With knitelligence, STOLL, one of the
leading manufacturers of flat-knitting machines, presents an innovative
networking concept for the textile production of tomorrow.
As introduced, knitelligence combines all
the software solutions from the German manufacturer and thus covers the entire
value creation chain of flat-knitting production.
From the design idea to development and
manufacture, knitelligence offers tailored solutions for every component. It
comprises different software and systems, such as M1plus, APM, GKS, PPS, EKC,
and autocreate, which interact with each other, automate processes, and network
production stages.
In this way, customers benefit from more
consistent and optimized workflows, shorter and transparent production cycles, cost
reduction and an increase in quality, productivity, and, therefore, overall plant
efficiency.
With the modern IoT technology from STOLL,
customers can not only design their processes to be considerably more
efficient, but can also react far more flexibly to the requirements of the
market.
“Our aim is to always develop further for
the benefit of our customers. Knitelligence is an important step in that regard,”
says Andreas Schellhammer, CEO of STOLL.
The software
and systems:
M1plus
- pattern software
The STOLL pattern software M1plus ensures
production benefits by generating patterns for highly optimized knitting
processes. For even more flexibility and for individual knitting requirements,
two editors are offered: Color Arrangement (CA) and Module Arrangement (MA). With
these, individual knitting sequences and color adjustments can be made easily.
GKS
- grading software
With the new GKS, STOLL presents software
for creating and grading shapes. GKS integrates fully dimensioned and
functioning shape templates for all typical pattern variants. Using these as a
basis, a first prototype can be created quickly and afterwards changed as much
as desired.
All shape parts of the entire garment are
displayed and adjusted at the same time, guarantees right from the beginning
that the linking edges of all shape parts in all sizes fit perfectly together.
Much of the information necessary for pattern generation, such as the type of
start, narrowing specifications, is already integrated in the shape and can be
defined or changed for all sizes at once.
The important task of realizing size sets
can be carried out swiftly and simply, grading then takes place with just one
click.
Autocreate
- pattern creation framework
autocreate is a powerful framework to
automate pattern creation for mass customization or production of one. Using
the power of color arrangements, it allows simple bitmaps to be provided along
with a formalized "receipt" that controls their processing in M1plus
without human interaction.
Sintral
Crypto Tool - intellectual property protection tool
A knitting program represents a significant
economic value for the issuer since it contains specific company know-how about
applications, collections or fashion trends. By protecting knitting programs
with the STOLL Sintral Crypto Tool, threats can be avoided substantially.
PPS -
production planning system
STOLL Production Planning System (PPS) is a
central platform and production planning tool, which enables the customer to
control, plan and optimize its production. It gives a quick and transparent
overview of all processes. Quality is increased and waste reduced. Response
times and on-time delivery are improved.
It is a Web-based solution with a modern
and user-friendly interface, which can be operated from any browser, including
mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones.
APM
- automatic production tool
After a production order has been sent and
loaded automatically to a machine equipped with Auto Production Mode (APM)
through PPS, the production process starts without any manual intervention.
After completion, the next ticket is loaded and started automatically.
Optionally, a routing slip with actual production information and feedback from
the operator can be printed automatically. The content can be arranged
individually.
The completed ticket is picked up from PPS
so that ERP can track the completion. The production state can be monitored
with database requests as well.
EKC -
optimized operation procedure
The flat-knitting machines of the Enhanced
Knit Control (EKC) generation are very user-friendly machines. They offer
different skills to optimize and enhance the whole production process. The
seamless integration of EKC and PPS results in very high productivity.
With the order-orientated and task-related
graphical user interface, everyone can produce complicated knitted products
after just a short training period. With the newly developed guided
troubleshooting, everyone can handle every situation which occurs in
production. By using these new features, the whole production process will be
optimized and enhanced.