Shipment of Weaving Machinery

In 2009 world shipment of weaving machinery continued to fall for the second consecutive year for shipment of shuttleless looms and for the third year for shipment of shuttle looms. A document released (May 2010) by the ITMF (International Textile Manufacturers Federation) has shown that world shipment of shuttleless looms in 2009 was down by 3% to 43,400 machines (to be exact 43,417 machines) in which 41,750 machines or 96% of total were shipped to Asia. China was the biggest buyers of shuttleless looms with 25,600 machines or 59% of total world shipments in 2009, followed by Bangladesh with 8,400 machines (or 19%), India 3,450 machines (or 8%), Indonesia 1,760 machines (or 4%), and Vietnam 750 machines (or 2%).

World shipments of rapier and projectile shuttleless looms were found to increase by 31% in 2009 while shipments of them to Asia surged by 47%.  However, shipment of air-jet looms to Asia plunged by 40% in 2009. As a result, it can be seen that the share of rapier and projectile looms by Asian weaving industry has increased from 38% to 54% in 2009 which is the highest level since records began. This also indicates that the Asian weaving industry is moving up-market due to the fact that rapier and projectile looms are often used for weaving fabrics which are more complicated and of higher added value than fabrics made on air-jet looms. In addition to these reasons, rapier and projectile looms can offer more product variety as well as can produce smaller batches more efficiently.

It was found that in 2009 weaving mills in Bangladesh and China have significantly increased their shipments of rapier and projectile looms in which the shipment to Bangladesh increased by 181% and that to China increased by 27%.

Recently ITMF has revealed an estimation of the 2010 world shipment of textile machinery as that world shipment of shuttleless looms in 2010 will increase significantly to around 109,400 machines (43,417 machines in 2009) while shipment of circular knitting machines will increase to 37,500 machines (25,436 machines in 2009) and shipment of electronic flat knitting machines will tremendously increase to 99,700 machines (17,838 machines in 2009).

For shipment of shuttle looms, a report published by the Textiles Intelligence has shown that the shipment was down by 29.2% in 2009 to 484 machines and India was the only major buyer in 2009 with 482 machines or 99.6% of total shipment while the other two machines were shipped to Nepal.

According to a statistical report by VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen-und Anlagenbau-German Engineering Federation), Germany and Italy were the two leading textile machinery exporting countries in 2009 with values of 1,813 and 986 million euros respectively, followed by Japan with 865 million euros as well as China and Hong Kong with 845 million euros. As for Germany, the report shows that during January to July 2010 Germany’s machinery export for weaving sector reached 116 million euros (up 52.1%); for spinning sector 482 million euros (up 56%); for knitting and hosiery sector 467 million euros (up 34.5%); and for finishing sector 342 million euros (up 28.2%).

Production of Woven Fabric

ITMF has recently revealed the 2010 production costs of woven ring yarn fabric as that Italy had a total cost of 1.48 US$/meter of fabric, Turkey 1.07 US$/meter of fabric, Brazil 1.02 US$/meter of fabric, China 1.01 US$/meter of fabric, USA 0.99 US$/meter of fabric, Egypt 0.96 US$/meter of fabric, Korea 0.95 US$/meter of fabric, and India 0.84 US$/meter of fabric.

In terms of production output, a report by the United Nations/Euromonitor International has shown that the 2010 production output of woven cotton fabric in India was 28,549.8 million m², USA 1,555.3 million m², Russia 1,476.3 million m², Pakistan 962.5 million m², Vietnam 256.3 million m², Germany 218.2 million m², Hong Kong 199.4 million m², and Japan 191 million m². The report by United Nations/Euromonitor International has also shown that the 2010 production output of woven woolen fabric in Russia was 28.4 million m², USA 18.5 million m², Lithuania 18.2 million m², Czech Republic 17.4 million m², Germany 17 million m², and Spain 10 million m².

WEAVING TECHNOLOGY

Picanol 

Last year, there were several main events taking place in Picanol. During the first six months of 2010, Picanol introduced its new airjet weaving machine OMNIplus-X. In June 2010, the 300,000^th weaving machine was made in Picanol. And closing to the 2010 financial year, the Picanol Group announced a net profit of 35.24 million euros, compared to a net loss of -23.52 million euros in 2009. As for the year of 2011, the Picanol Group will celebrate its 75^th anniversary.

Last year Picanol offered a feature for airjet weaving without the filling catch cord. The cordless feature has a mechanical clamp, at the machine’s right hand side, moving along with the reed. Based on several weaving tests, the cordless design has shown various advantages including improved filling tension evenness, decreased air consumption, improved selvage quality, increased speeds on delicate yarn and significantly reduced filling waste when weaving with elastic yarns. The cordless feature is fully automatic and is compatible with all types of reeds.

The Picanol OMNIplus 800 is an airjet weaving machine that is easily adapted for up to 8 pick insertion. It is equipped with standard features such as AIC/Q (adaptive insertion control), ELCA (electronic low continuous airflow control), and separate control between fixed and movable main nozzle (new generation). All these features have allowed the OMNIplus 800 to be used for weaving yarns finer than Ne 80/1. In addition, a fast change of the shedding mechanism is available in this machine, thanks to a system developed by Picanol and Stäubli.

Picanol OMNIplus 800

Recently Picanol has developed the latest generation of OptiMax rapier weaving machine to fulfill the market changes for a variety of work, such as the various open forms, different forms of woven edge, multi-shaft weaving by weaving flat or leno side edge and so on. This machine can control the whole process of weft, weft efficient and waste less, and thus maximize the use of raw materials.  Furthermore, it can optimize the weaving process by minimizing the stop time and the energy usage.

Stäubli 

The new type SX jacquard machine has been introduced by Stäubli for modern jacquard weaving mills. The machine is available in 2 sizes, 1408 and 2688 hooks. It can be adapted for rapier, airjet and projectile weft insertion systems and can weave all fabric types such as plain, terry, velvet and technical textiles. Thanks to the new drive mechanism, the Stäubli SX generates only low noise and ultra low vibration. It allows better accessibility to all jacquard components such as modules, shed, filters, and Quick Link. It is equipped with the Stäubli M6 type module and is controlled by the modern color touch-screen controller JC6. All Stäubli harnesses (S550, HESTA, and G1000 range) can fit the new SX and thus make the production speed reaching up to 1,000 rpm, depending on type of fabric produced (up to 550 rpm for S550 range, up to 1,000 rpm for G1000 range, and all types of speed for HESTA range).

ITEMA Weaving 

ITEMA Weaving has recently introduced its latest Vamatex R880 rapier weaving machine with speed of up to 550 picks/min and a maximum weft insertion rate of 1,200 m/min.

The unique rapier drive system is based on the proven Propeller. Due to its very strong steel side frames combined with rigid and sturdy cross members, the Vamatex R880 runs with high stability and low vibrations. Style changes and warp changes are fast and easy on this machine (because it’s easy to open spring locks and the warp beam gear wheel is on the machine). All gear transmissions are immersed in oil and virtually maintenance free. The low number of moving parts results in low energy consumption. A low stress on the weft yarn is found during weaving due to a straight weft insertion line and low weft acceleration. The electronically controlled warp let off is fully synchronized with the cloth take up and this provides a constant warp tension from full to empty warp beam. The warp tension is controlled by means of the back rest roller and a sensor. All these features result in the production of superior quality fabric.

Dornier

 Dornier has made an announcement that Dr. Adnan Wahhoud, head of the development department for airjet weaving machines, and his team of Lindauer Dornier GmbH will receive an award from the Techtextil (May 24-26, 2011) the 2011 Innovation Prize in the category “New Technology” for their Open Reed Weave (ORW) technology. This technology has been put into practice on the latest generation of Dornier airjet and rapier weaving machines. Stitch weaving is on an airjet weaving machine for the production of home textiles and multiaxial weaving is on a rapier weaving machine for the production of technical textiles, complex leno bindings, multiaxes and additional reinforcing. The development on the weaving process and the main elements on weaving machines result in ability to lead some of the threads running in warp direction out of the reed and back into the reed gaps as required by the pattern without disturbing the warp ends of the ground fabric.

Jakob Müller 

Jakob Müller NH2 53 is an electronically controlled needle loom for producing light- and medium-weight, elastic and non-elastic narrow fabrics with infinite repeat lengths. Shed formation is completed by linear motors mounted directly on the heald shafts. Both the weft and auxiliary thread transports are electronically controlled and infinitely adjustable. As a result, NH2 53 requires fewer mechanical components and provides an approximately 35% decrease in power consumption (i.e. max. 1 kW).  Patterning can take place using a maximum of 16 heald shafts.

Van de Wiele 

 Van de Wiele introduces the double and triple rapier carpet and rug Pioneer CRP92/03 for increasing productivity, flexibility, carpet quality, life time of parts, and weaving width up to 5m. The CRP92/03 weaves at industrial speeds up to 200rpm with high weaving efficiency and minimal incorporated pile by using split lancet holders and laying the pile yarn in layers for easy shedding and less yarn tension. A nice even pile surface is ensured by the globoid knife drive and anti-vibration supports of the knife rail. Even weaving at high speed and larger width, the air cushion guiding of the rapiers will help minimizing the wear.

An optional servo driven shafts facility on the machine gives the flexibility for a frequent change of weave structure and carpet quality. A servo motor driven filling selector is also available when fancy ground effects are needed. Furthermore, the CRP92/03 also features the Human Machine Interface (HMI) to enable a pictogram based communication between man and machine for settings, follow-up, control and maintenance.

Karl Mayer

 Karl Mayer has recently developed a compact sizing machine for short warp sizing, comparable to that provided by conventional sizing machine. The machine joins the Gir-O-Matic sample warping machine as part of Karl Mayer’s warp preparation solution for flexible, efficient production of short warps, reflecting a trend- especially in high-fashion markets toward smaller product runs. It generates less waste compared to other systems available now and has a space-saving design consisting of two levels. At the low level, the take-off device, sizing system and beaming machine are set in a line. At the top level (a ladder is needed), an infrared (IR) air dryer, subsequent cylinder dryer and vertical sub-drying zone are also arranged in a line.

Karl Mayer’s compact size.

The compact size has a capacity of 15 meters with the drying machine and 6 meters without it. Less sizing agent is required and thus helps reducing the incidence of stop marks and waste yarn. The sizing agent can be applied to the warp yarn either via conventional hot size application by spraying or using cold size application via double kiss rollers. Both application systems have their own circulation systems and different heat-supply concepts. In term of drying, a combination of air/IR drying and contact cylinder dryers is used. The drying zone contains a 240-kW gas heater that offers drying performance of 40-50% at 60 m/min processing speed. The compact size also includes a steam jet pump, responsible for recirculation of the cylinder steam in order to increase heat transfer and drying efficiency.