From the Sector

Finishing machinery specialist Monforts has secured a number of major orders from textile manufacturers in Central and South America recently, and was pleased to welcome a high number of visitors from the region to its stand at ITMA 2023 in Milan from June 8-14.

Among new orders are those for three Montex stenters delivered to the AustralTex Group in Argentina and a further Montex range to denim manufacturer CIT in Brazil. Guatemala’s Global Textiles placed an order for its second Montex stenter, while Mexico’s Zentrix ordered its third and Avante, also in Mexico, has opted for its sixth.

Elsewhere, orders have also been placed for the delivery of three new Montex stenters to one of Pakistan’s major corporations, as well as a new Thermex dyeing range to nonwovens manaufacturer Orsa in Italy. Further orders – both for new machines and retrofit modules – are now anticipated following ITMA 2023, which attracted over 111,000 visitors to Milan.

“Visitor footfall at ITMA 2023 was well beyond the company’s expectations, and we were especially pleased at the constant number of visitors from South American companies, as well as from Asia and Europe,” said Monforts Marketing Manager Nicole Croonenbroek. “We were able to provide them with detailed information about our portfolio of machines and technologies digitally and fielded an unprecedented number of serious enquiries, many of which promise to turn into new business.”

Monforts Montex stenters for processes such as drying, stretching, heat-setting and coating, she added, are already the industry standard for the fabric finishing industry, providing a number of advantages in terms of production throughput and especially in energy efficiency and resource savings. Other key technologies in the Monforts portfolio include relaxation dryers, Thermex dyeing ranges and Monfortex compressive shrinking ranges.

Montex®Coat
“We were also very pleased with the interest in the Montex®Coat, the latest addition to our range of technologies, which we displayed in Milan,” Croonenbroek said.

The Montex®Coat can serve a very diverse number of markets and enables full PVC coatings, pigment dyeing or minimal application surface and low penetration treatments, as well as solvent coatings. Knife coating, roller coating or screen printing can also all be accommodated with this system. It provides the ultimate in flexibility and the ability to switch quickly from one fabric run to the next, without compromising on the economical use of energy or raw materials.

Many refinements have been made to the Montex®Coat in the past few years, resulting in higher coating accuracy and the resulting quality of the treated fabrics. A number of advanced new improvements were introduced in Milan, including automatic edge limiters for immediately adapting to new coating widths and a new and simplified hand-held control device. These save considerable time in setting up the machine and ensuring consistent production.

The Montex®Coat unit displayed in Milan was sold to Vietnamese company Thai Tuan during the show.

ITMA 2023 was a successful platform for the flat knitting machine manufacturer STOLL to present its latest new developments. The business unit of the KARL MAYER GROUP will be following up this fair on 3 July with the launch of a further innovation package. With the solutions contained in this package, STOLL will be offering its customers additional added value when using their flat knitting machines - in line with the concept of bundling innovations.

The new features include an optimised central lubrication system that reduces both maintenance effort and oil consumption, this as standard from July 2023 for all models of the CMS and ADF series produced in Reutlingen.
Compared to the previous optional variant, it ensures more efficient and comprehensive lubrication. All needle bed elements, from the holding-down jack to the coupling part and intermediate slider to the selection jack, are now supplied with oil. The machine itself recognises whether lubrication is required. Independently of this, the lubrication intensity and oil distribution can be adapted to the individual machine conditions by setting various parameters, if required. To ensure that the required amount of lubricant is reliably supplied, a message is sent if the level is too low.

In addition, a new oil drain container as standard equipment for all CMS and ADF models catches used oil from the needle bed under the machine. This prevents soiling of floors or knitted fabrics. The emptying of the container can be efficiently managed by an adjustable reminder function. The neat and at the same time sustainable solution does not require cleaning agents or hoovers and offers the possibility to reuse the oil after cleaning through special filters, if necessary.

Users of CMS and ADF belt take-down machines can benefit from optimisations around the belt take-down. Thanks to the new STOLL innovation package, this can be turned forwards and backwards by means of a switch as standard in order to easily eliminate fabric wraps and thus reduce maintenance times. In addition, a mirror, which is also fitted as standard, ensures a simple visual check of the belt take-down.

Another solution of the STOLL innovation package from July 2023 includes new cams that enable split-stitch implementation without cam box modification. This reduces manual effort and thus conversion times and costs. The feature is standard on all fine gauges ADF and CMS machines.

For the W machines from STOLL, there is now a further inlay yarn carrier, the Qt, in addition to the previous Qw yarn carrier. The extension means that the number of inlay yarn carriers used in a system can be increased from the previous one to three. No additional system is required for the weft yarn, and the process steps weft yarn insertion and knitting take place in the same system.

Spinnova has entered into a yarn development cooperation agreement with the Portuguese company Tearfil, where Tearfil will operate Spinnova’s R&D yarn-spinning line. The yarn-spinning line is intended for product development and will be located in Guimarães, Portugal at Tearfil's facilities.  

The rationale behind the yarn-spinning line is for research and development into using Spinnova's fibre in commercial scale yarn production and to streamline development work with industry partners.   
Spinnova has decided to locate the line in Guimarães in Portugal, at Tearfil’s facilities. Spinnova will benefit from the industry know-how of a strong partner and from the proximity of one of Europe’s most significant textile industry hubs in Portugal. This will improve Spinnova’s access to global textile markets.   

Spinnova’s yarn-spinning line will be installed at Tearfil's premises. The technology delivery and installations are expected to take place in the fall of 2023, and the spinning line is intended to be operational by the end of the year. Tearfil is responsible for the yarn-spinning line's operations, and Spinnova will use a part of the line capacity for its product development.  

In 2021, Spinnova announced that it would establish an R&D yarn-spinning line in Jyväskylä, Finland. The decision to change the location was made during the feasibility planning and discussions with potential partners. This change in location and operational model will slightly decrease the capital expenditure and will lead to lower operational expenses.  

The technology supplier for Spinnova's new spinning mill line is the Swiss-based company Rieter. Rieter is a leading supplier of systems for manufacturing yarn from staple fibers in spinning mills. The company develops and manufactures machinery, systems and components used to convert natural and man-made fibers and their blends into yarns in the most cost-efficient manner.

Mimaki Europe, a provider of industrial inkjet printers, cutting plotters, and 3D printers, is debuting the new Tiger600-1800TS, Mimaki’s most productive sublimation transfer printer, on its stand at ITMA 2023. This latest high-speed, compact and robust roll-to-roll inkjet printer has been designed to accelerate the analogue to digital transformation within the textile printing industry.

The Tiger600-1800TS boasts a maximum printing speed of 550 m2/h (143% faster than the previous model) owing to the renovated high-speed printhead and Mimaki’s proprietary image quality enhancement technologies. The printer’s size has also been halved compared to the previous system, with the paper mounting and winding system both located at the back of the machine. This smaller footprint enables customers to easily install multiple units to meet fluctuating demand, whilst also increasing overall production capacity.

A further environmental benefit of the Tiger600-1800TS will be the bluesign® certification of its MLSb510 series sublimation transfer inks. This certificate, expected to be awarded in June 2023, will provide assurance that these inks are of highest quality combined with due consideration for the safety of consumers and print operators, and environmental conservation, and therefore, contributing to the sustainability of the textile industry.

Mimaki’s expertise in developing reliable, easy-to-use and efficient solutions has also not faltered in the development of the Tiger600-1800TS. The printer’s ink tanks can be replaced without interrupting the printing process, minimising down time. Maintenance of the printer is also reduced with its roller paper feeding method eliminating the need for the application of adhesives onto a belt.

Following their entry into the fibres and textiles sector, as announced at K 2022, recycling machine manufacturer EREMA launches the INTAREMA® FibrePro:IV - which has been specially developed for PET fibre-to-fibre recycling - at ITMA in Milan from June 8 to 14. Thanks to its especially gentle material preparation and efficient removal of spinning oils, the rPET produced can be reused in proportions of up to 100 percent for the production of very fine fibres.

PET is regarded as a key material for the production of synthetic fibres. Around two thirds of the total volume of PET goes into the production of PET fibres for the textile industry. This highlights the importance of high-quality recycling solutions for the circular economy. By combining proven INTAREMA® technology with a new IV optimiser, EREMA succeeds in processing shredded PET fibre materials heavily contaminated by spinning oils in such a way that the finest fibres can be produced again from the recycled pellets. The system, which now joins EREMA's machine portfolio as the INTAREMA® FibrePro:IV, is characterised by a longer residence time of the PET melt. This is an essential factor for achieving high quality recycled pellets, as it allows the spinning oils and other additives used to improve the handling of the fibres during manufacturing to be removed more efficiently than in conventional PET recycling processes. Following extrusion, by polycondensation the intrinsic viscosity (IV) of the PET melt is increased in the new IV optimiser and under high vacuum to the precise level that is needed for fibre production. "Including filtration the output quality that we achieve with this recycling process is so high that ultra-fine fibres of up to 2 dtex can be produced using these rPET pellets, with an rPET content of 100 percent," says Markus Huber-Lindinger, Managing Director at EREMA. Waste PET fibre from production processes can therefore be further processed into rPET filament fibre, carpet yarn and staple fibre.

While the focus of the fibre and textiles application is currently still on PET fibre recycling, EREMA is committed to driving forward the recycling of mixed fibre materials from classic textile recycling collection in a next project phase. In order to accelerate development work, the EREMA Group opened its own fibre test centre, where a cross-company team is working on recycling solutions for fibre-to-fibre applications. The centre also operates a fully equipped and variable industrial-scale recycling plant. It includes the peripheral technology required and is available to customers for trials.

In the run-up to ITMA, VDMA is presenting an overview of the textile recycling technologies offered by member companies exhibiting at ITMA. VDMA and its members are committed to a responsible use of all resources used in textile production. VDMA members create the technical prerequisites for the efficient reuse and recycling of textile raw materials.

In the spirit of the circular economy, VDMA companies offer solutions for the entire processing and production chain. The production programme and services include equipment and technologies for recycling textile production waste, textiles, textile auxiliaries or waste heat and for processing recycled materials into textiles.

An overview of the available technologies is provided here: Way2ITMA-Recycling
The short descriptions of the solutions offered by the member companies are structured according to the following headings:

• Recycling of textile production waste and textiles
• Recycling of caustic soda and waste heat
• Processing of recycled materials

At ITMA 2023 in Milan, Zünd is focusing on the advantages of digital single-ply cutting in modern garment production.

At the show, Zünd will demonstrate the advantages of individual cutting on demand and what benefits single-ply cutting of textiles offers. In the course of digitalization, the market environment of the apparel industry has changed. Producers are responding to increasing digitalization and ever-shorter product life cycles by investing in lean and highly automated production workflows. Solutions from Zünd supported process streamlining from ordering to cutting while minimizing manual interventions.

Zünd's single-ply cutters are the cutting tools in digitized production, offering manufacturers flexibility and profitability. Intelligent automation functions, optical solutions and software tools facilitate resource optimization, keep an eye on material consumption and support employees who can turn their attention to value-adding activities. With digital single-layer cutting, manufacturers speed up their cutting and expand their production capacities at the same time. They can accept orders at very short notice and easily meet delivery times thanks to highly economical and efficiently scalable on-demand production. Peaks in demand can be easily managed.

Zünd cutters give users new flexibility in their production workflow. He can work with complex motifs, demanding textiles and different shapes. The cutting technology enables the apparel industry to produce highly individualized customized garments in small batches and on demand just as economically and efficiently as in high volumes. It can process and handle more orders in less time. At the same time, both material and time are saved. In combination with the MindCut production software and precise single-layer cutting, there is almost no waste. The cut parts can be nested very close to each other and close to the material edges. This not only offers considerable savings potential, but also helps to reduce the ecological footprint.

100 days before ITMA 2023 in Milan, VDMA Textile Machinery launched its “Way2ITMA” webinar series. “Transforming the World of Textiles: efficient – digital – circular”. Under this heading, VDMA technology providers will present their solutions along the value chain.

Speakers of the virtual event were Dr. Janpeter Horn, Chairman of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association and Managing Director of August Herzog Maschinenfabrik, Dirk Vantyghem, Director General, EURATEX, Francis Elias Junker, Area Sales Manager, Andritz Laroche and Tanja Karila, Chief Marketing Officer, Infinited Fiber Company.

With regard to the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles, Dr. Horn said: “This topic concerns all of us, consumers and producers. We as machinery builders position ourselves as enablers. We want to be part of the solution of this ambitious project”.

Dirk Vantyghem introduced the core issues of the EU textile strategy launched in 2022, which is the most ambitious plan ever, to push the textile sector towards sustainability and transparency, and promote a new circular business model. If wrongly designed, that new framework may collapse the European textile value chain. But if done rightly, the changes ahead could bring a paradigm shift in the sector, where competitiveness is no longer based on price only, but also on sustainability and innovation, explained Vantyghem.

Francis Elias Junker showed high level of expertise for mechanical textile recycling for both spinning and nonwovens industries that Andritz has. The company has a diversity of solutions to offer and several cooperation partners, covering the value chain from recovery of fiber to the chemical modification and preparation for the production of yarn.

Tanja Karila gave an overview of how Infinited Fiber is turning textile waste into new fibers. Patented technology turns post-consumer textile waste into brand new premium quality fibers for the textile industry. The textile-to-textile recycling technology captures the value in waste that would otherwise be landfilled or burned.

Textile companies could take full advantage of expanded print opportunities with EFI™ Reggiani textile solutions presented at the 8-13 December India ITME Exhibition in Greater Noida.

The EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver printer was shown at ITME 2022: a solution to enter the industrial printing segment with a short, smart and green process. The EFI Reggiani TERRA Solution eliminates the need for steaming or washing on direct-to-textile applications, using a greener, more efficient polymerisation process that takes place as the printed textile goes through the printer’s on-board dryer. As a result, users can achieve superior printing results while using less time, water, and energy.

The EFI Reggiani exhibit at ITME was also promoting:

•  EFI Reggiani HYPER printer, a scanning printer available in 1.8-metre, 2.4-metre or 3.4-metre widths that prints at up to 20 linear metres per minute peak speed, making it the fastest textile scanning printer on the market;
• Mezzera Concord, the continuous rope washing line from the specialist in washing solutions that transports fabric by overflow for tensionless running with an independent squeezing mangle for each channel;
• One of the industry’s broadest line-ups of high-end, superior-quality textile inks, including EFI Reggiani AQUA and EFI Reggiani Diamond reactive, IRIS dye-sublimation, ARIA direct disperse, FUOCO acid, and GEA and TERRA pigment inks; and
• Inèdit, recently acquired by EFI Reggiani, a developer of raster image processors (RIPs) and related software for digital industrial textile printing with their product portfolio that features proven, highly advanced workflow solutions for textile profiling, calibration, design integration and much more.

Trützschler Card Clothing (TCC), technology leader in the manufacture of high-performance card clothings for textile yarn processing, is expanding its site in Neubulach, Germany. With the twelve-million-euro investment, the supplier for the international textile machinery industry is expanding its production, warehouse and office capacities. A groundbreaking ceremony will take place during the coming winter.

The new building will expand the warehouse and logistics area by 600 square meters, to make a total area of 2,800 square meters. In the optimized cube of the new hall, a modern warehouse system will double the storage capacity. There will also be a fully automated warehouse for coils for sawtooth wires. During the construction phase, logistics and shipping will be temporarily outsourced to Pforzheim-Büchenbronn.

The move into the new building is planned for 2024. TCC will also expand the range of services and the production intensity at the site, while optimizing the process flows. Trützschler intends to recruit the additional employees required within a short timeframe by hiring new staff and offering apprenticeships at the Neubulach site. TCC employs more than 130 people in Germany, with a further 220 people employed worldwide at locations in Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Turkey and the USA.

Overall, the production area will be expanded from 4,000 to 5,400 square meters. This will enable the process flows to be optimized. The office space will be increased to 1,000 square meters. An additional level of the building will provide modern workplaces for administration and sales.

The new building will also improve access and exit routes for truck traffic. This will provide considerable relief for the local neighborhood in terms of noise emissions and other factors. Good integration into the region is very important to Trützschler. All contracts for planning, construction and air conditioning technology have been awarded to local companies.

In the future, TCC will operate its production facility in Neubulach in a climate-neutral manner. This will contribute important progress toward achieving the ambitious climate goals of the Trützschler Group. The new production facility will meet the highest requirements for energy efficiency and climate protection. Heating is provided by process heat recovery and geothermal energy. In addition, the company produces green electricity via its own solar panels.

"By expanding our business here in Neubulach, we are strengthening our presence in this area and our leading global market position too," says Managing Director Peter Gäbler. The Trützschler Group SE is also investing in India to build a new site with over 100,000 square meters for the Spinning, Card Clothing and Nonwovens business units. "It is important to be close to the customer worldwide because our foreign companies make a significant contribution to the success of the Group," says Gäbler.

TCC achieved another record sales result in 2021. Demand for the technology components for carding fibers in spinning mills and for carding in nonwovens production has increased significantly. The steel sawtooth wires, which are wound onto coils and produced for customers around the globe, eventually get worn down by use in production processes – so it is necessary to replace them regularly. For this reason, further growth is expected in 2022 and beyond.