“Optimised production and full resource efficiency are of paramount importance to TMAS member customers in China,” says TMAS Secretary General Therese Premler-Andersson. “As a result, now, more than ever, we anticipate heightened interest in the innovations that will be showcased at the forthcoming ITMA Asia + CITME in Shanghai.”

The astonishing success of China’s economy in recent years has also seen wages soaring and made it difficult for textile manufacturers to find and retain trained machine operators. This is where bespoke automation concepts can help.

“Our member companies have been forced into testing new working methods, looking at what it’s possible to do remotely and how to exploit automation to the full during the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to become more flexible,” says Premler-Andersson. “The situation has not only resulted in further transparency and openness, but more than ever before, a need for both speed and simplicity.”

Bespoke solutions

A specialist in automated concepts is ES Automatex, the provider of bespoke cutting, sewing and folding equipment solutions for the production of bedding, towels, curtains and table linen.

Extremely simple to operate and control, the company’s latest FT0-6880-D pillow manufacturing system achieves an impressive 60% in fabric savings from standard length fabrics in converting.

“The FT0-6880-D is unique in working length-to-length with the fabric to fully construct the pillows, incorporating the folding of the flap and turnover, prior to automatic stitching,” explains ES Automatex managing director Stefan Persson. “This is made possible by a proprietary two-sided folding section, whereas the industry standard is for fabrics to be folded and stitched length-to-width, resulting in tremendous wastage. It sounds simple, but it took some intensive development work to perfect. We have a number of similar concepts we will be happy to discuss with visitors to ITMA Asian in Shanghai.”

Full monitoring

Eltex is meanwhile achieving considerable success with its yarn fault detection and tension monitoring systems across a range of sectors, including the creeling of woven materials and advanced systems for the sewn products sector

The company’s UPG-Stitch thread break sensor is based on the piezoelectric principle and is suitable for all types of yarns while being insensitive to dust, dirt, and humidity variations.

The Eltex thread sensor is designed to monitor up to six intermittent running threads on automatic sewing machines. The eyelets are electronically scanned, and both broken and continuously moving threads are identified, allowing yarn movement to be precisely monitored even at low yarn tension.