From the Sector

JIAM 2022 OSAKA, organised by the Japan Sewing Machinery Manufacturers Association (JASMA), will soon be held at INTEX OSAKA from 30 November – 3 December 2022. Under the theme of “It all connects at JIAM – the forefront of technology and master craftsmanship”, the 12th edition brings together leading sewing machine suppliers and apparel manufacturers, making it a must-attend event for textile professionals. In this era of change, an international platform to facilitate business and information exchange is essential. The 2022 edition will showcase apparel manufacturing solutions catered to each and every need, combining high-level skillsets and time-tested knowledge with the latest modern-day technology.

As of October, 144 exhibitors from 10 countries and regions (China, Greece, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand) have signed up for JIAM 2022 OSAKA to showcase their latest products and services. Of these, 39 companies (21 domestic, 18 overseas) will be joining the fair for the first time. In addition, two pavilions from Germany (VDMA; Mechanical Engineering Industry Association) and Taiwan (TSMA; Taiwan Sewing Machinery Association) will bring even more product diversity to the show floor. The previous edition of JIAM OSAKA in 2016 welcomed 258 exhibitors from 15 countries and regions as well as 15,257 visitors from 72 countries and regions, mainly from Bangladesh, China, India, Korea, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

A wide variety of special seminars
11 special organiser seminars will not only provide relevant industry knowledge, but also offer practical skills for daily work:

• Manufacturing industry and digital technology
  Mr Atsushi Yasuda, Manager of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Manufacturing Industries Bureau,Industrial Machinery Division
• Skills training seminar
  1. Twist Jacket (Lapel) pattern and matching sewing (front and shoulder seams)
  2. Shoulder keeper (prevent shoulder collapse) cherish a piece of clothing
  Mr Susumu Inarida, Emeritus Professor of Bunka Fashion Graduate University (BFGU) / Specially Appointed Committee Member of Japan Modelist Associate / Contemporary Master Craftsman Certified by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
• "Mottainai!" sustainable initiatives from Osaka!
  Common points between Senshu Towl and OSAKA KABAN and the future
  Mr Eiji Shinoda, President of Shinoda cCorp
  Mr Kenji Fukuroya, Representative Employee of Fukuroya Joint Company etc.
• About the sustainable fashion community “NewMake”- Upcycling initiatives in collaboration with brands
  Mr Tac Hosokawa, CEO of Story & Co.
• Win - win strategy on underwear sewing, viewpoint of BISEI SANGYO Co., LTD
  Mr Toru Miyawaki, Managing Executive Officer of BISEI SANGYO Co.,LTD / Chairman of Hikoneseni Cooperative

Home Sewing Machine Zone
Catering to the B2C market, the Home Sewing Machine Zone, will feature major domestic household sewing machine suppliers. To promote the joy of sewing, a special workshop will be organised by Brother Industries Ltd, Janome Corp, JUKI Corp and JASMA covering topics such as the use of upcycled materials. As part of JIAM 2022 OSAKA’s sustainable development goals, visitors will be taught to sew “cup sleeves” using discarded items and materials from the DIY brand WHTATNOT. Attendees will also learn about upcycling, the process of upgrading unwanted items into new products that are useful. Another highlight will be the awards for JASMA’s “42th Home Sewing Competition for Elementary, Middle, and High School Students”.

Fresh Relevance announces that DC International has selected its versatile personalization platform to power personalized online experiences for its Coverstore and Leatherology brands.

DC International is a vertically integrated eCommerce company and home to two fast-growing direct-to-consumer brands: Coverstore and Leatherology. By selecting Fresh Relevance to power personalization across the website and email marketing of Coverstore and Leatherology, DC International will be providing shoppers with a more engaging and tailored online experience. The business will take advantage of the rich feature set within the Fresh Relevance platform, including product recommendations.

“We’re delighted to welcome DC International to the Fresh Relevance family and are excited to help them provide their Coverstore and Leatherology customers with a more tailored and valuable experience online,” says Mike Austin, CEO & Co-founder at Fresh Relevance.

• European textile industry needs to prepare for a paradigm shift, and become global leader in sustainable textiles

Organised by EURATEX in partnership with the Portuguese Textile Association (ATP), the Porto Convention – Sustainability meets Competitiveness: How to Square the Circle? – took place on 13-14 October in Porto, Portugal, with nearly 250 entrepreneurs attending from all over Europe. They discussed the current challenges of the European textile industry and set the grounds for a bright future, based on some strong foundations: innovation, creativity, quality and sustainability.

In his keynote speech, Mr. Pedro Siza Vieira, Former Minister for the Economy and Digital Transition of Portugal, assessed the geopolitical and macroeconomics changes, and how this will impact on the future of the textile industry: nearshoring and friend-shoring, independence from foreign gas through the use of European sustainable energy, as well as circular and automated production lines. While the current turbulence causes uncertainty, he sees a better future for our industry.

The first CEO Panel, addressing the theme of How to Measure and Communicate about Sustainability, focused on the challenges to translate “sustainability” towards the consumers. The panel addressed the issue of greenwashing and the role of brands in communicating about sustainability. It looked at how the new European Commission regulations on eco-label, digital product passport (DPP) and product environmental footprint (PEF) will create a new framework.

The second CEO Panel, discussing Financing Sustainability, looked at the cost of sustainable investments, and how this cost should be managed within the entire supply chain, including the brands and retailers.

Four workshops with industry experts followed in the afternoon, addressing the themes of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in Textiles, Digital Product Passport (DPP), Recycling Textile Waste and Labelling Textiles (Product Environmental Footprint). As these initiatives will roll out in the coming years – as part of the EU Textile Strategy – participants got a better understanding of the future framework for our industry.

Dirk Vantyghem, Director General of EURATEX, commented on this: “to prepare for a brighter future requires a new regulatory framework, where quality and durability become the norm, where transparency and sustainability is rewarded, where free riders – who do not comply with rules and standards – are kept outside the market. The EU Textile Strategy aims at creating such a framework, which must be fair and balanced, and requires a close and constant dialogue between the regulator and the industry.”

During the 2nd day of the convention, participants had the opportunity to visit state of the art textile companies (Têxteis J.F. Almeida, RIOPELE, and TMG Automotive) and the Portuguese textile  research centre CITEVE. They showcased how the Portuguese textile industry is making this transition, while remaining globally competitive.

Alberto Paccanelli, President of EURATEX, concluded: “We need to attract creative people in our companies, we need to produce top class quality products, and we need to become more sustainable. That is the recipe for our success in a globalised and highly competitive industry.” Paccanelli is positive about the future: “While we face very tough times, I am optimistic about the future of our European textile industry. The rest of the world is watching us, as we move forward with our strategy. We should become their benchmark and Europe should become a global leader in sustainable textiles.”

Highlights Grow & Deliver (compared with Q3 2021)

• Revenue up 19% and 14% higher in constant currencies1, pricing up 13%
• ROS2 at 6.4% (2021: 10.0%), resulting from lower volumes and higher raw material and freight costs, as well as inflation on operating expenses
• Adjusted EBITDA at €283 million (2021: €325 million)
• Q4 2022 adjusted operating income expected below €150 million

Highlights Q3 2022 (compared with Q3 2021)

• Pricing up 13%, offsetting the increase of raw material and other variable costs. Volumes 5% lower, mainly due to destocking in the distribution channels in Decorative Paints in Europe and in Performance Coatings, as well as lower market demand in China
• Operating income at €168 million (2021: €226 million), includes €16 million negative impact from Identified items (2021: €15 million net negative impact) and €17 million negative from the retrospective hyperinflation impact of the first half-year of 2022. OPI margin 5.9% (2021: 9.4%)
• Adjusted operating income3 at €184 million (2021: €241 million); excluding the retrospective impact of hyperinflation accounting at €201 million
• Net cash from operating activities decreased to an inflow of €126 million (2021: inflow of €290 million)
• Net income attributable to shareholders at €84 million (2021: €164 million)
• EPS from total operations at €0.48 (2021: €0.89); adjusted EPS from continuing operations at €0.57 (2021: €0.93)
• Interim dividend of €0.44 per share (2021: €0.44 per share)

AkzoNobel CEO, Thierry Vanlancker, commented: “Our €201 million adjusted operating income excluding the retrospective impact of hyperinflation accounting bring our Q3 results in line with the market update issued at the end of September. Sharply increased macro-economic uncertainties negatively impacted consumer confidence. This resulted in destocking across several distribution channels in decorative paints Europe and performance coatings, while the market in China was impacted by the ongoing zero COVID-19 policy. Thanks to the strong commitment of our teams, we continue to offset the impact of raw material and freight cost inflation with pricing. We’ve now delivered cumulative pricing of 22% over the last two years. The macro-economic turbulence is expected to continue well into next year. We’ve therefore decided to suspend our targets for 2023 and will provide further guidance when announcing our full-year 2022 results. In the meantime, we will continue to focus on our margin management and cost reduction initiatives.”

and textile technology company Infinited Fiber Company’s work to build the world’s first commercial-scale Infinna™ textile fiber factory in Kemi, Finland, has progressed largely according to plan since the announcement of the factory site in June 2022. The company is increasing its focus on scaling Infinna™ production volume further as quickly as possible. This is in response to the continued and growing customer demand for the company’s high-quality regenerated textile fiber Infinna™. The market impacts of the ongoing war in Ukraine – including the increased uncertainty on the global utility, commodity and financial markets – have highlighted the need to proceed rapidly with technology scaling on multiple fronts.
 
“We are not immune to the global market context in which we operate. The supply chain issues stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic are still wreaking havoc, and the ongoing war in Ukraine has dealt a heavy blow to the global utility, commodity, and financial markets – and to us. We are satisfied with the progress at the site of our planned commercial-scale factory and the opening of the factory remains our key priority. The current, unstable market environment has highlighted the need for us to also accelerate efforts to simultaneously pursue other avenues for scaling production, with the ultimate aim of serving our customers in the best possible way in the long run,” said Infinited Fiber Company CEO and cofounder Petri Alava.
 
Infinited Fiber Company said in June that it planned to build a factory to produce Infinna™, a textile fiber that can be created 100% from cotton-rich textile waste, at the site of a discontinued paper mill in Kemi, Finland. The factory is expected to create around 270 jobs in the area and to have an annual production capacity of 30,000 metric tons, equivalent to the fiber needed for about 100 million T-shirts. The future factory’s customer-base includes several of the world’s leading apparel companies, with most of the future production capacity already sold out for several years.
 
Since June, Infinited Fiber Company has advanced the site-specific basic engineering, recruitment planning, vendor selection, and permit processes according to plan. The limited component availability caused by the continuing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have, however, prolonged significantly the delivery times for some of the key equipment and machinery needed for the factory. As a result of these developments, Infinited Fiber Company has re-evaluated its overall factory project timeline. The first commercial fiber deliveries from Kemi are now expected to begin in January 2026. The scope of the project remains unchanged and construction work at the site is expected begin during 2023 as previously communicated.
 
In addition, the European energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine has caused the electricity prices in Finland to roughly triple, and the prices of some of the key chemicals needed in the fiber regeneration process have risen by some 200-300% since the start of the war.
 
“We of course don’t have a crystal ball. But according to our advisors and other experts, utility and commodity prices are forecast to normalize before 2026, when we now expect the first commercial fiber deliveries from Kemi to be shipped. In addition to the likely normalization of the market, the extended timeline enables us to undertake the necessary measures to develop the profitability of the future factory. The growing demand for Infinna™, despite the general turbulence, is an encouraging and clear indication of the fashion industry’s commitment to circularity,” said Petri Alava.

BTMA member Sellers Textile Engineers is marking its 110th anniversary this year with the introduction of a new concept in carpet shearing, as the essential final step in ensuring tuft uniformity and ‘just new’ freshness in finished carpet rolls.

The company has for many years offered two options in the construction of its shearing cylinders – the first, namely the ‘strap-on’, incorporates spiral blades bolted to the cylinder body and the second, known as the ‘caulked-in’, includes spirals which are fixed very securely in a machined groove within the machine.

The new Sellers’ Hybrid Shearing Cylinder combines the benefits of both, resulting in an improved cut and finer finish, in addition to longer repeatable finishing and increased rigidity.

“The Hybrid Shearing Cylinder has all the advantages of the ‘strap-on’ spiral blade to provide a sharper and cleaner cut, along with enhanced rigidity which significantly lengthens the intervals between the necessary regrinding of the blade,” explains Sellers Director Neil Miller. “We currently have six Hybrid Shearing Cylinders operating in the field and the earliest, which has been installed in both No1 Head position, where the majority of the shearing operation and heaviest cut is performed, and also in No3 Head, where the sharper cutting angle has resulted in a much improved surface quality.”

Sellers shearing machines have led the field in carpet finishing for many decades, enabling the leading manufacturers to stay competitive by enabling the highest quality of finish to be achieved economically and efficiently.

The latest advanced features of these machines include a load cell tension control drive system, an automated touchscreen for easy operator control and fault diagnosis, an enhanced cleaning system including cylinder and blade separation and fully controllable pivoting beds. Further options include thickness monitoring, seam detection and metal detection systems.

“The Hybrid Shearing Cylinder will become standard on our latest machines and also be made available for retrofitting, to provide significant benefits to our existing users,” says Miller. “All of our equipment is designed, manufactured, assembled and tested at our plant in the UK, and as one of the few remaining European engineering companies to make all of our components in-house – with now over a century of accumulated know-how – flexibility in design allows our finishing solutions to be targeted to specific customers and their product requirements. Aligned to this is a lead in process control systems which ensure the accurate control, reliability and repeatability of the processing parameters on all of our machines.”

Sellers remains committed to providing complete finishing solutions for all carpet, tile and artificial grass products. Its range includes machines for tufted secondary backing, both conventional, powder and extrusion lamination, Wilton and Axminster products, artificial grass and foam lines, coating lines for bitumen, PVC, PU and other polymers, as well as shearing for all carpet products.

Ongoing developments on the company’s coating and drying lines have resulted in improved guiding and product tension control as well as dryer efficiency, reducing heat loss and optimising energy use. These include a re-design of the fan pressure boxes and impingement nozzles to increase airflow efficiency, modulating gas burners and introducing easy clean, accessible filters.

In addition, the proven dual zone system has been enhanced, giving a temperature differential of up to 80°C between top and bottom zones. Dryers can be heated by either gas or steam and operation and access have been simplified with controls via touchscreen and PLC.

An extensive range of ancillary equipment is available to provide maximum flexibility to cover product requirements, for both new processing lines and as upgrades to existing equipment.

“Carpet manufacturing is now based on well-established, tried and trusted processes and it’s rare for new innovations to be introduced into this sector,” says Jason Kent, CEO of the British Textile Machinery Association. “The new Sellers Hybrid Shearing Cylinder can provide a competitive edge for manufacturers which is currently being proven in the field. It’s one of a number of new innovations the company is planning to showcase at next year’s ITMA exhibition in Milan.”

Together with the Johann Jacob Rieter Foundation, the Rieter Group is supporting a new Endowed Professorship for Industrial Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the ZHAW School of Engineering. The Professorship is dedicated to teaching and research in the field of industrial applications of Artificial Intelligence and will be announced later this year.

The new Endowed Professorship will be established at the Center for Artificial Intelligence (CAI) of the ZHAW in Winterthur. It will focus, in particular, on the application of machine learning methods and knowledge-based systems in connection with processes in production and service.

For Rieter, the commitment is related to the implementation of its technology leadership strategy. The contribution of the Johann Jacob Rieter Foundation to sponsoring the Professorship is in line with the Winterthur Cluster Initiative. The increasing digitalization of production processes opens up new perspectives for Winterthur as a business location.

Building Expertise in the Field of Industrial AI
The Endowed Professorship will serve to build expertise in the field of Industrial AI and will oversee a group that will focus on teaching and research pertaining to trustworthy machine learning. This involves, for example, the deployment of artificial intelligence with the aim of optimizing production processes in relation to the use of raw materials and energy, and making expert knowledge more readily available.

In addition to research, for the purpose of knowledge transfer, the new professorship will also be active in teaching, in the bachelor's degree programs in Computer Science and in Data Science, in the Master of Science in Engineering, and in continuing education.

The annual commitment of CHF 300 000 over a period of six years will be financed equally by the Rieter Group and the Johann Jacob Rieter Foundation.
“The use of artificial intelligence in industry is becoming increasingly important, especially with regard to the potential of data for evaluation and control of complex processes. The support of the Johann Jacob Rieter Foundation and the Rieter Group will allow us to further expand AI research in the field of industrial applications,” explains Prof. Dr. Dirk Wilhelm, Director of the ZHAW School of Engineering.

“The use of Artificial Intelligence will make a significant contribution to automation and process optimization, and thereby advance sustainability in the textile industry. This makes it an important element of the leading technology that Rieter offers,” emphasizes Rieter CEO Dr. Norbert Klapper.

“The Smart Machines cluster is growing in importance,” says Thomas Anwander, member of the Foundation Board, and adds: “The Endowed Professorship for Industrial AI at the ZHAW aims to promote Winterthur as a technology location by pooling locally available strengths in mechanical engineering and Industry 4.0.”

HEATHCOAT FABRICS partnered again with BRÜCKNER Textile Technologies and their sales partner ADVANCED DYEING SOLUTIONS to install a finishing line for industrial textiles. HEATHCOAT FABRICS specializes in the production of technical textiles in the fields of texturising, weaving and warp knitting as well as dyeing and finishing. The prroducts are manufactured for use in the automotive, healthcare, defence, and aerospace industries

Mrs. Regina Brückner, CEO and owner of the BRÜCKNER Group stated: "To meet the complex re-quirements of HEATHCOAT is not easy because of the great variety of technical textiles produced. Our line has to finish light as well as heavy articles, so the design, control and the whole line layout have to be flexible, functional and still easy to operate. Fortunately, the team at HEATHCOAT FABRICS is very innovative and open-minded, and together we worked hard to develop the right technology and han-dling. We are very happy that we could convince this customer, whom we appreciate very much, with the productivity of our line and of course with our technological know-how."

The direct gas heated BRÜCKNER POWER-FRAME stenter with its staggered heating source arrangement every half zone provides best available temperature consistency across the length and the width of the stenter. The unit is equipped with a low-lub, horizontally returning combined pin / clip chain and several fabric paths, especially designed for the different fabrics being processed. Together with HEATHCOAT FABRICS technologists, the BRÜCKNER design team developed a special delivery end of the stenter with different edge trimming and slitting possibilities. Depending on the kind of products, the fabrics can be batched on large diameter A-frames, wound on cardboard tubes or plaited into trolleys.

C.L.A.S.S. continues its path of "strategic sustainable synergies" with the aim of sharing its message of responsible innovation, and returns for the second time to Milan Fashion Week with WSM White Sustainable Milano. The objective is to represent a selected and smart path of the production chain related to materials, technologies, production, customization, finishing processes and dyes that are increasingly less impactful on the environment.
 
After debuting last February, “Unveiling the Fashion Backstage”, the educational and narrative journey of WSM | White Sustainable Milano developed in synergy with Giusy Bettoni, founder and CEO of C.L.A.S.S., returns to the VISCONTI HALL and grows in terms of attendance and thematic areas.

The exhibiting copmpanies are: Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei, Maeba International, Linificio e Canapificio Nazionale SB, Edmos, Toyoshima, Iluna Group and YKK.

A new fabric inspection technique for accurately detecting the most subtle of defects on patterned fabrics during high speed production has been developed by BTMA member Shelton Vision, of Leicester, UK.

The patent-pending system has been integrated into the company’s WebSpector platform and validated through factory trials on a purpose-built full scale in-house demonstration system with sophisticated fabric transport capabilities. As a result, a first system has already been ordered by a manufacturer of both plain and patterned fabrics, including camouflage, in Colombia. This follows the successful conclusion of a 21-month Innovate UK project in which techniques for the resolution of complex pattern deformations were developed by machine vision and computer scientists in the company, backed up by the machine vision and robotics department at Loughborough University.

Restrictions
Traditional methods for defect detection rely on human inspection which is ineffective, with detection rates under 65%, while the Shelton WebSpector machine vision system offers a sophisticated platform for automated defect detection of over 97%, but until now has been restricted to plain textiles.

While pattern matching and neural network approaches have previously been tried for patterned textiles, they have failed to provide a practical solution due to the extreme complexity associated with pattern matching on deformable substrates like textiles, as well as the time required to train a neural network for each pattern type.

Challenges
The challenge is that fabrics are not rigid and can be creased or stretched and are also subject to local distortion,” says Shelton Vision Managing Director and CEO Mark Shelton. “As a result, inspection without the technique we have developed, would lead to thousands of false positives. Our sophisticated pattern inspection software techniques ensure a clean image, allowing the detection of faults on fabrics running at speeds of up to a hundred metres a minute.”

The full system consists of:

• A camera and lighting system for optimum image capture at high speed and associated image processing hardware.
• Self-training software utilising statistical analysis to automate the system configuration for new textile products.
• An advanced suite of defect detection algorithms for the detection of all textile defect types.
• An AI-driven defect classification system which learns and automates defect naming in real time, as well as a real time defect grading capability based on client decision rules.
• A system for recording and retrieving complete roll map images for subsequent review and quality control.

The generation of textile roll maps with complete defect data allows for an optimised textile cut plan, improved downstream processing and quality assurance.