EL Supplies Elstraight, Elcount Solutions To Automotive Knits Manufacturer

An automotive knitted fabrics manufacturer based in the Southeast recently purchased a complete Elstraight and Elcount installation from Spartanburg-based Erhardt + Leimer Inc. (E+L). The customer is required to maintain strict bow and skew tolerance in the cross direction and approached E+L to discuss technologies that could simplify bow and skew measurement, and thereby improve production efficiency and save costs.

E+L proposed the Elstraight Weft Straightener, which uses Smarter Vision CCD (charged couple device) Matrix Camera detection technology developed by E+L for textile applications, to remove gross distortion at the entrance to the tenter frame. In addition, an Elstraight Mini was installed at the frame’s exit point to provide final correction. According to E+L, tests performed after the technology was installed showed a 23-percent reduction in off-quality fabric.

The customer also installed the Elcount Pick and Course measurement and control system — which also uses the CCD matrix camera technology — to control fabric pick density at the tenter, thereby reducing rejections based on low pick and increasing fabric yields.