Thirty companies from the Swiss Textile
Machinery association (SWISSMEM) took part in ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018. Companies from Switzerland formed the third biggest group of
participating foreign exhibitors in this edition after Germany and Italy.
SWISSMEM used “Switzerland: the cradle of
innovation” as its theme of group participation, saying that the “inventor
gene” of the Swiss companies “leads to added value for customers”.
"We’ve never been a mass producer. That’s
what made our textile machinery successful,” said Ernesto Maurer, President of
SWISSMEM. “We believe what really counts is innovation.”
"The years of experience and heritage of
innovation definitely bring added value for our customers, who trust Swiss
Textile Machinery members to help them build their own business success,” said
Cornelia Buchwalder, Secretary General of the association.
As Industry 4.0 progresses, even more new
technologies and standards can be expected, she added. “I am confident that
Swiss Textile Machinery members will continue to introduce innovations which
will influence the worldwide textile industry in future – and I look forward
with great anticipation to ITMA 2019 in Barcelona.”
Autefa’s latest energy saving spunlace solutions – V-Jet injector
Autefa Solutions showed
visitors of ITMA Asia 2018 the economic and technical advantages provided by
its nonwovens lines.

The company is a full line
supplier for carded- crosslapped needlepunch lines, aerodynamic web forming
technology, spunlace, and thermobonding lines.
For producing nonwovens
with the hydroentanglement method for the strong growing wipes or cotton pads
markets, Autefa Solutions has developed and patented the V-Jet injector, which
is installed in several productions and led to significantly higher tensile
strength at same entangling water pressure than a standard injector.
The possible reduction of
water pressure is in the range of 20%. In addition, the water consumption is
reduced by 10% when using the same nozzle diameter and pitch. The new Square
Drum Dryer SQ-V combines the advantages of a horizontal dryer with the lower
space requirement of a conventional drum dryer.
The nozzle system uniformly
distributes the airflow in terms of speed and temperature throughout the whole
working width, providing good spunlace web and surface quality results. The
Square Drum Dryer SQ-V has different heating zones and operates each heating
zone with optimal drying conditions. Due to the small footprint the Square Drum
Dryer SQ-V can help existing lines in energy optimizing.
André Imhof, CEO of Autefa
Solutions, said up to 40 % energy savings could be saved due to heat recovery
and product properties, such as bulkiness and hand feel, could be improved. The
dryer also features high evaporation capacity with small footprint. The first
spunlace line with V-Jet injector has been sold to a Chinese company about six
months ago.
"Our customers expect true
energy saving technology. Economic sustainability is an integral part of all
our development efforts. Autefa Solutions V-Jet and Square Drum Dryer SQ-V support
customers to keep or extend their leadership in the highly competitive Spunlace
market,” he said.
New high-speed narrow fabric loom from Jakob Müller for medium weight
belts

Jakob Müller highlighted
its NG3 series, which features top speed narrow fabric looms. In the NG3S
machine version, where the “S” stands for silent, the installation of
additional insulation provides a cut in noise emissions of up to 10 db(A).
In particular, the NG3S 28G
2/66 S5 features a patented, air-suspended harness frame motion. It allows
high-speed production with the possibility of speed changes while the machine
is running.
The harness frame drive and
motion of NG3S 28G 2/66 S5, as well as its harness frames and healds are
designed to accommodate high speeds and offer up to 2,750 min-1 for
medium-weight articles (with the S5 weaving system), thanks to the new,
wear-resistant NGV3 heald frame.
The belt shown at ITMA Asia
2018 employs a warp comprised of a 100% PES filament with a 1,670 dtex yarn
count and a weft using 550 dtex PES filament.
Christian Lerch, Head of
Global Sales and Marketing, Jakob Müller AG Frick, said that the latest
invention is “the fastest loom of its kind in the world” and targets the cargo
safety industry. The company chose to launch the product in China because the
cargo safety field is growing well and China continues to be an important
market.
"Mass production in China
may be moving to lower-cost countries, but high-tech remains in China due to
its value – you can’t sell safety belts at any price,” said Mr Lerch.
Safety belts produced in
China are mainly for local consumption as there is a big market for cars in
China, he said, while the free trade agreement struck between China and
Switzerland will also be beneficial for trading with China.
Meanwhile, Jakob Müller’s
subsidiary corporation COMEZ International s.r.l. has successfully applied for
interim injunctions to stop design patent infringements against three Chinese
manufacturers.
On the first day of the
fair, Jakob Müller found that the machines of the three companies showed
violation of COMEZ’s intellectual property without Jakob Müller’s or COMEZ’s
permission. The patentee then filed a complaint to the IPR Office at the fair
against these companies.
The IPR Office gave the
three companies 24 hours to provide a counterstatement. Only one of them
removed the system concerned without a counterstatement, while the others did
so after the IPR Office’s evaluation of the possible infringements.
World premiere of BEAMPRO reading in machine for warp beam preparation
from Stäubli

Stäubli showcased a series
of machines and solutions for both the weaving and knitting sectors at ITMA
Asia 2018.
Unveiled for the first
time, BEAMPRO is used at the sizing machine for automatically sorting coloured
warp layers. It suits the needs of mills using multicoloured warps produced
using the cost-effective method of beam dyeing and it can be integrated at any
time with existing sizing machines. It can also be programmed using the mill’s
in-house network.
The BEAMPRO reading-in
machine is set up between the separation area and the warp-beaming machine. It
reads in cotton, blended cotton, or staple fibre yarns into the comb in precise
accordance with the colour repeat of the warps. With its reading-in speed of
500 yarns per minute, the machine significantly reduces idle time of the sizing
machine during style changes.
Depending on the production
programme, 20 to 30% more warps per shift can be prepared, according to
Stäubli, and warps prepared with BEAMPRO show better operating behaviour with
fewer broken yarns.
Head of Marketing, Sales
& Service, Fritz Legler, took a group of textile journalists on a tour around
the company’s booth to view a wide range of machinery and solutions being
demonstrated, including:
- Weaving preparation solutions for mastering warp preparation
and warp tying
- Shedding solutions for frame weaving for weft insertion system
(cam motions, dobbies)
- Electronic jacquard machines with harnesses, in formats for
woven application
- Weaving systems for carpeting and technical textiles

For the knitters, the new
D4S toe linking device for circular sock knitting machines features a dedicated
electronic controller, special programming system for knitting patterns, while
data of the knitting process can be monitored and recorded.
The knitting industry in
Asia is constantly growing in importance. China, Vietnam and South-East Asia
are amongst the world’s leading export countries when it comes to knitted
products, from sports shoes to traditional applications such as hosiery and
socks.
Knitter would take the
socks off the knitting machine to close the toes in the past, but the D4S toe
linking device sews the toe closed as the sock-knitting machine simultaneously
produces the next sock.
Two D4S toe linking devices
demonstrated in action on two circular sock-knitting machines at the fair. One
machine was equipped with a 3-¾” cylinder and 144 needles, and the other with a
3-¾” cylinder and 200 needles.
The D4S (patents pending)
closes the toes directly on the knitting machine without operator intervention.
It can be mounted on any new circular sock machine with a diameter of 3-½ to
4-½ inches and from 8 to 19 gauge.
As Mr Legler described, the
device allows manufacturers to shorten the sock-knitting process, minimise idle
time, while delivering higher-quality and higher-volume output. It also helps
to reduce waste material in the production process.