The company offers products for the tufting, warping and warp knitting markets with many of them in their seventh or eighth generation.
In the quality control and monitoring systems’ segment that is counted amongst the most fiercely competitive in the textile industry, Appalachian Electronic Instruments (AEI) is one company that has been able to make its own distinct mark. Now, AEI is all set to showcase its latest products at ITMA 2023 to be held at Milan in June. In an exclusive interaction, the company’s President Gary McComas expressed that 2023 has, so far, been a sort of mixed year. “It has been a good but difficult year. The difficulties are due to the lingering supply chain issues and finding parts to fulfil orders. AEI is a small company and does not have the buying power of a larger organisation,” he said.
Elaborating about the product range offered by the company, McComas said, “AEI offers products for the tufting, warping and warp knitting markets. Many products are in their seventh or eighth generation.” AEI has been a strong player in the tension control market for many decades. Last year, that product line was sold to Karl Mayer so that AEI could focus on its patented yarn monitoring technology for warping and tufting. AEI will move from this historic position of tension control to yarn breakage and tension variation monitoring. “The reason behind this strategic move is that the future technology requirement is focused on yarn monitoring,” Mc Comas said.
“This forthcoming technology will address the number one quality problem in warping and yarn movement, that of yarn breakage and tightness,” he added. Highlighting the company’s recent innovation in technology, McComas informed, “The ‘TuftX’ is a single-end monitoring system for monitoring yarn on tufting machines. It has has the added benefit of monitoring for tight ends. Every broken end was first a tight end and so preventing the end from breaking saves massive amounts of production time in rethreading the yarn from the creel to the machine. AEI is also introducing the ‘WarpX’ technology that is based on the patented TuftX sensor that will monitor the package in the creel for breaking yarn and for yarn tightness, which is a result of a bad package or bad placement.”
Participation at ITMA 2023
The company will be showcasing the new system at ITMA 2023. “AEI will showcase the TuftX, which is selling now. AEI will also show the YSM broken yarn sensor for warping creels as well its use on heat set machine, extrusion machines, tufting creels for high-speed machines and looms. AEI will provide a demonstration of the WarpX technology that will monitor the yarn breakage and tension,” Mc Comas said.
While ITMA 2019 was all about Industry 4.0 and its impact on the textile industry, what, in his opinion, would be the next big trend in terms of manufacturing, automation and digitisation? “AEI believes the next step is predicting defects or problems in the formation process before they happen. We are currently researching the techniques required for this,” he replied.
Sustainability Focus
Sustainability has become the endearing term in textile manufacturing and in this context what does AEI have to offer? Explaining how AEI’s products support sustainable manufacturing, McComas said, “Prevention of lost yarn or waste fabric is at the centre of all of AEI products. The less waste generated the more sustainable the manufacturing process becomes.” According to him, the company’s improving performance over the years is backed by almost 70 years of innovation that is cost-effective and supports the long-term vision of the company. “In fact, that is one the key factors that lead customers to choose AEI’s products over other similar products,” McComas said.
Industry Trend
As for expectations about the future growth curve of the industry, McComas said, “As smart textiles become more prevalent and as greener processes become the standard, the industry will experience a strategic inflection point in the next five years that will result in 10 times’ growth due to demand for smart controls and algorithms to assure product quality. Defective smart textiles have a different quality cost than traditional textiles.”
Specializing for over 60 years, AEI is committed to continuously improving and diversifying its product line to meet the complex needs of our valued customers. The company manufactures quality control and monitoring systems for textiles. AEI is the global leader in providing quality control and safety systems for the world’s most essential industries.