From the Sector

SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD. of Wakayama, Japan, will be participating in the International Textile Machinery Association exhibition (ITMA 2023) in Milan, Italy this June.

The Next-Generation group of machines is represented by the letter ‘R,’ first used in the SWG-XR WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machine launched last year in time for SHIMA SEIKI's 60th Anniversary event. The SWG-XR name is based on the original SWG-X four-needlebed WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machine which debuted at the Milan ITMA in 1995. As ITMA returns to Milan, SWG-XR refers to its origin as a pioneering invention that launched a new genre of seam-free knits produced in one entire piece. At the same time it represents a renewal of SHIMA SEIKI's commitment to its customers, the industry and the environment, as all aspects of the machine were re-evaluated in terms of its purpose, the way it is manufactured, how it is used and how it impacts the environment. The same renewal has been applied to the rest of the company's product lineup, and it is this renewal that becomes the core of SHIMA SEIKI's exhibition concept for ITMA 2023: "Reborn."

Of the 9 knitting machines SHIMA SEIKI is exhibiting, 8 machines will be part of the Next-Generation lineup, ranging from WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machines and computerized flat knitting machines to glove knitting machines. More than 300 items will be on display as proposals for knitted applications in various fields ranging from fashion, sports, shoes, bags and accessories to medical, safety, automotive, aeronautical and other wearable and industrial textile applications.

In addition to machine technology, SHIMA SEIKI's SDS-ONE APEX series computer graphic design system and software will be shown with their latest software upgrades that feature significant improvements in knit programming, 3D functions and speed. Demonstrations will be available for a comprehensive fashion tech solutions package based on realistic virtual sampling and supported by various digital solutions and web services.

International technology group ANDRITZ has successfully delivered, installed, and commissioned a converting line for manufacturing baby diapers at Naturopera’s new plant in Bully Les Mines, France.

The eXcelle converting line from ANDRITZ Diatec features special technology to produce both traditional and bio-based baby diapers, supporting Naturopera in its efforts to become a leading producer of a new generation of sustainable diapers.

While most diapers available on the market consist of 70% fossil-based plastic, Naturopera is preparing to produce diapers made of 90% bio-based raw materials. This groundbreaking diaper concept was developed in a close collaboration between Naturopera and ANDRITZ. It replaces the traditional spunbond and meltblown nonwoven layers with spunlace nonwovens mostly made of natural fibers. A prototype of the 90% bio-based diaper was recently produced at Bully Les Mines.

The ANDRITZ converting machine operating at Naturopera is highly flexible, taking just a few settings to switch to the production of bio-based diapers. It is designed for a multiple-size process, features an operator-friendly interface, and guarantees a production speed of 800 ppm.

Naturopera is a French company producing baby care, femcare and household products with a strong focus on local production and sustainability.

With regard to current and imminent requirements to strengthen and promote the recycling of garment waste in order to safe valuable textile fibre in the European but also worldwide textile economy DiloGroup announces the start of a close cooperation between Dilo, Germany and the Italian companies Dell’Orco & Villani and TechnoPlants. This cooperation forms a group of expertise to supply complete projects in the area of textile recycling.

Dell’Orco & Villani is a long term highly experienced and innovative specialist in the field of tearing equipment to recycle textile garment clippings. This technology maintains as much as possible the staple length of reopened fibre from yarn in knitted and woven textiles. This special tearing process avoids the downgrading and shortening of the staple.

TechnoPlants is a highly experienced specialist in the field of aerodynamic web forming and through air technology with particular emphasis on reclaimed fibre for various applications as for example in acoustic and thermal insulation, car parts, upholstery and bedding.

DiloGroup with DiloSystems GmbH is a general contractor who is specialized in the area of fibre preparation, carding, cross-lapping and needling who will act as a turnkey general provider of complete projects including Dell’Orco & Villani components to reclaim wasted fibre as well as TechnoPlants components when aerodynamic web forming is included or when carding, cross-lapping is selected together with through-air ovens and end-of-line equipment including packaging from TechnoPlants.

The expertise of the three companies together is a source for the complete know-how in this large area of applications to reuse fibre from textile waste in new nonwoven material.

With the beginning of upcoming ITMA 23, more details of the organizational structure of this cooperation among the three companies will be released and project engineering will be started.

Fibre Extrusion Technology Ltd (FET) of Leeds, UK will be exhibiting at ITMA 2023, taking place between 8-14 June Milan, Italy. FET has commissioned its biggest ever stand to reflect the company’s commitment to this event and the textile industry.

FET designs, develops and manufactures extrusion equipment for a wide range of high value textile material applications worldwide. Central to FET’s success has always been its ability to provide customers with advanced facilities and equipment, together with unrivalled knowledge and expertise in research and production techniques.

The new FET Fibre Development Centre will further improve this service, allowing clients to trial their own products in an ideal environment. Resident equipment in the Fibre Development Centre reflects the wide range of fibre extrusion systems offered by FET to clients worldwide and will enable continued growth of the company through innovation.  

For the first time at ITMA, the new FET Spunbond range will feature. This system provides opportunities for the scaled development of new nonwoven fabrics based on a wide range of fibres and polymers, including bicomponents. Recent customers to benefit from FET spunbond systems include the University of Leeds and an integrated metlblown / spunbond system at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany.

FET’s established expertise remains in laboratory and pilot meltspinning equipment for a vast range of applications, such as precursor materials used in high value technical textiles, sportswear, medical devices and specialised novel fibres from exotic and difficult to process polymers. FET has successfully processed almost 30 different polymer types in multifilament, monofilament and non-woven formats, collaborating with specialist companies worldwide to promote greater sustainability through innovative manufacturing processes. Where melt spinning solutions are not suitable, FET provides a viable alternative with pilot and small scale production wet spinning systems.

A major theme at ITMA will again be sustainability. The FET range of laboratory and pilot extrusion lines is ideally suited for both process and end product development of sustainable materials. “This year we are celebrating FET’s 25th anniversary” says FET Managing Director Richard Slack “and we look forward to meeting customers at ITMA, where we can discuss their fibre technology needs.”

Since 1 April 2023 sales and service of Mayer & Cie. circular knitting machines in Bangladesh have been under new management. A new dynamic team “Mayer Bangladesh” has been formed. Mayer & Cie.’s longstanding Indian representative Batliboi has joined business activities in Bangladesh since the beginning of the month, supported by the team of Brady Services and by Almani Biz.

In Batliboi, Mayer & Cie. has set up a business partner of many decades standing as its representative in Bangladesh. For around 40 years Mumbai-based Batliboi has overseen sales and service of Mayer & Cie. circular knitting machines in India. Abhay Sidham heads Batliboi’s Textile and Machinery Group. He and his team have many years of experience in strategic marketing, and a focus on sustainability and processing recycled raw materials is part of Batliboi’s expertise.

These competences are of relevance in the Bangladesh market because “we face strong competition from Asian manufacturers here,” as Wolfgang Müller, Mayer & Cie.’s sales director, explains. The premium market was growing smaller, and the trend was toward specialities – value-added fabrics, spacer fabrics and athleisure with a high proportion of elastic. Mayer & Cie. sees in these requirements significant potential for its machines – and in Batliboi a partner able in view of its experience to put them to optimal use.

One building block in the set-up of Mayer & Cie. representatives is unchanged. Brady Services will continue with Batliboi to contribute its close ties with the local market. A significant number of existing companies will continue to be looked after by Brady Services.

The new member in Mayer Bangladesh team is Dhaka-based Almani Biz. A lubricants specialist for circular knitting machines Almani Biz has a wide network with Bangladesh knitting industry.

Mayer & Cie. feels well positioned by this new set-up. “We,” Wolfgang Müller says, “are of the opinion that the market for textile machinery in Bangladesh will continue to grow and we are confident that by strengthening our sales, service and marketing team we will be able to make good use of this opportunity.”

Customers in Bangladesh have placed large orders in the past. The latest, placed in January, was for several dozen machines to be delivered this autumn. Further orders from Apex and BEXIMCO (Bangladesh Export Import Company) are also scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2023.

While reorganising the set-up of its representatives in Bangladesh Batliboi has also taken over as Mayer & Cie.’s representative in Nepal, where the company had previously had no local representative. There is a demand for machines for interlock, 8-lock and single jersey, but sales are still in single figures.

International technology group ANDRITZ has started the 2023 business year with unchanged high growth dynamics despite a slowing global economy. Revenue and operating result both increased significantly by well over 20 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the same period of the previous year. Net income improved by almost 50 percent to 104.5 million euros (MEUR). Order intake reached a favorable level of 2.4 billion euros but was 6.5 percent below the figure for the first quarter of 2022, when the booking of two large-scale orders had provided a peak.

The key financial figures developed as follows during the reporting period:

• Order intake amounted to 2,420.2 MEUR and was thus 6.5% below the high level of the previous year’s reference period (Q1 2022: 2,588.6 MEUR), which included two large-scale orders. The Metals business area was able to increase its order intake significantly compared to the previous year’s reference period.
• The order backlog as of March 31, 2023 amounted to 10,407.8 MEUR and has thus increased compared to 2022 (December 31, 2022: 9,976.5 MEUR).
• Revenue at 1,962.6 MEUR was 28.5% higher than the reference figure for the previous year’s reference period (Q1 2022: 1,526.9 MEUR). All four business areas were able to significantly increase their revenue compared to the previous year.
• The operating result (EBITA) increased in line with revenue, reaching a very favorable level at 158.5 MEUR in the first quarter of 2023 (+29.6% versus Q1 2022: 122.3 MEUR). The Group’s profitability (EBITA margin) increased slightly to 8.1% (Q1 2022: 8.0%).
• Net income (without non-controlling interests) increased significantly to 104.5 MEUR (Q1 2022: 71.5 MEUR).

Following the successful first quarter, ANDRITZ confirms its previously published outlook for the full year 2023. Both revenue and earnings for the full year are expected to be above the level of 2022.

Groz-Beckert will be presenting the latest innovations from its product area Carding to visitors at INDEX™23

The InLine card clothing series for the nonwovens industry will take center stage at the Groz-Beckert exhibition booth. A new and patented manufacturing process made the development of the innovative metallic card clothing series possible. It offers customers improved process reliability and increased uptime of the card. At the same time, the new process enables environmentally friendly and resource-saving production.

In addition to a controlled and precise hardening of the teeth, the wires are characterized by a reduced rib height and a completely scale-free surface. An exhibit at the booth will demonstrate what distinguishes the new process from the conventional production method and will highlight the differences between the new Groz-Beckert InLine card clothing series and its predecessor generation.

The first special geometry of the Groz-Beckert InLine card clothing series to be developed was the SiroLock™ plus worker and doffer wire. It impresses with a more effective fiber take-up, control and transfer. Augmented reality will allow visitors to experience the functionality and operating principle behind SiroLock™ plus at INDEX™23.

From April 25^th to 27^th, 2023, the Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology (ITM) of TU Dresden will be exhibiting at the pavilion SAXONY! at JEC World 2023.

The ITM will provide a comprehensive overview of its current research in the field of machine and product development along the entire textile process chain.

The upcoming JEC 2023 exhibition will highlight innovative Customised Connective Cores (CCC), which are custom-made core-insert structures additively manufactured using cellular metal and a form-fit integrated insert. These CCCs can be seamless integrated either as patches or as full-surface core material into lightweight panels, offering significantly improved load-bearing behavior (especially 4 times the load-bearing capacity and fail-safe behavior) compared to existing technologies. This breakthrough opens up new possibilities for fastening lightweight panels.

Another highlight at the exhibition is the repair process for fibre-reinforced composites (FRP) developed at the ITM. Instead of mechanically grinding the damaged area, the matrix in the repair area is locally dissolved using a UV-rays-induced depolymerisation process. Damaged fibres can thus be replaced by a customized repair patch. Free yarn ends on the textile repair patches are spliced with the UV-exposed yarn ends in the repair area using an adapted splicing process. In this way, a very clean, simplified and mechanically improved repair area can be achieved compared to the state of the art.

The diverse possibilities offered by the structure and process simulation of textile high-performance materials and textile manufacturing processes will also be presented. By means of multi-scale modelling and simulation, a profound understanding of materials and processes is achieved at the ITM. Finite element models on the micro, meso and macro scale have been developed and validated for this purpose. Examples from current ITM research projects demonstrate the various possibilities and areas of application of modern simulation methods in the field of textile technology.

Moreover, an innovative process for the integral manufacturing of 3D rib-stiffened preforms with complexly arranged stiffeners in 0°, 90° and ± 45° orientation was developed and successfully implemented at the ITM. Due to the process-integrated structure fixation and the continuous fibre reinforcement between shell and rib structure, the 3D preforms are perfectly suited for the production of highly load-bearing FRP components with increased bending stiffness, which will be exhibited at JEC. Hence, the lightweight construction potential of high-performance fibres can be fully exploited.

A successfully established development are partially flowable 2D textile reinforcement fabrics that are continuously manufactured in one single process step. For this purpose, the entire process chain was developed at the ITM, which allows a cost-effective and high-volume production of load-bearing thermoplastic 3D FRP components with continuous fibre reinforcement between shell and stiffeners.

At JEC 2023, the ITM will also present a partially embedded textile latice girder as reinforcement for carbon concrete applications, which was produced by means of an innovative textile manufacturing process based on the multiaxial warp knitting technology. Through the development of a customized warp insertion, manipulation and take-off system as well as appropriate shaping methods, it is now possible to produce tailored textile semi-finished products, e.g. for use in wall and ceiling panels. These textile latice girders represent a resource-saving alternative to conventional steel girders due to the reduced among of concrete required and the additional cavity for media and cable guidance.

The integration of textile actuators and sensors in FRP provides structures with additional functionalities. The research and application of such interactive FRP with different matrix materials (e.g. with thermoset, elastomer or concrete matrix systems) for structural health monitoring or adaptive systems is one of the key research areas of the ITM.

Moreover, the development and implementation of innovative yarn constructions based on recycled high-performance fibres (e.g. rCF, rGF, rAR) for sustainable FRPs is successfully promoted at ITM. By use of a special carding machine, recycled fibres are opened up, separated and joined to form a wide, uniform ribbon. Subsequently, innovative hybrid yarn constructions made of evenly mixed recycled high-performance and thermoplastic fibres with variable fibre volume fractions can be manufactured by means of various spinning technologies. Selected yarn constructions and components will be showcased at JEC.

SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD. of Wakayama, Japan, together with its Hong Kong subsidiary SHIMA SEIKI (HONG KONG) LTD., will participate in the 40th Session of SPINEXPO in Shanghai, China from 12th - 14th April 2023.

At SPINEXPO, SHIMA SEIKI will offer visitors a choice between its "SDS®-ONE APEX4" apparel design system and its "APEXFiz®" subscription-based design software. Whereas SDS®-ONE APEX4 is offered as an all-in-one proprietary hardware + software package, APEXFiz® is subscription-based design software that can be installed on customers' individual computers. Both SDS®-ONE APEX4 and APEXFiz® software support the creative side of fashion from planning and design to colorway evaluation, realistic fabric simulation and 3D virtual sampling. Virtual samples are a digitized version of sample making that are accurate enough to be used effectively as prototypes, replacing physical sampling and consequently reducing time, cost and material that otherwise go to waste. When a design is approved for production, knitting data is automatically generated for converting to machine data, allowing smooth communication for digitally bridging the gap between studio and factory. APEXFiz® thereby helps to realize sustainability while digitally transforming the fashion supply chain.

Also on display at SPINEXPO will be SHIMA SEIKI's "yarnbank®," an online web service for searching and viewing the latest yarns, developed with cooperation from yarn companies from around the world. Registered users can download yarn data for free, for use in fabric simulation and virtual sampling on APEXFiz®, avoiding the need to scan yarn on their own. By using yarn that is used in actual production, designers and apparel companies can furthermore rest assured that the simulations created using yarn from yarnbank® are not merely realistic images but accurate representations using yarn that can actually be purchased and used in production. With yarnbank®, the entire supply chain from yarn companies and apparel companies to knit manufacturers can be connected digitally.

SHIMA SEIKI will also display the latest collection of its knit samples, including WHOLEGARMENT® knitwear that is knit in its entirety on the machine without the need for linking or sewing afterward. Together with virtual sampling performed on APEXFiz®, WHOLEGARMENT® offers smart production for realizing a sustainable fashion supply chain.

When the nonwoven industry meets at the leading trade fair INDEX in Geneva from 18 to 21 April, Mahlo GmbH + Co KG awaits trade visitors from all over the world to inform them about the right measurement technology enabling more efficient and high-quality production of nonwovens.

With a wide range of sensors, different measuring techniques and the corresponding measuring bridges, practically all tasks regarding the control of basis weight, moisture, thickness, fibre content, and air permeability can be solved in a cost-efficient and practical way.

As an example, Wulbeck mentions spunlace products. They mainly consist of fibres such as cotton, PE, PET or rayon. They absorb light in the near-infrared range. Water and all other materials have different spectral ranges and can thus be distinguished. The near-infrared sensor Infrascope NIR determines the moisture content and the basis weight of different materials by attenuating the light in certain wavelengths. Due to its very high spectral resolution, the sensor can distinguish between components with very similar but not identical IR absorption and achieves high measurement accuracy. "Up to 0.05 g/m2 of the respective coating weight is possible," says Wulbeck.

"We want to support manufacturers in optimising their production processes and thus also the end product," says Matthias Wulbeck, Mahlo product manager for QCS. Because, like many other industries, the nonwoven sector is struggling with challenges such as rising prices for energy and raw materials, long delivery times and uncertain supply chains. In order to continue to produce economically and on time, it is therefore necessary to save resources and avoid faulty production as well as unnecessary process times. "Our Qualiscan QMS measurement and control system helps to do just that."