 |
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - The Picanol booth in Hall 9 drew numerous visitors during the International Exhibition of Textile Machinery (ITMA) here with 15-minute fashion shows staged several times each day. The Belgium-based company, part of the Global Textile Partner group, showed its latest weaving machines and technology. |
By Devin Steele
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - Perhaps Peter Brust, president of American Dornier, Charlotte, NC, best summed up the sentiments of a number of exhibitors of the recent International Exhibition of Textile Machinery (ITMA) here.
"It's like when you're invited to a party and you don't want to go," Brust said. "But when you get there, it turns out to be a great party."
Dornier was referring to the locale of ITMA, Birmingham, a first time host of the quadrennial event.
"When the decision was made that Birmingham was going to be the place for the next ITMA, there were many rumors about bad organization, lack of infrastructure and so on," he said. "And as a result we were not looking forward to going to the ITMA. But it turned out to be a great place - very well organized."
More impressions of the show, along with new innovations, are summarized here. Information was gleaned from surveys, on-the-floor interviews and press materials.
Lindauer Dornier GmbH demonstrated innovative advances in finishing machines for circular fabrics to complement the new performance generation of airjet and rapier weaving machines, as well as new machine models for leno and terry weaving.
New developments cover the complete textile machines product line. Innovative advances in finishing machines for circular fabrics complement the new performance generation of airjet and rapier weaving machines, as well as new machine models for leno and terry weaving, the company said.
"Dornier never stops developing," Brust said. "And we are always a great source of new information and new innovation."
The new generation of Dornier type AS airjet weaving machines has been in operation since 2002. This performance level has now also been integrated in its PS rapier weaving machines within the scope of its system family.
New developments in filling insertion on airjet weaving machines demonstrated positive influences on universality, energy consumption and ease of operation, Brust said.
All three airjet weaving machines on the Dornier stand ran with the new, patented pressure regulation, ServoControl. This minimizes thread load and allows automatic, reproducible pressure adjustment, for yarn lot changes as well, plus higher performance with better final fabric quality, the company.
The machines were fitted with Dornier's new patented air cushion guide, AirGuide.
Dornier also showed a newly developed terry airjet weaving machine, ServoTerry. The decisive advantage over existing systems is the direct drive for terry movement using a servomotor, the company said. This allows varying pile interlacing and infinitely adjustable pile heights during running.
Another new presentation was a wide airjet weaving machine producing PP carpet backing with the new EasyLeno technology. Eliminating shedding device, shafts and leno heddles brings up to 100 percent performance improvement over classic methods, Brust said.
The biggest ITMA news for Epic Enterprises, based in Southern Pines, NC, was the company realized a need for its products in emerging textile markets, according to Mark Warren, international sales manager.
"The challenge is how to operate at very low price points and maintain superior quality," he said. "Another concern is how to be competitive in these new markets without giving away our years of research and product develop."
Epic is a manufacturer of replacement parts for Volkmann/Saurer & Verdol/ICBT cablers & 2X1 twisting machines; and for Superba and Suessen carpet yarn heatsetting machines. The company also makes Epi-Mark colored yarn and fabric markers, reconditions lubricated spinning and twisting rings and sells new and reconditioned lubricated ring assemblies.
The show provided a platform for Epic to aggressively seek new opportunities to market its products and services in the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and Pacific Rim countries.
"Our International efforts in Mexico, South America, Australia, Europe and South Africa have proven to us, that even in areas with difficult market conditions, we can be successful," Warren said.
At ITMA, Warren said he saw equipment and vendors he did not know existed.
"For sure, I would say that there are many new manufacturers of textile equipment, especially ones competing for the more sophisticated producers," he said. "I have never seen so many new vendors from so many places offering such diversity. I would think that most U.S. visitors saw first hand just how competitive and aggressive foreign producers and suppliers have become."
While the show provided good exposure, there were some drawbacks to its being stage in the UK, he added.
"We were pleased that so many people recognized Epic products from our advertising efforts," he said. "I do, however, believe that the show was in the wrong place. It should have been in more centrally located in Europe. The show was also very expensive for us due to the conversion rate of the British pound."
Eltex U.K. Ltd. shared its stand with other members of the Eltex Group.
On the stand were two weaving machines. One was a Picanol Gammax running an HS2000 64 end jacquard with servo control. Eltex UK Ltd. has worked closely with Picanol to bring an outstanding servo-control product to the market, according to Mike Smith of Eltex USA.
The other weaving machine is a G6300 from Sulzer Tessile/SMIT Textile and was running an HS2000 Jacquard with 128 ends and used its unique servo control system. This Jacquard also demonstrated the ability of any single Eltex Jacquard to weave name edge's with different wording on each edge, Smith said.
"We're excited about these products," Smith said. "It's a good product offering. And it was a show, with a lot of traffic. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of Americans who were there."
Italy-based BTSR International generated a number of leads during the show, according to Scott Yates of PAF Sales, its U.S. representative.
"We've seen a variety of people," he said. "Fortunately, I've seen all my carpet people. Carpet people are strong obviously in the U.S. industry. And they've made their way in, looking to spend capital dollars. I have also seen a lot of technical textile people."
Yarn cleaners, yarn break detectors, warp stop motions, weft stop motions and feed wheel units were on display in the company's booth.
BTSR has recently launched a range of products with particularly innovative technology and application characteristics for the textile sector. Among products is a yarn feeder called KTF100RW, designed for yarn preparation machines, which drew a lot of attention at ITMA, Yates said.
This system is borne from the experience gained with the KTF/100HP yarn feeder and is mainly aimed at being applied on yarn preparation machines such as winding machines, doubling machines, cop winders, reeling machines and so on.
"It's a very strong, strong product for the heavy denier people," Yates said.
Hubtex, with North American operations in Spartanburg, SC, highlighted its fully motorized warp beam trucks with pattern device and its fully motorized high lift trucks.
"We made a lot of contacts, most quality contacts," said Markus Heinis, president of Hubtex North America, Inc. "We didn't make many contacts from the U.S., but again those we did meet were quality contacts."
Heinis added that the company did register some sales on the floor and made some good leads with potential North American customers.
He added that the show was well organized, but reiterated the sentiments of many exhibitors and visitors - that Britain is too expensive compared to other European countries.
As far as international visitors, ITMA met the expectations of Kluber Lubrication's Charles Poston.
"We saw great interest from global visitors," said Poston, sales manager, Jamestown, NC. "Most domestic visitors knew us and just wanted to say hello, but they were glad we were there."
Poston added that his company generated plenty of leads, but "it is up to us to see if business can be generated from the leads. It's too early to tell how much business will be gained."
Kluber supplies specialty greases, oils and pastes for a number of industries.
"We had a lot of interest in our needle oils from Pakistan, India and Asia," Poston said.
Visitors were attracted to Loepfe Brothers Ltd.'s booth by its new yarn clearing system, YarnMaster Zenit, according to Silvano Auciello.
"YarnMaster Zenit is able to detect and eliminate single synthetic fibers
such as polypropylene in cotton, wool or other yarns," he said. "This is a solution designed for winding machines and was shown for first time during a fair."
Indeed, the show exceeded the Switzerland-based company's expectations, Auciello said, adding that he observed few "catalog collectors" and many decision makers.
"We registered sales on the floor," he said. "We expect an impact of sales by (2004) as result of the show."
The show was well organized, he said, but added that the transport system to and from the National Exhibition Centre was not up to speed with that of other cities hosting large trade fairs.
GTI (Graphic Technology, Inc.) of Newburgh, NY, a first-time exhibitor that specializes in high-quality color viewing systems, said it is glad it exhibited.
"We were surprised at how many people are serious about accurate color and working to tight color tolerances - as was evidenced by those many people seeing our viewing products for the first time and expressing genuine interest," said Frederic McCurdy.
Though more non-U.S. visitors greatly outnumbered U.S. visitors, GTI's largest sale at the show was to an American firm, he said.
The company's biggest news from ITMA was the number of people interested in buying its viewing products, as well as the number of resellers from many countries interested in becoming dealers for GTI products, McCurdy said.
"As a company, I believe we underestimated the potential of the textile market," he said.
GTI's moderately priced MiniMatcher series of viewing booths, along with small multi-source desktop viewers, drew the most attention, he added.
"There were more Americans there than I expected and my company came home with good leads," said Preston Aldridge Jr. of sales and marketing firm Ford, Trimble & Associates, Cornelius, NC, who was on hand in the Gaston Systems booth during STN's visit.
Aldridge's firm represents several exhibiting companies, some of which receive orders during ITMA. He said visitors showed a lot of interest in new technologies, particularly new finishing techniques and dispensing.
"We continue to work on leads for more orders," he said.
Concluding a busy year of expansion, SDL Atlas displayed its broader product offerings and attracted increased interest and booth visits from those attending ITMA, officials said.
By bringing the resources and people of SDL, Atlas Textile Test Products, Raitech and Textile Innovators under a single umbrella, the new SDL Atlas has emerged as the largest, most complete global source for textile testing, quality control and laboratory equipment, the company said.
It supplies products and materials for testing of fibers, yarns, fabrics, garments, floor covering, dyeing, finishing, printing and coating, along with general laboratory equipment, ancillaries and consumables.
"The transition of four well-established textile industry vendors into one enterprise has generated added enthusiasm and energy in every area of the company,' said Charles S. Lane, president. "Our larger profile and increased strength in products, services and support have already started to benefit our customers."
Gaining the most inquiries for the Switzerland-based producer of narrow-fabric weaving machines was the Müller MDL, the world's first harness-free Jacquard machine for the production of woven labels, according to Eduard Strebel, manager of marketing services.
The company also showcased its LCFR - label cutting and folding machine; its EGSM - fancy yarn cutting machine; and SMARTEX - software for the electronic production and storage of article cards for weaving and warp knitting.
More U.S. visitors than expected also stopped by the Müller stand, Strebel said.
For the first time Uster Technologies AG presented itself at ITMA 2003 as the new independent Uster Technologies.
The company presented three new products: Uster® Fabriscan On-Loom, an on-loom monitoring system; Uster® Fabriscan, an automatic fabric inspection system now also for denim applications; and Uster® Quantum 2, a "radical" innovation now allowing polypropylene detection.
According to Uster, no system can get closer to the fabric than touching it for quality inspection than the Uster Fabriscan On-Loom. The contact scanner system automatically inspects the entire fabric on the weaving machine, monitoring every millimeter of the fabric and checking it for faults.
Uster Fabriscan is the only automatic fabric inspection system that inspects a broad range of fabrics in one single run. The high detection rate with virtually no false over-detection in contrast to other systems prevents a manual re-evaluation of the captured defect images in a second run, according to the manufacturer. The machine as a novelty reports on the weft bow angle over the entire fabric length and locates off-limit areas.
With the Uster Quantum 2, this is the first time in the history of yarn clearing that reliable detection, removal and classification of polypropylene fibers has been possible - for winding and rotor spinning, Uster said. The unique measuring technique, patented by Uster even ensures detection of white and transparent polypropylene.
Among other products, the company also showed its Uster® Tester 4 sensor technology. The tester with capacitive and optical sensors measures all the necessary criteria and offers an optimal analysis of yarn quality and the spinning process, the firm said.
Uster also demonstrated its Uster® Classimat Quantum, the foreign fiber classification system; Uster® AFIS Pro for fiber process controlling, Uster® TensoJet 4, a weavability and strength tester; and Uster® TensoRapid4, a strength tester for filament and spun yarns.
ITMA marked the world debut for continuous dyeing processes of knitted fabrics, with Monforts' Thermex 6500 Hotflue.
The Thermex 6500 is based on a completely new modular design offering a dramatic improvement in installation set-up times, according to Joe Okey Jr., president of the German firm's U.S. arm. Featuring highly effective 150 mm insulation for reduced thermal energy consumption, the new Hotflue also includes individual roller drives with inverter technology and option Exxotherm indirect gas heating.
Also making its debut was the latest generation of Montex stenters, the Montex 6000 for woven and knitted fabrics. Featuring a new, aesthetically pleasing design offering improved throughput of fabric and ease of access, the Montex 6000 incorporates many new mechanical and electronic features, Okey said.
As market leader of shrinkage machinery, Monforts also exhibited its Toptex system incorporating a number of new features. Special versions are also available for shrinkage of denim.
Monforts also demonstrated is new DynAir 6000 relaxation dryer, which ensures improved performance for finishing of knitted fabrics in open/wide or tubular form, Okey said.
Muratec of Japan showed air-jet spinning machines, doffing machines and devices, automatic piecing devices, automatic transport systems between spinning and winding, doubling and twisting machines cone and cheese winders, precision cone and cheese winders, pirn winders, doubling winders, yarn singeing machines and two-for-one twisters.
Among highlight products demonstrated were the Murata Vortex Spinner, an air-jet spinning machine; and the 21C Process Coner, a high-quality automatic winder.
"The 21-C first was introduced about two years ago and we've installed 75,000 positions," said Bill Gray, sales manager of Murata of America, Charlotte, NC. "It's a really successful winder and we're proud of it."
Jomar Softcorp Inernational of Canada rolled out its Web-based Enterprise + e-business software release for LINUX platforms, aimed at providing a substantial reduction in its customers' IT ownership costs.
Jomar has successfully developed, marketed and installed the portable E+e software across multi-platforms configured for industry-specific applications in small to midsize companies and multinational corporations.
Jomar's E+e multi-platform software technology has been installed across MS SQL Server-Windows, ORACLE-UNIX and DB2 iSeries (OS/400) platforms.
The portability of E+e JAVA component-based technology consolidates its customers' IT infrastructure, reduces their IT ownership costs and protects their IT investment, according to John Blasman Sr.
THRC, based in Canada, showcase eight comprehensive Textile Manufacturing Skills programs covering more than 1,700 topics, including yarn manufacturing, weaving, dyeing & finishing, nonwovens and carpet manufacturing.
In addition, THRC representatives informed visitors that it has recently negotiated with Harvard Business School Publishing and Cardean University (via Thomson Learning, Inc.) to offer business and personal development programs as part of its Workplace Performance Skills offering.
On exhibit by Santex of Switzerland were a web laying machine, thermal bonding machines, a continuous bleaching plant, rope washing machines, open-width washing machines, mercerizing machines for fabrics, padding and impregnating machines, roller squeezers, tentering and stentering machines, thermo-setting machines, tensionless dryers, brushing machines, calendars, finishing machines for knitwear, shrinking machines and padding and impregnating machines.
"There was a lot of speculation about what the turnout would be at the whow, but I think everyone was pleasantly surprised," said Carroll Santos of American Santex, Spartanburg, SC. "We were busy every day. Everyone seemed to have a good show. There were orders taken and that's a good sign."
Better and "more qualified" people visited ITMA 2003 than ITMA 1999 in Paris, according to Ralph von Arx of Retech, Switzerland.
"The interest was more detailed and right to the target," said von Arx. "Unfortunately, there were not so many U.S. visitors. The ones who were there, though, were on the same level as other visitors."
Retech presented what it calls the first-ever spin false twist texturing machine as a one-step process without producing POY. The machine, TEX2000, was specially developed for polypropylene.
Retch also showed a new series of heated godets, with speed up to 6,500 m/min.
The company made some sales on the floor, as well as after the show, von Arx said.
