The Textile Magazine
OctoBER 2011
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91
of CHF 3.6 billion in 2010. The
company invested in 2010 CHF 239
million in R&D, with over 1,200
specialists working on future prod-
ucts and services. In most areas, the
operative businesses rank either frst
or second in their respective global
markets.
Textiles are increasingly being
used in new technical applications
including composite materials for
vehicle bodies, airplane parts, con-
struction industry components and
for geo-textiles used in landscape
construction and agriculture. Fur-
thermore, the growing world popu-
lation and the emergence of new
middle-class consumers are fuelling
the demand for clothing. Both trends
call for high quality textile machin-
ery, a structural growth market.
To meet growing demand and to
tap new areas of application, textile
producers require highly effcient
and fexible machines, equipment
that uses signifcantly less energy
and which meets higher quality
standards. This is exactly what Oer-
likon Textile showcased at ITMA
in Barcelona. Highlights of its trade
fair presentation, which covered
1,400 sq. metres, included Oerlikon
Schlafhorst’s new Autocoro 8 for
the manufacture of natural fbers
and Oerlikon Barmag’s new eAFK
automatic texturing machine for
man-made fbers.
The new Autocoro 8, unveiled at
ITMA is the greatest rotor spinning
innovation in 30 years. It boosts pro-
ductivity by up to 25 per cent while
delivering higher-quality yarns and
packages. The machine’s 480 spin-
ning positions are individually pow-
ered, automated and are entirely
autonomous. The
new precision ro-
tor facilitates start-
up times of up to
80 per cent faster
than those of con-
ventional belt-
drive rotor spin-
ning machines.
The new rotor
motor is integrated
into the spinbox
SE20 and designed
for speeds of up to
200,000 revolu-
tions per minute.
Thanks to the new
Autocoro 8, spin-
ning mills can be
more fexible than
ever before and
the overall cost
of spinning can
be drastically re-
duced.
Another pio-
neering innovation
is the new eAFK
automatic textur-
ing machine for
processing man-
made fbers for clothing applica-
tions. Thanks to its new modular
machine structure, the machine is
much more fexible and effcient and
manual contact with the packages is
entirely eliminated (no-touch prin-
ciple). Packages with the same run-
ning length facilitate cost-effective
processing of yarns as well as higher
prices for textured yarn.
Additional automated processes
increase productivity and product
yield, and its reduced labor require-
ment cuts costs. The new multi-
threaded automatic winding head
for high-strength special yarns –
another innovation in the eAFK –
translates into considerably lower
energy consumption, lower space
requirements and lower investment
and maintenance costs.
“Our innovations help our custom-
ers set themselves apart in the face
of intense competition and under-
score our commitment to being both
the market leader and the technol-
ogy leader,” commented Oerlikon
Textile CEO Thomas Babacan.
w
Mr. Thomas Babacan,
CEO, Oerlikon Textile
ITMA 2011
[exclusive feature]