March 2018 web file

State Policy Comparison : Gujarat & Maharashtra Cotton Weather (Yield Forecast) April 2018 Economy / Global/ Market Report Interview : Prashant Group / Globe Textiles R&D Update : InspirOn Back to Basic : Basic Textile Concepts Sustainable Fibre : Hemp Technical Article : A Synopsis on Coating & Lamination

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SIRIUS TWISTING TECHNOLOGY

Excellence through time

Sirius represents the Savio proposal in the field of traditional Two-forone twisting, ensuring high structural standardization, a wide range of feeding and spindle dimensions for every yarn type and count.

The electronic solutions simplify the operator intervention, allowing to obtain every possible combination of parameters in order to reach the best output working condition.

SIMPLE, RELIABLE STATE OF THE ART TWISTING

Excellence through time

Cosmos represents a further Savio proposal in the field of traditional Two-for-one twisting, ensuring maximum cost-effectiveness of the technological process through manufacturing solutions that allow a reduction in investment with a minimum of energy consumption.

In this way, the machine productivity, the quality of the end product, the technological flexibility are maximized together with low investment cost.

SAVIO MACCHINE TESSILI S.P.A. 33170 PORDENONE (Italy) Via Udine, 105 www.saviospa.com March 2018

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SAVIO INDIA LTD Nallattipalayam, Tamaraikulam Post Pollachi, Coimbatore 642109 Tamil Nadu, India Phone : +91 4259 304555 Fax : +91 4259 304567 www.savioindia.com

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YEARS

India's Leading Manufacturer & Exporter of

Torrey Twister

GRIPPERS Picanol/Dornier/Vamatex/Sulzer/Somet

TEMPLE RINGS/ROLLERS

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RAPIER TAPES Picanol/Dornier/Vamatex/Sulzer/Somet

TEMPLES

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Physical Trading Division: - Cotton/ Cotton Waste/ Cotton linters - All Yarns and textile Goods All Fibres - Commercial Services: - Natural : Bamboo, Kenaf, Hemp, Jute, Wool etc.

- Man Made: Cellulosic – Viscose, Polyester Staple Fibre, Acrylic, Aramids, Polyurethane, Polystyrene, Polyethylene, Carbon fibre, Glass fibre, Ceramic Fibre etc.

- New and Speciality Fibres.

Services & Intermediation: - Consultancy & Advisory - Research & Guidance - Procurement & Supply - Broking Services - Commission House & Ancillaries - Other Agricultural & Textile Items

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F S S

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March 2018 Landline: www.textilevaluechain.com +91-261-2391200 | Email: info@smspinners.com

| Web : www.smspinning.com

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SKBS SHREE BALAJI SYNFABS

MR.SURESH SARAF

MR. NAYAN SARAF

Contact: Suresh Saraf+91 9322 50 4449 / +91 9322 10 4449 | Nayan Saraf - +91 7498 88 1400 Office Landline - 91-22-6002 0119 / 9699 25 8834 Email : sureshsaraf2000@yahoo.co.in | info@shreebalajisynfabs.com sureshsaraf@shreebalajisynfabs.com | Website : www.shreebalajisynfabs.com

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CONTENT BSUSTAINABLE FIBRE 13- Clothing from Hemp Fibre by Mr. N.N. Mahapatra INTERVIEW 43- Amoli Shah, Director of Prashant Group

MARCH 2018 ISSUE

44- Bhavin Parikh, CEO, Global Textiles (India) Ltd.

EDITORIAL TEAM Editor and Publisher Ms. Jigna Shah Chief Editor Mr. Bhavesh Thakar Editorial Assistant Mrs. Namsha Graphic Designer Mr. Anant A. Jogale

39- STATE POLICY COMPARISON- Gujarat & Maharashtra

INDUSTRY

MARKET REPORT

ECONOMY & GLOBAL FOCUS 19- How Worried Should EMs be as DM Yields Head Higher?

By Mr. Abhishek Goenka, IFA Global

21- China Artificial Intelligence Power House

By Mr. Arvind Sinha, Business Advisors

15- Surat Report

Mr. Devchand Chheda City Editor - Vyapar ( Janmabhumi Group) Mr. Manohar Samuel President, Birla Cellulose, Grasim Industries Dr. M. K. Talukdar VP, Kusumgar Corporates Mr. Shailendra Pandey VP (Head – Sales and Marketing), Indian Rayon Mr. Ajay Sharma GM RSWM (LNJ Bhilwara Group) Mr. Avinash Mayekar Consulting Editor Dr. N.N. Mahapatra President, Colorant Ltd.

16- Yarn Report- High Domestic Continue To Dent Exports 18- Yarn Report- Fibre to Yarn Pricing Trend in February 20- Cotton Weather (Yield Forecast) April 2018 27- R&D UPDATE: Inspiron 38-BACK TO BASIC : Definitions of some basic terms of Fibre Properties 30- TECHNICAL ARTICLE : A Synopsis on Coating & Lamination in Textile Process & Application by WRA Scientist 22- NEWS : ITMA 2019

EDUCATION / RESEARCH

EVENT REPORT

Mr. B.V. Doctor HOD knitting, SASMIRA Dr. Ela Dedhia Associate Professor, Nirmala Niketan College Dr. Mangesh D. Teli Professor, Dean ICT Dr. S.K. Chattopadhyay Principal Scientist and Head MPD Dr. Rajan Nachane Retired Scientist, CIRCOT

23- ITAMMA Awards 25- Textile Care Forum 26- ICE Delegation visit to CAI 26- Intex South Asia 2017 46- China Home Life 42- SHOW CALENDAR

Advertiser Index Back Page : Raymond

Page5: SGS Innovation

Page10: SKBS

Back Inside: Picanol

Page6: GENTEX

Page47: ITMA ASIA 2018

Front Inside: Raysil

Page7: Kotak Commodities

Page48: TPF

Page3: Savio

Page8: Non Woven Tech Asia 2018

Page49: OMAX & BST ARN

Page4: Sanjay Plastic

Page9: SM Spinning

Page50: Oerlikon

March 2018

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EDITORIAL

Maharashtra Textile Policy 2018-2022 : Rural Farm Sector Focus..!!!

M

aharashtra, being 45 % urbanised state with 11.24 crore population as per 2011 census, accounting 9.3 % of the total population of the country with geographical area 3.08 lakh sq.km. State having abundant natural resources, good connectivity with developed infrastructure facility, and this textile policy is focusing on rural Maharashtra, as special focus given on Vidarbha, Marathwada & North Maharashtra.

Maharashtra is having abundance natural resources of cotton, silk and wool sectors. Raw cotton utilised only 25 % by the state and grey fabric is sent out of state for processing. Policy is aimed at reducing gap of this production and processing, resulting into integrated farming to marketing value chain.

New textile policy of Indian state of Maharashtra has the provision of privatisation of spinning mills and power loom societies in the state. The new textile industry policy will offer them an opportunity to change the use of land provided, under the ‘one-time exit policy’.

Capital subsidy will be continued with some additional benefits to self financing projects for cotton growing areas like Vidharbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra.

Processing projects under ETP/ CETP/ ZLD will be eligible for this subsidy.

Special incentive extended by Maharashtra Government to green technology i.e. Solar and Wind energy projects.

Reduced Power subsidy given to co-operative spinning mills, power looms as per subsidy clauses mentioned.

Marketing & branding with textile fairs, seminar, workshops will be organised in focus area of Maharashtra to attract investors and promote industrialist, hand loom products, cotton bales etc. To boost the Handloom products, collaboration with NIFT will have benefit at a longer run.

Training courses maximise the impact of ISD, ITIs developed for cooperative spinning mills which will be increasing the overall productivity.

To promote silk industry, agriculture research, promoting farmers, training etc many such facilities given to silk farming community. Special incentives given to non conventional yarn like bamboo, banana, maize, ambadi, ghaypat etc to support farmers.

Overall this textile policy is to support rural India, processing sector and farming community. Processing being highest water consumption industry, farmers not getting water to harvest food grains (primary necessity), will textile industry get water to finish the raw fabrics?? Hope Time will do the needful for our industry with best solution.

Wish you Productive and Fruitful Financial Year ending..!!!

Ms. Jigna Shah

Editor and Publisher All rights reserved Worldwide; Reproduction of any of the content from this issue is prohibited without explicit written permission of the publisher. Every effort has been made to ensure and present factual and accurate information.

The views expressed in the articles published in this magazine are that of the respective authors and not necessarily that of the publisher. Textile Value chain is not responsible for any unlikely errors that might occur or any steps taken based in the information provided herewith.

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Registered Office Innovative Media and Information Co. 189/5263, Sanmati, Pantnagar, Ghatkopar (East), Mumbai 400075.

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March 2018

SUSTAINABLE FIBER

CLOTHING FROM HEMP FIBRE

N

ature and organic fibres become more and more popular these years. Most of people come to realize that nature, soft and health yare the most important things of the textile. Hemp is naturally one of the most ecologically friendly fabrics and also the oldest. The Columbia history of the world states that the oldest relics of human industry are b its of Hemp fabric discovered in tombs dating back to approximately 8000 B. C. Hemp is called a fibre of hundred uses. The significance of Hemp to the economic and day to day lives of our ancestors is increasingly being recognized. It was important for textile, paper, rope and oil production. Indeed, Hemp was so important in England in the sixteenth century that King Henry VIII passed an act of parliament which fined farmers who failed to grow the crop. Besides fabrics, Hemp is also used in the production of paper. The oldest piece of paper – over 2000 yrs old – was discovered in China and is made from Hemp. Until 1883, between 75 % and 90 % of all paper in the world was made with Hemp fiber. Hemp paper can also be recycled more times than wood – based paper.

Hemp is a bast fibre plant similar to Flax, Kenaf, Jute and Ramie. Long slender primary fibres on the outer portion of the stalk characterize bast fibre plants. It was probably used first in Asia. Hemp is also one of the bast fibres known to ancient Asians, long before the birth of Christ.

The primary hemp fibre is attached to the core fibre by Pectin – a glue –like soluble gelatinous carbohydrate. The primary hemp fibres can be used for composities, reinforcements and speciality pulp and paper. The wood-like core Hemp fibre can be used for animal bedding, garden mulch, fuel and an assortment of building materials.

Hemp also produces an oil seed that contains between 25 to 35 % oil by weight, which is high in essential fatty acids considered to be necessary to maintain health.

The composition of Hemp is as follows: Alpha cellulose

62-67 %.

Hemi cellulose

8-15 %

Lignin

4%

Ash

5%

Wax

1%

Hemp (Cannabis sativa) could be an important crop enabling the production of environmentally – friendly, locally produced high quality textiles. Hemp is an annual plant that grows from seed. It can be grown on a range of soils, but tends to grow best on land that produces high yields of corn. The soil must be well drained, rich in nitrogen, and non-acidic. Hemp requires limited pesticides because it grows so quickly and attracts few pests.

Hemp is a traditional fibre crop which for centuries was

March 2018

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important in meeting our needs for textiles, paper and oils. It is easy to grow organically, without a need for artificial pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers, so it can make an important contribution to a sustainable future. The production of cotton, on the other hand needs lot of pesticide. Hemp is environmentally friendly in many ways. It can displace the use of cotton, which requires massive amount of chemicals harmful to people and the environment. The production of cotton consumes 50 % of the pesticides sprayed in the entire world. Hemp has a deep root system that helps to prevent soil erosion, removes toxins, provides a disease break, and aerates the soil to the benefit of future crops. True hemp is a fine, light – coloured, lustrous, and strong bast fibre, obtained from the hemp plant, “cannabis sativa“. A plant similar to jute grown in many countries. When spun, it is rather like flax but thicker and coarser. It is a very strong fibre and is used in the manufacture of carpets, rugs, ropes etc, but has limited use because bleaching is difficult.

Hemp is a renewable resource which grows more quickly and easily than trees making hemp more cost effective than waiting decades for trees to grow to be used in man – made fiber production such as Lyocell and Rayon from wood pulps. The bark of the hemp stalk contains bast fibers, which are among the earth’s longest natural soft fibers and also rich in cellulose.

The term “Hemp“ is often incorrectly used in a generic sense for fibres from different plants e. g. ;Manila“Hemp“, Sisal“Hemp“ , Sunn“Hemp“etc. Hemp is grown in countries like Canada, U. S. A, France, Hungary, Belgium, Holland, Thailand, Austria, Italy, China, Philippine island, Russia, Mexico, Germany, West Indies and India. In India Deccan Hemp is grown both as crop and hedge plant. It is cultivated largely in Maharastra, Tamil Nadu and north Gujarat. It can be grown in all temperate and tropical countries of the world. Currently the bulk of our demand for textiles is met by cotton and synthetics, both of which have serious environmental problems associated with them.

Following are the steps required for Hemp processing in textiles: 1. Retting - Harvesting is done with a conventional combine harvester machine. Once cut, the plants, which are composed of two types of fibre – long outer fibres suitable for textiles, and short inner fibre suitable for paper or industrial applications – are left in the field for about 10 to 20 days to “ ret‘.

Retting are if two types: a. Water Retting –It involves lying the stems in water in tanks, ponds or in streams for around 10 days –it is more effective if the water is warm and bacteria laden.

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SUSTAINABLE FIBER b. Dew Retting -It is a natural process that is triggered by dew that falls on the crop each morning. After cutting, the hemp stemswere laid parallel in rows to dew ret. the stems needed turning at least once (sometimes) twice in order to allow for even retting. Retting (or rotting) being the name given to the process where by bacteria and fungi breakdown the pectins that bind the fibres to the stem allowing the fibre to be released. Retting is complete when the fibre bundles appear white, separate from the woody core and divide easily into individual finer fibres for their full length. Once this process is complete (dry), the stalks are collected and sent to the “decortication“machine.

The major Hemp varieties are calledF 34, F 56, Uniko BF and Kompolti.

2. Decortication - In this process the de-leafed Hemp stems are then dried, i. e. Conditioned and freed from wood kernel in a sequence of squeeze, break and scotching processes. In other words it is described as breaking the stems by passing through a “breaker “or fluted rollers.

Then the fibre is separated from the woody core (“scotching“) by beating the broken stems with a beech stick or passing through rotary blades.

3. Softening – By using a so called Hemp softener or roller, the decorticated fibres are made softer and more supple.

4. Combing - The shortening of the initial fibre lengths from upto 3 m down to 650 mm is done on a special cutting machine. Then the short and tangled fibres are combed out, the long fibres are parallelized and smoothed using a hackling machine. In other words “hackling“(combing) means to remove any woody particles and to further align the fibres into a continuous “sliver “for spinning.

5. Spinning – After several drawing and doubling passages, the manufactured slivers are pre-spun roving yarns and according to quality and the desired yarn fineness, spun into Hemp yarn by wet or dry spinning processes.

Although as Hemp is coarser than Flax, the pins on the board for drafting the combed fibre into a sliver needed to be set differently. The rove produced was then boiled in caustic soda to refine it and most of the yarn was bleached with hydrogen peroxide. As it is similar to Flax fibres, generally the best yarns are obtained by wet spinning, in which fibres are allowed to pass through a trough of hot water before being spun. This softens the Pectin allowing a greater drawing out and separation of the fibres and producing a finer yarn (greater than 12 Nm).

Dry spinning is cheaper, producing yarns and fabrics with a different appearance and handle. Using the above process two types of 100% Hemp yarn is made known as long yarn and short yarn. . Normally the counts are Nm 7/1, Nm 8. 5/1, Nm 10/1, Nm 16/1, Nm 18/1, Nm 24/1 and Nm 36/1.

The above preparatory processing of Hemp fibre incur considerable waste and add significantly to the cost of the fibre which could be made available as a raw textile

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fibre for 3500 USD /tonne. The Hemp was successfully processed to produce non aligned fibres, with a yield of 20-25 %.

Properties of Hemp fibre – Hemp fibre is dark tan or brown and is difficult to bleach, but it can be dyed bright and dark colours. Hemp fibre is a lustrous fibre, has characteristic nodes and joints of linen, but the central canal is wider. The cells are blunt ended, when the fibre is viewed under microscope. The Hemp fibres vary widely in length, depending upon their ultimate use. Industrial fibres may be several inches long, while fibres used for domestic textiles are about ¾ inch to 1 inch (1. 9 to 2. 54 cm) long. The elongation (1 to 6 %) is low and its elasticity poor. The thermal reactions of Hemp and the effect of sunlight are the same as for Cotton. Hemp is moth resistant, but it is not impervious to mildew. Furthermore Hemp has the best ratio of heat capacity of all fibres giving it superior insulation properties.

As a fabric, Hemp provides all the warmth and softness of other natural textiles but with a superior durability seldom found in other materials. Natural organic Hemp fiber “breathes “and is biodegradable.

Hemp fibre is longer, stronger, more absorbent, more mildew resistant and more insulative than Cotton fibre.

There are thirty varieties of Hemp fibre. It is a tall plant with a natural woody fibre. All these varieties resemble one another in general appearance and properties, but only those having fibres of high tensile strength, fineness, and high lustre have commercial value. It resembles flax closely, and its fibre is easily mistaken for linen. Hemp is harsh and stiff and cannot be bleached without harm to the fibre. As Hemp is not pliable and elastic, it cannot be woven into fine fabrics. Hemp is durable and is used in rug and carpet manufacturing. It is especially suitable for ship cordage as it is not weakened or rotted by water, This means that Hemp will keep you warmer in winter and cooler in summer than Cotton. Hemp is more effective at blocking the sun‘s harmful ultraviolet rays. The nature of Hemp fibres make them more absorbent to reactive dyes, vat dyes and sulphur dyes, which coupled with Hemp “s ability to better screen out ultraviolet rays, means that Hemp material is less prone to fading than cotton fabrics are.

Cotton was known of their naturalness, but look at the comparison as below. parameters

cotton

Hemp ( single fibre )

Fibre length ( mm )

20-30

15-25

Fibre diameter (um)

15-19

22-25

Fibre fineness ( tex )

0. 1 – 0. 4

0. 25-0. 52

Specific weight ( gm/ cm3)

1. 52

1. 47

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March 2018

SUSTAINABLE FIBER Tensile strength ( N tex –1)

0. 15-0. 55

0. 53-0. 62

Breaking elongation (%)

06-Oct

03-Apr

Blending of Hemp fibre Like Cotton, Hemp can be made into a variety of fabrics , including high quality Linen. When blended with materials such as Cotton, Linen, and Silk, Hemp provides a sturdier, longer lasting product, while maintaining quality and softness.

Hemp Active, an Austrian company supplies Hemp blended yarn which is made of Hemp with cotton/organic cotton. . Nowadays few mills in Europe are making Hemp/Polyester 60/40 blends and Hemp/Wool/Polyester 40/40/20 blends.

Hemp Textiles Intl, Canada supplies blend of Hemp/Wool 50/50. Hemp blended with other fibres easily incorporate the desirable qualities of both textiles. When combined with the natural strength of Hemp, the soft elasticity of Cotton or the smooth texture of Silk create a whole new genre of fashion design.

Dyed hemp yarn from Hungary is suitable for rug weaving, placemats, crochet and other craft items. It has been found that 3 ply, 6 ply and 12 ply are used for weaving, knitting or crochet. Hemp is stronger than linen and jute fibre, hence it is ideal for making twine,r opes, cables, carpets, canvas, ship cordage, sail cloth, etc. Central American Hemp is chiefly used for cordage. Manila “Hemp “ is a fibre from the leaves of the Abaca plant ; it is very strong, fine, white, lustrous and, though brittle, it is adaptable for the weaving of coarse fabrics.

Lastly more research work has to be done on Hemp fibre like scouring /bleaching using enzymes without affecting the strength of the fibre.

Trials can be taken in cotton and synthetic spinning by adding Hemp fibre in many value added items and make various types of fancy yarn which can be sold in the market at premium rate.

Acknowledgement - The author is thankful to Mr. Subhash Bhargava, FSDC (UK) Managing Director, COLORANT LTD for giving permission to publish this article.

Uses of Hemp fibre Coarse Hemp fibres and yarns are woven into cordage, rope, sacking and heavy –duty tarpaulins. In Italy, fine Hemp fibres are used for interior design and apparel fabrics. Hemp is used in tapestry, hats, shawls, rugs, posters, and towel.

Dr N.N.Mahapatra President

COLORANT LTD

SURAT REPORT 12% or 5% : Confusion over GST rate on unstitched fabrics !!

After eight months of new tax regime, textile traders of the city are still confused over various rules and regulations of Goods & Service Tax(GST). The textile traders dealing in lenghas-Chunnis, unstitched salwar kameez and dress material are worried over actual tax rate on these fabrics. A large section of traders are doing business by imposing 5% GST on these items while othere are Charging 12% and maintaining record accordingly to file the returns.

The textile traders and tax consultants have understood the special and particular type of fabrics falls under different HSN code and tax rate to be imposed on it. But, as far as unstitched fabrics are concerned, traders are in dilemma about GST rate!!! The industry sources said, earlier, the GST Council had kept GST rate on unstitched fabrics at 5%. Now, the rate has been increased to 12% on products above Rs 1,000 !! The unstitched fabric is in

March 2018

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demand across the country. Women and girls prefer buying unstitched dress material and then get it stitched as per their size. Some traders believes that as per GST law, lenghas-Chunnis falls under stitched fabrics category. The tax consultants are arguing that the GST rate on products below Rs 1000 is 5% and 12% on the products above Rs 1,000. Majority of traders are counting lenghas-Chunnis as stitched fabrics. There is no clarity from the GST commissionerate over GST rate on unstitched fabric. The traders are going to seek advice of senior authorities in the GST commissionerate next week.

Nylon yarn prices surge upto 10/kg. on supply dearth Due to a fall in supplies, nylon yarn prices are increasing in Surat market. The prices of various nylon deniers have increased upto Rs 10/kg. in the recent days on the back of rising demand and supply fears. Sources said because of price rise in Caprolactam and workers strike in local nylon yarn manufacturing company, yarn price has gone up. Filament yarn prices has increased by 3 to 5 rupees

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SURAT REPORT per kg., while the prices of airtex based nylon yarn rose

by Rs 10/kg. Nylon prices have continued soaring in the last four weeks, over a rebound of differenr raw material costs. The currently low level of caprolactam production may boost material costs of polyamide producers, possibly resulting in higher prices in the coming weeks. Polyester yarn prices are also increasing in the local market.

In March sale, the spinners has increased POY prices by Rs 1/kg and Rs 3/kg. of PTY. Despite the low demand the prices of various deniers of polyester yarn has risen upto Rs 25/kg. to 50/kg. during last seven months.

Industry demands inclusion of high-speed machines under A-TUF Weaving industry associations of the city are demanding more fund allocation and relief under Amended Technology Upgradation Scheme(A-TUF). The association has submitted representation to the office bearers of the textile commissionrate seeking subsidy for 8-24 powerloom machines and inclusion of waterjet, airjet high-speed machine under the scheme.

For the promotion of Power Tex India scheme, last week, ahmedabad textile commissionrate has organised a meeting with weaving industry association in Surat. They breif about the yarn bank scheme under Power Tex India with an objective of providing interest free corpus fund to special purpose vehicles or consortiums to enable them to purchase yarn at wholesale rate and give the yarn at a reasonable price to small weavers. The Power Tex India scheme aims to boost common infrastructure and modernisation of the powerloom sector in the country. They briefed about Pradhan Mantri Credit Scheme for powerloom weavers and solar energy scheme for powerlooms.

The members of the association coveyed them that the textile industry had been badly affected by demonetisa-

tion, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and e-way bill. The industry is seeking relief from the government. In cluster like Surat, the country’s largest man-made fabric MMF hub, there are around 6 lakh powerloom machines working in decentralized and unorganized sector. For better quality and production high-speed machines are need of the hour. The weaving association has demanded that the waterjet and airjet machines in MMF hub in Surat should be included in the A-TUFS by the Ministry of Textiles. The textile units are waiting for the subsidy amount since long. The Association has appealed to clear the dues (subsidy amount) that need to be paid to the textile units under the scheme.

SGCCI seeks refund of GST paid on textile machinery under EPCG scheme The office bearers of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) and weaving association of Surat had met the Commercial tax commissioner of the state and requested to consider opening stock credit on the goods held by the weavers and traders pre-GST. They have also demanded refund of the GST paid on the textile machinery purchased under Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme. The industry delegation has highlighted the anomalous situation which has emerged after the implementation of GST. They have requested for free movement of yarn without e-way bill in the state. They informed that refund mechanism of input tax credit on account of IGST has become a matter of serious concern as there is no clarity on the refund process. High rate of IGST without any refund relief has rendered the EPCG scheme unattractive. The commissioner has asked the delegation to prepare a report on the losses incurred by the sector and the list of demands related to Goods and Service Tax (GST) to be submitted to the GST Council.

YARN REPORT

High Domestic Prices Continue To Dent Exports

C

otton exports continued to decline in January with shipment of 12.4 lakh bales (170 kg each) as against 14.3 lakh bales exported a year ago in a disrupted market environment. The slowdown this year is largely due to rising prices and slower buying exports to Bangladesh. Thus, the first four months of 2017-18 cotton marketing season, recorded shipment of 33.5 lakh bales as against 35.9 lakh bales in the corresponding months of previous season. The price realization averaged INR 114 a kg or US cents 82.75 per pound in January as against spot Shankar-6 at US cents 82.69 per pound. Global spot benchmark, the Cotlook Index ‘A’ averaged at US cents 91.5 per pound. The current season began with average export prices at US cents 80.8 in October which jumped to US cents 90.68 in November only to moderate at US cents 75.5 in December, but domestic prices rose to US cents 79.4 per pound which made exporters cancel contracts.

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During January, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam were the largest importers of cotton with combined volumes

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March 2018

YARN REPORT at 1.07 million bales amongst the 17 countries that imported cotton from India. Shipment to Pakistan was up 33% in volume and 42% in value as its average unit price was US cents 82.5 per pound against US cents 77.5 last year. Exports to China 80% during the month.

Italy, South Korea and Spain were new cotton buyers this January while Turkey, France, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Mozambique and Singapore did not import any cotton, in comparison to last year.

tion, but has reduced its import by about 50%. 13 countries did not import any cotton yarn from India as they did last January, but were replaced by 10 other countries which imported yarn worth US$ 1.40 million Argentina, Syria, Australia, Ethiopia and Czech Republic were among the fastest growing large markets for cotton yarn in January while China, South Africa, Brazil and USA

Exports of cotton yarn declines, polyester up In January, spun yarn export shipment declined 28% while values in US$ term were down 21%. Volume totaled 102 million kg during the month, worth US$ 315 million. Unit value realization averaged US$ 3.08 per kg, up US cents 12 from previous month, and US cents 28 up compared to last year. Meanwhile, the INR appreciated from INR 67 to INR 63 this January. Yarn exports to the largest buyer, China declined 70% both in terms of volume and value during January. It still accounted for 14% of all yarn shipped during the month. In 2017, India was the second largest cotton yarn supplier to China with a share of 19% in its total imports. The top suppliers, obviously, remained Vietnam with a share twice of India. However, there was a sharp recovery seen in imports from India in last few months of 2017 with India topping against all others, but opening 2018, this position has dropped sharply.

Exporters had complained that the imposition of integrated goods and services tax (GST) and delays in re-fund of input tax credits were hurting overseas shipments, prompting the GST Council to continue two pre-GST era schemes that allow duty-free sourcing of materials for export production until March 2018. Ex-porters insist duty refunds under GST have been tardy. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has urged the government seriously address is issues relating to refunds and take measures to clear all cases by 31 March 2018. It has alternatively suggested that banks may be asked to finance exporters against the pending GST refund claims with interest to be borne by the government.

significantly reduced their import com-pared to last year 100% man-made fibre yarns export also moderated in volume and value in January. MMF yarns comprised 4.7 million kg of polyester yarn, 1.3 million kg of viscose yarn and 1.1 million kg of acrylic yarn. Polyester yarn exports rose 9% in value while viscose yarn exports value declined 45% during the month. Acrylic yarn exports were also down 305% Polyester spun yarns were exported to 50 countries at average unit price realization of US$ 2.33 a kg. Tur-key remained the largest importer of polyester yarn, followed

by USA and Egypt Viscose yarn worth US$ 4.6 million or INR 29 crore was exported in January at an average unit price realiza-tion of US$ 3.55 per kg. Belgium was the top importer worth US$ 1.2 million, followed by Turkey and Bangla-desh

Cotton yarn export at 81 million kg worth US$ 258 million (INR 1,623 crore) was down 25% in November as 75 countries imported yarn at an average unit price realization of US$ 3.16 a kg, US cents 15 more than previous month and US cents 31 up from last year

Blended spun yarns worth US$ 40 million were exported in January, up 13% YoY in value terms. During the month, 7.6 million kg of PC yarns was exported worth US$ 20 million while another 4 million kg of PV yarns were exported worth US$ 11 million

China sharply reduced its import of cotton yarn from India by 70% in January in value terms, but still ac-counted for only 17% of total shipment during the month. Bangladesh was the top importer of cotton yarn accounting for 25% of total exports. While volume export to Bangladesh jumped 33% value was up 35%. Portugal and Egypt were the other major importers, also increasing their souring from India, while Pakistan was the fifth largest destina-

Egypt, Bangladesh and Turkey were the largest importers of PC yarn from India while Turkey was also the only major importer of PV yarns from India followed distantly

by South Africa

March 2018

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Source: Fibre to Yarn Export Statistics – India report of January 2018

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YARN REPORT

Fibre to yarn pricing trend in February Cotton

Cotton Yarn

The most-active US cotton May contract lost 3.8% YoY in February to average US cents 78.69 per pound while maturing March fell 3.2% to average US cents 77.86, despite hitting the highest weekly close since 25 January.

The future had fallen to eight-week in the second week of February on continued fund long liquidation selling which maintained pressure on futures. While the fall reversed in second half of the month as mill fixations, slackened fund long liquidation selling followed by rounds of speculative short covering propelled futures to gain.

Cotton yarn markets in China were gradually recovering after long holidays and prices were kept steady amid modest transaction. Conventional and low-count yarn reported slightly better sales, and 32s and 21s sold well. 32s were at 22.90 Yuan a kg (US$ 3.62 a kg) and 40s at 23.90 Yuan a kg (US$ 3.78 a kg) in Shengze. In India, cotton yarn prices were up, despite cotton prices were slightly down.

30s combed cotton yarn for knitting were at INR 199.50 a kg (US$ 3.10 a kg) in Ludhiana while export offers jumped US cents 13 to average US$ 3.33 a kg.

Meanwhile, the USDA unveiled its first full estimates for world cotton supply and demand in 2018-19, predicting that Cotlook A index will decline 12%. The forecast came despite world cotton stocks likely to fall by 5.9 million bales to a seven-year low over this season. Cotton Outlook, at the same time also predicted world cotton production shortfall of 2.68 million bales next season – well below the 5.9 million-bale deficit expected by the USDA. World demand forecast for next season is at 122.7 million bales, in line with USDA estimate. Global spot benchmark, the Cotlook A index gained 2% on the fortnight at US cents 89.20 per pound.

Polyester

In China, spot cotton market was stable and prices for mechanically-harvested grade-3128/29 cotton in Xinjiang were at premiums over futures. Some textile producers were still relying on older stocks. The China Cotton Index gained 24 Yuan to 15,698 a ton (US cents 112 a pound). In Pakistan, dull trading was witnessed on the Karachi Cotton Exchange while spot rates declined PakRs550 during the month to PakRs7,195 per maund ex-Karachi. The decline in trading activity implied that the traders remained on the sidelines because besides cotton prices, yarn prices were also depressed. Spinners are not entering in buying

at higher rates. In India, cotton prices moved down across specs. Arrivals remained around 1.40-1.50 lakh bales per day. Shankar 6 spot price averaged INR 40,050 a candy, down INR 1,425 from previous month.

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PSF markets were quiet in Asia and prices mostly rolled over across China and India. In China, post Spring Festival, crude oil and upstream feedstock moved up but PSF market sentiment was quiet as downstream spinning mills were yet to resume normal operation and were on the sidelines. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, offers for 1.4D directmelt PSF almost rolled over at US$ 1.42-1.45 a kg, while the same in Fujian and Shandong were at US$ 1.42-1.49 a kg. In India, offers were raised on rising cost. 1.4D were up INR 3 at INR 94.25 a kg or US$ 1.47 a kg.

Spun polyester yarn markets were stable in China with 32s yarn offers unchanged amid moderate transaction.

Downstream spinning mills were closed for almost two weeks and stood on the sidelines after converters resumes normal operation. In China, 32s polyester yarn offers rolled over at 13.90 Yuan a kg (US$ 2.20 a kg) while 60s were at 15.70 Yuan a kg (US$ 2.48 a kg). Export offers for 30s however, were up US cents 6 to US$ 1.58 a kg FOB. In India, polyester yarn prices were raised to partially pass-on the hike in PSF prices last fortnight. Support from export markets was also firm as shipment in January were slightly down but unit prices realization was up in year

on year comparison. 30s knit yarn prices were raised INR 3.75 to INR 132 a kg (US$ $2.05 a kg) in Ludhiana market.

www.textilevaluechain.com

March 2018

YARN REPORT Polyester intermediates Purified terephthalic acid markets in Asia resisted any price drop during and after the holidays on the back of feedstock costs. However, the pressure on the conversion cannot be underestimated. In China, the spread between PTA spots and futures got stronger on the either side of New Year holiday. Asian PTA markers were up US$ 25.75 on the fortnight with CFR China at US$ 761-763 per ton and offer from Taiwan/Korea at US$ 773-779 a ton. In Europe, February PTA contract price was up Euro3.50 at Euro670-704 a ton alongside paraxylene.

Mono ethylene glycol markets in Asia were silent before and had a good start after Lunar New Year holidays and prices fluctuated upward in second half of February. In

China, MEG prices rose immediately after markets resumed while forward-month goods were slightly higher than spot numbers. Spot MEG prices were up US$ 16-20 with CFR China at US$ 1,017-1,022 a ton and CFR South East Asia to US$ 1,029-1,034 a ton. In India, CIF values were up US$ 16 at US$ 1,021 a ton. European MEG sentiment was bearish and bulk prices were assessed at Euro 800-830 a ton CIF NWE.

Nitin Madkaikar

Textile Beacon nitin@textilebeacon.com

GLOBAL FOCUS

How Worried Should EMs be as DM Yields Head Higher?

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he yields in developed economies have started heading higher. This raises the question as to whether the hardening global yields would be disruptive for emerging markets and whether it would trigger a flight of capital from EM assets as a result of carry trade unwinding. There have been three instances since 2008 when the US, Japanese and German bond yields have moved higher sharply, in unison. When it happened in 2008, Rupee moved from 39.50 to 43. The second instance was in early 2009 during which the Rupee weakened from 47 to 52 and the third time it happened was in 2013 when the Rupee depreciated from 53 to 68. Of course, on each of these occasions there were domestic factors too that were responsible for exacerbating the Rupee moves but the trigger was a concerted move higher in developed market yields. We are in a phase where all three major central banks i.e. the US Federal Reserve, the ECB (European Central Bank) and the BoJ(Bank of Japan) are looking to wind down the ultra-accommodative monetary policy measures. The question therefore is whether a coherent sharp move higher in US, German and Japanese bond yields would spook the Rupee and domestic capital markets again.

This time around however the fundamentals are a little different. The US Federal Reserve has hiked four times and has also initiated balance sheet reduction without causing a major disruption in the global financial markets (quite unlike the time when it had announced tapering of its QE program). Persistent undershoot of its inflation target despite a strengthening economy has given it the leeway to withdraw stimulus gradually. It was not until recently that when the US 10y yield broke the 2.60% mark

March 2018

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and the US government announced a deficit widening tax reform plan that the markets became nervous about a potential threat to EM assets. Similarly on the domestic front too, the BoP situation is more comfortable, inflation is under control, a sizeable war chest has been built in the form of foreign currency reserves and the government seems committed to fiscal prudence. Again, it is only recently that a few concerns have resurfaced as crude prices have managed to sustain at elevated levels and there is some uncertainty around government’s indirect tax collections that could possibly result in fiscal slippage.

So what would it take for the current nervousness to transform into alarm and panic? The move higher in US yields from current levels could result in panic especially if accompanied or driven by certain other factors such as pick up in inflation and higher breakevens resulting in higher expectations for the terminal federal funds rate and steepening of the US yield curve. There is a significant positive correlation between US 10 year breakevens and India 10y yields. A quarterly regression run from 2006 till date gives an R-squared value of 0.39 which implies changes in US 10y breakevens explain changes in Indian 10y yields to the extent of 39%. Breakevens are spreads between the nominal yield on the 10y bond and the real US 10y TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protection Securities) yield and indicate inflation expectations. While the Federal Reserve has prepared the markets for imminent rate hikes and balance sheet reduction, the rise in inflation is something the market is not prepared for. The next few PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditure), core CPI and wage growth prints would be extremely crucial. US yield curve flatteners have been the preferred trades to bet on

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GLOBAL FOCUS low inflation and positioning there seems overstretched.

A slightest hint of sustainable pick up in inflation could see frantic unwinding of these trades andresult in curve steepening. Therefore it would be important to follow the 2s10s, 10s30s spread closely and also the breakevens and yield on treasury inflation protection securities (TIPS) to see how inflation expectations and real rates are evolving. The last four average hourly earnings prints have been 2.3%, 2.5%,2.7% and 2.9%.It would be interesting to see if these translate into higher inflation prints.

This is also the first time that a massive fiscal push has come at a time when the US economy is already doing well. The US government is likely to run the biggest deficit outside of a crisis period when the unemployment rate is close to record lows. (Fiscal easing is usually counter cyclical i.e. the government usually increases spending or cuts taxes to boost growth when the economy is struggling.) The sell off in US yields could get exacerbated due to higher borrowing resulting from increased spending and tax cuts. Also, this pro-cyclical fiscal easing could alter the US Federal Reserve’s reaction function and cause it to hike rates sooner than what the latest dot plot indicates. The Fed dots i ndicate 3 hikes in 2018 and the rates market too is expecting the same. This could change very quickly if inflation prints surprise on the up side.

The cushion of higher FX Reserves makes the Rupee less vulnerable to outside shocks this time around. Usually a bit of risk aversion initiates FPI selling in stocks and bonds and as they withdraw money from domestic stocks and bonds, the Rupee weakens. Rupee weakness in turn starts diminishing the Dollar denominated returns of existing investors as a lot of investments areunhedged. This triggers panic and exacerbates the sell off in domestic stocks and bonds. The central bank has been intervening on both sides to keep the Rupee stable and the stability of the Rupee would comfort FPIs. Unless there is a concerted move higher in DM yields that causes all EM currencies to weaken in tandem, thereby allowing the central bank to let the Rupee move in tandem with them, it is unlikely we would see that sort of panic in domestic assets. To get early warning signs though, of a capital flight, we need to closely monitor the next few inflation prints in the US, Eurozone and Japan.

Mr. Abhishek Goenka

CEO & Founder : IFA Global

MARKET REPORT

Cotton Weather (Yield Forecast) April 2018 Author : Bhupendra Dholakia, Ahmedabad Presented the probability of weather effects in different states, keeping in mind the dynamic mechanism of the solar system, astronomical matters and ancient history of seasonality.

During the first week of April 2018 , the proportion of winds in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and South Rajasthan is very high. Its negative effect can be seen in some extent. Cotton fodder may increase. The effect of which is seen in cotton yield.

In the second week of April, frost in the northern part of the country appears. The probability of weather forecast in the central part of the country and the pre-monsoon showers in eastern India. Kutch, Saurashtra, North Gujarat, Central Gujarat has the possibility of moderated rain fall.

In the third week of April (the days of Amas), heat will increase in the region of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya

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Pradesh. At the end of the third week, the proportion of cyclone increases from April 17 to 20. Cotton flowers will be affected.

At the beginning of the fourth week of April Kutch, Saurashtra, North Gujarat, Central Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will see clouds during 21st to 23rd. The possibility of rain in the western part of the country, somewhat hail. 24th & 25th April Jammu and Kashmir cooling will effect the possibility rains. North India and East India (North East India) seem to have expected shorter rainfall.

South India seems less affected.

During the last week of April, the weather will change.

Weather in East Gujarat, Central Gujarat, North Maharashtra, and Western part of Madhya Pradesh South India seems to have little effect. n April 29 - 30, the region of Curacled winds up rapidly in wind storms Dangerous effects on the east coast of south India can be seen. Its effect will be on the cotton production.

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March 2018

GLOBAL FOCUS

China, Artificial Intelligence Power House

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he United States technological sophistication has long supported its military predominance. In the 1990s, the U.S. military started to hold an uncontested advantage over its adversaries in the technologies of information-age warfare from stealth and precision weapons to high-tech sensors and command and control systems. Those technologies remain critical to its forces today.

For years, China has closely watched the United States’ progress, developing asymmetric tools including space, cyber, and electronic capabilities that exploit the U.S. military’s vulnerabilities. Today, however, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is pursuing innovations in many of the same emerging technologies that the U.S. military has itself prioritized. Artificial Intelligence is chief among these.

In the decades ahead, AI could transform warfare, creating disruptive new capabilities and changing the ways that militaries command, train, and deploy their forces.

Those changes will shape the military balance among the world’s great powers.

For now, the United States remains the world’s leader in AI, thanks mostly to the dynamism of its private sector. But China seeks to surpass the United States, and it may be close to doing so. The Chinese leadership has started to prioritize AI at the highest levels. In July, Beijing released the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, articulating an ambitious agenda to lead the world in artificial intelligence by 2030. It is backing up that commitment with deep funding for cutting-edge AI research. As China advances in the field, the United States will face the challenge of a new kind of peer competitor.

BRAIN GAMES By most measures, China is already an AI powerhouse.

China produces more AI-related patent applications than any other country except for the United States, and Chinese scholars have already published more papers on AI than their American peers. But the country’s ascendance in AI is not a matter of quantity alone. In 2017, the annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence accepted as many papers from Chinese as from American researchers for the first time a sign of the increasing sophistication of AI research under way in China. And in November, a Chinese facial recognition start-up took first place in a contest hosted by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, a U.S. government organization. Thanks to China’s billions of dollars in private and government investment, its access to huge amounts of data, and its efforts to attract and educate top talent, the country is on track to overtake the

March 2018

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United States.

So far, China’s big technology firms notably Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent have tended to lead the charge in AI. That could have important implications for the PLA, which could use the private sector’s progress for military purposes. For example, the technologies behind self-driving cars could be used for intelligent unmanned military systems, and advances in computer vision and machine learning could improve weapons systems’ abilities to recognize targets.

Chinese military leaders have good reason to draw on the private sector’s advances, since they believe that AI could transform the nature of war. In the PLA’s jargon, AI will set off a shift from informatized to intelligentized warfare, becoming as central to future conflicts as more rudimentary forms of information technology are to warfare today. Liu Guozhi, a lieutenant general in the PLA and the director of its Science and Technology Commission, has suggested that artificial intelligence will transform militaries’ operational styles, equipment systems, and more. AI could eventually support autonomous robots, including swarms of drones. It could improve war-gaming and simulated training exercises by creating clever artificial adversaries a major benefit for China’s forces, which largely lack combat experience. And it could elevate commanders’ abilities to make quick decisions on the battlefield. Indeed, the Central Military Commission Joint Staff Department, the PLA’s top command organ, has called on the military to use AI to help commanders do just that.

China’s recent advances in swarm intelligence which involves autonomous cooperative behavior among masses of distributed robots have been on prominent display in official media. In June 2017, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, a state-owned defense conglomerate, successfully flight-tested a swarm of 119 drones a new record. In a conflict, the PLA could use swarms to cheaply target high-value U.S. weapons platforms, such as aircraft carriers.

As AI and robotics become pervasive in warfare, some PLA thinkers even anticipate the arrival of a so-called singularity on the battlefield. At that point, human minds might not be able to keep up with the speed of the decision-making demanded by AI-enabled combat and so militaries could start to remove people from the battlefield, place them into supervisory roles, and let unmanned systems do most of the fighting. Such an inflection point may seem distant, but militaries are already trending toward more automation. For instance, many air and missile defense platforms, such as the U.S. military’s Patriot system, can automatically track and select their targets. Even now,

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GLOBAL FOCUS a number of militaries, including the United States’ and China’s, are starting to use AI to anticipate failures in critical equipment and to analyze intelligence more efficiently. In the foreseeable future, AI will also have applications in cyber-operations, helping militaries discover and then patch or exploit vulnerabilities far faster than a human cyber warrior could.

Some observers have suggested that authoritarian regimes such as China’s could eventually opt for fully automated approaches to war. That could raise a number of ethical and operational risks: an automated system could, for example, fail to differentiate legitimate military targets from civilian ones. In fact, Chinese military thinkers seem to value the role that humans will play in the machine age. Liu, for instance, has suggested that human minds augmented with artificial intelligence will eventually be more powerful than AI programs on their own. And some aspects of the PLA’s culture especially its commanders’ interest in preserving centralized control could encourage officers to keep humans in the loop on important decisions.

ALL TOO HUMAN Despite its advances in military hardware, the PLA has struggled to recruit and retain highly educated, technologically proficient personnel. PLA officials might see AI as a solution. AI could help to automate some military specialties and functions, replacing or compensating for missing human talent. Along with virtual and augmented reality, AI could improve the realism and sophistication of the PLA’s training programs.

But there’s a catch: even as AI mitigates some of the PLA’s systemic problems, it could exacerbate others. Complex AI systems, for instance, can require highly trained personnel, and it could be difficult for the PLA to assemble such talent. The introduction of AI to support commanders could also create new issues of so-called automation bias, encouraging officers to rely on programs that are prone to error.

The trajectory of China’s advances in AI remains to be seen. But in light of the progress that the PLA has already achieved, the U.S. military should recognize that China is quickly becoming a peer competitor in AI and adjust its own plans accordingly.

U.S. defense officials should carefully study the PLA’s advances in the field in the context of China’s broader strategic goals. At the same time, Washington should preserve the underlying advantages that will shape its competitiveness in the future. First, the U.S. government should invest far more in long-term research on AI and its applications. The Trump administration’s initial budget proposal called for a ten percent cut to the National Science Foundation’s funding for research on intelligent systems, to a mere $175 million. China, by contrast, will spend billions in the years to come on next-generation AI research. Second, Washington should make sure to preserve its edge in human capital. The United States is now home to more AI experts than any other country. That will require doing more to attract the world’s top AI talent to work in the United States and developing the educational programming in high schools and universities needed to create future professionals in the field. And the U.S. government should work to prevent illicit technology transfers by, for example, increasing its oversight of Chinese investments and acquisitions in sensitive sectors of the American economy, including AI and robotics, even as it takes care that it does not generally discourage foreign investment, which can support innovation. The U.S. military must recognize the challenge of China’s emergence as a would-be AI superpower and prepare for a future in which the United States’’ technological advantage is no longer assured.

Mr. Arvind Sinha - CEO M/s. Business Advisors Group, Mumbai

CLUSTER OF KNOWLEDGE EVENTS TO FACILITATE INDUSTRY SHARING AND COLLABORATION AT ITMA 2019 ITMA 2019 will feature a number of industry-leading knowledge-sharing events to facilitate sharing and collaboration among global textile and garment industry members. Hot button issues such as sustainable innovation, Industry 4.0 and automation will be on many agendas during the show.

According to CEMATEX, owner of ITMA 2019, the cluster of accompanying events will spotlight key industry challenges and leading-edge solutions that will support industry members’ drive for sustainability and competitiveness.

Mr Fritz Mayer, President of CEMATEX, elaborated: “ITMA has evolved beyond its original aim of merely providing a

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NEWS

buy-and-sell platform for textile machinery manufacturers. It is now a meaningful platform for all industry stakeholders to share new breakthroughs, brainstorm solutions and explore collaboration.”

Two events that have been successfully organised in conjunction with past ITMA exhibitions include the Textile Colourant and Chemical Leaders Forum and the Nonwovens Forum. These ITMA forums are organised in collaboration with key industry organisations.

For more details, visit : www.textilevaluechain.com News Section

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March 2018

EVENT REPORT

“Innovtion Can Only Sustain You Tomorrow” Perception Of Itamma Founder Shri B.k. Mehta Coming True Today.

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t all started in 1988 when Shri B.K. Mehta, Visionary & Past-President, ITAMMA, categorically suggested that ITAMMA should take up activities which will make its members and the organization very strong in terms of system, technology and R&D. Considering his passion for R&D, as the members of Managing Committee of ITAMMA on his 70th birthday in 1988 established “B K MEHTA ENDOWMENT FUND” in appreciation of his yeomen and meritorious services to the Association; who was the President of the Association in the year 1953, 1962, 1966, 1978 and also as a Trustee for four decades. This fund was further strengthened financially from time to time for various activities in the field of technology.

Thereafter, ITAMMA didn’t look back and set up its Road Map of organizing programmes on 5s, Lean, Design Clinics, Common Facilitation Centres, and so on. After achieving a very good response from our members and further to acknowledge their efforts and help them to know their status in the field of technology, ITAMMA from the year 2011 onwards went on introducing awards like ‘Patent’, ‘Make in India’, and recently ‘Operational Excellence Award’. Further, to disseminate the success stories of our members in this field and to encourage those who are lagging behind, we have released an ‘ITAMMA VOICE’ magazine during the ITAMMA Award function on 31st January, 2018 . The theme of the magazine was specifically on ‘Operational Excellence’.

Further, to give a tribute to our Visionary, late Shri B.K. Mehta, popularly known as ‘Balkrishnabhai’ in the Textile Industry; a special film was also displayed during the award function further to create an enthusiasm and encouragement among the award winners for recording more and more innovations in future. Ms. Hansaben Mehta, wife of Shri Balkrishnabhai was also felicitated for her continuous support and contribution to ITAMMA; who further strengthened the financial status of ‘B K MEHTA ENDOWMENT FUND’ by adding an amount of Rs.25 lakhs.

In her Guest of Honour speech she mentioned that “The activities of ITAMMA are spreading throughout the Textile Engineering Industry and may pave way for Indian Textile Engineering Industry to become a hub for spares and accessory for the world, as India may also become a leading supplier of textile machinery to the developing world”.

The event started by lighting the lamp in a very traditional way followed by a prayer which was followed by a welcome speech by Mr. Kaizar Z. Mahuwala, President, ITAMMA who brought back the yesterday’s memories of the Association and informed the important role of the founder-members of ITAMMA in creating the vision which is being systematically followed through cluster development activities like 5s, Lean, Kaizen, Design Clinics, and

March 2018

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Common Facilitation Centres at PAN India. He also mentioned that apart from being the oldest and largest engineering Association in the World, the continual development of ITAMMA members in technology is helping us to sustain our status in the World. Mr. Kaizar Z. Mahuwala, President, ITAMMA informed that ITAMMA is celebrating its 75th Year and accordingly he invited Ms Hansaben Mehta to launch ‘75th Year Logo”. After the launching ceremony of the Logo was over, the release of ITAMMA VOICE a quarterly magazine of 2nd Edition, which was based on the theme of “Operational Excellence.”, took place in the hands of Ms Hansaben Mehta.

The function was further taken forward with a programme of ‘Farewell Dinner” to Mr. Mayank J. Roy, PastPresident of ITAMMA who addressed the audience with his thanking speech to all those who guided and encouraged him for organizing various fruitful activities during his tenure as President in the year 2015-16 Thereafter the Award function started where the following ITAMMA members bagged the Awards in respective categories.

Award winner

Category

M/s. Samruddhi Engi- Top Rank Award for the catneering, Ahmedabad egory of Micro & Small Enterprises (2016-17) M/s. Supertex Industries, Highest Export Excellence Mumbai Award for Accessory Sector (2016-17) M/s. Lakshmi Ring Travellers (Cbe) Ltd., Coimbatore

Export Excellence Award for Spinning Accessory Sector – Large Scale Manufacturers (2016-17)

M/s. Maksteel Wire Healds Pvt. Ltd., Vadodara

Export Excellence Award for Weaving Accessory Sector – Large Scale Manufacturers (2016-17)

M/s. Precision Rubber In- Export Excellence Award dustries Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai for Spinning Accessory Sector – Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) (2016-17) M/s. Century Inks Pvt. Ltd., Export Excellence Award for Processing Accessory Mumbai Sector – Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) (2016-17)

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EVENT REPORT M/s. Samruddhi Engineer- ITAMMA Operational Exing, Ahmedabad cellence Award (2016-17) M/s. Millwright Engineer- Coimbatore Appreciaing Pvt. Ltd., tion Certificate for Operational Excellence (2016-17)

Further to disseminate the success stories of the award winners and also to encourage the others to be the part of the award competition in future, a technical brochure was released during the function which covers the views of the President, Mr. Kaizar Z. Mahuwala, and the guidelines of Mr. Kirti Rathod, Chairman, Award Sub-Committee in the formation of this special award along with the success stories of the award winners.

Through ITAMMA Export Excellence Awards, our members are encouraged to enhance their Exports of Machines and Accessories. These awards are being instituted by the Association in 2010 under the ‘J.G. ROY ENDOWMENT FUND’ formed in the name of Mr. Jayantilal Roy who was the Trustee of the Association and also the President in the year 1979.

Chief Guest, Ms. Pilloo C. Aga, Director, Goldseal Saar Gummi India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, delivered the Chief Guest Speech as below: “We today live in bhooka World which is volatile, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, and today every customer if it’s a textile customer or an auto component customer they want a quality product. So quality is a given; and unless a company has quality nobody is going to give you a new order or a repeat order and even on the item which you make up the aluminium there must be quality embedded in it. That’s why everyone wants it and also for your exports all over the World you said quality is a must and you must listen to the voice of the customer. So all that when you embed it in your manufacturing then you get ‘Operational Excellence’. So, it’s not only technical; it’s all the hard skill and the soft skill which is going to give you excellence. Unless you believe you cannot give an excellent product. So every employee must believe that I can do a wonderful job. The question is how do we build robust quality in to our product, how do we give tomorrow’s quality at yesterday’s price; that’s what the customer wants it; especially, I don’t know how it is in the textile industry; but definitely in our automotive industry. we have to give a 5 to 10% year-on-year reduction. So, you have to have a Lean Manufacturing balanced processes which will allow your product to be good. But today we don’t want good; we want the best and class. If we have only innovation. Innovation not ‘JUGAD’ embedded in

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our production process. Manufacturing excellence must ensure that all raw materials are used 100% effectively.

So you get a back best input-output ratio. The customer wants value for his money; raw materials are becoming expensive. So, we must ensure that our maximum output comes from our minimum input. That ratio we must never ~ because that will give you profitability, and durability and that’s how you invest in our Indian innovation. Operational Excellence is a relentless pursuit. I keep saying, relentless pursuit because it doesn’t end; its not a destination; it’s a journey. So you have this relentless pursuit of finding in your way or in your means to improve the input-output norm. Lean, Six Sigma, Productivity, Proficiency, I mean all those are words which we have been doing. But it’s innovation, it’s break-through innovation.

It can also through low cost automation. Because innovation Kaizens; these are the foundations to go higher. So, even a small Kaizen can give a big result; and even a micro or a medium or a large scale must have a Kaizen. So we need to have innovative products, innovative processes, innovative designs and that will lead to break-through innovation to give you the end result. I am just going to say four little steps. (1) Is a seamless integration. You must have fewer raw materials, fewer processes, fewer people touching the product so that you get a better output in both quality and quantity terms. Sometimes we focus only on marketing and do not have the back-up on production. So, both production and exports must go handin-hand. It’s good that ITAMMA is focusing so much on technology to increase the export cell.”

Mr. Jugal Kishore Pansari, Second Vice-President, ITAMMA delivered Vote of Thanks wherein he mentioned that, as the kick start to celebrate the platinum year, 2018 of ITAMMA has already being set by our President. With a launch of ‘75th Year Logo” we look forward for the variety of programmes during the year, spreading the wings of ITAMMA in every valuable field of “knowledge, business, environment” thus conveying a message of Responsible manufacturing to the World.

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March 2018

EVENT REPORT

Globally renowned textile care forum, Texcare marks its launch in India

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excare –the world’s leading brand for modern textile care marked its entry in India through a dedicated forum on laundry, cleaning and textile rentals organised by Messe Frankfurt India and Virtual Info Systems. The conference that was scheduled on 20 January 2018 at Bombay Exhibition Centre alongside the Laundrex exhibition in Mumbai, successfully brought important decision makers, potential investors and enthusiastic trade professionals together under one roof from leading countries around the world.

High level panel discussions were held during the conference on subjects such as online laundry business, startups and strategising success through technology leading to share of information, ideas and knowledge pertaining to the industry while drawing the business outlook for the future.

The launch edition witnessed a notable presence of over 170 attendees from over 120 companies. The eminent panel of speakers including business leaders, technology experts and sector specialists from India and abroad such as Mr Elgar Straub, Managing Director, VDMA Textile Care, Fabric and Leather Technologies; Mr Guillem Clofent, General Manager, Girbau SA; Ms Ruth Lorenz, Vice President Technology, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH; Mr David Stevens, Director, NewGen Business Services, UK; and Mr John Hacker, Director of Sales Asia Pacific,Herbert Kannegiesser GmbH. Other notable speakers who shared insights about new approaches taken up by start-ups in this industry included, Mr Edward Menezes, Director, Buzil Rossari Pvt Ltd; Mr Anup Poddar, Director, Beepee Enterprise Pvt Ltd; Mr Balachandar R., Founder & CEO, Wassup Laundry and Mr Rachit Ahuja, Co-Founder, Quick Dry Clean Software.

“The potential of the Indian market brings us here for Texcare and it has been a very pertinent platform addressing issues that meet market needs. While the speaker line has been very professional, the audience has kept us interested in understanding the different ways in which Indiaworks. We will take back a lot of insights from here,” sharedMr Xavier Salas, International Sales Director, Girbau SA. Also addressing the crowd and as key memberpresent at the launch, was Mrs Ruth Lorenz, Vice President Technology, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH, who shared: “It has been a fantastic interaction and a satisfying first

March 2018

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edition. Europe and Indian markets work very differently.

We see a very good opportunity in the Indian market and I am keen to learn the demands of the markets here. As a show organiser, I would like to inform our exhibitors globally about the need to adapt to different markets.”

Delegates attending the conference had a cross-section of decision makers and directors from sectors like railways, hotels, hospitality, and healthcare; from institutions and entrepreneurs; and from industry suppliers of equipment, linen and chemicals for laundry, dry-cleaning and textile care. Some of the key attendees include Central Railway-Nagpur, North Western Railways (NWR), Southern Railway, German Engineering Federation (VDMA), CINET - the International Committee of Textile Care, SB Fabcare Pvt Ltd, Flying Laundry, Fabric Spa Laundry, IRIS Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Solutions, Refnol Resins and Chemicals Ltd, Hollywood Dry Cleaners, Shanghai Sailstar Machinery (Group) Co, Ltd, SDC International Ltd, Spark Automobiles, Sparkle Quick Wash, Synergy Corporation, The Laundry Walla, The Sparkle lounge, Xpress Laundromat and Guardini.

Attending this key business event Mr Sisir Reddy, CEO – Founder, Safe Wash, shared about the challenges this sector faces and his views on Texcare Forum being launched in India. He said: “One of the biggest challenges we face in this sector is skilled labour. There are no proper institutions for teaching laundry techniques, their operating systems and the technology being used. Many eco-friendly technologies and new technologies such as wet cleaning and other variants are entering the market, which I am sure will help the sector grow. This is an unorganised sector and forums and associations like Texcare and Laundrex will help bring the launderers and dry cleaners together.”

Overall, the conference proved to be a knowledge forum and learning platform for covering most pertinent subjects and issues such as Global Best Practices, Trends in Laundry, Dry-Cleaning, Textile Care, Sustainability, Resource Efficiency, Process Automation and Software.

Texcare Forum India is a sister event of Texcare International, the world market for modern textile care. Every four years, Texcare International provides an international venue for the textile-care sector in Frankfurt, Germany.

The upcoming Texcare International will be held from 20 – 24 June 2020.

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EVENT REPORT

ICA DELEGATION VISITS CAI

A

two member delegation from International Cotton Association Ltd. (ICA), Liverpool Consisting of its President, Mr. Salman Ispahani and Managing Director, Mr. Bill Kingdon visited the Cotton Association of India (CAI) on 27th February 2018 and met the CAI team led by its President, MR. Atul S. Ganatra.

The CAI President took the visiting delegates on tour of the imposing and historic premises of the Association.

The issues discussed between the ICA and CAI include a proposal for organising a training programme on ICE futures in Mumbai, organising a road show on ICA By-laws and Rules at the domestic conference being organised by CAI on 2nd September 2018, visit of ICA delegation to Maharashtra to coincide with the said CAI domestic conference on 2nd September 2018, harmonizing CAI By-laws with ICA, not allowing parties appearing in the CICCA unfulfilled award list to become CAI members, certification of one or more testing facility by ICA Bremen and use thereof for the purpose of dispute redressal by ICA, appointment of the CAI recommended arbitrators and conciliators from India on the panel of ICA, etc. Both parties have mutually agreed to review progress in the activities of cooperation between each other from time to time.

Both the ICA and CAI have a Memorandum of Understanding since 2014 to combine efforts to promote better cotton trading practices, upholding sanctity of contracts and to pursue the cause of cotton globally and effectively.

The areas of cooperation between both the ICA and CAI include organising yearly meetings to discuss issues of mutual interest and further ways to increase cooperation between each other, visits of delegation and organising training programmes; information exchange and dissemination, liaisoning with Government, apprising quality related issues and speedy resolution of issues faced by each other’s members, etc.

Earlier a dinner was hosted by the CAI on 26th February 2018 in honour of the ICA team.

Intex South Asia 2017

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e are happy to share with you that the 3rd edition of Intex South Asia was quite successful which showcased 180 suppliers from 15 countries and attracted 2991 professional buyers from more than 20 countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UAE, Oman, Mauritius, Italy, Australia, UK, France, USA, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and others that attended the show over 3 days of sourcing and networking.

The show was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, H.E. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe in the presence of the Hon’ble Minister of Industry & Commerce, Mr. Rishad Baithudeen and Hon’ble State Minister for Development Strategies & International Trade, Mr. Sujeewa Senasinghe. The grand opening ceremony was well attended by several Diplomats, Heads of Trade Associations and Industry stalwarts from Sri Lanka, South Asia and beyond.

novative textiles and trims for new product development for their next season 2018/19 SS and AW. This makes Intex South Asia – the largest international textile sourcing show of South Asia region bringing together the entire value chain and supply chain of the textile and apparel sector under one platform.

This makes, Intex South Asia a must-visit show which successfully brings together the entire value-chain and supply-chain of the textile and apparel industry under one trading platform.

This year, it was encouraging to see sourcing, merchandising and design teams of many apparel exporters, international and domestic brands, buying and sourcing offices, retailers and e-tailers, fashion labels from Sri Lanka and other markets attending the show and looking for in-

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March 2018

R&D UPDATE

InspirOn Engineering is focussed to serve the industry with innovative technology by understanding the user perspective, requirement & business aspects. Sustainability emerged as one of the major driving force for development, covers following four aspects, Environmental, economic, social & Culture. Very Often the environmental aspect is primarily considered for sustainability but the other aspects are as important. Continual interaction with the industry enables us to provide a better customised & cost effective solution.

Inspiron Engineering as a complete technology solution provider for textile finishing is launching the new model MOTEX 15000 with 15% more drying efficiency, in continuation of MOTEX series Stenter. “ MOTEX” Stenter is a popular choice of quality conscious customers who are continuously looking for international standards of application & technological up-gradation.

Recognised by its customers as premium Quality Standard, that delivers better quality & productivity. Besides, Motex is versatile for various substrates (Woven, Knits & Technical textiles) wherein, it performs with minimal energy requirements. InspirOn, with long experience of producing stenters for 20 years, created satisfied customer base of around 200 MOTEX Stenter machines; in the last 2 decades.

Having started in technical collaboration with A.Monforts in 1996, InspirOn has shifted the responsibility of Product Development from A. Monforts to its own designing strength, as the said licensing arrangement ended in 2012 with focus on: Need for product and technology differentiation Known improvement possibilities in existing design Energy efficiency - Thermal / Electrical / Mechanical User friendliness - Safety / GUI / Aesthetics / Form / shape / Colour / Additional features Development aspects: Development aspects: The pathway starts with InspirOn’ s own DSIR approved R&D set up followed by below steps: y Evolving internal innovation team and Identifying External Resources for collaboration e.g.

InspirOn R&D team Professional organisation for CFD and FEA analysis

International experts who have worked in such development Technical Uni-

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versities e.g. Nirma Technical University Aesthetics experts y Team to work on identified areas of improvement Idea generation

Segregating useful ideas CFD / FEA simulations Building Prototype/s based on above results Testing /Shortlisting ideas

Moving on the road map two major development projects have been taken as prime target: 1.New Nozzle designing was done(two patents have been developed and applied for registration) Expected Benefits from change: Reduced internal losses results in improved efficiency More stream lined flow with uniform distribution Improved Drying Capacity 2.Improved Fan housing Expected Benefits from change: Uniform air distribution throughout the length of chamber Improved drying efficiency Achieving optimum solution for higher throughput of Hot air is the prime objective in order to achieve higher drying efficiency: Series of experiments, CFD analysis for nozzle development, finally resulted into development of unique “ UNIFLO air flow system by R&D team. Validation process of the newly developed system was performed on 100% cotton fabric, considering the inherent properties e.g. cool, comfort, moisture regain and user spectrum; at state of art R&D Centre located at Chandiyel & further augmented by running in an established process house at Ahmedabad.

Assessment of the results in bulk condition includes series of trials & installation of various measuring instruments.

Trials performed on the substrate: 100% Cotton 112 gsm fabric. Processed under the standard process, machine parameters & operating conditions. Observations of the initial & residual moistures with respective speeds have been made.Comparative study between MOTEX 4560 (Installed in 2012) and MOTEX 15000 (Installed in Dec2015) with technical details as a part of validation process is given below.

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R&D UPDATE moisture % under controlled conditions Findings: Squeezing efficiency of the newly designed Pad-

Findings: Drying efficiency of MOTEX 15000 is significantly higher than the existing model MOTEX 4560.

Project 2 – Padder Designing with higher Squeezing Efficiency.

1.Padder design Expected Benefits from change: • Robust compact frame structure.

• Small capacity pneumatically controlled (up to 60 litre) sliding and tilting chemical trough. User friendly & reduces the drain losses substantially.

der of MOTEX 15000 is substantially better, as expected Especially for knitted fabric with delicate treatment to the web. Higher Squeezing capability ensures optimum pick up % for specific processes e.g. wet on wet finish with desired add on % next, resulting in better productivity. Optimised through capacity, is to reduce drain losses.

Optional feature: MOTEX 15000 UNFLO equipped with Air to Air Heat recovery Unit makes it more energy efficient.

1.HRU design • Compact unit concept design • Prototype development / Product Validation

• 12 Ton load capacity.

• High energy savings, Less payback period

• Unitary length pressure force 50 kg/cm for fabric width 260 cm.

• Virtually no losses by heat radiation as the heated-up fresh air is directly fed into the machine compartment

2. Selection of Rollers Expected Benefits from change: Uniform squeezing Nip throughout width of the fabric.

High squeeze Rubber coated Rollers.

Achieving higher squeezing efficiency was the prime ob-

2. User Aspects

Easy mounting / Easy maintenance Payback Period Evaluation Integration of the unit into the existing exhaust ducts Cleaning efforts reduced to a minimum as clean, fresh air passes through the segments of the heat exchanger

jective specifically for Knitted fabric. High squeezing effect resulting in High energy saving on dryers due to minimum initial and so, residual moisture in the fabric. Uniform padding pressure across the fabric width, short cloth passage with extreme low fabric tension ensuring minimum fabric elongation and horizontal fabric guiding through the Padder rollers. Sliding and tilting trough for easy draining and cleaning. Trial was taken on knitted fabric S/J GSM-150, Width-180 cm, to evaluate squeezing efficiency i.e. Initial

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March 2018

R&D UPDATE Study of the performance of HRU under controlled (Process & machine Parameters) conditions running with specific substrate. Study is carried out at the reputed customer’s end where 7 HRU Units have been installed on Stenter Machine.

Observations were made for inputs properties e.g.Exhaust Air Volume, Exhaust Air temperature, and fresh air volume as ultimately the saving depends mainly on them.

Observations of output properties Delta T Fresh air side, Energy Saving Kcal/ hr.

Cumulative Energy saving details of “HRU Units” Process wise observed as below For finishing process –Cumulative Energy saving 58000 Kcal / hr. Considering Energy generation cost / 1 lac Kcal as INR 250/- Yearly saving will be INR 1314000/Heat setting process- Cumulative Energy saving 72000 Kcal / hr. Yearly saving will be INR 1576800/- User friendly HRU for addressing the issues of rising energy costs, limited fuel resources & energy starved future. Industry has accepted the product whole heartedly on various machines, till date 67 units have been installed in major corporates and energy conscious customers end.

Graphical Profile of energy saving by individual HRU unit across the Stenter in Kcal/hr.

and challenge for various textile processes. We at InspirOn always strive continuously to provide a better and complete solution to the industry. Inspiron engineering is offering Robust Process control module with highly précised sensors for highest Accuracy for online measurement and control of the parameters for the textile processes.

Results & discussions: The above results itself reveals that the 1. Drying efficiency of MOTEX 15000 is significantly higher than the existing model MOTEX 4560 2. Better Squeezing efficiency with delicate treatment comparatively which is specially expected for knitted fabric.

3. Observations & details are self-explanatory for the substantial energy conservation by HRU Better Speed, productivity, energy efficient working resulting in reduction of the cost/meter, and substantially.

The accuracy of tests performed is subject to the usual tolerance of +/- 10% in above studies.

MOTEX 15000 UNIFLO -A machine that improves safety, consume less energy, minimised waste and deliver maximum return on investment is designed and produced in a sustainable way.

Designing & Validation of machine of its kind requires a holistic approach analysing safety, functionality, operational efficiency, productivity, material use, ease of operation and maintenance. Designed by the team of young and energetic design professionals, supported & trained

by German technologists, MOTEX 15000 UNIFLO is conceived with unprecedented features with state of the art aesthetics.

2. Process Control Module • Residual Moisture—Contact measurement for small residual moisture for various substrates and processes by conductivity measurement. Plug and play design included in the Operational PLC itself.

• Dwell time Control—ensures the ease & operational flexibility for the processor and uniformity of the processes. Sensor with highest accuracy.

• Exhaust Humidity Control— Measurement and control of the exhaust humidity at Highest humidity & pollution levels, result in energy saving and uniformity of the process

- Optimised pneumatic circuit design has been incorporated to provide better ergonomically, operational & maintenance flexibility and also appearance. Plug & play type assembly with numbering/labelling & colour code on piping connection to ensure error free connections. Predefined mounting position & single make components for easy handling & procurement.

MOTEX 15000 UNIFLO at enviably low maintenance costs, offers extreme sturdy design technology. Taking care of all the practicalities of production for as complete solution for all kinds of substrates. Cradle & Brushing units for Denim, Higher squeezing Padder, Pin protection flapper , cushioning effect for Knits, Desired & reproducible Hand feel; finishing effect for Shirting & Suiting. High operational speeds up to 150 mpm.

Controlling with accuracy is always prime requirement

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TECHNICAL ARTICLE

A Synopsis On Coating & Lamination In Textiles: Process & Applications Abstract Coating and laminating are increasingly important techniques for adding value to technical textiles. Coating and lamination enhance and extend the range of functional performance properties of textiles and the use of these techniques is growing rapidly as the applications for technical textiles become more diverse. They are two functional processes which are used make a proper finishing to the textile material. Cheaper fabric structures may be coated or laminated to provide higher added value to end-users and higher profit margins to manufacturers. The present paper deals with the fabric preparation, methods used, application areas, tests required and market scenario for coating and lamination.

Key words: Coating, Laminations, methods & applications 1. Introduction Coated fabrics are engineered composite materials, produced by a combination of a textile fabric and a polymer coating applied to the fabric surface. The polymer coating confers new properties on the fabric, such as impermeability to dust particles, liquids and gases, and it can also improve existing physical properties, such as fabric abrasion. The fabric component generally determines the tear and tensile strength, elongation and dimensional stability, while the polymer mainly controls the chemical properties, abrasion resistance and resistance to penetration by liquids and gases. Many properties, however, are determined by a combination of both these components, and both base fabric and polymer must be carefully selected by a thorough consideration of the properties required in the finished product.

Coated textiles is defined as a material composed of two or more layers, at least one of which is a textile fabric and at least one of which is a substantially continuous polymeric layer. The layers are bonded closely together by means of an added adhesive or by the adhesive properties of one or more of the component layers. In other word it is described as a textile fabric on which there has been formed in situ, on one or both surfaces, a layer or layers of adherent coating material. Coated fabrics can be used as Coverings or as a barrier for protection, separation containment.

For appearance modification for decorative or functional purpose.

Improving dimensional stability, controlling stretch, preventing edges from frying or curling.

For control of porosity, e.g. for filtration.

As a matrix for holding some functional material,

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chemical, pigment or other agent.

As a processing aid, for example in ‘in situ’ moldings, vacuum technique or thermo-moldings.

Combining the specialist properties of polymers with the flexibility, strength, drapability and covering power of a fabric.

On the other hand, lamination process is used to prepare some important textile products with daily uses in our practical life like- blackout curtains and blinds etc1-7.

The key to success in textile coating and lamination depends upon the application of appropriate technology using modern machinery. Machine productivity is important, but flexibility in terms of production speed and the versatility of coating/lamination methods are important factors to consider, as well as a high level of process monitoring, process control and automation to satisfy demanding technical specifications.

2. Material & their properties Preparation of fabrics(3,4,5)

A. Woven fabric: The original and still most commonly used is the woven fabric. The woven fabrics have three basic construction .the plain weave, the satin weave, and the twill weave.

B. Knitted fabric: Knitted fabrics are used where moderate strength and elongation are required. The knit market, it has recently been replaced by polyester or cotton yarn and filament.

The main use of knit fabric is in apparel, automotive and furnishing furniture upholstery, shoe liner, boot shanks –any place elongation is required.

C. Non-woven: Many types of nonwoven fabric are used as a substrate .The wet web process gives a non-woven fabric with paper like properties, low elongation, low strength and poor drape. It is difficult to achieve strength as well as a smooth surface; therefore, a high quality non-woven of this is very expensive.

A thin layer of polyester based polyurethane foam can be needed into the non-woven to improve the surface coating properties.

2.2 Material/Polymers used in Textile Coating (2, 3) The wide ranges of polymer used, are available for different types of coatings. The functional property of coated fabrics will depend on the chemical nature of the polymer used. Following table 1 indicates main polymer used in

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March 2018

TECHNICAL ARTICLE textile coating & Table 3 depicts the function of functional properties of different coating composition:

2.3 Materials for lamination 2.3.1 Membrane Laminated fabric: Membranes are extremely thin films made from polymeric material and engineered in such a way that they have a very high resistance to liquid water penetration, yet allow the passage of water vapour. Films have the advantage over fabrics of 100% cover at light weights; they are generally completely impermeable to liquids and gases and are also excellent barriers to dust and other particles. Film/fabric laminates are used in sail making, hot air balloons and airships etc.

Films can be used to produce reflective surfaces with efficiencies much higher than can be produced with a fabric. They are of two types of membrane, microporous and hydrophilic A. Microporous Membrane: The first and probably the best known microporous membrane developed and introduced in 1976 by W. Gore, is known as Gore-Tex. This is a thin film of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer. The latest Gore-Tex membrane is a thin film claimed to contain over 9 billion microscopic pores per square inch, these pores are actually 20,000 times smaller than a water droplet, but 700 times larger than a water vapor molecule. Other manufacturers make similar membranes based on microporous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) cast directly on to the fabric. The hydrophobic nature of the polymer and small pore size requires very high pressure to cause water penetration.

B. Hydrophilic Membranes: Hydrophilic membranes are very thin films of chemically modified polyester or polyurethane containing no holes which, therefore, are sometimes referred to as non-poromeric. Water vapour from perspiration is able to diffuse through the membrane in relatively large quantities. The polyester or polyurethane polymer is modified by incorporating up to 40% by weight of poly (ethylene oxide). The poly (ethylene oxide) constitutes the hydrophilic part of the membrane by forming part of the amorphous regions of the polyurethane polymer system. It has a low energy affinity for water molecules which is essential for rapid diffusion of water vapor.

The membranes are laminated to the textile material with chemical or thermal bonding8.

Speciality films are widely used in protective clothing as waterproof and breathable barriers against the weather.

They are also used in footwear, and medical applications are being explored.50–55 The market leaders are GoreTex which is a PTFE film, Sympatex (Acordis) which is made from polyester, and Porelle (Porvair) which is polyurethane based.

ties. The largest outlet for polyurethane foam is in textile laminates, used for automobile seats covers and for other coverings in the car interior. The usual form is sheet foam with a thickness of anything between 2 and 10 mm or more, laminated to the face fabric on one side, and a lightweight ‘scrim’ fabric on the other side.The polyurethane foam may be either polyester polyurethane or polyether polyurethane. The polyurethane foam is generally more easily laminated by the flame lamination technique.

For polyether polyurethane foam chemicals are added to the foam to make this possible. Polyurethane foam develops cracks in hot, humid areas2, 3.

3. Coating Methods: 3.1 Principle of fabric coating1-5 Coating method can be classified in several ways. Their most fundamental characteristics are the number of layer that can be applied per applicator. Single layer method is applied coating layer at a time and requires several applicator inline to achieve the total number of layer desired in the coating structure. These analyses classify method by number of layer and indicate which give more uniform coating.

Single layer method: In this type of coating, usually the layer, which is applied on the base fabric, is single coated. This is useful when we required a thin coating to a substrate. It is also possible that by applying single layer, we will get a thick coating.

But that time coating solution should be more viscous by nature.

Dip coating: knife coating, air knife coating Rod coating: blades coating, forward and reverse roll coating Multi layer coating: In this type of coating, more than one layer is usually applied on single coated fabric. By using multiplayer coating method we can improve the serviceability, durability even other coated properties for fabric. Sometimes while applying coating solution on the fabric, then it is difficult to achieve proper property to the fabric because of thin coating so that time it is necessary to apply more than one coating to the fabric to get proper properties by applying thick coating.

Slide coating, curtain coating Basic consideration to select coating method:

2.3.2 Polyurethane & Poly Olefin foam

None of the basic families of coating technique can be applied for all purpose because coating involve different coating weight, solvent and viscosity achieve though desired quality and functionally of a coating in an economical way .we must select an appropriate coating method (1)

Polyurethane foams are available in various qualities, such as different densities, FR properties, different porosity and other specialist chemical and physical proper-

Number of layer Wet layer of thickness Viscosity

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TECHNICAL ARTICLE Coating accuracy require Coating support or web Coating speed 3.2 Type of coating1,2,5,9 The broad classification is based on the form of the coating material as follows:

3.2.1 Lick roll method In this method, the fabric was passed over the coating roll which was rotated in a trough of the coating liquor as shown in Fig. 1. (a)

Fig 2: Knife on air coating B. Knife over roller In this method, a gap is set between the blade and the surface of the fabric to apply a measured amount of coating.

It is also used if the weight of the coating being applied is too heavy for the fabric to support. The ‘off crown’ position is useful for coating thick fabrics which have raised surface or pile. Fig 3 shows Knife over roller.

(b) (b)

(a) (c) Fig. 1: Other lick roll methods. (a) Lick roll method (b) A metering roll (c) doctor knife 3.2.2 Direct Coating Direct method is sometimes called the ‘floating knife’ technique. In this method, the coating fluid is applied directly to the textile fabric and spread in a uniform manner by means of a fixed knife. The thickness of the coating is controlled by the gap between the bottom of the knife and the top of the fabric. The way in which this gap is controlled determines the type of machinery used. The following are the main techniques used: knife on air knife over table knife over roller knife over rubber blanket The amount of polymer applied, the ‘add-on’ depends on the concentration of the dispersion or solution – this is the so-called ‘solids content’; other parameters also affect resin add-on. The add-on is also influenced by the blade profile and blade angle, and by the fabric tension, which determines the intimacy of contact with the fabric.

(c)

Fig 3: (a) Knife over roller. b) Blade on the crown c) Blade slightly off crown positi-0on Fig 4: Knife over table The main advantage of Knife on air is that any irregularities in the fabric do not affect the running of the machine. However, this is not the case with the knife over table or knife over roll methods for although the coating thickness can be accurately controlled, any fabric faults or joints in the fabric are likely to jam under the blade causing fabric breakage. The problem of metering an accurate amount of coating onto the substrate was finally solved by the use of a flexible rubber blanket, which gives a controlled gap for the coating compound and yet is sufficiently flexible to allow cloth imperfections or sewing to pass underneath the blade without getting trapped and causing break outs. In knife over blanket, the web is supported by a short conveyor, in the form of an endless rubber blanket stretched between two rollers. Because the tension applied on the blanket results in a uniform pressure between the knife and the substrate, the fabric is not subjected to stretching in this arrangement1,4. Fig 5 shows Knife over Blanket.

A. Knife on air In this method, the knife is positioned after a support table and rests directly on the fabric. This technique is useful for applying very thin, lightweight, impermeable coatings (as low as 7–8 g/m2) suitable for hot air balloons, anoraks, etc1. Fig 2 shows Knife on air coating.

Fig 5: Knife over Blanket

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TECHNICAL ARTICLE Blade profile: There are three main types of knife profile as shown in fig 6.

1) Pointed blade, 2) Round blade 3) Shoe blade

Degree of permeability and breath ability is good.

Versatile in nature so that many different varieties of filler including pigment can be added to coating formulation to produce different novel properties.

A typical foam coating formulation may contain Acrylic resin; Water; foaming agent and Foam stabilizers (ammonium stearate), thickening agent; Filler, e.g. calcium carbonate; FR chemical (if necessary); Cross linking agents (if necessary).

Fig 6: Different types of blade Product from direct coating: Waterproof protective clothing fabric Automotive car seat fabric Tarpaulins Lightweight fabric Blankets (containing more than 40 layers of direct coating) Conveyer belts 3.2.3 Foam Coating: ‘Foam coating’ is related to direct coating which involves preparation of foam using a solution or a water dispersion of the textile chemical to be applied. The foam is direct coated in the same way as described above for compounded polymers. Foam processing is extremely useful for very heavy weight materials such as carpets, which are usually treated with anti-soil finishes such as fluorocarbons. The fluorocarbon is applied from very ‘dry’ foam, i.e. very low density containing very little water, to the face side of the carpet. If the carpet were completely immersed in water it would be quite impossible to dry off all the water at a commercial speed. Fluorocarbons can be applied to carpets made from all fibers, including polypropylene, in this manner.

Advantages of foam coating less water to dry off and The foam does not sink into the fabric, but sits on the surface. The foam collapses on drying and is not actually visible as a separate layer when dry.

The foam processing method is especially useful for applying finishes to only one side of the fabric the noncoated side.

Product: All polymer, acrylic, water based rubber, polyurethane could also be used.

Floor covering, wall covering, black out curtain, and curtain lining.

Filter fabric Fire retardant chemical are incorporated into foam.

3.2.5 Transfer Coating: This technique is used for knitted fabrics which compare to oven fabric are open and stretchy and can’t be coated by direct coating method. Because they would distort under the tension applied to obtain a flat surface and here resin would sink into knitted fabric and probably penetrate through to the face and fabric stiffing would accure i.e. loss in tear strength.

Disadvantage: More expensive than direct coating, partly because of added cost of relatively expensive paper and more expensive double headed plant In some cases, the release paper can be rolled up and reused but release property deteriorates each time.

The amount of any raising agent used should be kept to minimum because they cause negative effect on coating.

Product: Main outlet for transfer coated polyurethane fabric is in unmarked, waterproof protective clothing. Luggages, footwear, gloves, waterproof mattress cover.

Produce coated fabric with excellent high visibility appearance.

Transfer coating are used in upholstery and produce an attractive product.

Fig 7: Transfer coating

3.2.4 Foamed & Crushed Foamed Coating:

3.2.6 Kiss roll coating:

This method generally apply polymer to the woven fabric, knitted fabric, yarn, fabric of a general open construction, which cannot generally be direct coated.

Kiss roll coating is one of the best-known methods, which comes under the direct application method, which has the product to be applied on its surface. This kiss roller is either fed directly with coating liquor, whereby it is immersed directly into the auxiliary.

Importance: Softer handle and better drape than direct coating.

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TECHNICAL ARTICLE The kiss roller rotates either in the running direction of the substrate or in the opposite direction. If they rotate in the same direction, it is conceivable that the peripheral speed of the roller may be greater than the speed of the nonwoven or it may be slower.

In practice it is common to operate the kiss roller alternatively in both directions. In this way, with the same liquor concentration the add on and the penetration depth can be altered substantially. When the kiss roller rotates in the same direction the liquor normally penetrate more deeply into the substrates tan if it rotates in the opposite direction.

Fig.8 Kiss Roller coating 1) Guide roller 2) Doctor blade 3) Kiss roller 3.2.7 Rotary screen coating: The rotary screen technique can also be used for coating polymer on to fabric with add on between 5 to 500 g/ m2. The add on is controlled by resin viscosity, the mesh of the cylindrical screen, the speed and pressure of the squeegee bar inside the screen. The fabric moves at the same speed as the rotation of the rotary screen and there is no any frictional contact between them. When a resin is deposited on to the fabric, the resin flows and merges together to form a continuous coating.

This method is generally restricted to water based resin due to the problem of solvent wash off facility. Hot melt adhesive in the form of aqueous paste are applied this method is well suited to light weight nonwoven fabric and delicate films such as water resistances and breathable films for apparel.

Advantages: This technique allows some stretchy fabrics to be coated.

Require less fabric tension.

Production of coating with soft handle and good drape.

The material can be dried, rolled up, stored, and reactivated when required.

3.2.8 Spray Coating Spray coating is also an important technique for coating.

Chemicals which are extremely stable are used for spray coating because shear stress during spray is very high. In theory all type of liquid adhesive can be sprayed hot melt, solvent-based, water-based and high solids versions. In practice, however, hot melts need expensive apparatus

34

to ensure that they do not solidify prematurely or char, solvents present problems of flammability and waterbased adhesives may not dry at commercial speeds. The problems usually associated with spray applications are uniformity and precision of application, penetration of the fabric substrate, occasional blocking of a spray nozzle, control of the liquid being sprayed usually a solvent and continuous drying of the liquid.

3.2.9 Calendar Coating Polymer component Fig. 9 : Calendar Coating Calendars are primarily used to produce unsupported films of PVC and rubbers from compounded polymer ‘dough’. This process can also be adapted to apply freshly produced film to fabric. Calendars consist of a number of massive rollers, sometimes five or more in various configurations, which rotate to crush the ‘dough’ and smooth it into films of uniform thickness. The thickness of the film is determined by the gap separation of the rollers, but there is usually a limit to the thinness of films which may be produced by this method. The more rollers, film produced is more accurate. Some of the rollers also generate heat, and the material is fabricated into a continuous sheet which can be brought into contact with the fabric to which it adheres.

3.2.10 Hot Melt Extrusion Coating This method is used for thermoplastic polymers such as polyurethane, polyolefins and PVC, which are applied by feeding granules of the material into the nip between moving heated rollers. This process is used to produce light weight coverings or tarpaulins9.

Hot -melt adhesives are thermoplastic and can be melted or softened by heat. When spread on the fabric in the hot state, lamination with another fabric can occur on re-solidification as the coating cools down. A variety of methods can be used with hot melt adhesives. Slot die extrusion allows high viscosity hot melt adhesives to be extruded as a continuous film directly on all types of textiles9. Alternatively, roller and calendar hot -melt coating and laminating may be used. Hot melt adhesives are 100 percent solids available in their simplest form as pellets, pillows, granules or bulk filled drums.

Advantages Significant material savings can result by direct application of the hot melt adhesive, thus eliminating the

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March 2018

TECHNICAL ARTICLE cost associated with cryogenically created powders or formed films and webs.

Line speeds are often surpassing those of the “old” technologies.

Ovens used to activate dry adhesives are not required in most cases, saving both utilities and floor space.

A converter’s adhesive choices are broadened to include dry adhesives (polyester, polyamide and EVA), reactive urethanes, pressure sensitive adhesives and others22.

Rotogravure This process uses an engraved roll to deliver a pattern of adhesive to the substrate. Adhesive is melted with a conventional hot melt applicator or extruder and delivered to a holding pan via a heated transfer hose. The engraved roll is submerged in a pool of molten adhesive which fills the pores or engraved areas of the roll. As the engraved roll turns, the excess adhesive is removed, by a wiping blade, leaving only the adhesive in the engraved areas.

A backup roll behind the substrate applies the necessary amount of pressure, ensuring that the substrate and the engraved roll contact correctly for effective transfer of the adhesive to the substrate. A transfer roll can also be used to remove the adhesive from the patterned roll and transfer it to the substrate. Once coated, the second substrate is introduced and the two pass through a lamination station consisting of a hard roll and a rubber coated roll to complete the lamination22.

without damaging the substrate.

These systems are typically used when low add-on weights (as low as 1 gram per square meter) are desired.

3.2.11 Process flow diagram of coating General process of coating involves application of polymer film followed by drying and then curing. As per the requirement pre- padding or post padding is done. In case of some coating, calendaring is also done. In denim coating biopolishing (enzyme washing) is given to get washing effect.

Fig .10 Process flow diagram of coating 4. Film Lamination Laminate film is generally categorized into these five categories: * Standard thermal laminating films * Low-temperature thermal laminating films * Heat-set (or heat-assisted) laminating films * Pressure-sensitive films * Liquid laminate9 4.1 Faults in Lamination9 There some faults can be usually appears in the laminated products during the process. These faults can be removed or partially decreased by a proper m/c setting, controlling different parameters like; heating, temperature, degree of adhesion limit etc. Few of the lamination faults which generally frequently appears in lamination process have been discussed in the table 2 as below:

Table 2: List of some common lamination fault in textile finishing

Spray Systems

Faults name Reasons

Remedies

Spray systems combine heated air with molten adhesive to produce continuous filaments through a nozzle (Figure 10).The filaments are applied to the moving substrate.

Once the substrate is coated, a second substrate is introduced and the two are permanently joined with the use of a lamination station consisting of two rolls that apply pressure to the laminate.

Bubbles

Improper roller nip pressure

Proper roller surface mapping

Particles

Poor mixing of laminating pest

Excellent grinding of the materials in the laminating pest

Age cracks

In stability of the laminating pest/solution/adhesives

Advanced camera technology for highest contrast

Misalignment of edges

Luck of proper supervisation to the process

Easy integration into production lines

Laminating faults

Quick process, less time

Networking for further evaluation

Advantages Modular spray heads allow placement of the adhesive to occur at a variety of distances from the substrate.

They also allow the spray system’s coating position within a line to be changed as needed.

The non-contact nature of the spray systems can bean advantage when working with temperature sensitive substrates such as polypropylene.

Adhesives can be applied at operating temperatures

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5. Application areas of coated & laminated fabrics Technical textiles are generally recognized to be one of the most dynamic and promising areas for the future of the textile industry and also as an emerging area of de-

35

TECHNICAL ARTICLE velopment for functional application of textiles. Table 3 below shows the field wise end use application of coated & laminated textiles.

9 10

Wicking Test

ASTM D751

Table 3 19,25

11

Stiffness of Fabric Test

IS 6490

12

Colour Fastness to Dry and BS 3424, IS 1259 Wet Rubbing

13

Flame Resistance Test

IS 11871, BS 3119

14

Abrasion Resistance Test

ASTM 3424

15

Method for Determination of ASTM D5193 Air Retention

16

Damage Due to Flexing Test

Area of Techni- Application cal textile

Degree of Fusion (or Degree BS 3424, of Curing) of the Coating D4005

Agro tech

Agriculture, horticulture and forestry

Build tech

Building and construction

Cloth tech

Technical component of shoes and clothing

Geo tech

Geo textile and civil engineering

Home tech

Component of furniture, upholstery and floor covering

Indu tech

Filtration, cleaning and other industrial application

17

Air Permeability Test

Med tech

Hygiene and medical application

18

Oeko tech

Environment Protection

Water Vapour Permeability ASTM E96 Test

Pack tech

Packing

19

Protect

Personal and properly protection

Resistance to Permeation by ASTM F739 Hazardous Liquid Chemicals

Spor tech

Sports and leisure

20

Mobi tech

Automobiles, shipping, railways and aerospace

Test Method for Coated Fab- ASTM F715 rics Used for Oil Spill Control and Storage

21

Blocking Test

6. Testing of coated fabrics 1, 2, 6 Depending on properties desired in particular product, following tests were carried out. Table 4 shows various test standards for coated & laminated textiles.

Table 4: Test Standards for Coated & Laminated Textiles1, 6

S r . Test No.

Test Standard

1

Cone Test

IS 7941

2

Water Repellency – Spray Rating Test

IS 390, AATCC 22 – 1996

3

Adhesion of the Coating to the Fabric

ASTM D751

4

Coating Mass per Unit Area

BS 3424, IS 7016 Part 1

5

Bursting Strength and Puncture Resistance

ASTM D751 and IS 7016 Part 6

6

Hydrostatic Resistance

ASTM D751, BS 3424, IS 7016 Part 7

7

Brittleness Point of Flexible Polymers and Coated Fabrics

ASTM D2137, BS 3424, IS 7016 Part 14

8

36

Test Methods for Determination of Volatile Loss

ASTM D1203

ASTM

D3389,

ASTM 3424,

D2097,

BS

BS

IS 7016 Part 4 BS 3424

BS 3424, IS 7016 PART 9

7. Factors affecting properties of coated or laminated textiles20 The properties of a coated or laminated fabric depend on: a) The type of polymer used – rubber, polyvinylchloride, polyurethane, etc which are specially formulated with additives and compounded into a paste suitable for laminating or coating. b) The nature of the textile substrate – cotton, rayon, nylon, polyester, polyester - cotton blends and glass fibers that may be produced in woven, knitted or nonwoven constructions. c) The coating method employed – spread coating, dip coating, melt coating, lamination.

8. SWOT analysis for Coated & Laminated Textiles20, 21 SWOT Analysis Strengths

Weaknesses

Standard quality prod- High energy consumption. uct.

Simple and easy produc- High production cost. tion process.

High skilled (trained) User friendly design. workers required.

Can be supplied in roll Financial constraints. form to the customer.

Storing conditions (in Raw materials and utiliventory). ties are readily available. Volatile compound can be produced.

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March 2018

TECHNICAL ARTICLE Opportunities

Threats

New products can be de- Possibility veloped. publicity.

of

negative

New markets can be cre- Environmental ated. tion policy.

protec-

High trends.

consumption Injurious to health.

Operators’ safety.

Research for new spe- Social restrictions. cialist applications.

Political instability.

Good profit margins.

Overseas access.

9. Coating and Laminating Market Trends Coated and laminated fabrics appear in most of the areas of technical textile, especially transportation, industrial, clothing and medical uses. Significant growth is expected in all 12 application areas. Market Growth is driven by automotive and transportation, protective clothing, awnings/canopies (including signage), and small volume niche markets. Coating and Laminating Market Trends includes following points: The industry is global and becoming more so Environmental issues will have more impact Recycling a major environmental issue New techniques and materials will evolve to help resolve problems and create better products Alliances and partnerships will be more common Increased use of nonwovens Greater use of composites22 11. Conclusion The coating and lamination gives a powerful tool for the advancement of textile technology. It provides the opportunities to produce the special fabrics like water-proof resistant tarpaulins, coverings, large tents and architectural uses, back coating for upholstery including autoseats, Artificial turf, Food, Medical applications, parachutes, Woven curtains, for heat- sensitive fabrics, automotive fabrics, disposable hospital apparel etc. The recent developments also enhanced the lamination and coating technique into state-of-art process of the future in textile field.

Coated Textiles have established themselves as one of the important product in the textile industry and as well as in Textile Global Market.

Acknowledgement The authors of this article are grateful to Director and the management of Wool Research Association for their kind support and guidance.

References Sen

A. K., Coated Textiles: Principles and Applications, Technomic Publishing Company, Inc, 2001

March 2018

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Fung Walter; Coated and Laminated Textiles, Woodhead Publishing Ltd, 2002 Smith W C, Smart Textile Coatings and Laminates, Woodhead Publishing Ltd, 2010 Horrocks A R & Anand S C, Handbook of technical textiles, Woodhead Publishing Ltd, 2000 Satas. D, Coating Technical Handbook, New York (editor Marcel Dekkar Inc) 1991 Guneri Akovali, Bireswar Banerjee, A.K. Sen, Dipak K. Setua; Advances in Polymer Coated Textiles, Smithers Rapra Technology publishing, 2012 Grayson, Coated Fabric, Encyclopedia of textile fiber non woven fabric, 4th edition, John wiley and sons New York 1994.

A. Sengupta & J. Behera, A Synopsis on Waterproof Breathable textiles & clothing, WTIN Web portal magazine, June 2014 Singha Kunal, A Review on Coating & Lamination in Textiles: Processes and Applications, American Journal of Polymer Science, 2012, 2(3), pp 39-49 Mondal. S., Phase change materials for smart textiles- An overview. Applied Thermal Engineering, 28 (11-12), 2008, pp 1536-1550.

Erkan Gokhan, Enhancing The Thermal Properties of Textiles With Phase Change Materials, Research Journal of Textile and Apparel, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2004, pp 57 – 64 http://www.textileworld.com/Issues/2004/March/Features/ Phase_Change_Materials http://textilecentre.blogspot.in/2013/07/coating-and-lamination-of-nonwovens_3890.html#sthash.y3A8ETPF.dpuf http://www.textiletoday.com.bd/magazine/144 J.R. Wagner Jr., 2010, Chapter 9 - Blown film, cast film and lamination processes, Multilayer Flexible Packaging, 2010, 107-112. http://www.lubrizol.co.in/Coating/Digital-Printing-English. pdf http://www.faitplast.com/EN/faiterm.htm http://www.intnews.com/TCL2012/content/abstracts http://www.tikp.co.uk/knowledge/technology/coating-andlaminating/coating-methods/ Mohammad Tajul Islam Mollah, Coated or Laminated Textiles - The Swot Analysis, Bangladesh Textile Today, Jan- Feb 2011 http://www.ptj.com.pk/Web-2013/09-2013/FUNCTIONALTEXTILES-AND-APPARELS-Mohammad-Tajul.html

Mayur Basuk & Girish Kherdekar

Wool Research Association – Center of Excellence for Sportech

37

BACK TO BASIC

Definitions of Some Basic Terms| Textile Fibre Properties 1 Load It is the weight applied to a specimen which causes a tension to be developed in the specimen.

2 Breaking load It is the load at which the specimen breaks, usually expressed in grams’ weight.

3 Stress It is the ratio of the force applied to the cross-sectional area of the specimen.

4 Mass stress The cross section of many fibres are irregular in shape and difficult to measure. To simplify matters, a dimension related to cross-section is used, such as the linear density of the specimen.

The linear density of a specimen may be expressed in denier or tex unit; then the mass stress becomes the ratio of the force applied to the mass per unit length. The units of mass stress, therefore, become gram per denier (gpd) or gram per tex (gpt).

tensibility and a low modulus indicates great extensibility.

In textiles, the term initial modulus is used to describe the initial resistance to extension of a textile material.

In other words, this is a measure of fibre’s resistance to small initial extension. When the fibre has high resistance to stretching, it will have high modulus. High modulus indicates inextensibility and brittleness. Low modulus fibre requires little force to stretch it. It is also an indication of flexibility. The initial modulus is a very important part of stress–strain curve. If the initial portion of the curve is straight, it indicates a linear relationship between stress and strain. The material behaves like spring and obeys Hook’s law. The significance is that when the load is removed the material recovers its original length. If the stress is in units of grams per denier, then the initial modulus will also be in grams per denier because the strain is a number and is dimensionless.

10 Elastic recovery It is defined as that property of a body by which it tends to recover its original size and shape after deformation.

Elastic recovery is often expressed as a percentage.

5 Tenacity The tenacity of a material is the mass stress at break. The units being, of course, grams per denier or grams per tex.

An alternative term for tenacity is a specific strength. It is useful to note that by expressing the breaking strengths of different materials in terms of tenacity, a comparison can be made directly between specimens of varying fineness.

6 Strain When a load is applied to a specimen, a certain amount of stretching takes place. The amount will vary with the initial length of the specimen. The strain is the term used to relate the stretch or elongation with the initial length.

This is expressed in percentage.

7 Extension It is the ratio of extended length to the original length of the specimen, expressed as a percentage. The extension is sometimes referred to as the strain percentage.

8 Breaking extension The breaking extension is the extension of the specimen at the breaking point.

9 Initial modulus It is the ratio of breaking stress to breaking strain. Young’s modulus gives a measure of the force required to produce a small extension. A high modulus indicates inex-

38

Perfectly elastic materials will have an elastic recovery of 100% while perfectly plastic materials will have a zero recovery (i.e. 0%). The elastic recovery of different fibres shows considerable variations. Also, the same fibre may show variable recovery depending upon the degree of extension and the relative humidity.

11 Elongation and elastic recovery The amount of extension or stretch that a fibre accepts is referred to as elongation. Elongation at break is the amount of stretch a fibre can take before it breaks. Elastic recovery indicates the ability of fibres to return to their original length after being stretched. A fibre with 100% elastic recovery will come back to its original length after being stretched to a specific degree for specified period of time. After removing and re-measured.

12 Load-elongation curve The load-elongation curve describes the mechanical response of the specimen from zero load and zero elongation up to the breaking point. From a close study of this curve important information on its mechanical behaviour, like elastic modulus, yield point, tenacity and elongation can be obtained.

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BACK TO BASIC 13 Moisture regain

of water (at 4 degree celsius ). The density of water at that

Moisture regain is defined as the weight of water in a material expressed as a percentage of its oven-dry weight.

temperature is 1. fiber density will affect their performance and laundering. If the specific gravity of a fiber is less than 1, it will

14 Moisture content Moisture content is the weight of water in a material expressed as percentage of its total weight.

15 Physical shape

float in water, making its washing and dyeing very difficult. E.g. Olefins fiber. A related property is density which is defined as the mass per unit volume and measured in g/cm3.

Shape of a fiber include, its longitudinal sections, cross section, surface contour, irregularities and average length.

16 Luster

It refers to the sheen or gloss that a fiber possesses. It is directly proportional to the amount of light reflected by a fiber. This in

18 Absolute humidity Absolute humidity is defined as the weight of water present in a unit volume of moist air.

19 Relative humidity (R.H.)

turn is affected by their cross section shape. Among the natural fibers, silk has a high luster, and cotton has low.

Relative humidity is defined as the ratio of the actual vapor pressure to the standard vapor pressure at the same temperature expressed as percentage.

17 Specific gravity/ Density

References:

The specific gravity of a fiber is the density related to that

http://textilecentre.blogspot.com/2016/09/definitions-ofsome-basic-terms-textile.html

Comparison of Textile Policy : Gujarat & Maharashtra HEADS

GUJARAT

MAHARASHTRA

Policy Effective dates Effective till

5th September 2012 - 4th September 2017, Extended by 1 year ( September 2018)

2018-2023

Apparel Training Institutes/ centers

1. Assistance up to 85 %, subject to maximum Rs.3 crore, excluding land cost, for setting up training institute. 2. need based support towards equipment for up gradation of facilities in it is.

A scheme will be formulated for State Government funding to CFCs subsequent to the receipt of Central Government funds, for their utilization for training. This will help maximize the impact of the Central Government’s Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS).

Additional training courses will be designed by the industrial training institutes (ITIs) to cater for the needs of the textile industry. The government will formulate schemes for integrated three tier development of the workers (hard skills, soft skills and life skills) with the help of experts in this field. Training courses will be developed for the textile industry and co-operative spinning mills in the areas of human resources development, power savings, time management, supply chain management, skill enhancement and ISO certification, etc.

3. Assistance up to 50%, subject to maximum Rs. 20 lakh for training centers.

4. Reimbursement of tuition fees to trainees as assistance @50% up to Rs. 7000 per trainee per course.

5. Reimbursement of training cost with maximum of Rs. 7000 per trainer per week, as assistance to training to trainers.

Skill Development

March 2018

Training cost for skill development for weaving - Stipend to trainees:@ Rs.2,500 per month for three month, and allowance to weavers @ Rs.200/ day, and to jobbers @ Rs.300/day as assistance for advanced training to power loom Owner/jobber and worker as training cost for skill development for Power development for Power loom/Weaving Sector.

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The State Textile University will be set up in the State with support from the Central Government and in collaboration with Agriculture, Higher Technical Education and Skill Development Departments. This University will offer certificate, diploma, graduate and post graduate degrees related to the textile sector

39

TEXTILE POLICY COMPARISON HEADS Interest Subsidy

GUJARAT

MAHARASHTRA

1. Interest subsidy of 5 percent, without ceiling for the period of five years on new plant & machinery for Ginning & Processing, weaving, knitting, machine carpeting and other textile related activities, also on second hand imported Machines with certain conditions.

The policy of capital subsidy in lieu of Interest subsidy to the new, expansion & diversification / modernization projects undertaken during the Textile Policy 2011-17 will be continued with modifications in the Textile Policy 2018-23. Additional capital subsidy will be granted to processing plants set up in the cotton growing areas of Vidharbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra. The 2. Interest subsidy of 6 percent on new plant and details of the Capital subsidy rate and the duration for machinery for technical Textiles, besides second various textiles. hand imported machinery with certain conditions allowed.

3. Interest subsidy of 7 percent on new plant & machinery for cotton spinning, garment and madeups; as well as for second hand imported cotton spinning machinery with certain conditions.

Maximum interest subsidy will be at the rate of 5% per annum for five years. (7% for Spinning unit and garment/made-ups unit) for for five years.

Special Concession In Power Tariff

Power tariff subsidy @ Rs.1 per unit in billed amount of the utility for the units of 5 years for cotton spinning industries and weaving units for establishing new or expansion or diversification of existing enterprises and units with second hand eligible imported machineries.

A subsidy of Rs 2 per unit will be given to spinning mills (except co-operative spinning mills), processing units and all other textile units which are using more than 107 HP power

Capital Investment subsidy for Manufacturing Enterprises: will be eligible only on Loan Amount disbursed by the Bank/Institution.

In Municipal Corporation Areas: Subsidy @ 10% of term loan amount disbursed by the bank/ Financial Institution with maximum amount of Rs.15 lakhs Area Outside Municipal Corporation limit: Subsidy @ 15% of term loan amount disbursed by the bank/ Financial Institution maximum amount of Rs.25 lakhs.

Capital subsidy in lieu of Interest subsidy to the new, expansion & diversification / modernization projects undertaken during the Textile Policy 2011-17 will be continued with modifications in the Textile Policy 2018-23. Additional capital subsidy will be granted to processing plants set up in the cotton growing areas of Vidharbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra.

Construction cost of ETP / CETP / ZLD in the processing projects will be eligible for capital subsidy. 5% additional capital subsidy for projects with investment of Rs. 500 crore and above. If it is the first project / pioneering project in that taluka then additional 5%, totaling to 10% capital subsidy will be applicable. New / Expansion / Diversification / Modernization self-financed textile projects will be granted capital subsidy as per capital subsidy in lieu of Interest Subsidy Scheme.

Self-financed projects in the Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra regions will be granted additional capital subsidy. Textile projects of scheduled castes / scheduled tribes / minority communities will be granted capital subsidy as per the above mentioned capital subsidy in lieu of Interest Subsidy Scheme.

Capital subsidy will be given for machinery required for ZLD / ETP / CETP in the processing projects.

Long term loans for capital subsidy under the centrally sponsored TUFS scheme (including any subsequent modifications by the Central Government to these schemes) or long term loans (excluding taxes) approved by financial institutions or banks for machinery approved by the State Government. The eligibility for capital subsidy will be decided based on the installed capacity of the project and actual annual production.

A subsidy of Rs. 3 per unit will be given to co-operative spinning mills for a period of 3 years. Within this period The enterprises setting up of unit having captive of 3 years the units will set up non-conventional power power plant will be given assured supply of lignite projects to fulfil their power needs. by way of supply agreement with GMDC

Capital Investment Subsidy

Conditions for the Capital Investment subsidy : Enterprise which has obtained first disbursement during the operative period of the scheme will eligible for the assistance.

In case term loan is sanctioned after one year from the date of commencement of commercial production, such enterprise will not eligible for subsidy under the scheme.

The Unit shall have to continue production at least for 5 years from the date of commencement of commercial production, and if, it fails to do so than subsidy already been disbursed will be recovered as land revenue arrears.

Total quantum of Capital Subsidy (State + Central) in any case shall not exceed the total loan amount disbursed by the bank/Financial Institutes.

40

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March 2018

TEXTILE POLICY COMPARISON HEADS

GUJARAT

MAHARASHTRA

upto 50% with maximum ceiling of Rs. 30 crore for common infrastructure for cotton spinning park with or without weaving : but with maximum ceiling of Rs. 10 crore for common infrastructure in parks and other textile activities

The scheme of providing Rs. 9 crore or 9% of project cost, whichever is lower, to the projects by the State Government and those which are approved under Central Government SITP scheme (Government Resolution dated 25 May 2012) will be continued. Integrated Textile Hubs / Parks by the MIDC will be set up at Amravati, Aurangabad, Beed, Buldhana, Jalna, Jalgaon, Nanded, Parbhani, Yavatmal and Wardha. Essential infrastructure such as roads, water, electricity, etc. and facilities of testing labs and CETP will be provided at these Integrated Textile Hubs / Parks. At least 100 Ha land at each of these Mega Integrated Textile Hubs will be developed. Similar Textile Hubs / Parks will be set up as per requirement in the Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra regions through MIDC. 7.6.4 Textile Parks / Hubs will be established by MIDC at Ichalkaranji (Hatkanangle) and Solapur.

Energy And Assistance up to 50 % for audit report amountWater Con- ing to maximum of Rs. 50000, assistance up to servation 20% of cost of equipment subject to maximum Rs. 20lakh, eligible once in 2 years during operaGreen tion period of the scheme, as support for enTechnology ergy and water conservation and environmental compliance, for processing sector and entire value chain.

Special incentives will be given to textile projects implementing environment friendly solar and wind energy projects. If spinning mills, power looms and textile projects are ready to set up green energy projects then the State Government, in collaboration with MEDIA, will formulate a scheme for providing appropriate subsidy to reduce the overall power subsidy.

 Website

https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/Site/Upload/Government%20Resolutions/Marathi/201802171625204302.pdf

Textile Parks

http://www.ic.gujarat.gov.in/documents/ news/17-10-2017-14-08-23gujarat-garmentapparel-policy-20172-new-17102017.pdf

Compilation by Bhavesh Thakar, Secretary General, Spinners Association - Gujarat

March 2018

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41

SHOW CALENDAR

March 2018 9-10

13-15

TEXCON 2018 (Confrence) Indore/ Madhya Pradesh Events.svv.edu.in FILTECH Cologne/ Germany www.filtech.de

24-26

International Apparel & Textile Fair Dubai/UAE http://internationalapparelandtextilefair.com/

25- 28 Textyle Expo 2018 Oran, Algeria. https://textyle-expo.com/en/index.php May 2018

14

ATEXCON by CITI Mumbai Maharashtra Citiindia.com

10-12

AISEX 2018 Colombo/ Sri Lanka www.saexhibitions.com / www.jitf.lk

14-15

Textile Forum London/ UK www.textileforum.org.uk

22-24

14-16

Intertextile Shanghai/ China

Texprocess Americas Georgia / USA http://texprocess-americas.us.messefrankfurt.com/ atlanta/en/for_exhibitors/welcome.html

http://intertextile-shanghai-apparel-fabrics- spring. hk.messefrankfurt.com/shanghai/en /visitors/welcome.html

22-23

Textile 4.0 Global and Indian Perspective Mumbai Maharashtra http://textileassociationindia.com/

28-30 Gar-Tex Expo 2018 Yangon Mayanmar http://www.gartex-myanmar.com/about/detail/ welcome-to-myanmar-gar-tex-expo-2018-32/ 28-31

4th International Fashion Textile & Accessories Fair Casablanca/ Morocco www.moroccostyle.net

June 2018 6-8

Non Woven Tech Asia 2018 Mumbai/ India www.nonwoventechasia.com

20-26

ITMA 2019 Barcelona/ Spain www.itma.com

28-29

FICCI - TECHNOTEX-2018 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon, Mumbai www.technotexindia.in

July 2018 9-11

NGF 2018 Mumbai/ India www.cmai.in

April 2018

August 2018

4-7

INDO INTERTEX 2018 Jakarta, Indonesia www.indointertex.com

8-11

Gartex 2018.

Mumbai/ India www.gartexindia.com

5-7

Fibers & Yarns Mumbai / India http://www.fibersnyarns.com/

29-31

Gentex expo Colombo/ Sri Lanka http://www.gentexfair.com

14-17

ITM 2018 / HIGHTEX 2018 Istanbul/ Turkey www.itmexhibition.com / www.hightex2018.com

October 2018

19-21

42

TPF Digital Printing Shanghai/ China http://2016.cstpf.com/en-us/index

15-19

ITMA ASIA +CITME 2018 Shanghai, China http://www.itmaasia.com

February 2019 1-3

GTTES Mumbai/ India http://gttes.india-itme.com/home

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March 2018

INTERVIEW

Strong Company Fundamentals Overcome All Challenges Brand Name : Prashant Gamatex, Prashant West Point Machinery, Prashant Ferber & Prashant Texmach Tag Line : Excellence In Weaving Preparatory Segment : Weaving sentatives and agents in respective countries where we are exporting our machines.

What is your Achievement overall?

We are one stop solution for weaving preparatory. We are enjoying No. 1 position in India by providing world class products as appropriate price.

What is your market share in India?

Amoli Shah Director of Prashant Group of Companies

P

RASHANT GROUP, established in 1975, is one of India’s prominent and fastest growing Textile Machinery manufacturing group. The Group has cooperations with leading European and American textile machine manufacturing companies which bring an edge in updated technology and enhancement in product profile. Prashant group comprises of 4 companies, namely PRASHANT GAMATEX, PRASHANT WEST POINT MACHINERY, PRASHANT FERBER& PRASHANT TEXMACH Establishment of the company?

The company started by My Father in 1975 and our vision behind this is to provide world class technology at appropriate price. As per our vision, we are providing the best technology till date.

What all the Challenges do you face in the journey?

Challenges are part of any business. I believe that if the company fundamentals are strong, then it is very easy to overcome any challenges.As a group, we are steadily growing every year despite demonetization, GST, or other factors.

Different Countries having their different Markets& Challenges. What is your opinion and experience about it?

We are exporting over 45 countries. First & foremost, we must have very high tech high quality product to export your machines in world market especially in Europe and America. Second important thing is that you require a local representative in export. We have our own repre-

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In India we have more than 70 to 80% market share in high tech sectional warping machine.

What is your USP? We are focusing on technology, quality & R&D. we have our own R&D team which is determined to provide world class products with better quality. Our 80% parts are produced In-House and electronic parts, we import from Europe. We have In-House quality control. We have more than 20 engineers just for R&D. We have 1000 plus employees and out of which 350 plus engineers.

What is your next technology in your segment?

Automation and green products is our next segment of technologies; where one require less man power and less energy consumption. We provide robotic sectional warping machine, due to which productivity increased by 50% with less man power, less space and less yarn. We provide completely automatic beam handling system due to which major saving in man power and efforts are done.

Loom down time is also reduced by half. We have supplied our latest indigo sheet dyeing machine which has reduced water consumption and chemical consumption significantly compare to traditional machines available in the market.

Overall scenario of textile machinery?

Indian textile machinery industry is seeing lots of modernization. As far as weaving sector is concern, we see more and more upgradation in shuttle less looms in terms of automation, speed and other features. To support high speed air jet looms, there is modernization in preparatory also. So overall, we see advancement in terms of technology.

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INTERVIEW Do you get TUFS benefit in your business?

TUF is an indirect benefit to our business. Our customer gets the TUF benefit and all our machines are approved under TUF. So when they buy our machines, they get TUF benefit which in terms benefit our business also.

Impact of GST in your business?

GST had affected temporarily to our business because our buyers were affected. But now everything is back to routine. I am seeing long term benefits to our business due to GST.

What new technology you introducedto market in ITMACH 2017?

We introducedhigh tech Inspection Machine and packing line in ITMACH 2017.

Overall experience of ITMACH 2017?

ITMACH organization is good. Over all response was good.

Though I feel, there were still room for improvement in terms of organizing and attracting more genuine buyers.

What is your Future Plan?

As of now, we are enjoying No.1 position in India and in future we maintain our position and dignity. We want to serve textile industry by providing cutting edge technology at appropriate price. Even though we are exporting to 45 countries, we would like to increase our market share further in world market.

Who is your competitor company?

There are few European competitors and some Chinese competitors.

GTIL Product Set A Benchmark at Every Stage Brand Name : Globe Textiles Tag Line : Superior Quality Segment : Yarn, Fabric, Home Textiles What are your Achievements till date?

Bhavin Parikh

CEO, Globe Textiles (India) Ltd .

What all Challenges / Hardship you faced during the journey?

Globe Textiles formally began its operations in 2008. Initially, while we were getting into Textiles, we faced difficulties like inadequate trained and skilled manpower in different fields, structural imbalances that hindered supply to international markets, and other constraints including new product developments, time etc.

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Our biggest achievement is our satisfied clientele, who have remained with us from beginning till now. This is due to Globe’s operational structure that has a very customer centric approach. Despite hindrances, we have been able to quickly enter newer markets and venture into new products, which is a result of efficient market research.

Our understanding and grasp on the customer preferences has really helped us in expanding our capacities in Ahmedabad, the Manchester of Textile. Recently we also received an “A” Grade in BSCI certification for our ‘Home Textile vertical’.

Segment : GTIL has a diverse product range comprising Home Textiles, Printed Fabrics, Denims and Garments are well- entrenched to fortify the company’s penchant to serve the best in its class.

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INTERVIEW What motivated you to focus on Denim Garments?

In terms of focus, we have a balanced approach across all verticals: Be it Denim Jeans, Suiting & Shirting, Printed Fabrics or Home Textiles. We are especially good in Denim Jeans and Printed Fabrics. We are well versed of heterogeneity in consumer needs for this product, its evolution, designing methods and technologies and the market for it. We do want to widen every vertical and believe in the fact every product that begins its journey from GTIL should set a benchmark at every stage.

cases. Ineptness looms large and for the local workers, it is hard to compete, especially when regulations are fast changing and the industry faces reduced margins. Expertise can’t be achieved by spreading too thin.

We began with concentrating on the North and West textile market. We are going to expand the horizon to make Globe Textiles a nationwide brand, by 2020.

There is no room for complacency, errors and stagnation.

Our team at Globe Textiles has focused on continuous research to develop innovative products. Designs we create are exquisite and a class apart. Our market reach is well penetrated across. Our clients and vendors are equally attached with us because we push the farthest to deliver the best. We take pride in enhancing the overall experience of our customers, allowing them ample scope to differentiate between us and other industry peers. For us, automation is the key and we have the best infrastructure in place to take care of evolving realities.

In which countries/continents do you focus on for exports? What are the reasons behind this choice?

What is your take on the future scenario of your segment in the domestic as well as global market?

South East Asia and the Gulf are our primary markets for sarongs. For other products, we have penetrated into Europe. For next one year, we will be focussing on the US market which we have been eyeing for long, as there is huge potential in North America. We have also received a positive feedback from our clients based in these counties regarding our value proposition.

The current size of the textile market in India is an estimated USD 120 billion. The market is seeing a CAGR of 25 per cent each year. According to India Brand Equity Foundation, the total market size is expected to touch USD 220 billion in 3—4 years. The road ahead looks promising, backed by strong domestic consumption as well as export demand.

Your company manufactures a very wide range of products. What has been your approach towards product innovation?

Vision for reaching for next level i.e. Future plan for next 5 and 10 years?

In India, in which clusters do you focus on?

We have a dedicated team of R&D resources for the better development of techniques in operations. We have a very flexible team, with a proactive approach towards customers’ demands. Our work allows permeability towards new concepts and ideas, which is a huge factor in our customer upscale graph.

How has your company kept pace with the technological upgradation over the years?

Technological upgradation is a must in this industry. Keeping pace with the latest changes in technology enhances keeping tab on trends worldwide and helps us expand our own production capacity leading to enhanced customer satisfaction. We keep an eye on changes in technologies and latest tWrends. In fact, we have the most up-to-date and sustainable machinery to remain relevant in these changing times of the world.

What has been the impact of GST on your business?

The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax was a much awaited reform, which has brought uniformity to the tax structure in the country. The policy indeed will be written as a landmark development in the country and we see positive impact in the long run in every industry.

What are the current issues being faced by your segment? Do you have any suggestions for improvement?

In the immediate future, we plans to add an in-house, state-of-the-art washing unit. The objective is to completely revamp the entire garment section and take it to the next level. The unit will be a one- of- a- kind and specialized one, competent to serve the biggest brands in the fashion industry. The unit will be designed around fashion, based on ethos of churning out exciting trends every day. The company is also inching its way closer to attaining a Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) certification for its units. WRAP is an indicator of corporate that promotes safe, lawful, humane and ethical manufacturing around the world through education.

Branding Strategies in Indian and International Market?

As we see, Indian market has large scope and vision to grow in terms of Research & Development. But we are very slow paced in understanding consumer behavior towards the fashion n trends in comparison to international markets. We do have an approach to fashion and trends but not savvy to something altogether new or risky. Our attitude towards the fashion is like secondary visionary i.e. we are not pro active to cater something entirely new or innovative. We wait to have the same to originate and get adopted from other country. So we can say that Indian market is like fashion followers in an international market but not fashion establishers.

Inadequate skill sets results in inferiority quality in most

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CORRESPONDENCE OFFICE 13, Krishna Tower, Opp. C.J. Hospital, Surendranagar - 363001 Gujarat (INDIA)

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From Melt to Yarn, Fibers and Nonwovens It all starts with a few chemicals. Transforming these into smart clothing, technical textiles or tire cord requires great ideas, outstanding equipment and sophisticated processes.

Oerlikon Manmade Fibers engineers support you in ensuring that your entire project is a total success. We will accompany you on your journey from chemical product to manmade fibers. From engineering and polycondensation to spinning, texturing and nonwoven production.

From Melt to Yarn, Fibers and Nonwovens.

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Just because it’s technical, you weave it slower?

Advanced technical solutions and the highest speed on the market.

Impossible? Not anymore.

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