GERMAN textile machinery major Suessen, manufacturer of open-end spinning and compact spinning systems, plans to prune machinery delivery time by three months to meet the demand for `compacting' machinery in India.

"We have orders till February next and we want to reduce the current six-month waiting period for our machinery to three months through higher production," Mr Peter Stahlecker, Managing Director of Spindelfabrik Suessen Gmbh said.

The company is facing a surge in demand for its compact spinning system in India which, according to Mr Stahlecker, is a major market.

Suessen had this year shipped one lakh compact spinning machines to India, the highest sold in a year since it started marketing the new-generation spinning machinery in 2001-02.

The machine enhances the quality of the spun yarn and gives value-addition at the spinning stage itself.

Nearly 60 per cent of the machines were bought by mills in south India.

Mr Stahlecker, who attended a textile conference organised here by the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA), told Business Line that his company had so far sold three lakh compacting machines in India and 2.8 lakh units were already installed and running.

Suessen Gmbh, which holds nearly 80 per cent of the global market share for compact spinning systems, was recently taken over by the Swiss textile machinery giant Rieiter.

It is bracing for competition in the Indian market where several expansion/capacity addition projects are on.

Suessen is also wary of competition from Chinese manufacturers.

Suessen had, in fact, been a collaborator with the Chinese textile machinery company, Jingwei, for the compact spinning system and supplied technology parts to it.