German ‘Perspective 2025’ focus on 10 promising growth areas
Challenges faced by technical textiles outlined
The textile industry is possibly the first industrial sector in
Germany to take an across-the-board view of the requirements of the
coming decades. Social megatrends and projections of individual sectors
were taken into account to determine the research requirement of the 16
institutes affiliated to the Textile Research Council
(Forschungskuratorium Textil – FKT).
“Ultimately research and industry, who annually initiate more than 100 projects funded by the German government and the EU in collaboration with our research institutes, are now able today to focus on the market needs of tomorrow and beyond”, explains FKT Managing Director Dr. Klaus Jansen speaking to journalists.
The ‘Perspectives 2025’, a project of the future, was presented to an international professional audience for the first time at the TECHTEXTIL press conference. It also appears as a brochure on the Internet at http://www.textilforschung.de/pdfcat/Techtex2025/. It outlines the challenges for technical textiles in terms of 10 areas of growth which also coincide with key issues for the leading trade fair for technical textiles in June next: architecture, clothing, energy, nutrition, health, mobility, production / logistics, living, city of the future and basic topics that arise from demographic changes, scarcity of resources and climate change. Over one year, the journey to the future included workshops and seminars in which more than 80 scientists, business people and students participated, and it resulted in the evaluation of over 250 ideas and potential solutions for the use of technical textiles.
One example: in the sector of medical textiles, in addition to the headlines already made by textile adipose tissue replacement (Hohenstein Institute) or a self-cleaning bronchial stent, FKT considers several application areas to be particularly promising:
Implants: Development of bone, ligament and sinew replacement as nerve fibres based on textile structures; stem cell cultivation on textile substrates for both transplant friendly skin replacement and implants suitable for endoscopic use.
Therapy: Therapeutic textiles provide a controlled release of active pharmaceutical ingredients. This makes targeted dosage possible with sensory assistance inside the body (implants), via the skin and also in surgical dressings.
Health protection: Smart textiles in clothing and flooring for interactive vital signs monitoring and / or signalling (automatic emergency call); antimicrobial textiles to prevent nosocomial infections (hospital bugs).
Monitoring: Sensory based bedding to monitor and diagnose sleep-specific bodily functions such as the regularity of breathing, heart rate and optimisation of sleep cycles in cases of irregularities or snoring.
Exercise therapy: External activation to stimulate movement in cases of rehabilitation measures, gymnastics, strength and fitness training. Selective mobility restriction and joint support ensures correct posture and accelerates the healing process.
Prof. Jansen said the textile industry is “especially innovation friendly” with technical textiles and fibre-based materials already making up more than 50 per cent of sales. Based on a survey by the Centre for European Economic Research in 2010, almost one-fifth (19.3 per cent) of the turnover came from new products. Since the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM) was initiated by the Federal German Ministry of Economics in 2008 investment of Euro 68 million has been made in 570 projects in the field of textile technology research, of which 179 are from research facilities of the textile, clothing and leather industry.
This initiative aimed at supporting the globalized activities of the textile sector businesses in one of the world’s fastest growing and most dynamic economic areas. India is the second largest textile machinery market, with machinery imports amounting to roughly 1.17 billion euros. Among the sectors attracting investments are filtration and geotextiles. The filtration sector in India is growing at an annual rate of 17-18 per cent. For the geotextile sector, on the other hand, India’s rapid rate of economic development has generated high demand for infrastructure such as quality roads, bridges, dams, etc.
Among the major Italian machinery manufacturers who are actively present in the technical textile division are Corino Macchine, Itema, Panter-PTMT, Ramisch Guarneri, ROJ, Rostoni/Errebi, SMIT. These manufacturers presented to India’s business community their latest and most advanced technologies for production of geotextile and filtration products.
The interesting aspect of the New Delhi symposium was the vast untapped growth potential for geotextile and filter manufacturers within the Indian sub-continent. Customers from different parts of India were present mainly to know the latest developments in woven technology for technical textiles that would aid expansion of their business opportunities.
The personal B2B sessions conducted after the presentation which facilitated a pro-active interaction amongst potential entrepreneurs and technology providers were very well appreciated. All the Italian principals were present along with their Indian representatives to interact on future growth prospects.
ACIMIT represents close to 300 Italian manufacturers who supply machines to India. The quality offered by the Italian textile players is evidenced by the high number of Indian textile companies in which Italian machines have their presence. ACIMIT serves as an important bridge or a networking platform for Italian technology providers and Indian industrialists.
AUTEFA
Solutions is a group of three machine manufacturers active in the field
of textile machinery and consumer goods. These are AUTEFA in Friedberg,
the Austrian sister company Fehrer in Linz and the Italian company
F.O.R./OCTIR in Biella.
With its centres located in Friedberg (Germany), Linz (Austria) and Biella (Italy), AUTEFA Solutions is positioned at the heart of Europe. From these locations, machinery and systems are exported to customers around the world. The group also has branches in the US and China.
Over 250 workers are employed at the three AUTEFA Solutions locations in Friedberg, Linz and Biella. The company is expanding and its manufacturing capacities are being extended. Construction of new buildings is planned in Friedberg and Biella. All machines sold are designed and manufactured in Europe.
AUTEFA Solutions stands for innovation and new development in all areas. A team of designers and technology experts have been working together successfully for years and have been supported by a large number of new employees in the last few months. The future of the group is focused on growth and expansion of its three European sites.
AUTEFA Solutions delivers complete lines as well as individual machines for nonwoven manufacturing. The scope of products includes preparation machinery, carding machines, as well as random carding machines, needle looms and crosslappers. It represents companies with a long tradition and a history of years of successful participation in the market.
The Stylus needle loom is equipped with the innovative Variliptic drive system. Purely vertical and elliptic motion sequences are implemented with just one drive by the corresponding offset settings in the two eccentric gears which make up the drive system.
The Variliptic drive system enables high production speeds while also ensuring a gentle needling of the nonwoven fabric. This is particularly important during the first process step, the preneedling. The system optimises the surface of the nonwoven fabric, while also protecting fibres and minimising the needle wear.
Thanks to its modular design, the flexible Stylus needle loom can be used for all applications. The needle bars can be changed quickly so that extended downtimes are avoided.
The i-point simulation program contributes to the improvement of surface properties, tenacity and product characteristics through the computer-based generation of customer-specific or product-specific needle patterns. At the same time, i-point is used for the computerised development of new products. This avoids long series of trials and production downtimes.
The Stylus needle loom represents the next generation of successful Fehrer needle looms. The Stylus is available in machine widths from 2 m to 8.5 m and can be used in all areas of nonwoven production.
The
Airlay Card K 12 DIRECT utilises an aerodynamic principle which results
in three dimensional fibre orientation and total randomisation. Total
fibre randomisation enables isotropic web strength.
The aerodynamic principle results in maximum product quality, economical production and reliability from a single source. The system is suitable for production of top quality webs in a weight range of 80 to 6,000 g/m².
Due to the direct transfer from the chute feed to the Airlay Card without an additional opener, the fibres are gently opened up and formed into the nonwoven fabric.
The Airlay Card K 12 DIRECT is a short and compact machine that offers advantages like reduction of filter size and exhaust air, lower energy consumption, reduced space requirements and gentle fibre treatment.
The flexible Airlay Card K 12 can be used for all fibre types. These are all kinds of man-made fibres, viscose, cotton, cotton blend, jute, flax, hemp, regenerated waste and special fibres.
Weight
accuracy in the bonded lapped web is the most requested quality feature
for a modern nonwoven installation. WebMax, together with the
Crosslapper Topliner, produces a counterweight profile to the ‘Smile’
profile on the layering belt of the Crosslapper during carded web
production.
With the WebMax, the carded web weight is altered at the Crosslapper infeed and, via the layering carriage control, the carded web is deposited on the layering belt in such a way that the lapped web weight is controllably lighter in the edge areas than in the centre areas. This concave weight profile therefore compensates the weight changes resulting from material shrinkage and ensures the highest possible weight evenness in the final product.
By improving the lapped web profile, WebMax also provides a reasonable reduction of material consumption.
The precise co-operation between web infeed and web lapping ensures exact profiling of the carded web with a straight edged layering pattern.
Crosslappers Topliner from AUTEFA Solutions stand out, thanks to their high production speeds and the high quality webs. When the Crosslapper is used in combination with the WebMax control system, a saving of 20 per cent can be made on material. This is achieved through the reduction of fibre usage via weight reduction at the edge areas of the nonwoven fabric.
The ‘Smile’ effect – the increased thickness of the nonwoven fabric at the edge areas – is achieved by means of drafts and an uneven material shrinkage during the bonding of the nonwoven fabric. The WebMax also comes into play here, compressing the carded web and periodically drafting of the web taking into account the Crosslapper width. The precise placement of the drafted zones on the conveyor belt is particularly important as it enables the weight profile to be created in line with the ‘Smile’ effect.
The Injection Card uses the aerodynamic principle to gently treat fibres when opening them, and in parallel, the new carding concept avails itself of some of the advantages of the cotton card and of some of those of the traditional card, with workers and strippers. The carding effect is improved, the recycling of fibres is totally negligible, and the isotropy of the product is increased. All the advantages make the Injection Card the most suitable for high-production Spunlace lines.
The new generation of Injection Card, called Injection Card PLUS, has improved performance and enables easy maintenance and optimised reliability.
All the developments made over the last few years have taken into account the need for highly efficient and powerful drive systems. AUTEFA Solutions has continuously optimised the air control of the individual machines, saving energy through the use of modern engines and a low load on the filter units.
The Vice President and CTO of the Beaulieu International Group, Mr. Guy Verrue, along with the Managing Partner of Indtex International, Mr. Iqbal Siddiqui, recently met the Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development, Mr. Anil Kumar Gupta, to discuss the project.
Mr. Siddiqui said that they received assurance of full co-operation from the State Government and that work on the plant would begin shortly.
The $1.5 billion Beaulieu International Group, a leading global player in floor covering business, is also setting up a plant in China at an investment of Rs. 250 crores.
The UP plant is coming up at Dewa Road near the State capital for which land has already been acquired by the company. It would manufacture extrusion of PP granules into yarn and weaving carpet backings. The other technical textiles to be used in flooring and other material for both the domestic and export markets would also be manufactured.
The product being currently imported would find ready market among carpet weavers and flooring material manufacturers.
In
the ever-changing world of textiles, enabling new applications through
continuous innovation and introduction of new technologies has become a
necessity. This is precisely what A.T.E. will be providing to its
customers with the latest technology in coating & lamination, for
which it has joined hands with LACOM Vertriebs GmbH, Germany.
LACOM manufactures textile coating and lamination machinery. Committed to quality and services for over three decades, it is one of the pioneers in the field.
The range of products being offered are multi purpose-hotmelt laminating and coating machines, combined gravure and multi-roller machines with production of 3 layer Iaminates in one pass.
LACOM’s hot melt laminating and coating machines are used for several textile applications like automotive, garments, sportswear with membrane film, medical, protective clothing, shoes, military clothing, upholstery, nonwovens coated and laminated with films or fabrics, and all kinds of foam and other technical textiles.
The best-in-class products from LACOM are complemented by A.T.E.’s world class product expertise and services to ensure utmost customer satisfaction.
For a number of years the prediction has been for a big growth potential. Now with the increasing importance of energy-related issues, intelligent textiles are breaking away from being niche based and becoming part of our everyday world.
For some time organic photovoltaics have been regarded as an interesting potential, yet the products supplied hitherto were not sufficiently durable and not very efficient. All this is now about to change following new and recent developments. Pigments in textile structures in particular convert light into electrical energy and offer numerous advantages compared to rigid solar cells. They are flexible, breathable and easy to fabricate. The modular systems can be used for autonomous energy supply in textile micro-systems, for example. They are a suitable alternative where rigid solar modules and films cannot be used.
The TEXSOLAR project at the Textile Research Institute Thuringia-Vogtland (TITV) in Greiz has been successful in converting energy directly on modified textiles for the very first time. If this can be done under production conditions, it will be possible to manufacture cost-effective textile sensors that operate autonomously and have long-term durability in addition to highly flexible, electronic components for use in medicine and technology.
The textile pigment-based solar cells are suitable for microsystems with small solar surfaces to supply energy to interactive textile components with an power consumption of up to 100 µW. “Textiles that autonomously convert solar energy into electrical power will make life easier for future generations in many fields,” said Dr. Andreas Neudeck, acting departmental head of research and development at TITV Greiz.
In the years to come we will see therefore the emergence of energy autonomous products that are able to harvest energy from sources in the world around us. In the textile field, in addition to these pigment-based and thin film solar cells, materials with piezo-electric properties are especially suitable for energy harvesting, that is to say the generation of very small amounts of energy. These materials are able to convert deformations into electrical voltage.
At the Fraunhofer Institute for integrated switches (IIS) electrical switches are currently being developed for use with piezo-electric fibres as part of the European PIEZOTEX research project. With their value for intelligent textiles researchers promise numerous potential uses. The development of a PVDF thread should make it possible, for example, to integrate electrical components in textiles that are able to generate their own energy supply through movement, e.g., during sport.
“We are also thinking of textiles that facilitate particular movements or work processes or of concepts that enable autonomous operation through the supply of piezo-electric energy,” explains Dr. Peter Spies, Head of the Energy Harvesting Group at Fraunhofer IIS.
The application of a CNT-based heated coating (CarboeTherm) by FutureCarbon GmbH from Bayreuth shows that textile material innovations can be used in the context of energy generation to produce energy without unessential outage times. The company develops functional coating systems through integration of carbon nanofibres CNT and with the aim of improving the properties of a material.
Carbon nanotubes are a shining example of the new carbon materials. They are a particularly durable configuration of a hexagonal honeycomb structure along a tube, extremely strong with outstanding electrical and thermal conductivity. As additives in polymers they are able therefore to conduct heat and to transform a surface coating into a surface heater.
As a result, when applied to rotor blades of wind turbines, carbon nanotubes can be used in winter for de-icing and to reduce unessential outage times. With their hazard-free low voltage CNT-heated coatings can also be used in the form of surface heaters for motor vehicles, in the underfloor heating systems of motor homes or wet spaces as well as to heat hoses in medical technology.
“By selecting the appropriate bonding agent it is possible to determine the maximum operating temperature of the Carbo-e-Therm system and in this way to tailor the perfect solution to the customer’s particular application,” emphasises Dr. Walter Schütz, Managing Director of FutureCarbon GmbH.
As the industry’s leading global trade fair, Techtextil 2013 (June 11-13) will bring together all product groups and application areas for technical textiles at one central venue. It is where industry, research, developers and trade can find the whole gamut of issues relating to technical textiles and nonwovens in all its disciplines on a globally unique platform for innovation. It takes place every other year. This year there is a special focus on the potential uses of intelligent textiles in the context of energy products.
Texprocess, a leading international trade fair for processing textile and flexible materials, will be held concurrently with Techtextil from June 10 to 13. At Texprocess, manufacturers from all over the world present their high-tech solutions for the apparel industry and textile processing. The spectrum of products and services on show ranges from design, pattern development and cutting, via sewing and joining, to embroidery, textile dressing, finishing and logistics.
The première of Texprocess in 2011 attracted 326 exhibitors and 17,000 trade visitors, 6,500 of whom were from Techtextil.
At
India-ITME 2012 Karl Mayer presented a machinery show of superlatives.
It displayed its prestigious HKS 3-M machine of the 3rd generation and a
FL 20/1 machine, each offering wide production possibilities for sari
fabrics, a Wefttronic RS for technical textiles and the new automatic
sectional warper NOM for warp preparation – all in all a machine range
by means of which the company will surely meet the requirements of the
currently booming Indian market.
“From day one the Karl Mayer booth attracted a lot of visitors. Our stand at the fair was an interesting meeting point for the entire field of business. Here we met both our customers and a lot of potential buyers”, said Marketing Director Tim Wollnik.
No matter whether new-comers or the already active market participants, the visitors had very detailed discussions and the topics of discussion were specific. For example, Martin Küppers, Sales Vice President of the business unit Warp Preparation, said: “Every day we have about 36 partly very specific talks with our customers. During the meetings some of our clients from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan have already placed firm orders.”
The negotiations were mainly focused on direct warping machines, sectional warpers and sizing machines as well as on warp preparation units for denim business.
As for warp knitting machines it is especially Karl Mayer’s offer for
the sari industry which is a complete success: the well-established HKS
3-M machine now operating at max. 2800 rpm and used for embroidery
ground production along with the FL 20/16 machine for one-step
manufacture straight on the warp knitting machine. The combination of
highest productivity and completely new manufacturing possibilities
aroused great interest.
The exhibited HKS 3-M was already sold at the fair. This 3-bar tricot machine was certainly the highlight of the fair and the best-seller. Karl Mayer could also finalize sale of other machines. There was a ready willingness to invest in machines. Thus, the Multibar Raschel machines were also an important topic for deliberation.
Besides, the fact that technical textiles get fresh impetus in India can be confirmed by Axel Wintermeyer. So far, the Sales Vice President of Karl Mayer’s Technical Textiles BU and his team had a lot of manual discussions, particularly on the topic of coating substrates.
In other words, Karl Mayer is much satisfied with its participation in the Mumbai event. The fair was a complete success, added Tim Wollnik.
AQUAFIL
Engineering GmbH of Berlin remains innovative to keep its position to
produce highest polymer quality at lowest conversion cost. The latest
innovation of AQUAFIL Engineering and a new milestone in the polyester
area is the Open Hall Building (OHB) polycondensation plant which fits
into a normal hall and only simply requires some platforms (see
picture). Only a small part needs a normal building structure for DCS,
MCC, control room and laboratory.
Today,
88 per cent of all carpet yarn is made from chemical raw materials,
which are polypropylene, polyamide and polyester. Manufacturing carpet
yarn can be carried out either by using filament yarn or spun yarns, the
latter of which is made from chemical staple fibers – possibly also
produced on Neumag staple fiber machines – and is generally combined
with natural fibers.
Following
the spinning system, the filament bundle – which generally comprises
144 individual filaments and has a total titer of between 1000 and 3000
dtex – is drawn with the help of godets.
In
the case of the backing material, we distinguish between primary and
secondary backing; an additional product group is woven carpet yarns.
Tapes for primary and secondary backing are manufactured on extrusion
systems such as the FB9 filament tape line from Oerlikon Barmag, the
market leader within this product segment.
The optimization of the contact time and the wrapping
angle has a positive impact on the process speed and the energy
consumption. Up to 700 (warp) tapes are simultaneously manufactured
using one single system, and their properties must lie within extremely
narrow tolerance thresholds.
A.T.E.
is a perfect example of a professionally run family owned business.
This has been the biggest strength of this seven-decade-old company. The
various business units are headed by professionals who have a great
sense of ownership and commitment.
Nonwovens are being employed increasingly in vehicles
because of their low weight and low cost. In fact, there are now more
than 40 applications for nonwovens inside cars, equating to over 35
square metres of flat surfaces.
“Ultimately research and industry, who annually initiate more than 100 projects funded by the German government and the EU in collaboration with our research institutes, are now able today to focus on the market needs of tomorrow and beyond”, explains FKT Managing Director Dr. Klaus Jansen speaking to journalists.
The ‘Perspectives 2025’, a project of the future, was presented to an international professional audience for the first time at the TECHTEXTIL press conference. It also appears as a brochure on the Internet at http://www.textilforschung.de/pdfcat/Techtex2025/. It outlines the challenges for technical textiles in terms of 10 areas of growth which also coincide with key issues for the leading trade fair for technical textiles in June next: architecture, clothing, energy, nutrition, health, mobility, production / logistics, living, city of the future and basic topics that arise from demographic changes, scarcity of resources and climate change. Over one year, the journey to the future included workshops and seminars in which more than 80 scientists, business people and students participated, and it resulted in the evaluation of over 250 ideas and potential solutions for the use of technical textiles.
One example: in the sector of medical textiles, in addition to the headlines already made by textile adipose tissue replacement (Hohenstein Institute) or a self-cleaning bronchial stent, FKT considers several application areas to be particularly promising:
Implants: Development of bone, ligament and sinew replacement as nerve fibres based on textile structures; stem cell cultivation on textile substrates for both transplant friendly skin replacement and implants suitable for endoscopic use.
Therapy: Therapeutic textiles provide a controlled release of active pharmaceutical ingredients. This makes targeted dosage possible with sensory assistance inside the body (implants), via the skin and also in surgical dressings.
Health protection: Smart textiles in clothing and flooring for interactive vital signs monitoring and / or signalling (automatic emergency call); antimicrobial textiles to prevent nosocomial infections (hospital bugs).
Monitoring: Sensory based bedding to monitor and diagnose sleep-specific bodily functions such as the regularity of breathing, heart rate and optimisation of sleep cycles in cases of irregularities or snoring.
Exercise therapy: External activation to stimulate movement in cases of rehabilitation measures, gymnastics, strength and fitness training. Selective mobility restriction and joint support ensures correct posture and accelerates the healing process.
Prof. Jansen said the textile industry is “especially innovation friendly” with technical textiles and fibre-based materials already making up more than 50 per cent of sales. Based on a survey by the Centre for European Economic Research in 2010, almost one-fifth (19.3 per cent) of the turnover came from new products. Since the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM) was initiated by the Federal German Ministry of Economics in 2008 investment of Euro 68 million has been made in 570 projects in the field of textile technology research, of which 179 are from research facilities of the textile, clothing and leather industry.
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Symposium on woven technologies for technical textiles well attended
ACIMIT and BCH recently held a technological symposium on “Woven Technologies for Technical Textiles – Special Focus on Filtration & Geotextiles” in New Delhi. The symposium was part of the “Machines Italia in India” program financed by the Ministry of Economic Development and entrusted to Federmacchine, the Federation of Italian Manufacturers of Capital Goods.This initiative aimed at supporting the globalized activities of the textile sector businesses in one of the world’s fastest growing and most dynamic economic areas. India is the second largest textile machinery market, with machinery imports amounting to roughly 1.17 billion euros. Among the sectors attracting investments are filtration and geotextiles. The filtration sector in India is growing at an annual rate of 17-18 per cent. For the geotextile sector, on the other hand, India’s rapid rate of economic development has generated high demand for infrastructure such as quality roads, bridges, dams, etc.
Among the major Italian machinery manufacturers who are actively present in the technical textile division are Corino Macchine, Itema, Panter-PTMT, Ramisch Guarneri, ROJ, Rostoni/Errebi, SMIT. These manufacturers presented to India’s business community their latest and most advanced technologies for production of geotextile and filtration products.
The interesting aspect of the New Delhi symposium was the vast untapped growth potential for geotextile and filter manufacturers within the Indian sub-continent. Customers from different parts of India were present mainly to know the latest developments in woven technology for technical textiles that would aid expansion of their business opportunities.
The personal B2B sessions conducted after the presentation which facilitated a pro-active interaction amongst potential entrepreneurs and technology providers were very well appreciated. All the Italian principals were present along with their Indian representatives to interact on future growth prospects.
ACIMIT represents close to 300 Italian manufacturers who supply machines to India. The quality offered by the Italian textile players is evidenced by the high number of Indian textile companies in which Italian machines have their presence. ACIMIT serves as an important bridge or a networking platform for Italian technology providers and Indian industrialists.
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AUTEFA’s advanced systems for nonwoven manufacturing
AUTEFA
Solutions is a group of three machine manufacturers active in the field
of textile machinery and consumer goods. These are AUTEFA in Friedberg,
the Austrian sister company Fehrer in Linz and the Italian company
F.O.R./OCTIR in Biella.With its centres located in Friedberg (Germany), Linz (Austria) and Biella (Italy), AUTEFA Solutions is positioned at the heart of Europe. From these locations, machinery and systems are exported to customers around the world. The group also has branches in the US and China.
Over 250 workers are employed at the three AUTEFA Solutions locations in Friedberg, Linz and Biella. The company is expanding and its manufacturing capacities are being extended. Construction of new buildings is planned in Friedberg and Biella. All machines sold are designed and manufactured in Europe.
AUTEFA Solutions stands for innovation and new development in all areas. A team of designers and technology experts have been working together successfully for years and have been supported by a large number of new employees in the last few months. The future of the group is focused on growth and expansion of its three European sites.
AUTEFA Solutions delivers complete lines as well as individual machines for nonwoven manufacturing. The scope of products includes preparation machinery, carding machines, as well as random carding machines, needle looms and crosslappers. It represents companies with a long tradition and a history of years of successful participation in the market.
The Stylus needle loom is equipped with the innovative Variliptic drive system. Purely vertical and elliptic motion sequences are implemented with just one drive by the corresponding offset settings in the two eccentric gears which make up the drive system.
The Variliptic drive system enables high production speeds while also ensuring a gentle needling of the nonwoven fabric. This is particularly important during the first process step, the preneedling. The system optimises the surface of the nonwoven fabric, while also protecting fibres and minimising the needle wear.
Thanks to its modular design, the flexible Stylus needle loom can be used for all applications. The needle bars can be changed quickly so that extended downtimes are avoided.
The i-point simulation program contributes to the improvement of surface properties, tenacity and product characteristics through the computer-based generation of customer-specific or product-specific needle patterns. At the same time, i-point is used for the computerised development of new products. This avoids long series of trials and production downtimes.
The Stylus needle loom represents the next generation of successful Fehrer needle looms. The Stylus is available in machine widths from 2 m to 8.5 m and can be used in all areas of nonwoven production.
Airlay Card K 12 DIRECT
The
Airlay Card K 12 DIRECT utilises an aerodynamic principle which results
in three dimensional fibre orientation and total randomisation. Total
fibre randomisation enables isotropic web strength.The aerodynamic principle results in maximum product quality, economical production and reliability from a single source. The system is suitable for production of top quality webs in a weight range of 80 to 6,000 g/m².
Due to the direct transfer from the chute feed to the Airlay Card without an additional opener, the fibres are gently opened up and formed into the nonwoven fabric.
The Airlay Card K 12 DIRECT is a short and compact machine that offers advantages like reduction of filter size and exhaust air, lower energy consumption, reduced space requirements and gentle fibre treatment.
The flexible Airlay Card K 12 can be used for all fibre types. These are all kinds of man-made fibres, viscose, cotton, cotton blend, jute, flax, hemp, regenerated waste and special fibres.
WebMax
With the WebMax, the carded web weight is altered at the Crosslapper infeed and, via the layering carriage control, the carded web is deposited on the layering belt in such a way that the lapped web weight is controllably lighter in the edge areas than in the centre areas. This concave weight profile therefore compensates the weight changes resulting from material shrinkage and ensures the highest possible weight evenness in the final product.
By improving the lapped web profile, WebMax also provides a reasonable reduction of material consumption.
The precise co-operation between web infeed and web lapping ensures exact profiling of the carded web with a straight edged layering pattern.
Crosslappers Topliner from AUTEFA Solutions stand out, thanks to their high production speeds and the high quality webs. When the Crosslapper is used in combination with the WebMax control system, a saving of 20 per cent can be made on material. This is achieved through the reduction of fibre usage via weight reduction at the edge areas of the nonwoven fabric.
The ‘Smile’ effect – the increased thickness of the nonwoven fabric at the edge areas – is achieved by means of drafts and an uneven material shrinkage during the bonding of the nonwoven fabric. The WebMax also comes into play here, compressing the carded web and periodically drafting of the web taking into account the Crosslapper width. The precise placement of the drafted zones on the conveyor belt is particularly important as it enables the weight profile to be created in line with the ‘Smile’ effect.
The Injection Card uses the aerodynamic principle to gently treat fibres when opening them, and in parallel, the new carding concept avails itself of some of the advantages of the cotton card and of some of those of the traditional card, with workers and strippers. The carding effect is improved, the recycling of fibres is totally negligible, and the isotropy of the product is increased. All the advantages make the Injection Card the most suitable for high-production Spunlace lines.
The new generation of Injection Card, called Injection Card PLUS, has improved performance and enables easy maintenance and optimised reliability.
All the developments made over the last few years have taken into account the need for highly efficient and powerful drive systems. AUTEFA Solutions has continuously optimised the air control of the individual machines, saving energy through the use of modern engines and a low load on the filter units.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Beaulieu-Indtex JV coming up in UP
The Belgium-based Beaulieu International Group is setting up a Rs. 100-crore technical textile plant in Uttar Pradesh. The project entailing an investment of Rs. 100 crores would be through a joint venture with its Indian partner, the Lucknow-based Indtex International. Beaulieu would have majority stake in the project.The Vice President and CTO of the Beaulieu International Group, Mr. Guy Verrue, along with the Managing Partner of Indtex International, Mr. Iqbal Siddiqui, recently met the Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development, Mr. Anil Kumar Gupta, to discuss the project.
Mr. Siddiqui said that they received assurance of full co-operation from the State Government and that work on the plant would begin shortly.
The $1.5 billion Beaulieu International Group, a leading global player in floor covering business, is also setting up a plant in China at an investment of Rs. 250 crores.
The UP plant is coming up at Dewa Road near the State capital for which land has already been acquired by the company. It would manufacture extrusion of PP granules into yarn and weaving carpet backings. The other technical textiles to be used in flooring and other material for both the domestic and export markets would also be manufactured.
The product being currently imported would find ready market among carpet weavers and flooring material manufacturers.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
A.T.E. ties up with LACOM for coating, lamination solutions
In
the ever-changing world of textiles, enabling new applications through
continuous innovation and introduction of new technologies has become a
necessity. This is precisely what A.T.E. will be providing to its
customers with the latest technology in coating & lamination, for
which it has joined hands with LACOM Vertriebs GmbH, Germany.LACOM manufactures textile coating and lamination machinery. Committed to quality and services for over three decades, it is one of the pioneers in the field.
The range of products being offered are multi purpose-hotmelt laminating and coating machines, combined gravure and multi-roller machines with production of 3 layer Iaminates in one pass.
LACOM’s hot melt laminating and coating machines are used for several textile applications like automotive, garments, sportswear with membrane film, medical, protective clothing, shoes, military clothing, upholstery, nonwovens coated and laminated with films or fabrics, and all kinds of foam and other technical textiles.
The best-in-class products from LACOM are complemented by A.T.E.’s world class product expertise and services to ensure utmost customer satisfaction.
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Growing role of smart textiles in energy-saving applications
Smart textiles are generally used as energy saving fabric in tent roofs, as threads with piezo energy properties to generate very small amounts of energy or as heat conducting fibres in heated coatings for wind turbine rotor blades. Today the so-called intelligent or smart textiles have gone beyond their original purpose as an envelope and are increasingly incorporating additional energy and heat functions so as to improve the sustainability of the products used.For a number of years the prediction has been for a big growth potential. Now with the increasing importance of energy-related issues, intelligent textiles are breaking away from being niche based and becoming part of our everyday world.
For some time organic photovoltaics have been regarded as an interesting potential, yet the products supplied hitherto were not sufficiently durable and not very efficient. All this is now about to change following new and recent developments. Pigments in textile structures in particular convert light into electrical energy and offer numerous advantages compared to rigid solar cells. They are flexible, breathable and easy to fabricate. The modular systems can be used for autonomous energy supply in textile micro-systems, for example. They are a suitable alternative where rigid solar modules and films cannot be used.
The TEXSOLAR project at the Textile Research Institute Thuringia-Vogtland (TITV) in Greiz has been successful in converting energy directly on modified textiles for the very first time. If this can be done under production conditions, it will be possible to manufacture cost-effective textile sensors that operate autonomously and have long-term durability in addition to highly flexible, electronic components for use in medicine and technology.
The textile pigment-based solar cells are suitable for microsystems with small solar surfaces to supply energy to interactive textile components with an power consumption of up to 100 µW. “Textiles that autonomously convert solar energy into electrical power will make life easier for future generations in many fields,” said Dr. Andreas Neudeck, acting departmental head of research and development at TITV Greiz.
In the years to come we will see therefore the emergence of energy autonomous products that are able to harvest energy from sources in the world around us. In the textile field, in addition to these pigment-based and thin film solar cells, materials with piezo-electric properties are especially suitable for energy harvesting, that is to say the generation of very small amounts of energy. These materials are able to convert deformations into electrical voltage.
At the Fraunhofer Institute for integrated switches (IIS) electrical switches are currently being developed for use with piezo-electric fibres as part of the European PIEZOTEX research project. With their value for intelligent textiles researchers promise numerous potential uses. The development of a PVDF thread should make it possible, for example, to integrate electrical components in textiles that are able to generate their own energy supply through movement, e.g., during sport.
“We are also thinking of textiles that facilitate particular movements or work processes or of concepts that enable autonomous operation through the supply of piezo-electric energy,” explains Dr. Peter Spies, Head of the Energy Harvesting Group at Fraunhofer IIS.
The application of a CNT-based heated coating (CarboeTherm) by FutureCarbon GmbH from Bayreuth shows that textile material innovations can be used in the context of energy generation to produce energy without unessential outage times. The company develops functional coating systems through integration of carbon nanofibres CNT and with the aim of improving the properties of a material.
Carbon nanotubes are a shining example of the new carbon materials. They are a particularly durable configuration of a hexagonal honeycomb structure along a tube, extremely strong with outstanding electrical and thermal conductivity. As additives in polymers they are able therefore to conduct heat and to transform a surface coating into a surface heater.
As a result, when applied to rotor blades of wind turbines, carbon nanotubes can be used in winter for de-icing and to reduce unessential outage times. With their hazard-free low voltage CNT-heated coatings can also be used in the form of surface heaters for motor vehicles, in the underfloor heating systems of motor homes or wet spaces as well as to heat hoses in medical technology.
“By selecting the appropriate bonding agent it is possible to determine the maximum operating temperature of the Carbo-e-Therm system and in this way to tailor the perfect solution to the customer’s particular application,” emphasises Dr. Walter Schütz, Managing Director of FutureCarbon GmbH.
As the industry’s leading global trade fair, Techtextil 2013 (June 11-13) will bring together all product groups and application areas for technical textiles at one central venue. It is where industry, research, developers and trade can find the whole gamut of issues relating to technical textiles and nonwovens in all its disciplines on a globally unique platform for innovation. It takes place every other year. This year there is a special focus on the potential uses of intelligent textiles in the context of energy products.
Texprocess, a leading international trade fair for processing textile and flexible materials, will be held concurrently with Techtextil from June 10 to 13. At Texprocess, manufacturers from all over the world present their high-tech solutions for the apparel industry and textile processing. The spectrum of products and services on show ranges from design, pattern development and cutting, via sewing and joining, to embroidery, textile dressing, finishing and logistics.
The première of Texprocess in 2011 attracted 326 exhibitors and 17,000 trade visitors, 6,500 of whom were from Techtextil.
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Karl Mayer participation, a complete success
“From day one the Karl Mayer booth attracted a lot of visitors. Our stand at the fair was an interesting meeting point for the entire field of business. Here we met both our customers and a lot of potential buyers”, said Marketing Director Tim Wollnik.
No matter whether new-comers or the already active market participants, the visitors had very detailed discussions and the topics of discussion were specific. For example, Martin Küppers, Sales Vice President of the business unit Warp Preparation, said: “Every day we have about 36 partly very specific talks with our customers. During the meetings some of our clients from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan have already placed firm orders.”
The negotiations were mainly focused on direct warping machines, sectional warpers and sizing machines as well as on warp preparation units for denim business.
The exhibited HKS 3-M was already sold at the fair. This 3-bar tricot machine was certainly the highlight of the fair and the best-seller. Karl Mayer could also finalize sale of other machines. There was a ready willingness to invest in machines. Thus, the Multibar Raschel machines were also an important topic for deliberation.
Besides, the fact that technical textiles get fresh impetus in India can be confirmed by Axel Wintermeyer. So far, the Sales Vice President of Karl Mayer’s Technical Textiles BU and his team had a lot of manual discussions, particularly on the topic of coating substrates.
In other words, Karl Mayer is much satisfied with its participation in the Mumbai event. The fair was a complete success, added Tim Wollnik.
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AQUAFIL “OHB” plants a new milestone in polycondensation
AQUAFIL
Engineering GmbH of Berlin remains innovative to keep its position to
produce highest polymer quality at lowest conversion cost. The latest
innovation of AQUAFIL Engineering and a new milestone in the polyester
area is the Open Hall Building (OHB) polycondensation plant which fits
into a normal hall and only simply requires some platforms (see
picture). Only a small part needs a normal building structure for DCS,
MCC, control room and laboratory.
The building height of an AQUAFIL OHB bottle plant is 50
per cent less compared to other modern PET bottle plants (conventional
CP+SSP or Melt Phase CP). This way the building and erection cost and
time are reduced dramatically. The new bottle plant can produce
viscosities up to 0.85 IV without conventional SSP.
In general the OHB plant technology achieves the lowest
electrical consumption worldwide compared to other plants. The first
line of the OHB plant is under erection in the US.
AQUAFIL Engineering has long experience in building and
designing continuous and batch polycondensation plants for PET polymers
for textile, film and bottle grades. The OHB design is available for
continuous and batch plants of all capacities.
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Oerlikon Neumag’s advanced yarn systems for carpet making
By Christina Mallin / Jens Weinhold
Oerlikon Neumag is the market leader for BCF carpet yarn
systems so essential for modern carpet manufacturing. However, the fact
that the backing of wall-to-wall carpeting and rugs is manufactured
within the Oerlikon Manmade Fibers Business Unit will undoubtedly come
as a surprise to most carpet producers: carpet backing is manufactured
using Oerlikon Barmag extrusion systems.
Carpets for residential, contract and automotive
applications mostly comprise a backing material, a tufted or woven pile
material and a binder coating. The pile material is manufactured using
BCF systems from Oerlikon Neumag. Extrusion systems from the
Chemnitz-based subsidiary of Oerlikon Barmag take care of the backing
fabric along with the pile material for products used in various sports,
such as monofilaments or tapes used to manufacture artificial turf.
Bulked continuous filament
Today,
88 per cent of all carpet yarn is made from chemical raw materials,
which are polypropylene, polyamide and polyester. Manufacturing carpet
yarn can be carried out either by using filament yarn or spun yarns, the
latter of which is made from chemical staple fibers – possibly also
produced on Neumag staple fiber machines – and is generally combined
with natural fibers.
Spinning filament yarn has firmly established itself as
the preferred method for manufacturing carpet yarn: it is less expensive
to manufacture, the carpet is lower in maintenance, robust and more
hypoallergenic. To produce filament yarn, the polymer is melted in an
extruder and pressed through spinnerets. In the case of spun-dyed yarn,
dye is added prior to extrusion using a metering unit.
Following
the spinning system, the filament bundle – which generally comprises
144 individual filaments and has a total titer of between 1000 and 3000
dtex – is drawn with the help of godets.
This creates a strong and extremely thin filament
material. In the subsequent process step, the yarn is textured and
cooled on a cooling drum. In this way, it retains the properties
required to further process it into carpeting – volume and bulkiness –
and it is transformed from smooth filament yarn into textured endless
yarn (bulked continuous yarn – BCF).
Subsequently, the yarns are knotted using a tangle unit
to retain the textured multifilament for downstream processes and then
wound. The winding speed, which is dependent on the polymer and the
titer, is 3,000 meters per minute for a standard polypropylene yarn.
The BCF carpet yarn systems in Oerlikon Neumag’s product
portfolio are the S5, the S3, the Sytec One and the S+. Each of them is
adapted to the specific requirements of various customers. The S5, S3
and S+ are three-end systems, while the single-end Sytec One is
particularly flexible.
Carpet backing
In
the case of the backing material, we distinguish between primary and
secondary backing; an additional product group is woven carpet yarns.
Tapes for primary and secondary backing are manufactured on extrusion
systems such as the FB9 filament tape line from Oerlikon Barmag, the
market leader within this product segment.
The primary backing is the woven surface into which the
carpet fibers are needled during tufting. It comprises the warp (approx.
0.9 mm wide) and weft (approx. 2.5 mm wide).
The secondary backing is the textile surface, which is
laminated on the reverse to provide the carpet with the necessary
stability. For this, the warp tapes are combined with an air-textured
multifilament weft to lend the final product its textile touch.
What is important for the backing material during
tufting is a low degree of tape shrinkage and consistent elongation.
These properties are achieved through extending the contact time between
the tapes and the heated godets.
The optimization of the contact time and the wrapping
angle has a positive impact on the process speed and the energy
consumption. Up to 700 (warp) tapes are simultaneously manufactured
using one single system, and their properties must lie within extremely
narrow tolerance thresholds.
The
tapes are first fibrillated by means of 30 to 40 needles per centimeter
to ensure that the tufting needles find a path through the tapes and
are then wound into packages.
The backing fabric is manufactured from the warp and
weft during a further interim step for the warp tapes, where four- or
five-meter-wide loom beams are created in the beam plant.
The traditional jute used to make the backing for woven
carpets is reproducibly replicated using polypropylene tapes comprising a
combination of the lowest rate of shrinkage and lower elongation.
Packages manufactured with flat, fibrillated tapes using the extrusion
system are subsequently transformed into round, textile filaments with
the help of a twisting machine such as the DD2000, for example. It is
later introduced directly to the double carpet weaving machine, as this
process does not use a backing fabric as in the case of tufting.
The carpet backing material of choice is generally
polypropylene. However, there is an increasing focus on substituting
this with polyester. Polyester has outstanding properties in terms of
thermal stability and dimensional stability under load. Furthermore,
polyester excels both with its currently attractive price compared to
polypropylene and with its potential recycling capacity. In this age of
intensive sustainability discussion, this is a factor very much worthy
of consideration.
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A. T. E. – Fiber to Garmenting
A.T.E., a one-stop shop for entire machinery range
A.T.E.
is a perfect example of a professionally run family owned business.
This has been the biggest strength of this seven-decade-old company. The
various business units are headed by professionals who have a great
sense of ownership and commitment.
Much of A.T.E’s success in the last few decades, both in
the Indian domestic and export markets, can be attributed to the role
of Mr. Gurudas V. Aras as the Director of the Textile Engineering Group.
The individual business heads under the dynamic leadership of Mr. Aras
have ensured that A.T.E. and its principals are the most preferred
source for machineries and components for Indian customers.
THE TEXTILE MAGAZINE: How is business at A.T.E. – Textile Engineering Group (TEG)?
G.V. ARAS: The year 2011-12 was a mixed
one. Overall A.T.E. could do quite well in spite of the turmoil in the
textile industry due to cotton and yarn price volatility during the
year, thanks to the robust order book carried from the pre-turmoil
period. Some segments like spinning and fabric forming did very well
while processing was somewhat subdued due to lack of investments. Warp
knitting business saw a lot of investments from the Surat region.
The business in 2012-13 so far is slow in certain
segments like spinning, circular knitting and garments. However it is
quite encouraging in the areas of weaving preparation, warp knitting and
processing. The accessories business, in the spinning and processing
areas, have been quite steady.
TM: What were the significant developments in TEG during recent times?
ARAS: During the last year we started
new business divisions in TEG, namely, garment machinery, processing
accessories, synthetic machinery and carpet machinery. All these new
divisions did very well except synthetic machinery wherein we focused on
consolidation with addition of a new principal for POY/FDY lines. In
synthetic machinery, the business will start from the new year. Garment
machinery and carpet machinery laid very strong foundation for the
business to grow. The most important development of the year was
acquisition of SKF spinning components business and the successful
launch of the ‘TeraSpin’ brand. During the year, we also launched our
quarterly E-magazine ‘CommunnicATE’, which received tremendous response
from customers.
In the current year, we will mainly focus on
consolidation of the new business areas as well as new agencies. The
only addition this year has been of Lacom from Germany for coating and
laminating machinery, as we see good potential for this area of value
addition across all the substrates.
TM: Within TEG, which are the key product
segments that are witnessing significant growth in the last few years?
How do you see future growth potential in each of these segments?
ARAS: In the last few years spinning,
warp knitting and weaving preparation businesses have been growing
significantly. However for the last few months, the pace of growth in
spinning has slowed down considerably whereas warp preparation and warp
knitting businesses are still having quite a robust growth. Nonwovens
business is steady as not much investments are forthcoming. The carpet
segment is developing gradually, and we, being the only complete
solution provider, expect to benefit from the forthcoming investments.
Processing business has been steady but not much investments are
forthcoming in spite of the fact that under the Five-Year Plan, at least
300 new process houses are expected to be set up and nearly 200 to be
modernized. We expect that the investments in both weaving and
processing will have to gradually increase to match the quality yarn
production of the country.
TM: The acquisition of SKF’s spinning components
business is a big step forward for A.T.E. What is the vision you’ve set
for TeraSpin. Do you plan to introduce more components under the
TeraSpin brand, apart from those acquired from SKF?
ARAS: The market for quality spinning
components is huge across the world and the acquisition of SKF India’s
textile component business has laid the foundation for our global
footprint. The new brand TeraSpin launched for drafting system, spindle
and top rollers has received tremendous response not only in India but
also from Germany, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Turkey with orders pouring
in. We will be focusing on the quality and performance of TeraSpin
spinning components across the world in order to lay a very strong
foundation for any future expansion.
Our state-of-the-art new factory of TeraSpin has already
started commercial production, and we look forward to strong growth in
business in the years to come for this new business line.
TM: Is A.T.E. looking at more such acquisitions in the future. Is there any fresh plan to enhance manufacturing competence?
ARAS: For any agency house, the agency
business model is quite fragile and therefore diversifying into own
manufacturing is always the best option to de-risk your business. We are
at the moment fully busy and focusing on consolidation of the SKF
components division acquisition and have no plans for any acquisition in
the near future.
TM:
There is a lot of expectation in the growth opportunity in Technical
Textiles. What are the solutions offered by A.T.E. in this segment and
how do you see future growth opportunity in this segment?
ARAS: A.T.E. is the only organisation
in India which can offer all the possible solutions in ‘Technical
Textiles’. We can offer technical textile solutions for making different
products through weaving, warp knitting, non-wovens (all verticals like
spun lace, spun bond, needle punch, chemical bonding and thermo bonding
and melt-blown, etc.). We can also offer complete solution in
finishing/coating, calendaring of the technical textiles as well as
final making up, inspection and packing machines as well. We represent
many leading European companies like Truetzschler Nonwovens Group, Karl
Mayer, Monforts, Ramisch Guarneri and Monti Mac who are world leaders in
technical textiles.
In fact, A.T.E. has been operating since 1994 in the
field of technical textiles, although it has come into prominence in
India over the last few years only. Within A.T.E., we have tremendous
expertise and domain knowledge in this field. We also represent an
Italian company ORV manufacturing SPA, which has long experience of
putting up ‘technical textile ‘plants across the world and gives
engineering consultancy as well as takes complete turnkey responsibility
to set up a technical textile plant.
TM: What percentage of the turnover comes from TEG and what are the long-term plans for the group and for TEG?
ARAS: Over the last few years, the
A.T.E. Group has diversified into a lot of futuristic businesses like
water/waste water management, comfort conditioning and remote
monitoring, etc. For most of these businesses, textile sector is one of
the major user segments. Some of the businesses started are through
acquisition of running companies like in waste water and comfort
conditioning. Since all these new businesses are in a consolidation
stage, the textile engineering group is still the backbone of the
organisation with nearly 80 per cent of the contribution to the group
turnover.
TM: A.T.E is also spreading its wings to markets
like Bangladesh and Indonesia. How is the business growth in these
markets and do you plan to expand to other neighboring markets as well?
ARAS: We stepped outside India in
October 2005 by establishing our own company in Bangladesh, namely,
A.T.E. Technologies (Bangladesh) Pvt. Ltd. Since we have been operating
in this promising market for more than 20 years through local agents, we
knew that market quite well and decided to take a shot on our own in
view of the tremendous growth prospects of that market. Our decision has
come right, if the business growth we had in Bangladesh over the last
six years is considered. We represent many reputed European and Indian
machinery makers like Zimmer, Ramisch Guarneri, Mimaki, Testa, Salvade,
Eliar, Pilotelli, Oerlikon Saurer (Volkmann) from Europe and ZTS, Elgi,
Mag, Skaat from India.
Similarly we have strengthened our position in
Indonesian market, although through agents and also by posting our own
person in that market for more than a year. Indonesia is another
promising market for us, and with the TeraSpin brand launch through
recently held ‘Bandungtex’ exhibition, our stakes are quite high in that
market.
TM: Being the head of A.T.E.’s TEG business,
what is the vision and mission that you have set for the division? What
is the target for the TEG business by 2015 or 2020?
ARAS: We have been successful in
driving growth of the ‘textile engineering group’ as per our strategic
business plan outlined in 2008. Through that we have filled in most of
the product gaps as well as entered into new business segments like
garment machinery, synthetic machinery, carpet making machinery,
processing accessories etc. This was done with a clear vision of
offering ‘Single window solution’ to the Indian customers. We also
acquired few businesses/manufacturing ventures keeping the same
objective in mind.
Today, I can proudly say that with proper strategies in
place and smart execution of the same, we could make A.T.E. the only
company in textile machinery and accessories field which operates right
across the entire textile value chain from ‘Ginning to Garmenting’. This
does not only confine to spinning, weaving, knitting, processing but
also covers utilities like air engineering, laboratory equipment,
material handling and effluent treatment plants.
Also we are the only domain experts who can offer all
possible technical solutions for equipment in ‘technical textiles’. At
A.T.E., after-sales service is very important and is part of our
mission. We have strengthened our service offerings, which cover
erection, commissioning, trouble shooting, annual maintenance contracts,
machinery audits as well as ‘technological services’.
Our mission is to ‘partner with the customer’ and become
a catalyst in the growth of his business. With this objective in mind,
our sales, service and technology teams are fully geared up alongside
the strong support from our principals who carry many years of expertise
with them.
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Asia emerging leader in Nonwovens fabric production
Asia will account for over half of global
nonwoven fabric production by 2020, according to a report from Textiles
Intelligence. Between 2001 and 2011, production more or less trebled. As
a result, Asia accounted for over 40 per cent of global nonwoven fabric
production in 2011. During the year, nonwoven fabric production in Asia
increased by 7.4 per cent to 3.1 million tons after rising by 10 per
cent in 2010 and 13.1 per cent in 2009.
These strong growth rates reflect rising usage of
nonwovens in Asia as countries in the region continue to industrialise.
Furthermore, developments and innovations in the field of nonwovens are
leading to the opening up of new applications for nonwovens.
Among the major nonwoven fabric producing countries in
Asia, China accounted for about two-thirds, or 2.1 million tons, of
total production in 2011 in the region and thus emerged the largest
producing country by far. Furthermore, its share was up sharply compared
with 2001, reflecting much faster growth in Chinese production during
the 10-year period than elsewhere in Asia. Indeed, output in China
increased almost five-fold over the period from just 417,000 tons at the
start.
The most important category of nonwoven fabrics produced
in Asia in terms of production process in 2011 was, by far, that of
spunbonded and meltblown nonwoven fabrics with a 44.2 per cent share.
However, the fastest growing category of nonwoven fabrics was that of
spunlaced nonwoven fabrics with an average increase of 20 per cent per
annum between 2008 and 2011 and a rise of 21.8 per cent in 2011 alone.
Many analysts have predicted unlimited growth in the use
of nonwoven materials in Asia in the coming years in several end use
markets, including medical and healthcare, hygiene, filtration,
agriculture and geotextiles, among others. Furthermore, China and India,
which together account for over a third of the world population, are
set to become the largest potential markets for such products.
Although economic growth in Asia has been revised
downwards recently, it is still expected to be much faster than in
Western economies. Moreover, sales of nonwoven products in Asia are
expected to grow at an even faster pace as strong economic growth and
rising incomes per head in the region have resulted in a rapid increase
in the use of nonwovens products.
However, if Asia’s nonwoven fabric producers are to
fulfil their potential, they will have to invest in the most advanced
technology and production equipment available and to use higher quality
man-made fibres and functional fibres.
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Scope to widen use of textiles in automotive industry
The average weight of textile materials in a
mid-size car has increased from 20 kg in 2000 to 26 kg today, and by
2020 it is expected to reach 35 kg. The increase stems from a rise in
demand for greater comfort and safety and efforts aimed at reducing the
weight of a vehicle in order to lower fuel consumption and CO2
emissions.
In terms of fabric type, it has been predicted that
woven fabrics and knitted fabrics will continue to account for a
predominant share of the global market for automotive textiles. This
prediction holds true despite a rise in the use of nonwovens and an
increase in the penetration of composites.
Nonwovens are being employed increasingly in vehicles
because of their low weight and low cost. In fact, there are now more
than 40 applications for nonwovens inside cars, equating to over 35
square metres of flat surfaces.
Furthermore, the use of recycled materials in nonwovens
for automotive applications is increasing. A growing proportion of
needle-punched nonwovens for automotive applications, for example, is
being manufactured from recycled polyester derived from plastic bottles.
There has also been an increase in the use of natural fibre nonwovens
in vehicles. In many applications, natural fibre nonwovens are used as
the substrate in composite parts.
In the future, there will be significant growth in the
market for passive safety devices that include airbags and seat belts as
a result of new US legislation which will make the fitting of
side-impact airbags mandatory on all vehicles in 2013. The automotive
safety market has grown faster than the automotive market as a whole for
many years, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
However, there are a number of other areas in the
automotive industry where the use of textiles is expected to expand or
new applications for textiles are expected to be found in the years
ahead.
In particular, there will be growing opportunities for
using nonwovens and other textiles in applications such as battery
separators and polyurethane foam replacement, as well as in new heating
and lighting materials and acoustic insulation components in the
interiors of vehicles. In addition, nonwoven materials are now being
employed in the exteriors of vehicles, especially as undershields and
outer wheel arch liners.
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Indo Rama Synthetics setting up PSF project in TN
Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Ltd. has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu Government on November 5 for setting up a petrochemical project for manufacturing purified terephthalic acid (PTA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin and polyester staple fiber (PSF).
India’s largest dedicated polyester manufacturer, the
company registered sales for Q2 2012-13 at Rs. 734.50 crores as against
Rs. 771.71 crores in Q2 of the previous year. Sales have been marginally
lower due to weak export demand on account of disturbances in the
European and Middle-East markets. The company recorded profit after tax
at Rs. 103.59 crores in the quarter (Rs. 22.84 crores). It managed to
maintain the margins at the levels seen in Q2 of the previous year.
Repayment of loans brought down the finance costs
substantially as compared to previous quarters. The profitability in the
quarter was boosted, primarily by strengthening of the rupee and
reversal of mark to market losses incurred in the previous quarter as
the rupee moved up from Rs. 55.62 to Rs. 52.86 a dollar.
Overall, in H1 2012-13, the company delivered a net
sales performance of Rs. 1,488.63 crores, a modest increase of 6.9 per
cent over Rs. 1,392.36 crores in H1 of the previous year, despite a
lack-lustre market. Profit after tax jumped to Rs. 77.49 crores, an
increase of 171 per cent, from Rs. 28.60 crores.
With polyester prices bottoming out in the quarter and
the upward movement in cotton prices, the company expects to see
improvement in demand in Q3 FY 2012-13. The current stability and
strengthening of the rupee, if sustained, will have a positive impact on
the margins.
The company successfully completed some key margin
improvement projects during the quarter. The project to add 11 mw of
power to utilize the spare boiler capacity for captive consumption has
been successfully commissioned. It has also successfully expanded its
production capacity for the value-added draw texturized yarn (DTY) from
the earlier 64,800 tonnes to 98,145 tonnes with the installation of 14
new machines. All the machines were commissioned by the end of this
quarter.
As a diversification strategy into the renewable energy
business, Indo Rama Synthetics has, through its stepdown subsidiary,
Indo Rama Renewables (Jath) Ltd., has entered into a binding contract
for setting up a 30 MW wind turbine project using Gamesa G-97 turbine in
Maharashtra. The project with an estimated cost of Rs. 225 crores is
expected to commence commercial operations by March 2013.
Commenting on the results, Mr. O.P. Lohia, Chairman and
Managing Director, Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Ltd., said: “The company
has demonstrated its resilience in these challenging economic times.
The successful completion of our cost improvement initiatives will
further add to our competitiveness. With the polyester prices bottoming
out and the rupee stabilizing, we expect the sentiments and performance
to only improve from hereon”.
Indo Rama Synthetics is India’s largest dedicated
polyester manufacturer with an integrated manufacturing complex at
Butibori near Nagpur having a capacity of 6,10,050 tonnes per annum of
polyester staple fibre, filament yarn, draw texturized yarn, fully drawn
yarn and textile grade chips.
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Karl Mayer’s select India-specific machinery for display at IT ME
Karl Mayer will be represented at India
ITME 2012 with a highly-qualified team on a stand with a surface of 504
m² exhibiting four machines which are exactly adapted to the
requirements of the Indian textile manufacturers. As far as the
high-performance tricot machines are concerned, the new HKS 3-M will be
exhibited with its working width of 210” and gauge E 28. It is expected
to produce a marquisette quality as embroidery ground, e.g., for home
textiles. The presentation of Fascination Lace FL 20/16 will certainly
be considered a highlight of the fair. The versatile lace Raschel
machine will be on display with its working width of 132” and gauge E
28.
The innovations Karl Mayer is keeping
available in the field of technical textiles for the Indian textile
sector will be shown by the new Wefttronic RS. In Mumbai, the efficient
Raschel machine with magazine weft insertion will produce a light and
stable advertising medium out of a thin material with complete yarn
threading-in catching the trend of the time in India.
In order to demonstrate its competence
in the production of warp preparation units, the Karl Mayer Group will
exhibit at India ITME its latest sectional warping machine NOM.
Furthermore, a parallel creel and the dynamic yarn tensioner ISOTENSE
will also be on display.
With these exhibits, Karl Mayer offers
machine technology featuring a clear market adaptation as well as a
degree of innovation and thus guaranteeing that a visit of the worldwide
leader is nearly an obligation among Indian textile manufacturers.
Apart from the exhibits, the technical experts will make sure again at
India-ITMA that the Karl Mayer stand will be considered a favoured
meeting point for the entire industry and business.
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Jindal Group’s growing presence in technical textiles
During 2011-12 Jindal Cotex achieved
total revenue of Rs. 274.50 crores against Rs. 271.35 crores in the
previous year. Jindal Medicot Ltd., the 100 per cent subsidiary of
Jindal Cotex, has set up its technical textile project at Thathal
village in Una district of Himachal Pradesh for manufacturing products
like cotton crepe bandage, absorbent cotton, cotton balls, pads, dental
rolls, etc. The company started commercial production during the year
and earned revenue from operations and trading sales of Rs. 4,711.22
lakhs.
Jindal Specialty Textiles Ltd., another
100 per cent subsidiary of the company manufacturing products like
frontlit banner, fabric, general tarapuling, trucksiders, etc., has set
up its project at Thathal. The company started partial production during
the year and earned revenue from operations and trading sales of Rs.
1,497.51 lakhs.
Himachal Textile Park Ltd., yet another
subsidiary of Jindal Cotex, has set up its Textile Park in Himachal
Pradesh to provide land and necessary infrastructure facilities to the
participant units. Jindal Medicot and Jindal Specialty Textiles have
already set up their technical textile projects in the Textile Park.
More units are keen to set up their technical textile projects there.
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Precot Meridian setting up technical textiles plant
Technical textiles have gained global
importance over the past few years, and the sector is set to grow at a
faster pace now. With a view to gaining a foothold in this sector,
Precot Meridian is setting up a greenfield technical textile plant with
state-of-the-art technology in the Textile Special Economic Zone at
Hassan in Karnataka.
The company, which has hitherto been in
the traditional textile products like yarn and fabric will venture into
value-added products, which is considered as an emerging area of
opportunity. The plant will produce non-woven products for medical and
hygiene care applications.
Necessary statutory approvals have been
obtained. Civil work has commenced, and the plant is expected to start
commercial production in April next. The project cost is estimated to be
Rs. 165 crores, of which Rs. 125 crores is to be funded through a term
loan from ICICI Bank.
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Trutzschler takes over BCF & industrial yarns business from SwissTex
The Trützschler Group has
expanded its Trützschler man-made fibers product range by taking over
the personnel and know-how from SwissTex Winterthur AG in the area of
carpet and industrial yarns spinning.
As a competence center, the newly
founded Trützschler Switzerland AG in Winterthur combines decades of
experience in development, design and construction of spinning systems
for BCF yarns as well as technical yarns for industrial applications.
Thus it becomes the point of contact in all aspects concerning these
processes, from spare parts for several hundred installed spinning
positions, upgrades, all the way to customer-specific systems. Based on
technologies that have proven themselves time and again, the company
will continue to set global standards in filament production with
specific new and further developments.
Trützschler Switzerland AG, under the
new local management, is part of Trützschler man-made fibers. The
Fleissner brand, belonging to Trützschler man-made fibers, is the world
market leader for PET fibre processing lines and a specialised supplier
of carbon fibre lines.
With its exceptional service culture,
strategy of quality and technology leadership, as well as professional
process management, Trützschler man-made fibers will advance and further
develop the business established by SwissTex. The co-operation with
customers and suppliers will not only be ensured but also consistently
improved and expanded.
The Trützschler Group, founded in 1888,
has about 2,700 employees worldwide and is family-owned. With nine
production sites in Germany, the US, Brazil, India, China and
Switzerland, Trützschler is the world market leader in the product areas
of spinning, nonwovens, man-made fibres and card clothing. This
includes a highly customer-oriented service, thanks to additional
service centres in Turkey, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Italy and Spain.
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TB Kawashima to set up Indian plant for automotive textiles
The Japan-based TB Kawashima will set up an Indian unit for manufacture of high quality woven and Tricot, circular knitted
textile fabrics for car seat, including weaving, knitting, dyeing,
coating and finishing process. The Indian entity, TB Kawashima
Automotive Textile (India) Pvt. Ltd., with an investment of Rs. 100
crores is coming up in the Kadakola Industrial Area in Mysore district.
In 2010, TB Kawashima was set up to
specialize in fabrics for the transportation segment. Now it delivers
standard products that satisfy customer requirements worldwide under a
strong management. The predecessors of TB Kawashima are the automotive
fabric divisions of Toyota Boshoku and Kawashima Selkon Textiles, and
Tatsumura Textile AI.With the tradition, technology and networks that these three companies developed over the years, TB Kawashima’s strength lies in its ability to take full advantage of its close relationship with seat assembly companies to make product proposals.
In October 2011, TB Kawashima merged with its former subsidiary Kawashima Echigawa Factory Ltd. to establish an integrated system that can respond more rapidly at every step, from development to production. This plant will serve as our base for future global production and supply, going from strength to strength in manufacturing capability and quality.
In December 2011, TB Kawashima had acquired a stake in Rayves Automotive Textile Company Private Ltd. from Raymond Ltd. Rayves Automotive Textile was a JV between Silver Spark Apparel Ltd., a subsidiary of Raymond, and Treves S.A. of France, offering printed seating fabric for Tata Motors.
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Sales of textile-based automotive airbags to pick up fast
Sales of textile-based automotive airbags are set to increase rapidly after a tough phase during 2008 and 2009 when global sales of light vehicles fell sharply, according to a report from Textiles Intelligence.
In 2010 the world market for automotive airbags stood at 258 million units, but by 2017 this figure is predicted to rise to 446 million units, representing an increase of 73.2 per cent.
Front airbags are expected to remain the biggest category of airbag in 2017. However, forecasts for the seven years to 2017 suggest that they will form the slowest growing category, whereas sales of side-impact airbags, inflatable curtains and knee airbags will grow considerably faster.
As a result, the share of front airbags in the total market for airbags will drop from 42.2 per cent to 37.9 per cent between 2010 and 2017, although sales of front airbags are still forecast to increase by 55.2 per cent.
The fastest increase, at 539 per cent, will be in sales of knee airbags. However, these will continue to represent by far the smallest category with sales of just 33 million units in 2017, representing 7.4 per cent of the market.
Sales of side-impact airbags are set to rise by 74.7 per cent to 128 million units, representing a 28.6 per cent share of the market, while sales of curtain airbags will increase by 65.2 per cent and account for a 26.1 per cent share.
Geographically, growth in the mature markets of developed countries is likely to be sustained by new regulations and technological innovation as vehicle production in these countries is still recovering following the global financial crisis.
In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is already focused on improving standards of protection against side-impact crashes. Such improvement is expected to open up new areas of growth, such as inflatable curtains.
The scenario in emerging markets such as Brazil, China and India is very different. Demand for new cars in these countries has been growing significantly in recent years thanks to rising employment levels, economic prosperity and increases in discretionary income.
This has boosted automotive production in these countries and the trend likely to continue as vehicle ownership rates per head are lower than those in developed markets. Indeed, whereas light vehicle production in Japan, Western Europe and the US is forecast to remain below the 2007 levels until at least 2017, production in the rest of the world is set to more than double over the 10-year period.
Rising demand in Asia in particular presents enormous commercial potential for the automotive industry and therefore for the airbags sector.
In 2010 the world market for automotive airbags stood at 258 million units, but by 2017 this figure is predicted to rise to 446 million units, representing an increase of 73.2 per cent.Front airbags are expected to remain the biggest category of airbag in 2017. However, forecasts for the seven years to 2017 suggest that they will form the slowest growing category, whereas sales of side-impact airbags, inflatable curtains and knee airbags will grow considerably faster.
As a result, the share of front airbags in the total market for airbags will drop from 42.2 per cent to 37.9 per cent between 2010 and 2017, although sales of front airbags are still forecast to increase by 55.2 per cent.
The fastest increase, at 539 per cent, will be in sales of knee airbags. However, these will continue to represent by far the smallest category with sales of just 33 million units in 2017, representing 7.4 per cent of the market.
Sales of side-impact airbags are set to rise by 74.7 per cent to 128 million units, representing a 28.6 per cent share of the market, while sales of curtain airbags will increase by 65.2 per cent and account for a 26.1 per cent share.
Geographically, growth in the mature markets of developed countries is likely to be sustained by new regulations and technological innovation as vehicle production in these countries is still recovering following the global financial crisis.
In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is already focused on improving standards of protection against side-impact crashes. Such improvement is expected to open up new areas of growth, such as inflatable curtains.
The scenario in emerging markets such as Brazil, China and India is very different. Demand for new cars in these countries has been growing significantly in recent years thanks to rising employment levels, economic prosperity and increases in discretionary income.
This has boosted automotive production in these countries and the trend likely to continue as vehicle ownership rates per head are lower than those in developed markets. Indeed, whereas light vehicle production in Japan, Western Europe and the US is forecast to remain below the 2007 levels until at least 2017, production in the rest of the world is set to more than double over the 10-year period.
Rising demand in Asia in particular presents enormous commercial potential for the automotive industry and therefore for the airbags sector.
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Clariant Chemicals’ net sales up 8.5%
Clariant Chemicals (India) Ltd.’s net sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, is up at Rs. 282.1 crores from Rs. 260.1 crores for the corresponding period of the previous year. Profit (before exceptional items) for the period stood at Rs. 44.1 crores (Rs. 43.7 crores). After considering the exceptional items and tax expenses, net profit amounted to Rs. 30.8 crores (Rs. 30.4 crores).For the six-month period ending June 30, 2012, net sales rose from Rs. 488.3 crores to Rs. 521.4 crores, in comparison with the corresponding period of the previous year. Net profit for the period amounted to Rs. 62.5 crores (Rs. 253.9 crores).
The Board of Directors of the company has considered payment of an interim dividend of Rs. 10 per share for 2012.
Clariant has undergone a fundamental change in recent years. After successfully completing a restructuring phase, it has resolutely aligned itself for profitable growth. It wants to become the global leader in specialty chemicals – competitive, innovative, and sustainable – with outstanding value creation for all its stakeholders and partners.
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