ITMA 2019 featured a wide spectrum of cutting-edge
solutions from the global solutions providers, whether
established or new-to-market. During seven days of the exhibition, there was an
overwhelming response to the state-of-the-art machines and technologies.
Jakob Müller
debuts novelties using new Multi Directional Weaving technology
As a provider in the field of narrow fabrics, Jakob
Müller presented a wide range of innovative solutions and applications.
Robert Reimann, CEO, Jakob Müller AG, emphasized
that all the exhibits on display were “eye catchers and novelties”, especially the
MDW technology (Multi Directional Weaving), which will drive the smart textile
industry and the field of woven labels.
Based on this technology, Jakob Müller has
developed a unique product: VELVEDGE. The new VELVEDGE selvedges replace hot
wire, ultrasonic and laser label slitting systems. They are ideally suited to
top quality clothing that is worn directly on the skin. Therefore, they are
particularly attractive to brand manufacturers of articles such as sportswear.
Commenting on technology trends, he said: “Reducing
energy and water consumption is nothing new for us. Since years, we have shown
that our machines operate with much lower consumption than our competitor’s
machines. For example, at the booth, you can see our new wash tanks which exactly
fulfill this requirement.
“Furthermore, our Industry 4.0 platforms support
heavily these improvements and give the customer high benefit for a more
efficient operation. Our new production data acquisition system ‘mymuenet’, the
Internet-based service portal ‘mymueller’ and smart solutions on the machines are of big
help.”
He said the first half year of 2019 was very successful
and ITMA2019 gave the company another boost with the big amount of novelties. He
recognized a slowdown of the market in certain areas but fortunately Jakob
Müller differentiates itself from the “metoo- products”.
In addition, he pointed out that the company has
been very successful in China during the last years, with local production
operating above the targets until now.
“However, considering the world economy, this might
change in the months to come. The rest of Asia is on a normal level and we
expect to continue at this level since some volumes are moving out of China,”
he said.
AUTEFA
Solutions uncovers new Spunlace technology and Industry 4.0 solutions
AUTEFA Solutions presented the new innovations of
its four business fields to the visitors at its booth.
André P. Imhof, CEO, AUTEFA Solutions Austria GmbH,
said the two highlights at the booth this year including advanced Spunlace line
and innovative solutions for Industry 4.0.
According to him, more and more new applications
have been found for Spunlace fabrics over the past years. Besides the
traditional market for wipes and cleaning products, technical applications are
also gaining importance. With the development of the hydroentanglement machine,
AUTEFA Solutions closes the missing link in the production process of Spunlace
fabrics, offering a complete line for nonwoven.
For the Spunlace line, with the new
hydroentanglement machine V-Jet FUTURA, AUTEFA Solutions has developed an
advanced technology with special focus on reducing energy consumption. Besides high
energy efficiency, the V-Jet FUTURA offers high throughputs, easy maintenance
and long lasting V-Jet-technology components.
Talking about
the solutions for Industry 4.0, he said: “We presented the iWeb and iProduction
intelligent self-optimization systems. In addition, Service 4.0 is also one of
our answers. Our Service 4.0 covers all aspects of improving the bottom line of
a production line during lifetime. The Service 4.0 integrates tasks from daily
jobs up to high sophisticated big data algorithms, with a focus on customer
needs.”
“I anticipate
things will interlink with each other more. Some of the island solutions will
be brought more and more together to get a big picture. I believe there will be
more open platforms developed for everyone. For me, Industry 4.0 is not only
about introducing a new technology, it is also about presenting a new business
model. We will see more new, disruptive solutions coming out.”
Commenting on
the sustainability trend, he said it is important to reduce the waste before
talking about saving energy and water. He revealed, “We invested €3
million for a new advanced non-woven laboratory, which will be opened in fall
this year in Leitz, Austria. Our ultimate goal is to recycle different
products, not only pure natural fibers, but also carbon fibers and mixed
composites.”
Habasit rolls
out new patented smart printing blanket
Habasit, a global belting manufacturer
headquartered in Switzerland, showcased its comprehensive portfolio of textile
industry solutions, ranging from its new, patented “smart” printing blanket to
belts for yarn processing and nonwoven materials manufacture.
As explained by Luca Rovacchi, Industry Segment Manager
for Textile at Habasit, the new digital printing technology requires extremely
high printing blanket positioning accuracy. The challenge now is to improve on
this, especially since the extremely high printing accuracy needed by
high-resolution printheads on single-pass printing machines cannot be entirely
achieved using traditional printing blankets.
In view of this, Habasit presented its
game-changing concept belt - Smart printing blanket at ITMA 2019. The company used
a “live” test/demonstrator bench to present its patented concept for the
printing blanket with an integrated linear encoder.
“This leading-edge technology features a magnetic
field acting like an electronic tape measure embedded in the belt. Put simply,
this lets sensors read the exact measurements of the belt and coordinate with
the printheads to attain even greater printing precision by actively
compensating for unavoidable mechanical imprecisions. We want visitors to see
what the future of digital textile printing will look like,” he illustrated.
In addition, for the first time at ITMA, Habasit
presented not only its fabric belts but also its plastic modular belts and
timing belts for yarn processing and non-woven applications.
Rovacchi underscored that the non-woven market will
become more and more important as nonwoven textiles are increasingly used in
areas ranging from hygiene and medicine, to automotive component manufacture,
to geo-textiles. “We are taking a growing market share for our belts used with
the crosslapper machines that produce nonwoven textiles,” he said.
A.Piovan
premieres mini sanfor rubber belt for tapes
A.Piovan S.R.L., an Italian manufacturer of rubber
roller coverings, presented its complete range for the textile industry at ITMA
2019.
According to Stefania Castrignano, Business
Development Assistant, A. Piovan S.R.L.,
the company launched the mini sanfor for tapes for
the first time at the show. The mini sanfor features high temperature
resistance, excellent abrasion resistance and no stretching inner plies.
For sanfor rubber belt, there are three different
rubber compounds available for different fabric features, such as denim, light
fabric and viscose.
As introduced, A.Piovan supplies sanfor belt up to
four-meter width and the company can customize the Sanfor belt according to
customer’s requirement. The innovative manufacturing process allows A.Piovan to
manufacture a belt without any bubbles inside.
The sanfor belt is made of 100% natural rubber with
two layers of different components: The external part with an excellent grip offers
optimum shrinking action, while the smooth inner part prevents inner peeling
and allows the belt to function freely.
SICAM debuts
spun lace and spun bond machinery
Italian machinery and complete plant manufacturer
for textile and nonwoven industries SICAM released its spun lace and spun bond
machinery for the first time at ITMA this year.
The spun lace line produces nonwoven products, such
as cotton pads, wipes and light webs laminated products. In this line, the hydroentangled web is dried in a
high efficiency 3 passes oven to reach softness and bulkiness in the final
product.
After forming section of the web, the water jet
machine bonds the fibers on the hydroentanglement principle and a proper oven
evaporate the water, making the web ready for winding. The web forming is
obtained by traditional carding machine or airlay technology according to the
final products.
On the other hand, the spun bond line is used for the
production for roofing, civil engineering, technical felts, separators for
batteries and carriers of PVC flooring.
After the forming, the web is needle punched,
thermo fixed, calibrated, impregnated, pre dried, dried, cured, calibrated and
rolled.