Cormatex, a leading
Italian textile machinery manufacturer for
woollen spinning and nonwoven sectors, is
going to participate in the international textile and garment technology exhibition
ITMA 2019, which to be held from June 20-26 in Barcelona, Spain.
In a recent interview with CTA, Mr. Luca Querci, Managing
Director and R&D Manager of Cormatex, shared his insights on the company’s
winning approach, as well as the latest market trends.
CTA: What will be the main focus for Cormatex’s participation at ITMA this year?
Mr.
Luca Querci: The main focus of our participation is to show our know-how and expertise in developing innovative solutions for high
quality yarn production (woollen spinning sector) and for waste recycling
(nonwoven sector).
CTA: What will
be the main exhibits of Cormatex at the show? Please
introduce some of their key features.
Mr.
Luca Querci: We
will exhibit our unique Airlay machine called “Lap formair H” that is an
aerodynamic web forming machine designed to process different types of fibers,
virgin or recycled, as well as various waste materials and to convert them into
high performing nonwoven products for different applications, such as furniture,
mattress, automotive, thermal and acoustic insulation, agriculture and so on.

The machine provides the possibilities of
processing fibers and non-fibrous materials, very short fibers (down to 1 mm
length and lower) and producing a weight range from 100 gsm to over 5000 gsm
with extremely high production capacity (up to 500 kg/h per meter width).
Another unique feature is the possibility of
processing powder resins as an alternative to low melting fibers. Compared to
other machines existing in the market, this efficient machine requires lower
maintenance.
The other highlighted exhibit is our High Speed Cross
Cutting machine model PLOT, which is specially designed to perform a very
precise and straight cut without stopping the line. It is also the viable solution for cross cutting stiff
and/or very thick materials. Our new design allows very high cross cutting
frequency - cutting cycle lower than 2 seconds, meaning that a 600 mm long
panel can be cut at a line speed of over 12 m/min. The design also offers the
possibility of assembling different types of blades such as scissors cut,
pressure cut or running blade for thin and thick materials up to over 200 mm.
CTA: What are the latest market trends do you see in
the textile industry?
Mr.
Luca Querci: In our opinion, the main trend is
to reduce the environmental impact of industrial processes through producing new products
from waste materials. So the versatility in terms of processable materials is
one the most important features required to our machines. At the same time, the
market is asking for reducing production costs and improving line performance.
CTA: Does Cormatex benefit from the morestringent global environmental standards and
regulations?
Mr.
Luca Querci: The global environmental requirements are giving additional value to
Cormatex technology, which is specifically designed for processing recycled
waste materials and thus reducing the environmental impact. We are witnessing a
growing interest in our projects all over the world although not all the countries
are culturally prepared to accept recycled products. But we are sure that it’s
just a question of time!

CTA: Concerning
woollen spinning sector, how do Cormatex’s technologies help to handle delicate
yarns? What will the company intensify in this sector?
Mr.
Luca Querci: Our
long experience in woollen spinning technology is mainly focused on cashmere
production, as well as other high quality fibers, such as extra-fine wool,
alpaca, vicuna, llama and so on.
Our latest developments in this sector include the
unique dehairing technologies for cashmere and other special fibers as well as the
Wool Deburring machine to clean raw wool from vegetable impurities prior to be
fed to the spinning process.
The developments are aimed to improve the quality
and productivity of the spinning process without using any chemical treatment,
and, therefore, minimizing the environmental impact of the spinning process
itself.
CTA: How do you see Cormatex’s strengths in the growing nonwoven market?
Mr.
Luca Querci: The
nonwoven market is moving towards recycling solutions and lower-cost
production. Cormatex’s technology offers both of these advantages, thanks to our
2 Airlay systems. The cost of final products can be reduced as we can process
almost every kind of waste material, including post-industrial as well as
post-consumer wastes. In addition, our process is simple and high productive.
The result is that most of our projects payback time is shorter than 2.5 years,
which is extremely fast for these kinds of investments.
CTA: Are
there any challenges in developing new machines and processing recycled
materials?
Mr.
Luca Querci: Yes,
the challenges come from keeping our products always updated in terms of
performance. It is important to continuously modify our products and adapt them
to develop innovative solutions.
When developing new products in cooperation with
our customers, one of the key factors to be taken into consideration is to find
adequate market. In order to reduce the market risks of our customers, we
install a complete pilot line in our Research Center in Prato and offer the possibility
to produce samples on industrial scale for marketing purposes. Such activity requires
continuous investment from our company and adaptation of our technologies to
new project every time.
Concerning the recycling process, the selection of
recycled materials is usually not a problem for our Airlay technology as our
system can deal with any kind of textile waste. The main challenge is to find a
market which is ready to absorb the big volumes of products produced by our
Airlay lines.
CTA: Which
regions or countries are the driving engines of the company’s
business?
Mr.
Luca Querci: China, Indonesia and Thailand are the most promising markets at the
moment, together with East European countries.
CTA: What areas and strategies will Cormatex focus in the next few years?
Mr.
Luca Querci: Cormatex
will push the boundaries of our Airlay technologies by further testing on new
recycled materials. In addition, we are completing the investment to move our
pilot line into a new building twice as big as the present one. By doing so, our
pilot line will be enlarged from 1 meter to 2 meters width, thus increasing the
testing capability of our systems.