From the Sector

A focus on customer service, aligned with the drive to constantly innovate, has long ensured that the member companies of TMAS – the Swedish texile machinery manufacturers’ association – stay well ahead of the curve.

“All of the Swedish textile machinery companies are doing really well in major markets such as Europe, China, India and the USA,” says TMAS Secretary General Therese Premler-Andersson. “They are now gathering forces to prepare for the most important show – ITMA 2019 in Barcelona in June. I expect to see new players and partnerships as we enter the industry 4.0 era for real. We are ready to display an even higher degree of the real time monitoring of processes, automation, flexible customisation, and the incorporation of robots into production lines.  Our customers expect a lot of in terms of knowledge and our ability to customise and offer turnkey solutions.”

The forward-looking attitude of the Swedish companies is perhaps best summed up by Reimar Westerlind, the owner, since 1961, of ACG Gruppen.
At the age of 90, Reimar still travels to his office every day to oversee the operations of the diverse companies operating under the ACG umbrella.
“Everything now is about automation and digitisation,” he says. “We have to be on that track or we will be lost – innovate or die.”

Robotics
One ACG Gruppen company moving rapidly forward with new innovations in this area is ACG Kinna, which at ITMA 2019 will be providing dramatic live demonstrations of its new robotic pillow filling system.
This has the ability to fill and finish some 3,840 pillows per eight-hour shift, which is a considerable improvement on what is currently possible with existing systems, resulting in significant savings in both labour and energy for busy home textile businesses.

At ITMA 2019, Eton will be demonstrating a complete material handling solution with advanced software providing real-time information covering every aspect of the process.
“Our systems are a natural fit with the major Industry 4.0 networked manufacturing plants that are now being constructed worldwide for sectors such as the garment and home textiles manufacturing and automotive industries,” says Eton’s Sales and Commercial Director Roger Ryrlén.

Sensors
Advanced senor developments are playing a large part in moving many areas of the textile industry forward too.
Eltex of Sweden, for example, is achieving considerable success with its yarn fault detection and tension monitoring systems across a range of sectors, including the tufting of carpets, the creeling of woven materials and even the production of woven reinforcements for the composites industry.

At successive ITMA shows, IRO AB has also consistently introduced new milestones in the field of yarn feeding technology for weaving machines, and ITMA 2019 will be no exception.
“Following significant investment in our R&D capabilities, we have been making great progress in further boosting the efficiency and performance of our expanding X3 range,” says IRO AB Managing Director and Chairman of TMAS Mikael Äremann. “I can’t remember a time since the 1980s when we had so many new innovations to unveil at an ITMA, and I’m greatly looking forward to the positive response to them we are anticipating in Barcelona this June.”

Resource savings
ITMA 2019 will meanwhile see the launch of TexCoat G4 – the next generation of Baldwin Technology’s non-contact precision application system for fabric finishing. The TexCoat G4 enables a continuously high-quality and productive textile finishing process with zero chemistry waste and minimised water and energy consumption.
The non-contact spray technology brings a range of advantages including single or double-sided application,  the elimination of Foulard bath contamination, low wet pick-up levels leading to the elimination of drying steps, zero chemistry waste in changeovers of chemistry, colour or fabric, and the possibility of batch reporting, visibility of pad loading, chemical usage etc.

Other TMAS companies exhibiting in Barcelona include Texo AB, whose wide-width weaving looms make the belts for machines on which half of the world’s paper is made, ES-Automatex, which specialises in bespoke automation concepts and Svegea, a company leading the field in a number colarette machines and cutting and slitting equipment.

“At the last ITMA in 2015 in Milan, there was much talk about Industry 4.0 technologies but certainly from the perspective of TMAS, ITMA 2019 will be the place for concrete solutions as to how data and the new tools we have available can be exploited to the full,” says Therese Premler-Andersson. “There is already much more networking between the companies, with software very much the enabler and common interfaces bringing ideas closer together. We are greatly looking forward to further exchanges of ideas when meeting with customers old and new in Barcelona.”

ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018, Asia’s foremost trade fair dedicated to textile machinery, is once again marked by a significant presence of German companies both in their number and in the quality of their technology. Visitors to the fair will have an opportunity to appreciate the high level of technology being proposed by more than 100 exhibitors from Germany, including more than 80 VDMA member companies. They cover nearly all different machinery chapters with a focus on spinning, nonwoven, weaving, knitting, warp knitting and finishing. The overall exhibition space occupied by German machinery manufacturers is more than 7,000 square meters, confirming Germany’s leading position among exhibiting foreign countries. The German exhibitors increased their booth space by approximately 15 % compared to 2016.

“Choose the original - Choose success" is the message of the VDMA Textile Machinery at this trade fair. On the occasion of the VDMA press conference on the opening day of ITMA ASIA, Ms Karin Christine Schmidt, Technical Director VDMA Textile Machinery, emphasised: “Copycat machines may look similar to the systems they are designed to emulate. But only originals do not simply follow but are pacesetters of technological progress.” Original technology is a keystone of innovation. It has the potential to successfully turn visions of entirely new possibilities in the textile production into reality.

This approach is visualised at the VDMA booth. The stand achieves attention and emotion through the picture motif: Neuschwanstein Castle. This world-famous tourist magnet is more than that: it is also a successful original. A vision, which could be successfully implemented in the long term through innovation and technology!

During the press conference, 18 spokespersons of renowned VDMA member companies showed how original technology can indeed play a major role in China’s and other Asian nation’s efforts to increase the resource efficiency of the textile industry and to interconnect information technology and manufacturing processes.  

Topics of the companies included automation, performance improvement, quality, sustainable solutions (raw material, energy, water saving), Industry 4.0 (in China called intelligent manufacturing), digital AR/VR services, platforms and software.

You are welcome to explore the speakers' statements in the atached PDF.

• Lenzing will hold 51 percent in a future joint venture
• Largest single line dissolving wood pulp plant in the world
• Basic engineering and permitting process to be kicked off
• 43,000 hectares FSC® certified plantation secured
• Final investment decision subject to outcome of basic engineering expected in 2019

Lenzing Group, world market leader in specialty cellulosic fibers and Duratex, the largest producer of industrialized wood panels of the Southern Hemisphere, announce that they agreed on the terms and conditions to form a joint venture to investigate building the largest single line dissolving wood pulp (DWP) plant in the state of Minas Gerais, close to Sao Paulo, Brazil. This decision supports the backward integration and the growth in specialty fibers, defined in Lenzing’s corporate strategy sCore TEN.

The joint venture will investigate the construction of a 450,000 t DWP plant, which is expected to become the largest and most competitive single line DWP plant in the world. Dissolving wood pulp is the key raw material for the production of Lenzing’s bio-based fibers. For the future operation, the two companies have secured a plantation of 43,000 hectares that will provide the FSC® certified biomass. The plantation is fully in line with Lenzing’s wood and pulp sourcing policy. The basic engineering and the application for required permits and merger clearances will now be started.

Lenzing will hold 51 percent of the joint venture which will operate the mill, while Duratex’s share will be 49 percent. The estimated cash investment by the joint venture for the construction of the DWP mill is expected to be somewhat above USD 1 bn (based on current FX rates, net of generic tax refunds and the outcome of the basic engineering study). The joint venture will supply the entire volume of dissolving wood pulp to the Lenzing Group. This step is an essential milestone in the group’s ambition to grow its specialty fibers business.

“Specialty cellulosic fibers are an important contribution to make the global textile industry more sustainable. In line with our corporate strategy sCore TEN we are committed to strong organic growth in this field. We are pleased that with Duratex, a recognized leader in sustainable forestry management, we have a strong partner in this joint venture. Together we will create a very sustainable and competitive raw material base for Lenzing’s global expansion plans”, says Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of Lenzing Group.

“Projects of this nature are the result of our strategic plan and of our team’s effort towards drawing Duratex’s future. The Company is known for its financial solidity, high quality, innovation and sustainability; the results of a history spanning over six decades. The partnership with Lenzing for the construction of the largest single line dissolving wood pulp plant in the world is an honor for Duratex. Working with Lenzing, a global benchmark in technology, high quality and corporate governance makes us very proud. We are sure that this joint venture is going to be successful”, affirms Duratex’s Chief Executive Officer Antonio Joaquim de Oliveira.

The final investment decision to build the dissolving wood pulp plant is subject to the outcome of the basic engineering studies and the approval by the respective supervisory boards.

ILUNA Group and ROICA™ continue their close partnership to present the most “advanced” and responsible innovations to the market today. ILUNA GREEN LABEL lace collections made with premium stretch thanks to the use of the unique ROICA ™ Eco Smart GRS certified family- now offer the next evolution: a new stretch Galloon lace to be combined with mesh and lace fabrics collections, now fully made with GRS certified materials. This new evolution offers the right choice to contemporary consumers in products that are beautiful, high quality and sustainable.
This is in addition to a decision last year when the ILUNA GROUP converted all their stretch yarn exclusively to the unique ROICA™ Eco Smart family for all of its top of the range jacquardtronic and Textronic articles.
To reinforce this commitment, ILUNA can also celebrate its new STeP (Sustainable Textile Production) certification by Oeko-Tex, a certification that clarifies and communicates the company’s sustainable production commitment regarding manufacturing and processing to all its partners and customers in a transparent, clear manner.
Fashion & ILUNA feature on the catwalk in Paris with the ‘Momenti Di Passione’ fashion show at the Interfiliere salon on 8th to 10th July. Here you will be able to enjoy a dazzling and exciting new range of bold ECO flocking beachwear & cover up.
And at the show, breakthrough fabric designs from ILUNA show a revolutionary quality in the new Burano collection: a range of decorative, macramé precious pattern effects that are diaphanous and semi-sheer styles that use at their heart the ROICA™ Eco Smart premium stretch family exclusively.

At the “Future of Composites in Construction” trade show, CHOMARAT and ALTUS GROUP are presenting CarbonCast®, their flagship line of reinforced-concrete prefabricated wall panels, reinforced with CHOMARAT’s C-GRID® carbon-fiber grids. A recent army-hospital project in Greenville, South Carolina is another success story of this innovative product: 18,600 m² (200,000 sq.ft) of precast insulated panels were installed in record time. Come and learn more about it at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center, Chicago, Stand C 10, on 20-22 June 2017.
“Reducing installation time, improving the fire and safety performance, increasing the service life of structures, and cutting energy consumption are crucial criteria in the choice of a CarbonCast solution,” explains ALTUS GROUP Executive Director John CARSON. CarbonCast® panels are classified ASHRAE 90.1. Thanks to the low thermal conductivity of carbon fiber, C-GRID® reinforced panels offer excellent thermal performance, providing uniform insulation and, therefore, a comfortable, energy-efficient building.