colleagues Johannes
Bitzer, Axel
Brünner, Rolf Gonser and Thomas
Maier. All five of them worked as
technicians in final assembly back
in 1987. In this interview, they recall
their pioneering days with the Relanit.
Even before the Relanit went into
series production there must have
In 1987, ITMA opened on 13 October in Paris. It marked the sales launch of a technology that to
this day is second to none in terms of productivity, yarn care and energy efficiency.
been talk about the new technology.
Were you aware that this new
machine was going to be something
special?
Johannes Bitzer: That much we knew,
but we weren’t consciously aware of
the fact. At the development stage we
still had no clear idea of what was
different about it. That only happened
when the machine arrived in the
assembly department and we had to
deal with it – especially as we were
the ones who went with it to the
customer to set it up and explain it
to him.
Five Relanit technicians from the first hour thirty years later: Jürgen Müller, Johannes Bitzer, Axel Brünner, Rolf Gonser and Thomas Maier.
Axel Brünner: The system was different
then from how it is today. Technicians
were sent out from the assembly
department to set up and service the
machine. Today that is the job of the
service department with its full-time
travelling fitters. That was why, back
then, everybody had to be up to speed
on the subject because, as a rule,
the technician who assembled the
machine was in charge of setting it up
at the customer’s end.
More than 500 machines were sold in
less than three years and 1,000 in four
years. That was remarkable. What did
this success mean for you personally?
Axel Brünner: For us it was good. We
were still greenhorns, but we knew
as much about the new technology
as the old technicians. They were
something special and they didn’t tell
us young ’uns everything. They had
their little books they made notes in
about how to do this or that. That was
an opportunity for us to grow with
the new technology. We saw how
successful it was out there.
With the old machines you needed
a lot of knowledge and experience,
you could do a lot m