Pakistan Textile Journal. march index

Western Europe remains the place for innovations and French textile machinery manufacturers are the most important after German, Italian and Swiss. France accounts for close to 7% of the worldwide textile machinery not including the production of Chinese manufacturers for the local market. Together the 35 French manufacturers' annual exports exceed 1 billion E8uros (1.5 billion US$). They are federated by an active Association, UCMTF.

French Textile Machinery Manufacturers are now ready for the first ITMA ASIA+CITME show in Shanghai. “We can offer very interesting solutions to the strategic Asian markets” says Bruno AMELINE, UCMTF Chairman “and this in the application sectors, in which are particularly strong as weaving preparation, nonwovens, and specialized spinning, dyeing and finishing machinery.” Most French machinery manufacturers are specialty manufacturers, SMEs but world leaders or among the world leaders on niche markets and specific applications. Bruno AMELINE analyzes “While offering high tech machinery, I strongly believe we have to customize our machines and offer tailor made solutions to our customers. Our most important added value lies in working closely with our customers, in producing made to orders machines on short delivery time, in being flexible. We also have to participate actively in the decision process of our customers in order to propose solutions for their own production strategies and become more and more process partners and not only suppliers of off-shelf machinery.”

“The exchange rates between the US Dollars and the Euros, the Yuan and the dollar could be a major weakness for us”, says Evelyne CHOLET, UCMTF Secretary General “but there has not been so much impact so far. In fact, Chinese textile producers like all others are faced with price increases of synthetic fibers, which have an important effect on their costs, as raw materials represent 60% to 70 % of their production cost, compared to around 5% to 10% for the amortization of machinery. This means costs are going up in China as much as in other places and that the prices of final goods also have to increase there.” Next ITMA ASIA+CITME is certainly one of the best opportunities to meet new potential customers. This is why the French machinery manufacturers are devoting time, energy and money to be there, bring new technologies, build efficient organizations to be ready to open new partnerships with Asian textile producers.

At ITMA ASIA 2008 NSC fibre to yarn promotes an innovating product range including: complete spinning lines of the long fibres process: Combing, tow to top, recombing, worsted spinning preparation, semi-worsted units, hard fibre combing and spinning.

Based on 5 trademarks (Cognetex, San’t Andrea Novara, N.Schlumberger, Seydel, Thibeau) under one banner NSC Fibre to Yarn.

RITM, previously known under the brands Verdol, ICBT and Rieter FYT, offer machinery for following processess.

Fine count processing: Complete range of twisting and covering machinery for all continuous made-man yarns.

Industrial Yarns: RITM reinforces its leading position. The UT 50 has set a reference for two-for-one twisting machines for industrial yarns. A 900 mm spindle gauge machine is now proposed for twisting heavier yarns.

Glass Yarns: RITM will show off its latest improvements: new motorized spindles, improved doffing time, reduced chain yarn breaks and yarn external pollution and new operating system.

Tire Cord: RITM is a major partner of the tire cord manufacturers all over the world. The CP machines are perfectly suitable with the market needs.

Carpet Yarns: More than 30 years of experience, supplying machinery in the field of twisting and cabling of synthetic filaments and spun yarns.

Monitoring Unit System for Textile machinery: Production under control. M.U.S.T. is a plant management system, enabling an overview of process information, production results and quality from the twister and cabler to the weaving looms. It is compatible with RFID technology.

SUPERBA S.A.S is the global leader in saturated steam continuous heat-setting process of BCF carpet yarn (PA6, PA66, PP, PES, PAN) or SPUN and WOOL blend.

The brand new TVP3, third generation of heat-setting line, together with the unequalled MF4 friezing machine and the B401 truly automatic winder will be the highlights of Superba at ITMA ASIA.

Steaming and shrinking lines for PAN HB yarns as well as sophisticated Space-dyeing machines complete their range of products.

FIL CONTROL develops QC sensors for the control of yarn quality, they will show a new version of his MDL-B (electronic length meter).

This version has been enhanced to measure a lot of technical fibres on different types of winders produced and installed on the market (manual, half manual and automatic ones). With MDL-B, length accuracy are 0.5% to 1%. FIL CONTROL France and now FIL CONTROL WUHU (subsidiary in China) can offer to customers better equipment and service.

Bekaert is a worldwide leader in selected applications of its two core competences: advanced metal transformation and advanced coatings. Its Carding Solutions activity focuses on the introduction of new steels and coatings that enhance the production output on cards per set of card clothing, and the introduction of a large handling system that enables to wire continuously card cylinders up to 15 m2 surface. New and improved products for cotton carding as for nonwoven cards will be exhibited as well, with the emphasis on new designs and finishes intended to improve the quality of the sliver and the web. Attention is being paid to the overall quality control to manufacture products of consistent quality fit for fine setting.

One of the leaders in air engineering for all textile production processes: spinning, knitting, weaving, hosiery, nonwovens, dyeing and finishing. AESA Air Engineering has developed both individual units and complete solution as Clean combing, Clean knit, Collector (for cotton spinning preparation), Vac’air (centralised vacuum cleaning for spinning and weaving), Weave direct, etc. Customer oriented, AESA Air Engineering has short delays and offers custom services.

LAROCHE will display their new "Flexiloft" Airlay with improved weight range, highloft and resiliency capability. The airlay can run all types of fibers (synthetics, natural, recycled, …) and blends of fibers and solid particles which allow the customer to to make smart products from renewable resources and from wastes that are otherwise discarded.

v Air felt: A new compact line to manufacture semicured resinated felts for molded automotive parts and other applications.

v Recycling: New developments on large capacity EXEL and JUMBO waste tearing machines, on the processing of post consumer clothings and high capacity cleaning of soft cotton wastes.

v Opening and Blending: High precision fiber opening, blending and dosing lines for all types of nonwoven processes.

v Bast fibers: New concepts allowing to reach the cleanliness and staple lengths required by nonwoven processes with bast fibers.

NSC nonwoven (Asselin-Thibeau) is well known for such nonwoven equipment as the Excelle cards, crosslappers, Prodyn weight distribution regulator, drafters, needlelooms, winders and slitters-rewinders. To meet the variuos requirements of the nonwoven producers, the NSC nonwoven machines mentioned above are available in several levels of performance within two ranges of equipment:

v At ITMA ASIA, NSC nonwoven will exhibit for the first time the A.30 needleloom.

This needleloom is part of the Axcess range of equipment, as is the CA21 cards, the Profile P.325 and Active crosslappers.

The Axcess machines distinguish themselves by their value for money performance and price competitiveness together with similar quality in design as the NSC nonwoven state of art range of machines.

At ITMA ASIA, NSC nonwoven will also introduce its innovations in cutting and winding machinery. Vantage mother reel winders, VantageSlitters and EasyWinders will highlight their extra benefits such as consistent roll quality, high production cycle efficiency, flexibility, ease of maintenance, minimum downtime and user friendliness.

RIETER PERFOJET offers high tech web forming and web bonding machinery to the nonwoven producers and can be considered as the market leader in spunlace technology, with more than 150 spunlace lines in operation.

The Rieter JETlace® 3000 technology produces state-of-the-art spunlace fabrics with high productivity at lowest manufacturing costs. The main markets are the production of wipes, cotton pads, synthetic leather, and medical products.

From 1999, Rieter has been developing an innovative spunbond system, PERFObondTM 3000 which produces the uniform fabric for high quality nonwovens products. It is particularly efficient for hygiene and medical products, geotextiles and roofing.

Know-how and innovation gave birth to a new generation of RIETER meltblown system which can be perfectly integrated in line with the spunbond towers, PERFObondTM 3000, to produce SMS webs.

SPUNjet®- combination of spunlaid and spunlace technologies, creates nonwovens with new characteristics.

Rieter Perfojet is the only machine supplier with both technologies, offering such innovation and performance which enable its customers to introduce new products on their own markets.

STÄUBLI will be presenting its latest products from the full range of the textile machinery. Of the shedding machinery division some of the most modern jacquard machines, dobbies and cam motions can be seen on the STÄUBLI booth.

The company will demonstrate four weaving machines with applications of STÄUBLI jacquard machines producing various fabrics.

Weaving preparation systems division will highlight its latest products for a most efficient warp tying and drawing-in prior to weaving, and new STÄUBLI member DEIMO - first time present together with STÄUBLI - will present state-of-the-art electronic control solutions for mainly textile machinery.

Group member SCHÖNHERR carpet systems will have its exclusive carpet samples on show, produced on the new ALPHA 400 carpet-weaving machine.

Visitors to the STÄUBLI booth will be impressed by several product novelties serving the effective production of high-quality standard textiles as per today’s requirements.

Textile is the historical field of activity of CALEMARD. The textile market offers consists in in-line slitting benches and off-line slitting and rewinding machines.

On the home textile market, these machines are ideal for performing off-line slitting of fabrics for sun protection as well as tule and in-line slitting (edge trimming and center slitting) of fabrics for curtains and tule (window covering).

Calemard machines are also used in converting application of technical textiles, particularly on the filtration fabrics market (off-line slitting and rewinding and in-line edges trimming and centre slitting).

Calemard has a proven expertise in crush, shear and razor slitting systems, and also in sealing/cutting technologies (hot cutting and also ultrasonic cutting through DECOUP+, its sister company).

DECOUP+ is specialised in the designing and manufacturing of ultrasonic cutting / sealing / splicing solutions, which are applicable at any stage of the textile and nonwoven fabrication and conversion process.

Fraying, unravelling and material beading along the cut edge are totally eliminated. The DECOUP+ Slitters/Sealers cleanly cut and seal the edge of fabrics in a single pass and can be installed depending on the customer’s needs on weaving looms, on stenters, inspection machines or off-line slitters, but also be used for final make-up operations. These solutions are proposed as modular units to be mounted on existing lines, as adapted benches or as handheld units.

v For the finishing of knitted fabrics, a new felt with a higher compacting rate.

v For printing dryers, a new reinforced open mesh conveyor belt for less machine stops.

v For denim and sportswear finishing, a new sanforizing palmer felt for a better handle.

v For wool finishing, a new satin with higher picks for the best results during decatizing.