Schlafhorst emerges China’s No.1 machinery manufacturer

Schlafhorst-pic-1With the commissioning of its 500,000th BD spinning position and the 1,000,000th Zinser spindle from the plant in Suzhou, Schlafhorst in China can celebrate two outstanding events at the same time this year. Once again, the company thus impressively confirms its status as the most successful textile machinery manufacturer in China. Schlafhorst handed over the anniversary spindles to the Shandong Linqing Sanhe Textile Group and Linqing Huaxing Textile Co. Ltd. at an exclusive ceremony on February 24 and 25 in the presence of other distinguished customers and high-ranking representatives from the world of politics and the economy.

A unique success story

Textile machines from Schlafhorst were creating a stir in China half a century ago, laying the foundation for the company’s excellent image in what is now the world’s biggest market for textile machinery. Schlafhorst itself has been active as a company in China since 1990. The plant in Suzhou was opened in 2002.

Since then, Schlafhorst has been producing BD rotor spinning machines there for the global market. Average annual production rose from nearly 8,000 spindles in the first year to such an extent that in around just 10 years 500,000 BD spinning positions accrued – a unique success story.

Spurred on by this success, the plant was extended to include production of the Zinser 360 ring spinning machine. Following this earlier model, Schlafhorst now manufactures the Zinser 71 generation of ring spinning machines for the Chinese and some other markets there. Now the 1,000,000th ring spindle has left the plant.

Schlafhorst-pic-2The success hasn’t come about by accident. Schlafhorst understands better than any other company how to satisfy the demands of the Chinese market with the German concept of quality, innovative technology, efficient local production and a unique cost-benefit ratio. Targeted technology transfer and Schlafhorst’s wholly-owned production facility in China make it possible to achieve the minimum time to market for technical innovations. Both the BD rotor spinning machines and the Zinser ring spinning machines are tailored to the special needs of the markets. The group thus succeeds in remaining a step ahead of the competition.

Innovation, performance, motivation and consistent customer orientation are integral elements of the excellent corporate culture of Schlafhorst China. Highly skilled employees who have shown their loyalty to the company over many years ensure continuity in customer relationships and an unsurpassed quality of service. They inspire their customers by their professionalism, expertise and genuine commitment.

All the company’s activities are geared to one aim alone: to enable customers to react more quickly, flexibly, efficiently and successfully to the demands of their markets. Schlafhorst has been realising this aim for decades with optimal, uncompromising quality, solution-oriented innovations and customer-oriented service.

BD innovations

delivered from China

The BD rotor spinning machine from Schlafhorst is a success story. It has also been manufactured at Schlafhorst’s Chinese plant in Suzhou, since 2002 and, with its innovative technologies the BD, has been blazing a trail in the sector right from the outset.

The very first generation of machines produced in Suzhou, the BD 320, attracted huge interest with its fascinating innovations. Not only was it the first semi-automatic rotor spinning machine to attain a rotor speed of 100,000 rpm in practice, it even featured joint spinning way back in 2002 – a synchronous quick-start system that is unique up to this day and has been developed and improved continuously by Schlafhorst. The current machine generation, the BD 448, thus attains full productivity in less than 10 minutes, a unique productivity advantage.

Schlafhorst-pic-3Another pioneering feature was the BURMASTER technology, the piecing technology of the BD machines. This makes piecing easier and has been advanced and improved in many respects. On the BD 320 Schlafhorst also upgraded the machine operating concept, setting new standards in user friendliness thanks to visualisation and simple user menus. Intelligent control of the motor speeds using frequency inverters also significantly increased process reliability.

The BD 330, introduced in 2005, was the first machine with electronically controlled sliver intake – an innovation that has since become state-of-the-art at Schlafhorst. Likewise, the Electronic Vacuum Adjustment (EVA), the electronic suction system for the spinning vacuum, a feature with which the BD 330 was years ahead of the competition. Another factor crucial to the success of the BD rotor spinning machines in the global market was the option of using the new European high-end yarn clearer Corolab on the machine.

In 2005, Schlafhorst China also launched the BD 350 Fancynation, a semi-automatic rotor spinning machine with fully integrated software for the production of fancy yarns.

The BD 380 followed in 2008, beginning the next chapter in the unique success story of Schlafhorst China. Longer than its predecessor and designed for even higher rotor speeds of 120,000 rpm, this machine generation was already breaking new ground in terms of productivity some years ago. The new NSB 38 spinbox guaranteed optimum fibre guidance and trash separation, high spinning stability and consistently good yarn values for all yarn counts and raw materials.

The machine length was increased still further a year later on the BD 416. With this machine it was possible to spin even coarse yarns of outstanding quality.

The latest generation of machines, which came onto the market in 2012, is the BD 448. It has created a stir with its reduced operator requirements, higher flexibility, reproducible packages and considerable energy savings compared with earlier BD generations. The success story is firmly set to continue: the Schlafhorst engineers are already working on future machine generations that will deliver more surprising innovations.

Schlafhorst-pic-4Shandong Linqing Sanhe Textile Group

The 500,000th BD spindle was handed over to Mr. Wan Qiusheng, President of the Shandong Linqing Sanhe Textile Group, by Mr. Cem Yalcin, President (Sales) of Schlafhorst, at a special ceremony on February 25. Founded in 1988 it is now one of the 500 biggest private companies in China. It is among the top 20 companies in the Chinese textile industry manufacturing around 12,000 tonnes of cotton yarn annually in counts ranging from Ne 12 to Ne 50. Almost 80 per cent of the yarns are exported, making the group one of the leading export firms in the textile industry.

The company’s production machinery comprises 44 BD 448 rotor spinning machines from Schlafhorst with a total of 19,712 spinning positions. Features of the Schlafhorst machines that are especially appreciated by the vertically integrated company are their high level of productivity, easy operation and optimal link-up with downstream processing stages in the company’s own weaving mill. Productivity across all stages of the textile production process has been increased significantly thanks to the BD 448.

For the customers of the Shandong Linqing Sanhe Textile Group, the quality of the yarns and packages in downstream processing is the key criterion. The company is able to satisfy the requirements of even the most demanding customers in the long term with the help of machines from Schlafhorst China.

Excellent quality, outstanding economy and maximum cost efficiency were not the only reasons why the group opted for Schlafhorst rotor spinning machines, however. The textile enterprise knows how rapidly market conditions can change in the industry. “In the next few years we will increase the level of automation further to remain competitive in the face of rising labour costs. Schlafhorst leads the way when it comes specifically to automation. We expect, therefore, that Schlafhorst will react quickly to the demands of the market with innovative automation solutions,” says Mr. Wan, Chairman of the Shandong Linqing Sanhe Textile Group. “We are convinced that we will retain our productive edge with Schlafhorst and ensure our success in the markets of the future.”

Linqing Huaxing Textile Company

On the same day, the Head of Sales, Schlafhorst China, Mr. Leo Franke, presented the one-millionth Zinser ring spindle from the Suzhou plant to the President of Linqing Huaxing Textile Co. Ltd., Mr. Tang Xuepo, at a special ceremony. With annual production of 34,000 t of compact yarn, the company is one of the biggest compact yarn spinning mills in the Shandong province and a customer of Schlafhorst China for many years.

Linqing Huaxing processes 100 per cent combed cotton and produces yarns in counts ranging from Ne 40 to Ne 120 for weaving and knitting mills. The one-millionth spindle is part of a major order that the company placed with Schlafhorst last year. It ordered 99 ZinserImpact 71 machines with 118,000 spindles as standalone machines with CoWeMat 396 F as well as 16 ZinserSpeed 5M roving frames and 28 Autoconer X5, type D winders.

“Schlafhorst is an important partner for us as a leading compact yarn spinning mill in China,” says Mr. Tang Xuepo of Linqing Huaxing Textile Co. Ltd. “The company thinks, feels and acts like we do. Schlafhorst gives us technological solutions with which we achieve exactly what we intend to achieve. We can operate more flexibly, reliably, successfully and with greater productivity than the competition. It is certainly no accident, therefore, that the one-millionth Chinese-manufactured Zinser ring spindle is going into production in our plant in particular.”

Efficiency and quality were the deciding criteria for the company in their choice of machines. Like the basic model ZinserRing 71, the new ZinserImpact 71, which is produced in China, guarantees optimum quality and profitability with its highly reliable precision engineering, maximum performance and extensive automation options.

As an experienced compact yarn spinning mill with the highest quality requirements, the Linqing Huaxing Textile Co. Ltd. is thrilled with the new ZinserImpact 71, because, thanks to the self-cleaning Impact FX technology, the machine is equipped with the most reliable and efficient compact system in the world. Due to the self-cleaning of the compacting unit, the openings for the compacting airflow on the ZinserImpact 71 cannot become clogged and the compacting force is maintained over a long period. Cleaning intervals are rendered superfluous and a creeping loss of quality is unknown. The desired yarn quality is guaranteed from the first to the last lot. With this machine the company can thus permanently guarantee the highest quality.

The ZinserImpact 71, with the automatic CoWeMat doffer, is also distinguished by a high level of automation, thus meeting the demands of the Chinese market. The fast, completely reliable automatic bobbin change cuts the operator input by more than half. Machine capacity utilisation increases at the same time, as bottlenecks, waiting times and downtimes such as occur regularly with manual doffing are a thing of the past.

Ring spinning competence

Zinser not only has decades of experience in ring spinning, it also has extensive process and automation competence from the roving to the package. “Best quality on economically favourable terms can only be offered by companies that optimise the set-up of the entire production process,” says Mr. Tang Xuepo of Linqing Huaxing Textile Co. Ltd. “We rely on the economical, energy-efficient technology of Schlafhorst from the roving to the package, therefore.” For this reason the company uses the ZinserSpeed 5M as its roving frame and the Autoconer X5, type D in the package winding department.

The new ZinserSpeed 5M roving frame more than satisfies the high process requirements of the Linqing Huaxing Textile Co. Ltd. “It’s a real energy marvel. The machine is extremely energy-efficient and saves up to 20% of energy due to the new suction system,” says Mr. Tang Xuepo with satisfaction.

With the Autoconer X5, type D, Linqing Huaxing Textile Co. Ltd. has achieved efficient material flow automation on the basis of Schlafhorst’s proven caddy transport system. The type D machine operates as a standalone solution, spatially independently of the ring spinning machine, enabling the company to make optimum use of the space available.

The result is a productive, efficient process chain that comprehensively satisfies today’s requirements for energy-efficient, operator-friendly and reliable production and fits perfectly into an innovative textile company. Equipped to best advantage with future-oriented technology from Schlafhorst, the company can get to work confidently on its ambitious plans and put them successfully into practice. However, as the markets develop in the future, its technology partnership with Schlafhorst gives Linqing Huaxing Textile Co. Ltd. the certainty of being able to react faster, more cost-effectively, flexibly and thus successfully to the demands of its customers.

Schlafhorst is already working on new technological solutions to add further chapters to its success story in China. The company enters the Year of the Horse with energy and momentum, and will consolidate and expand its leading market position in China and the Asian markets further.