“Sky is the limit” is a metaphor that applies to technical textiles in not one but in two ways: First, its application areas are many, such as agriculture, construction, clothing, geotextiles, home furnishing, industrial, medical, transport, environmental protection, packaging, protective textiles and sports. Second, India’s technical textile market is estimated by Technopak to grow by a CAGR of 10 per cent during 2011-20, from $10.5 billion in 2009 to $31 billion by 2020.
A.T.E., which closely tracks global market trends, has well realised the importance of technical textiles since 1996. That is when it started tying up with world leaders to bring solutions for technical textiles to the Indian market, well before many in the industry were aware of the potential of the technical textile market in India. Side by side A.T.E. also invested heavily in building its technical expertise in this field. Today, it is the only company in India with capabilities to offer a complete spectrum of equipment solutions, backed with deeply embedded knowledge in technical textiles.
Referring to A.T.E.’s early entry into technical textiles, Mr. Anuj Bhagwati, Managing Director, said: “Technical textiles is a passion with me. When I was a student in the US, I noticed the large amount of technical textiles and nonwovens that were being used there, and I realized this would happen eventually in India. And when it does, the industry should have a ready partner in A.T.E. We moved into nonwovens in 1996. We spoke at a lot of seminars, but there was no business. In the last couple of years, however, we are seeing that lines are being finalized, and the market is able to absorb the vast production volume of modern lines.”
Here is an overview of the range of products and solutions offered by A.T.E. in technical textiles:
Truetzschler Nonwovens, Germany, is an expert in offering complete lines and solutions for needle punch, spunlace, chemical and thermal bonding. The company is also present in loose stock drying ranges, for bleached cotton, wool scouring, etc.
Over the years, Truetzschler Nonwovens has gained vast experience in almost all specialized applications, whether it is carded web, spunlaid web, pulp or multiple bonding techniques to arrive at single specialized products. Together with Voith Papers, Germany, the company can now supply complete lines and solutions for wetlaid nonwovens.
Truetzschler, Germany, offers specialized preparatory solutions for bleached cotton and its converted products such as cotton balls, ear buds, zig zag cotton, cotton rolls, etc.
Truetzschler, Switzerland, combines decades of experience in development, design and construction of spinning systems for BCF yarns as well as technical yarns for industrial applications.
Wenzhou Seek Benefit, China, offers effective and competitive solutions for spunbond, meltblown and their composites. With a sizable installation base in India, Wenzhou is already well established there.
Truetzschler Card Clothing (TCC), Germany, is in a position to supply card clothing for the nonwovens industry covering all makes of cards, apart from the traditional textile industry.
Enka Tecnica, Germany, is a manufacturer of world class jet strips, spunbond spinnerets and melt blown dies. Apart from supply of new equipment, it also undertakes servicing of used machines.
O.R.V., Italy, is a specialist providing complete know-how, including technical/technological solutions, processes and transfer of knowledge in the field of geotextiles, roofings and filtration. The service also covers co-branding the products with O.R.V.’s established products, wherever needed.
Karl Mayer, Germany, offers warp knitting technology, by far the most versatile and highly productive fabric production system in the textile machinery sector. The portfolio also includes state-of-the-art machines with tailor-made solutions to produce technical textiles based on the application areas. The range includes warp knitting, weft insertion warp knitting (WIWK), biaxial and multi-axial machines, sectional warping machines and filament sizing and warping machines, covering a wide range of applications such as technical nets, automotive textiles, medical textiles, geotextiles, industrial textiles, building textiles, composites, 3-dimensional fabrics (spacer fabrics), protection textiles and coating and lamination substrates.
A.T.E. also offers complete package for finishing for technical textiles from its world renowned principals such as Osthoff (singeing machine), Goller (wet finishing machines such as continuous bleaching, continuous dyeing and washing ranges), Monforts (stenters), Ramisch Guarneri (calenders), Mahlo (process control equipment), Corino (winding and unwinding stations), Zimmer (knife/screen coating), Lacom (lamination), and Testa (inspection and automatic packing machines).
Osthoff Senge, Germany, with over 100 years of experience, is synonymous with singeing. In addition to a variety of applications in conventional textiles, Osthoff is also highly successful in the singeing of technical textiles.
Goller, Germany, with over 100 years experience, is well known for wet finishing machinery such as continuous bleaching, dyeing and washing ranges.
Monforts, Germany, backed with over 125 years of experience, offers cutting-edge technology in finishing machine, ranging from stretching, flow through dryers, belt dryers, high temperature stenters, vertical dryers, finishing ranges, universal dryers, twin therm dryers (having temp. difference of upto 60 deg between top and bottom air), thermo bonding ranges, coating lines suitable for glass fibre fabrics, light protection, tarpaulins, billboards, artificial leather, floor coverings, artificial grass, nonwovens and spacers.
Zimmer, Austria, offers coating machines with Magnoroll for universal application. The magnet system with the electro-magnetic roller allows high quality coating results with perfect uniform liquid, paste, lacquer and foam applications, which can be achieved on various substrates such as textiles, paper, foil, nonwoven, fiber glass, tissues and innovative materials.
Zimmer TRIPLEXCOAT is a compact coating machine with a precision back roll, knife, screen and slot coating unit for all the different substrates mentioned above.
Zimmer continues to innovate into further areas of its expertise, and the latest technology to hit the market is the digital printing/dyeing of narrow width fabrics.
The Colaris NF digital printer can print/dye elastics and rigid tapes on single as well as both sides at speeds of upto 50 m/min. The machine can do printing and dyeing continuously even for small lots with color or pattern changes on the fly. Disperse dyes are used for polyester, acid dyes for nylon and reactive dyes for cotton. The machine can be delivered as stand-alone, integrated in the existing dye range or as one complete continuous range. The minimum print width is as low as one can guide the tape. For some applications, the machine can also print on yarn.
Mahlo, Germany, is one of the world’s leading producers of measurement, control and automation systems for the textile industry with products such as weft straighteners, pattern detection systems and online process monitoring & control systems, online product, colour & coating inspection, and data management systems for textile, nonwovens, etc.
Ramisch Guarneri, Italy, is a leading manufacturer of textile finishing calenders for both traditional and technical textile industries based on innovative development and quality engineering. Its ‘NIPCO HT’ calendar is highly versatile. It has, for example, height-adjustable brake rolls, making it possible to enter the fabric into the heated roll at an angle of up to 135 degrees. This, in turn, allows more efficient treatment at a higher speed. The fabric can also be run, for example, four metres wide and be split into two-metre rolls after the calendar. The new rolling system also allows the running of two separate rolls at the same time. Application of pressure uniformly across the width is its unique feature. Pressure is given in an even and precise load according to material width.
With this calendar, Ramisch offers additional opportunities to develop new products for aerospace, automotive and medical textiles. The calendars ensure parameters such as air permeability across the width, density, glaze and thickness.
Corino Macchine, Italy, has revolutionised winding and unwinding operations with perfect rolling up and precise control of the fabric tension.
Testa, Italy, is a leader in the manufacturing of machines for control of textile and technical textiles. With the experience gained with the supply of over 5,000 machines around the world, Testa has acquired the expertise to develop innovative solutions for production of medical, automotive, surface protection, geotextiles, upholstered protection, filtration, roofing, specials, etc.
Lacom, Germany, is a leading supplier of laminating and coating machines using hotmelt technology for flexible products. Application weights can range from 2 to 1,500 g/m². Products include applicators for slot die, gravure, multi-roller, multi-purpose, scatter, dispersion, laboratory machines and customized plants. The machine is able to laminate automotive fabrics, hospitals/hygienic, protective clothing, military clothing, sportswear, incontinence, shoes (upper fabric and toe and hill inserts), upholstery fabric, side airbag (design airbag), film lamination, etc.
The machine is also capable of laminating all kinds of knitted fabric (circular and single jersey) warp knit fabric, scrim and all kinds of foam PU – ester, ether and aliphatic (for lingerie – lady’s bra – material), Alveo PE and polyolefin foam, (thickness of foam from 1.5 mm up to 10 mm depending on density of foam), nonwoven, spun bond and high loft up to 25 mm thickness, PVC, with foam for dash boards, glass fibre, Kevlar/Aramid, all synthetic, natural and animal fibres, velcro with velour, etc. All thermoplastic adhesives known in the market today such as EVA, PP, PO; PET, PA, LDPE, HDPE, TPU and also the two existing reactive adhesives PUR (Polyurethane) and POR (Polyolefin) can be used for binding the web together.
The Indian textile industry thus has a ready partner in A.T.E. in its foray into the highly promising technical textiles, which will prove to be a game changer. “A.T.E. has been building its capabilities in technical textiles step by step over the last one decade with much patience and perseverance, as it knew for sure that considering the enormous potential of technical textiles, it was bound to explode in India. Though it was a long wait, the time has now come and the industry is slowly but surely getting into this sector. A.T.E. is fully geared to help the Indian textile industry to maximize the opportunities ushered in by technical textiles. A.T.E.’s capabilities in technical textiles now span across the entire spectrum, right from providing solutions to setting up turnkey projects, an unique strength that sets A.T.E. apart from others”, said Mr. G.V. Aras, Director.