Pakistan Textile Journal. October index

Show highlights of the 2nd International technical textile and nonwovens exhibition in Istanbul

Turkey is a growing market in technical textiles and nonwovens industry. Nonwoven investments have been moving to this region by the effect of lower cost prices. The increasing exports of Turkish technical textiles and nonwovens are the evidence of this activity within the market. Recently, even conventional textile producers have been using some part of their factories for nonwoven production. In Hightex 2007, we found the innovations and developments in smart textiles and information on high-tech fibers, antibacterial textiles, medical and geo textiles. In this issue of Pakistan Textile Journal we are pleased to present the machines and solutions in the field of nonwovens and technical textiles as well as comments and views of different exhibitors as well as visitors. Ed.

Mahlo presented the latest technology for technical textiles and nonwovens. The new model of Qualiscan® QMS-12 modular system for measuring, logging and controlling critical process parameters over the entire width of the product, including weight per unit area, coating weight, moisture and layer thickness attracted the attention of the visitors.

Mr. Adnan S. Andac, Area Sales Manager from Mahlo GmbH + Co. Kg said that we see a bright future in Turkey for technical textiles and nonwovens industry and Mahlo is positioned ideally to serve the market needs, with already proven areas of application range from coating paper, film, nonwovens, textiles, rubber and metal foil to the manufacture of paper and cardboard, film extrusion, extrusion coating and produ

ction of nonwovens.

The Qualiscan QMS can be used in virtually every industrial sector in which products are produced as a web, or where they are finished (e.g. coated). The versatile sensors and measuring devices of the Qualiscan QMS series can sense, log and continuously control (online) such parameters as weight per unit are, coating weight, moisture or thickness in a variety of web-type products.

As a German family – owned company with our own R&D and manufacturing, Mahlo® and our engineers find it rewarding to work together with our customers to open up completely new, previously unsuspected areas of application.

The process monitoring and control: Qualiscan QMS series offer many advantages, such as reducing the usage of energy, raw material and human resources while optimizing quality, equipment utilization and work flow.

For almost 50 years Abifor Ltd. has developed, produced and marketed thermoplastic hot-melt powders. A Swiss joint-stock limited company with headquarters in Zurich/Switzerland and production plant in Wutoeschingen/Germany, Abifor specializes in hot-melts powders to support specific application in different fields.

Abifor’s production portfolio are offered to customers generally for using in technical laminations, especially in automotive and construction sectors and in adhesive interlining production. With its Ecoflex® products, that is recently developed and being totally decomposed in 5-6 months under defined conditions.

Abifor opened a new era in the lamination that use renewable raw materials.Together with their Turkish agent Fuleks Mümessillik, Abifor Ltd. was present at Hightex fair 2007 and reported that a number of qualified visitors from Turkey, Iran, Eastern Europe and Asia were present to discuss various projects and applications.

The hot melt applications areas include automotive, building material, technical laminates, leather, textile and cosmetics.

At Hightex, Abifor explained the techniques and application for the Hot-melt powders for technical laminates to bond different substrates, e.g. textile products, foams and metal sheets.

The leather application includes Hot-melt powders for the shoe and leather garment industry to bond interlinings in leather garments, luggage, shoe counters, toe puffs, chairs, arm chairs and car seats.

Last, but not the least, the hot-melt powders for the textile industry for ladies' and men's garment, shirt collar interlinings, cuffs, button raws, lapels, form memory shirts, small parts and fixation bands are presented to the visitors.

H. Halil COBAN Textile Wastes Recycle and Evaluation Company in Usak is a family owned company run by Mr. H. Halil COBAN, his son Mr. Cavit Coban and daughter Canan Coban.

Mr. Cavit Coban from Coban said, “We have been in the business of cotton waste recycling since 1981 and our end product is the open end yarn for different applications, which is made on Fehrer Dref Spinning machines. We have six tearing lines from Laroche and has a capacity to process recycled waste material of 100 tons per day, which is sold as a yarn and fibre for domestic market as well as export. For raw material we are buying fabric clips and cuttings from Pakistan and Bangladesh, which is very economical and good source of high quality cotton waste ideal for open end spinning.

Cavitec, the company of Santex Group was formed in 1996 with a merger of two companies Caratsch and Villars.

The Caviflex technology of 3 ply lamination (1 step trilaminate) was introduced in 2002. This machine has 4 different modules on it (meaning that four different jobs can be performed at the same time).

Modules offered by Caviflex

The company presented its new technology Cavimelt Plus in ITMA Munich and currently carrying customer trials on its laboratories at Switzerland with Cavimelt – Plus.

The Cavimelt Plus features a system whereby changes from dot coating to full surface coating are easily accomplished, due to a device called dynamic knife; this system also achieves very low coating weights with extreme regularity along with the width of the fabric. Therefore, Cavimelt plus is expected to open up new opportunities in hot melt coating industry, in various application areas, such as textiles, shoes, automotive fabrics, medial and high end textiles and other areas, where accurate distribution is required during the entire width of the fabric.

Genkinger develops robust transport trucks for the narrow space conditions in textile mills. The new product line for weaving mills covers manual warp beam lift trucks with carrying capacity from 700 kg to 3000 kg and motorized warp beam lift trucks in 2000 kg, 3000kg and 5000 kg series.

v Warp beam high lift trucks with telescopic lift mast and universal application for lower beams, upper beams, warp beam storage racks, batch unloading from the batch winder even to lead and unload from warp beam transport frames.

v Warp beam high lift trucks with harness mounting device and carrying capacity of 5000 kg for machine width up to 540 cm for technical textiles wire weaving mills.

v Fabric beam high lift trucks for weaving machines put on a higher level in case of large warp beam diameter.

Robatech AG from Switzerland produces equipment and application technologies for industrial glue applications for Packaging, Printing Industry, Hygienic Industry, Textile-converting Industry, Woodworking Industry, Building Supplies Industry, Automotive Industry and Various Industries.

For Textile-converting Industry, Robatech offers comprehensive melting and dispensing systems for thermoplastic hotmelt and reactive hotmelts as used in the coating and laminating processes of textile products.

For Hygienic applications, Robatech offers comprehensive systems to apply thermoplastic hotmelt, lotions or any additives as used during the assembling process of hygienic products.

Tailored slot dies are used to apply the adhesive very precisely in intermittent- or continuous operation mode. A variety of spray application heads for lowest application weights even at high speeds reaching 1000 m/min or above complete the assortment, where sensitivity in hotmelt application is an important consideration, like diapers, sanitary napkins/towels, medical tapes.

Hasan Group is one of the leading manufacturer and supplier of nonwovens hygiene products in Turkey and has recently installed a project with Robatech – a hot melt application head with a melting unit, which can apply glue at very small value, i.e, one gram glue per square meter to a nonwoven fabric with 2300 mm width.

Robatech provides slot application heads from 3 mm to 3000 mm in width, can apply hot glue as a thin film, or like a glue application, which allows breathability to material. Slot application heads, which can apply hotmelt from minimum 1 gram per meter squared to the desired level with optimal smoothness to different textile products with variable widths. The customer can laminate PP products with different specialties with nonwovens with varying thickness used in hygiene sector with hot melt adhesives.

Founded in 1939 in Istanbul, Hassan Group has seven different companies operating in different sectors in apparel, hygiene, automotive, geotextiles, hometextiles, filteration, furniture, shoes, laminated and technical textiles.

At Hightex 2007, Hasan Group presented new kind of adhesive interlinings, According to Mr. Ismail Sisman, chairman of the board of Hassan Group, “We have developed our new interlinings that can be based on new washing methods and can stick on special coated fabrics. Second innovation is our latest investment is air penetrable film and nonwoven lamination. Some of the intermediate products, which are especially used for diapers and surgeries, are produced for the first time in Turkey.”

James Heal exhbited TruBurst2 – the ideal technology of burst strength testing

James Heal presented the new Gyrowash 815 and two models of TruBrust at Hightex 2007 with their Turkish agent Aygenteks.

According to Mr. Elliot Rich, Business Development manager, James H Heal & Co. Ltd. the Gyrowash 815 will be launched during February 2008 and Heal’s Gyrowash 815 is now an official AATCC testing instrument for evaluating the colour fastness, staining potential and durability of fabrics under accelerated wash conditions, according to AATCC Test Method 61. Gyrowash also complies with ISO 105 and conforms to the requirements of major European Retail Store Groups, including Marks and Spencer and Next.

“We are excited to announce the official launch of TruBurst2; a brand new Intelligent Bursting Strength Tester, which is a fully pneumatic instrument which comfortably exceeds the exacting requirements of ISO 13938-2, ASTM D3786-06 and the test principles of many other national and international standards.

The inherent flexibility of TruBurst2 gives it the capability to test a broad range of materials manufactured by the textile, non-woven, paper, board and plastic industries. Heal’s inspired, multi-talented design team has combined digital microprocessor control with laser technology to realize an extraordinary breadth of creative and innovative features:

There are two models to cover the range, with a maximum capacity of 1000kPa/145psi, Model 810 on show is suitable for the majority of textile specimens (including cyclic testing of elastomerics), as well as for many paper, board and similar materials.

However, there are many less resistant, more delicate materials (e.g. non-wovens, tissues and plastics), which require a lower capacity/higher resolution machine for successful and repeatable bursting strength tests. With the ability to measure values as low as 5kPa/0.7psi and a maximum capacity of 100kPa/14.5psi, Model 801 is ideal for these applications.

Mr. Rich added, “We have launched these products at ITMA Munich and we are pleased to report strong customer audience from Europe and most importantly customers from Germany. The highlights a this show in Turkey include the two models of TruBrust2 applications for nonwoven and technical textiles.

It is interesting to note that, conventional burst testers measure the total pressure required to distend the diaphragm and to burst the specimen. TruBurst2 has an additional facility to measure the pressure required to distend the diaphragm only to the average burst distension of the specimens under test. This value is automatically subtracted from the individual burst pressure results to achieve the TruBurst Strength.

Furthermore, TruBurst2 also utilizes optical laser photoelectric technology to measure specimen distension up to 70mm and with an accuracy of 0.5%.

TruBurst2 also offers a choice of 5 test areas, ranging from 7.3cm² to 100cm², with one of them specifically intended for paper testing.

Cyclic software is included as standard, and you can set TruBurst² to cycle (up to 500 times) to a pre-set pressure or distension. For elastomeric materials, measuring or assessing non-recoverable extension, after a series of cycles, may be of more interest than the actual pressure to burst or the distension at burst.

Typically, this facility might be used to predict the resistance of materials to bagging at the elbow or at the knee in a garment.

TruBurst2 comes with a library of pre-programmed national and international standards. Users may also configure up to 50 of their own test procedures, each one available for instant recall and use.

The instrument’s data acquisition & analysis software enables the production of test reports, which can be copied to any other Windows applications.

Mogul Tekstil from Gaziantep, Turkey is involved in the production and sale of nonwovens. The products include 100 PP Spunbond nonwovens, PET Spunbond nonwovens, Meltblown nonwovens, coated and laminated fabrics and converted products made from nonwovens and composites

According to Serkan Gogus, Mogul Tekstil General Manager, “We are exhibiting our newly developed Meltblown products, Peva film varieties, Multiplex agricultural covers, extrusion coating fabrics and composite fabrics at Hightex 2007 Exhibition.”

A new Meltblown product called Q-wick for cleaning wipes is about to be launched commercially, and has attracted the interest of qualified visitors.

He added, “One of our new investments is Peva film. This product used for water and dust protection and is used in many areas such as shower curtains, tablecloths, cloth covers and car covers. The other new product is upto 16 meters width agricultural covers, which we offer under Multiplex brand.”

“We also have the extrusion coating machine, which imparts water proof characteristics to Mogul’s nonwoven fabrics through extrusion coating and also enabling sandwich (multilayer) production. Our newly developed Meltblown products Peva film varieties, Multiplex agricultural covers, extrusion coating fabrics and composite fabrics are on display at Hightex 2007 Exhibition as well as our standard PP and PET Spunbond products,” concluded Mr. Serkan Gogus.

Mogul currently has a production range that is composed of three PP Spunbond lines producing 15000 tons per year, one PET Spunbond line (width 320 cm) producing 5000 mton per year and three Meltblown lines (160 cm width) producing a total of 3000 mton per year. Furthermore, the company also has one film, one extrusion coating, one foam coating and one wide width linking machine at its production plant at Gaziantep in Turkey.

In year 2001, Mogul won the Idea "Entrepreneurship" award given by INDA (Industrial Nonwovens and Disposables Association in North America) during Idea 01 show organized in Miami - USA. Mogul won this award among 40 other nominates the 2001 edition of INDA.

Picanol is recognized in the Turkish market as a major supplier of weaving machines for apparel and household fabrics. But in the field of technical fabrics too, the Picanol solutions are much sought-after and highly appreciated. This year, Picanol also participated in Hightex Istanbul for the first time with a 24 m2 stand.

According to Picanol, the news plants producing tire cord, coating fabrics, car seats, glass fiber, leno fabrics, gauze and others are a clear indication that the Turkish textile industry is diversifying into technical market segments.

With the introduction of the OptiMax rapier machine in 2007, shown for the first time at ITMA in Munich, Picanol is more ready than ever to serve the demanding sector of technical textiles.

The OptiMax is available in widths of up to 540 cm and also comes in a high speed leno version (OptiLeno) for all widths. Thanks to its modular design, the machine can be upgraded or modified easily in order to cope with ever changing market demands.

Mr. Hakan Adali, product manager from Cedit explained that Cedit production portfolio includes yarn conditioning machinery, hank dyeing machinery, package dryers and bobbin dyeing machinery. Our package dyer is a low energy requirement machine and can be used in most dye-houses, with different applications like wool, cotton, acrylic, viscose, polyester, mixed yarn etc. The Hank Dyeing machine is used for dyeing different types of hanks especially, 100% acrylic high bulk, 100% wool, worsted, woolen yarns and acrylic, blends, cotton and blend with viscose and acrylic fine wool yarn like cashmere, angora and blends, and blended with other fibers. The Multi – Color Hank Dyeing machine has a 6 color capacity in standards is designed for adjustable dyeing parameters (spray angle, spray quantity etc.) with special design sprays.

Mesdan-Lab offers a complete range of equipment for testing technical textiles in compliance with major international textile standards. At Hightex 2007, Mr. Claudio Bertolotti, Area Manger, Mesdan emphasized that Turkish market although, a very important for us is going through a change, and we at Mesdan are able to offer specialized niche products for technical textiles as well as for mass production of conventional textiles.

At Hightex 2007, we focused on specific products and solutions for high end technology. Our strength is versatility, as we have something for everyone to suit their needs. While comparing the Pakistan with Turkey, he elaborated that Turkish textile industry has been diversifying into other textile related segments, so if there is downturn in conventional spinning, then it is offset by a growth in technical textiles and nonwovens and other value added textile products. Pakistan should also diversify its textile related segments in order to be competitive in the long run.

Istanbul based Tepas Group exhibited at Hightex 2007 a wide range of Multifunctional fabrics and garments under the brand name of MULTI-TEX® They manufacture fabrics for boat sails, military, tent and canvas, workwear, military, flame retardant and skiing garments. The fabrics displayed at Hightex 2007 featured, three layers membrane laminated fabrics with water resistant or water proof, wind resistant, reflective visible.

The Tepas Textile Group is divided into three business areas, namely Tepas Textil for polyester and cotton fabrics, MultiTex® for functional fabrics, UTF® for umbrella and tent fabrics with water proof, wind proof, anti fungal coatings and SBS® for Black out fabrics.

Mr. Ayhan Sahin from Technical Service Division, A.C.C. Machine Electric - Electronic Co., Inc., was present at Hightex 2007 and said that ACC finishing machinery has been sold to many customers in Egypt, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Japan, Argentina and Turkistan, as well as domestic customers in Turkey.

The Stenter Frame Range is ideal for drying – heatsetting – and finishing treatments in line with padder and weftstraightener.

The leveling and highbulk dryer line offers minimum energy consumption, with maximum performance.

The Weftstraightner - WEFTMATIC is a cooperation between BIANCO and ACC. WEFTMATIC is produced in the factory of ACC, accordingly to the international norms and CE standards.

Bruckner Plant Technologies is a competent systems supplier for tailor-made coating and finishing ranges for technical textiles. The plant and machinery portfolio of includes special purpose range for finishing glass fibre fabrics, for finishing of glass fibre fabrics with vertical dryer, universal coating line for technical textiles, carpet back-coating and finishing line and bonding dryer for nonwovens with separated thermozones, in addition to the heat-recovery and air-purification systems.

The experienced engineers and process technicians are competent contacts for individual needs of the customers.

Ozyilmaz Eti Pak introduced its new packaging, wrapping and labeling machines at Hightex 2007. Ozyilmaz has been working together with several domestic and international companies since its inception in 1986.

According to Mr. Mustafa Ugur Ursavas, Sales Manager, Ozyilmaz eti Pak offers the complete wet wipe production plant, including a wet towel and pocket wipe machinery, refreshment wet tissue machines, automatic rewinder, automatic Monoblock Machine, automatic shrink wrapping machine, single side and double side labelling machine and manual liquid filling machinery.

Mr. Cem Goguskabaran visited PTJ booth at Hightex 2007. He said that his company Can Kimya markets hotmelt adhesive products for the nonwovens industry under the brand name of Fullbond. We offer different types of hotmelt adhesives such as baby diapers; incontinence pads and underpads; lady napkins and disposable hygiene products with Fullbond brand name.

Fullbond is a kind of Hotmelt Adhesive that is used in the production of baby diapers, incontinence pads, hospital underpads, lady napkins and can also be used as a construction adhesive.

The adhesives, being Rubber and Polylephine based can be applied when the on the non-woven-PE Backsheet; acquisition layer-nonwoven, leg cuff non-woven-the surface non-woven and also in full barrier applications.

The PE Backsheet bondings are applied as spray; full coating and multi line depending on the requirement of the customer.

Two member from Sina Industrial Group – a Tehran (Iran) based company visited PTJ booth at Hightex exhibition. Mr. M.A. Hosseini, Development manager and also member of the board Sina Group and Mr. Shahin Kazemi, the project manager rated Hightex as good platform to gather market information about new technology and equipment in polyester staple fibre technology.

Mr. Raj Pal S. Shangari from Globus Machines Pvt. Limited, India visited the show in order to explore and develop the market for the accessories and cards for the woolen, worsted, nonwoven plants. Mr. Hilmi Ucak, Technical manager from Ucak Electronic deals in spare parts for textile machinery as well as auto spare parts.

Visitors from Pakistan included Mr. M. Ayub Chaudery, Business Development Manager from Nice Inn Chem Specility, Lahore. Mr. Murtaza Rasool, Chief Executive , Revo Chem from Lahore was interested to explore chemical applications of nonwovens and technical textiles and Mr. Wahid Ali Ghanchi from Ghanchi Corporation, in addition to Mr. Javaid Ahmed Khan, Director, JK Textiles and Mr. Muhammad Azam, CEO and President of Sara Corporation .

Mr. Javaid Khan from JK Textiles and Muhammad Azam from Sara Corporation came from Karachi to collect information regarding smart textiles and other garment related applications.

Sara Corporation manufacturers and exports knitwear, woven apparels, bottom wear and sweaters. The company has five integrated units with state of art knitting, sewing, dyeing and printing and finishing technology.

Javaid Khan from JK Textiles said that my objective to visit this exhibition is to look at new application areas relevant to garments industry, such as protective textiles, smart finishes on fabrics and garments. The shows like that broaden our mind and provide new marketing ideas with significant growth potential, which can be adapted to our existing applications.

Most of the visitors at PTJ booth came from Turkey, who expressed their concern about the decline in traditional textile and apparel exports from Turkey. The reason being the fact that the Turkish Lira is over valued and the textile and clothing is already losing its competitive advantage against countries from Far East and China. The raw materials for clothing and textile industry are purchased in YTL (Turkish Lira) and exports are made in dollars. The decline in value of dollar and overvalued Turkish Lira has led to decrease in the profit margins. Another reason causing the decline in Turkish exports is the high interest rates, with removal of quotas, which gave rise to an increase in Chinese exports to global markets. Therefore, in this scenario technical textiles and nonwovens exports are showing promising trend due to their tailor made applications, and that fact that they offer comparatively better price viz. a viz. their European competitors, such as companies in UK, France, Germany, Spain and Belgium.