From the Sector

• Customer Story
• Technology takes uniform making to the next level
• To meet new challenges in the professional garment market and preserve over a century of savoir-faire, Balsan chose Lectra to modernize its production tools.

The challenge

A Groupe Marck company, Balsan designs and manufactures corporate and ceremonial clothing, tailored and customized uniforms, and personal protective equipment and clothing for the public and private sector which comply with international standards. The biggest challenge is to meet the new expectations of customers who seek increasing levels of customization with ever-shorter time-to-market deadlines.
The professional garment sector is subject to the same pressures as prêt-à-porter, and Balsan’s challenge was to produce customized clothing more quickly using intelligent manufacturing methods.

Results

Balsan was a pilot partner for the Fashion On Demand by Lectra solution. This alliance allowed Groupe Marck to take a new approach, involving not only the use of Fashion On Demand by Lectra’s connected cutter, but upstream software solutions as well, which are configured based on the company’s needs to best match its work methods while updating and accelerating the production process. “Using a measurement chart, Fashion On Demand by Lectra allowed us to generate well-adapted and customized patterns with which to produce our garments. The solution also provides extensive flexibility: we can send the model to the cutter, select the cutting orders and  even group them by fabric, and detect defects and launch re-cuts when necessary. This improves overall performance and delivers estimated productivity gains of 7%”. Stéphane Quiniou, Industrial and Quality Director, Groupe Marck

Lectra's response

Balsan was a pilot partner for the Fashion On Demand by Lectra solution. This alliance allowed Groupe Marck to take a new approach, involving not only the use of Fashion On Demand by Lectra’s connected cutter, but upstream software solutions as well, which are configured based on the company’s needs to best match its work methods while updating and accelerating the production process.

“These products reflect Archroma’s commitment to delivering responsible products and solutions, and underscore our key principle as a company that we continuously challenge the status quo in the deep belief that we can make our industry sustainable,” stated Miquel Vila, Head of Technical Service, Brand & Performance Textile Specialties, EMEA. At the booth, Archroma will highlight in particular the following solutions and innovations:

COLOR
Archroma will be displaying its Printofix TF high-performance pigment preparations for outdoor applications. These are mainly suited for synthetic fabrics that are specifically developed for sunshades, camping tents, umbrellas and industrial applications where other dyes cannot meet the very high requirements of light and weather fastness. Printofix TF pigment preparations are easy to handle and allow the creation of colors that can resist light, weather, ozone or heat.

FIRE PROTECTION
Archroma made a commitment back in 2011 to use only non-halogenated technologies for its global range of Pekoflam products. This range is ideally suited to help customers face today’s ecological challenges and fulfill ever stricter safety regulations, regardless of the application. The company’s non-halogenated portfolio includes select products that are assessed for compliance to labels such as GOTS or OEKO-TEX(1) Standard 100 and that are in line with today’s global requirements for industrial and consumer safety.

REPELLENCY & RELEASE
Archroma's innovative next-generation fluorochemical alternative is PFOA-free* C6 Nuva N supporting the switch away from long-chain fluorotelomer products that may contain PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid). These products provide long-lasting and excellent repellency and release effects, are easy to handle and non-sensitive regarding compatibility with other finishing chemicals. They allow covering the full spectrum of repellency and release needs in technical textile applications.

They also can be combined with finishing specialties, such as Pekoflam fire retardants, Nuva N and Smartrepel release and repellence solutions, and Sanitized(2) antimicrobial products. These products allow for more sustainable, tailor-made coating solutions for applications such as technical textiles, automotive, nonwoven, personal protective equipment and sportswear. With its diverse selection of advanced, sustainable and customizable solutions, Archroma is ideally positioned as the system supplier of choice for textile mills and nonwoven manufacturers. As Miquel Vila puts it: “Visit us at Techtextil to learn more about products that offer cutting-edge functionality while also being safer and more environmentally friendly. It's our nature!”