From the Sector

Mahlo GmbH + Co. KG will present its systems and solutions for efficient and high-quality textile production and finishing together with Shanghai Kuantex at ITMA Asia (November 19 and 23). The focus will be on the machine manufacturer's new straightening concept, the Orthopac RXVMC.

"In the new straightening concept, special attention was paid to the straightening mechanics and their interaction with the analysis electronics of the probe system," explains Sales Manager Thomas Höpfl. The control concept is also new. A probe group at the leveler infeed detects distortions even before they reach the correction rolls. In this way, the rolls are brought directly into position and the fabric is corrected from the very first centimeter. A scanner group at the outfeed also detects possible residual distortion, which is corrected at the second straightening module. This enables an even more precise and faster response when it comes to reacting to rapidly changing distortions. The Orthopac RXVMC therefore shows its full strength when straightening knitwear and fabrics sensitive to distortion.

Also contributing to high-quality textile production and finishing is the Famacont PMC for controlling weft and stitch course density, which will also be on show at ITMA Asia. The Famacont PMC-15 uses a sensor to measure the yarn or stitch density and compares it with the target value stored in the recipe data management system. The detected deviation of the yarn density from the target value is used to fully automatically regulate the leading during the needling process on the stenter frame. Interested parties can have the mode of operation explained to them at the Mahlo booth with the help of a demo tower and their own or provided fabric samples.

Another major topic remains Industry 4.0, because the best measured data is of no use if it cannot be utilized. Mahlo has continuously developed its digital environment mSmart. "Our systems generate data that the customer can use immediately to regulate goods on-line. At the same time, all measured values are backed up in our data management system mLog enhanced and can be retrieved at any time. With this historical data, processes can be optimized and weak points in the process can be minimized," explains Sales Manager Thomas Höpfl.

In China, the textile industry is forward-looking and resilient – with a healthy appetite for new technologies and a determination to keep its leading position. Sustainability is increasingly coming into focus, so there is a growing demand for recycling technologies, as well as automated solutions and digitalization. Cornelia Buchwalder, Secretary General of the Swiss Textile Machinery Association, is clear: “China is the main market for a large number of our association members.” On top of growing consumer demand and technological capabilities, the latest ambitious five-year plan will drive further development of the Chinese textile industry in world markets, and Swiss companies will work with all stakeholders to enable its success.

Market proximity
Swiss companies realized many years ago that geographical proximity is the key to success. Stäubli has started to set up offices in Chinese cities since 1998 and counts 12 locations today, to serve the whole country. In 2002, Itema established a centralized local branch which today has 160 employees in various functions. Loepfe has expanded its presence by creating an independent local business unit to overcome the 9,000 km distance by air, while Uster Technologies has had a Chinese subsidiary since 1982, with offices and service stations in different provinces. Luwa set up its offices and workshop in Shanghai in 1997. Rieter established a presence in mainland China in 2005, driven by a strong commitment to expanding the country’s know-how and expertise – and ten years later opened an advanced research center. All Swiss companies with serious business goals in China have made similar commitments to connect with customers and maintain strong relationships.

Understanding Chinese customers
Swiss companies also understand that Chinese customers require dedicated attention, and that speed is more essential than ever in delivering both machines and services.
Manufacturers in China are seeking cost-effective solutions to remain competitive, while consumers are looking for value in their purchases. Companies need to develop solutions that provide tangible economic benefits to their clients. Furthermore, energy savings have become paramount in China, due to the government's commitment to environmental sustainability and reduced carbon emissions. “Businesses are adopting more energy-efficient processes and technologies to meet stringent energy conservation and emission reduction targets,” says Peter Schnickmann, Managing Director at Luwa Air Engineering (Shanghai). He notes an investment trend for solutions helping Chinese companies cut operational costs and minimize their carbon footprint.

To enhance the reputation of both companies and products – and boost the image of the entire industry – the environmental impact needs to decrease. Priorities are saving water and waste, as well as reducing, replacing or completely eliminating the use of harmful substances. China has a strong demand for environmental-friendly solutions and sustainable technologies.

Customer-oriented in weaving
The huge number of Chinese fabric producers calls for an immense volume of weaving machinery to be supplied by international and local providers. Swiss machinery manufacturers hold an impressive share of this business.
Chinese weavers require advanced technology, with increasingly higher standards of efficiency. In weaving preparation, latest solutions match the speed, quality and reliability now wanted. Weaving machines too offer the eco-efficiency, performance, and ease of use needed, with innovations that extend the scope of sustainable weaving, and open-platform systems configurable to weavers’ specific operations. A huge increase in demand for technical textiles in recent years has been driven by applications such as carbon fiber, aramid and glass fiber.

Profitable in spinning
China’s competitive advantages come from its large-scale and integrated manufacturing capabilities, along with the use of advanced automation and digitization technologies. Spinners aim to capitalize on extended market opportunities, with more economical production. The latest air-jet spinning machines serve these goals, allowing exceptionally low production costs per kilogram of yarn, coupled with high flexibility and reliability. Sustainable yarns are in great demand.

The automation trend in spinning mills focuses on connecting production processes. Data is used to ensure the highest quality standards, most efficient raw material usage, reduction of waste, and energy savings. To make spinning mills more competitive, latest solutions combine cutting-edge hardware, data-enabled software and renowned textile expertise.

In order to be even closer to the customer, Groz-Beckert opened a new sales office in Surat, Gujarat, India. The inauguration of the new sales office took place on Sunday, October 15, 2023, with an official opening ceremony.

With the new office, Groz-Beckert aims to provide even better support for its customers from the knitting industry – especially from the circular knitting and warp knitting industry – as well as from the sewing industry in the growing market in Surat and the surrounding area.

Surat has a very old textile production and trade history, dating back to the 16th century. The city is known as the “Textile and Silk City” of India. Today it is an important hub for large-scale production of synthetic textiles and skilled workforce. The textile Industry in Surat produces est. 25 Million meters of fabrics per day. It is also considered to be the financial capital and the growth engine of Gujarat.

After four decades in the packaging industry, the Manjushree Group is entering the Indian nonwovens market. The entrepreneurs rely on a flexible RF Smart Composite line from Reifenhäuser Reicofil to meet very different customer requirements.

The Manjushree Group operated a blown film line for packaging materials for the tea industry in the eastern part of India as early as 1983. In the years that followed, Manjushree Technopack Ltd. developed into one of the largest suppliers of solutions for rigid plastic products in South Asia - and the family business grew into a group with several business segments. In 2018, the entrepreneurial family repositioned itself: it sold its previous core business to a financial investor and established Manjushree Ventures with footholds in start-up financing, real estate business, and manufacturing - the largest of which is Manjushree Spntek as a producer of high-quality spunmelted fabrics.

Since February 2023, Manjushree Spntek has been producing high-performance spunmelts on an RF Smart Composite line from Reifenhäuser Reicofil - benefiting both from many years of experience in the packaging industry and from experience with Reifenhäuser's blown film lines. "We know a lot about plastic extrusion, for example when it comes to line operating parameters such as temperature and pressure. Processing is similar in both industries," explains Rajat Kedia. "The main difference is the distribution of the products: In plastic packaging, we had an established customer base and sold a lot of material to the big consumer goods manufacturers. The nonwovens market in India, on the other hand, is still forming, with thousands of small companies currently getting involved." These serve customers in their regions, such as hospitals.

The RF Smart Composite line is a standardized spunmelt line for smaller and emerging markets. The line produces nonwovens of the highest Reicofil quality with appropriately adapted throughput. This makes it ideally suited for applications in hygiene and medical technology and, with typically 8,200 annual production hours, it is extremely reliable. In addition, operators can start production quickly because in many cases the line can be integrated into existing buildings.

Before production could start, Manjushree built a new production building in Bidadi, a town an hour's drive from Bangalore International Airport. The building is designed to be sustainable: It uses natural light and fresh air, has comprehensive contamination control, and obtains almost all of its energy from renewable sources. Reifenhäuser Reicofil then installed, commissioned and tested the RF Smart Composite line.

Since February 2023, Manjushree Spntek has been producing high-quality spunmelted nonwovens, including ultra-soft fabrics and fabrics with special coatings for customers in the hygiene and medical industries. The material can be used, for example, for baby diapers and feminine hygiene products, but also for medical articles ranging from surgical gowns to surgical drapes.

International technology group ANDRITZ has successfully started up the new carding machine and opening/blending line it delivered to Albis in Roasio, Vercelli, Italy.

With its large working width of 5.10 meters, the machine allows for the production of nonwoven fabrics tailored to specific customer requirements while maintaining excellent properties and consistent quality. One example is Albis Curacell ®, a multilayer composite nonwoven fabric in a weight range between 35 and 70 gsm that is produced with a fully water-free patented process and is able to absorb liquid flows of over seven times its own weight. The production line also includes an advanced upstream opening and blending system from ANDRITZ.

Albis, a privately owned group founded in Italy in 1995 by Gianni Boscolo, has been a major player in the nonwoven market for over three decades. Through continuous research and development, the company offers innovative, high-quality nonwoven solutions across various sectors, including hygiene, medical, personal care, textiles, filtration, and agriculture.

The German companies Brückner, Groz-Beckert, the Karl Mayer Group and Thies invite representatives of the Indian textile industry to a symposium with presentations and discussion panels in Surat, India, on October 11 and 12, 2023. The event will be held at the Marriott Hotel Surat and will focus on the current demand trend for warp knitted elastic fabrics.

The demand for warp knitted elastic fabrics has increased rapidly in the past two to three years. On the one hand, this offers the Indian textile industry new growth opportunities and the chance to establish itself in a leading position in the growing market. On the other hand, the turnaround also holds challenges as the production steps involved in manufacture of warp knitted elastic fabrics are strikingly different from the conventional methods.

In order to provide the Indian warp knitting industry with optimum support in this change, Brückner, Groz-Beckert, Karl Mayer and Thies are inviting participants to a specialist symposium on the subject of "Production of Warp Knitted Elastic Fabric". Industry experts, stakeholders and textile visionaries are invited to share their insights and experiences with the guests.

The aim of the symposium is to provide a platform where knowledge can be exchanged and cooperation intensified. The symposium offers a wide variety of technical presentations as well as best practice examples and showcases technologies and innovations in warp knitting technology.

Those interested in attending the symposium may contact Vinod Kumar (Brückner & Thies), Dipak Panhalkar (Groz-Beckert) or Apurva Jariwala (Karl Mayer) to register.

TRÜTZSCHLER Spinning presents an innovation for the textile machinery market: the high-performance comber TCO 21XL with 12 combing heads. For many decades, eight combing heads has been considered state-of-the-art in the spinning industry. Now, Trützschler’s advanced technology and engineering proves that it is possible to build a heavy-duty comber that maximizes productivity by 50 % and saves space without compromising on quality.

They say two heads are better than one, so just imagine what 12 heads can do! That’s the simple but effective idea behind the TCO 21XL. Increasing the number of combing heads by 50 % makes it possible to increase productivity by 50 %, enabling rates of up to 150 kg/h. As a result, two TCO 21XL combers offer the same production capacity as three conventional combers. And that means companies that buy and operate two machines instead of three can achieve significant benefits in terms of their price-performance-ratio (cost/kg). The costs of running the machines are broken down into 12 instead of eight heads, making the machine more cost-effective over its entire operating life.

50 % higher productivity is great – and it can be even greater if the machine is operated with JUMBO cans. The can changer needs to keep up with the extra performance, and JUMBO cans can easily collect the additional output of the TCO 21XL because they feature a 1200 mm diameter. This makes it possible to minimize non-productive time when changing cans. Anybody who is planning a new spinning mill knows that every square meter of space adds to the overall costs. The new TCO 21XL comber offers huge benefits in this regard because 25 % less floor space is required to operate same number of combing heads. This reduces the initial building costs, while also decreasing operating costs related to lighting, air conditioning and other overheads.

SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD. of Wakayama, Japan, together with its Korean subsidiary SHIMA SEIKI KOREA INC., will participate in the Preview in SEOUL exhibition in Seoul, Republic of Korea this month (23rd - 25th of August 2023).

SHIMA SEIKI will show its SWG061N2 compact WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machine which can produce a wide range of WHOLEGARMENT® items in their entirety without the need for linking or sewing. The SWG-N2 series “Mini” range is suited to the production of small knit items and accessories such as gloves, socks, hats and scarves as well as cozies, shoe uppers, bags, card cases, glasses cases, smartphone covers and other personal items. The N.SVR093SP is a conventional shaped knitting machine featuring a loop presser bed that yields novel fabrics with special inlay patterns that are produced by inserting yarn into knit fabric in a weave fashion, offering new and exciting possibilities in hybrid knit-weave textiles. Both machines will be shown knitting such items as bags and sporting goods to demonstrate the capability of current knitting technology for producing non-apparel items.

SDS®-ONE APEX design system and APEXFiz® subscription-based design software will also be on display. Both 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. Virtual samples can furthermore be used in e-commerce to gauge consumer demand before production begins. Feeding that information back to production and combined with on-demand WHOLEGARMENT® knitting technology, production can be adjusted to optimize inventory and minimize leftover waste. APEXFiz® thereby helps to realize sustainability and digitally transform the fashion supply chain.

During the second quarter of 2023, the orders index for textile machinery, as compiled by the Economics Department of ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, dropped significantly compared to 2022 April – June 2022 period (-30%). In absolute terms, the index stood at 85.1 points (basis 2015=100).

This drop is the result of a reduction in the collection of new orders recorded by manufacturers both domestically and on foreign markets. The decrease in orders in Italy amounted to 21%, whereas a 31% downtrend was observed abroad. The absolute value of the index on foreign markets settled at 81.9 points, while in Italy it stands at 117.2 points. New orders for the second quarter amounted to 4.1 months of guaranteed production. ACIMIT’s data also shows that the use of production capacity by Italian manufacturers was 70% for the first half of 2023. This percentage is expected to remain stable for the second half of the year.

ACIMIT president Marco Salvadè stated that, “The orders index for the second quarter elaborated by our Economics Department clearly shows a decline in new orders both in Italy and abroad compared to the previous year. The decline that usually precedes an event such as ITMA, the international textile machinery exhibition held last June in Milan, however, is part of a negative trend that has been going on for several quarters”.

Uncertainty appears to be weighing heavily especially on markets abroad, where foreign trade statistics updated to the first quarter of 2023 are marked by a slackening in Italian sales in some important reference markets, such as Turkey, China, the United States and Pakistan.

Salvadè added that, “Feedback from over 400 Italian companies that took part in ITMA is positive. It’s now necessary for the many contacts made during the event to materialize and for the demand for machinery in the main textile machinery markets to resume a path towards growth.”

In the printing industry, direct-to-film technology is having a transformative impact on the apparel decoration space. It provides a simple and affordable garment printing process that facilitates vibrant, dynamic, full-colour designs with a durable print. It opens up opportunities for digital print service providers (PSPs) to expand their product offerings in the textile industry, their network of potential customers and expand the range of fabrics they can print on.

Direct-to-film vs. Screen Printing
Direct-to-film printing is the process of digitally printing directly onto a special transfer film sheet. The printed film is subsequently sprinkled with a hot-melt powder and heated. Once the transfer sheet is cured and dried, it can be heat-pressed onto a variety of fabrics to create premium transferred designs for customised merchandising, sportswear, and an array of other promotional applications for the textile market. Compared with traditional screen printing, the plate creation required for that process is far too time-consuming. Not only this, but it does not match direct-to-film’s ability to produce vivid colours and quality details such as shapes, lettering, and motifs often sought after in the promotional and merchandising space for bespoke textiles.

The Mimaki TxF150-75
Mimaki’s first direct-to-film inkjet printer is the TxF150-75, a fitting extension to the 150 series, with a maximum printing width of 80cm. Offering a stable printing plotter, the model’s built-in ink circulation system and degassed ink pack are resolutions to common direct-to-film challenges such as poor ink ejection and white ink clogging. The new printer also includes core Mimaki features including NCU (Nozzle Check Unit) and NRS (Nozzle Recovery System) for stable, uninterrupted print production. Operating in harmony with the textile printer itself is Mimaki’s ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX® certified water-based pigment textile inks, formulated especially for the TxF150-75. Coupled with Mimaki’s RasterLink7 RIP software, users are offered end-to-end oversight and efficiency from creative design to final product.

In addition, and in line with Mimaki’s collaborative approach to meeting customer needs, Adkins has developed an 80cm wide powder shaker cure unit to complete this ‘A brand’ direct-to-film printing solution. By offering the printer and post-processing unit at 80cm wide, customers can print larger garments with less waste and quicker production times, making the process much more cost effective.