The 1,000th employee

From 12-19 September 1959, another international ITMA-exhibition took place in Milan, following ITMA '51 in Paris, and ITMA '55 in Brussels. In Milan, Picañol introduced a new rationalized system for the supply of weft threads on its machines. The Unifil flying shuttle machine, which was of American origin, was built onto the President loom for the first time. Another innovation was the automated loading installation for weaving shuttles, from Swiss company Georg Fischer. At the fair, Picañol announced during a press conference that it had signed an agreement with U.S. firm Saco-Lowell from Boston. From that moment onwards, Saco-Lowell would represent Picañol in the United States and Canada. The prospects were very bright at the time. Large orders were received, and with regard to the prospecting of new markets, Emmanuel Steverlynck was highly enthusiastic about countries where up to that point it had seemed absolutely impossible to sell even a single loom (because these countries had their domestic products, and stubbornly persisted in using only products of own fabrication). The number of employees proves how much Picañol benefited from the textile fair in Milan: on 10 December 1959, Gaston Delameilleure, the 1,000th employee, was honored.