Industry Events
Snippets Around Texprocess & Techtextil 2022: Highlights for the RMG Industry
by Yvonne Heinen-Foudeh, Senior International Correspondent
“Mobilizing expertise, innovation, technology, and resources can only be achieved through strong partnerships,” a clear declaration on the part of Lucie Brigham during a panel discussion in front of the international trade press at the opening of the Frankfurt trade fair trio at the end of June.
“Mobilizing expertise, innovation, technology, and resources can only be achieved through strong partnerships,” a clear declaration on the part of Lucie Brigham during a panel discussion in front of the international trade press at the opening of the Frankfurt trade fair trio at the end of June.
In this regard, the representative of the United Nations Office for Partnerships says a close, trusting cooperation between market partners is the key to accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But there is also a necessity to foster transformative sector engagement altogether. Here comes the good news… true implementation of collaborative concepts is now advancing with energy.
The current Frankfurt trade fair platforms for technical textiles and processing technologies underscored the trend — an immense range of new processes, innovative approaches to making processes more efficient and sustainable, and at the same time becoming more cost-effective — is based on partnerships between specialist suppliers, between commercial enterprises and universities, between established players and start-ups, along with scale-ups or even spin-offs from basic research.
“The magic is in the details,” emphasizes Kerstin Zöll in a post-show review with the Needle's Eye editorial team. There is no mistaking the fact that ultrasonic welding continues to gain in importance as an alternative joining technology for numerous applications, especially in sportswear and outdoor. Here, processes without separate joining components are pointing the way toward recyclability.
The expert also has praise for the thread manufacturers: sewing and embroidery threads (Madeira) made from recycled polyester, albeit mostly from PET bottles, or textile waste, partly with compostable dyeing (with a certificate at Amann) that supplements the product ranges. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Zöll, the Professor of Confection Technology at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, assisted us in identifying new and further developments, especially in the sewing process and in alternative joining technologies.
Integrated into this Needle’s Eye feature, Zöll documents, and comments on a series of details and innovations in sewing and joining with high utility value along the demand in the ready-to-wear clothing industry with live shots from the exhibition booths.
In the CAM segment, further approaches to process integration and optimization are dominating development activities. Much has been done in cutting room management for end-to-end planning of material placement, order-related processing of cutting orders, and monitoring of material consumption, quality, and productivity of the cuts. Data generation and provision in real time are the keywords here, implemented using software developed in-house or by partners. Data that is thus also available for predictive and remote maintenance of equipment.
CAM/CAD: On-demand sets standards
The increasing interest in single-ply cutting systems also proved once again in Frankfurt - the development of business models for personalized apparel is gaining momentum in the apparel industry - internationally. Not new, but now widely offered, the additional equipment with high-performance scanners (e.g. at Hasler, Morgan, and Gerber/Lectra, which however did not exhibit). Printed fabrics and other textiles with clearly contrasting surface segments are scanned with high-resolution systems on the table of a conveyorized single-ply cutter and then cut to size using automatically generated cutting patterns that are correct for repeat and placement. In this way, customer-specific orders can be processed in a matter of seconds without the need for operator intervention.
Bullmer in that respect showed a configuration for the upholstered furniture industry with a single-ply cutter from the PremiumCut series including robot-assisted cut part removal, where the 1-point gripper tool probably still requires improvement though.
In the area of design software, virtual prototyping was one of the dominant themes in Halls 8 and 9 at Messe Frankfurt. In 3D software, merchandising through product simulation seems to remain the main focus. Further display improvements and more variety in avatars reflect user demand. Outstanding: the photo-realistic avatar family at Assyst. In combination with the further development in rendering, the new VRay-tool, the German supplier is setting standards for model representation.
Interesting in this concept context: The option for photo shooting of the simulated style directly from the Tukatech 3D software. Although not present at Texprocess, the US-American-Indian developer now integrates options for camera and light settings, image backgrounds, and animations. The images prepared and rendered in this way for presentation purposes are ready to be made available in the TUKAcloud or the customer's online store.
"Based on the Dürkopp Adler M-Type Delta, the two-needle sewing machine presents itself with a rotating needle bar, modified by the Dutch industrial equipment developer Habraken," explains Professor Zöll, who also provides her expertise as a jury member for the Innovation Award at Texprocess (see the full report on Texprocess and Techtextil Innovation Award with The Needles Eye issue 13).