Textile Leadership

After a long pandemic-related dry spell, the Techtextil and Texprocess trade fairs, which are expected to attract more than 1,300 exhibitors from 51 countries in June 2022, are returning to Frankfurt with forward-looking formats.

Textination spoke to companies about their expectations of the fair and the product portfolio and innovations they will be presenting in Frankfurt in a few days' time.

Let’s talk about finishing technologies: Dr Wesley Clements, Global Leader of Engineering and R&D for Baldwin Technology Company Inc. gave us insights into the company's innovations serving the growing importance of sustainability in textile finishing and his expectations approaching Techtextil.
 

Dr Wesley Clements, what makes your company special and different - compared to competitors?
 
Baldwin Technology Company Inc., based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, was founded in 1918 by William Gegenheimer, who invented the Baldwin Press Washer, the first automatic press-cleaning system of its kind. We are a leading global manufacturer and supplier of innovative process-automation equipment, parts, service and consumables for the printing, packaging, textile, plastic film extrusion and corrugated industries. As a total solutions provider, we offer our customers a broad range of market-leading technologies, with a focus on improving the economic and environmental impact of production processes.

Baldwin designs the innovative and revolutionary non-contact Precision Spray Technology for fabric finishing and remoistening to save time, money and valuable resources. Our mindset is to increase the process speed, product quality and production control with great return on investment and the highest environmental care.

The Precision Spray Technology originates back in time when Baldwin innovated world-leading spray systems for the web offset industry. Now, 35 years later, this technology is further developed, tailor made to the specific requirements of the textile industry. Our expert team will ensure that our clients’ investment provides the expected return in operational efficiencies, uptime and quality.
 

How do you define Textile Leadership for your company?

We believe business could be the most powerful force for good in society if business leaders would care for the lives of those who make their business possible. Our deep care for people naturally extends to the environment as well. As we care for our people and our customers, we must care for the planet on which they live. One of the biggest challenges facing the textile industry today is the environmental impact in terms of energy, chemical and water consumption.

The issue brands face around sustainability is who pays for it. Fashion has stimulated a consumer appetite and demand for frequently changing collections at affordable prices. The expectation is the brands are the owners of the problem so they must absorb any costs.

An industry inertia against migrating away from old wasteful processes is not helping the perception. One process is the archaically wasteful pad-based finishing process of dipping fabrics into chemical baths. The resulting excess water, energy and chemistry consumption all run counter to the concept of sustainability.

But what if there was a way to reduce consumption of all three and increase efficiency, and reduce cost and produce a high-quality product? With our non-contact spray technology, our customers are always in full control of the chemical-to-water ratio throughout the production run, so there is never more usage than is actually required.
 

Which products/product innovations will you present at the fair?

Our TexCoat G4, a non-contact finishing system, will be of special interest for potential customers. Non-contact spray technology eliminates contamination of finishing chemicals by fabric particles and colors. As outlined below, this non-contact feature is the key to eliminating chemical waste and reducing energy consumption.

In fabric or chemistry changeovers, 100% of the chemicals are recycled with zero waste. In combination with reduced energy, water and chemicals consumption, TexCoat G4 ensures a sustainable and financially beneficial textile finishing process.

The exact amount of chemicals required is consistently and uniformly sprayed across the textile surface and applied only where it is needed – on one side or both sides of the fabric. As only the necessary amount of chemicals is applied, the wet pick-up levels are reduced by up to 50%, leading to 50% decreased water consumption as well as 50% less drying energy. With TexCoat G4 you don’t have to worry about chemical dilution in wet-on-wet applications or any bath contaminations. Moreover, there will be zero downtime in fabric changeovers.

In fabric or chemistry changeovers, 100% of the chemicals are recycled with zero waste. In combination with reduced energy, water and chemicals consumption, TexCoat G4 ensures a sustainable and financially beneficial textile finishing process.

To ensure total process control, the TexCoat G4 system features an integrated recipe management system with automated chemical- and coverage selection. As an option, TexCoat Data Center offers unprecedented tracking and control of the finishing process via real-time monitoring and tracking of critical system information. You will always have full control of your textile finishing process.
 

What goals do you want to achieve with the trade fair presentation?

That is an easy question. We, like most companies, are really looking forward to meeting our customers in person. Many customer visits have already been booked and we have a strong team there to support them. This includes our Textile Technologist Yiannis Vasilonikolos, who brings 20 years of dyeing and finishing experience into our team. Baldwin strongly promotes partnership with the suppliers of finishing chemicals to maximize success as the industry transitions from wasteful foulard technology to sustainable non-contact spray. We will be meeting with these partners and together we are working on joint projects with several customers. With a combination of our strong team and these partnerships, our goal is to ensure that our customers leave the show confident to adopt sustainable non-contact finishing technology.