S
täubli Corp.’s open house – held recently at the company’s US headquarters in Duncan,
S.C. – was well-attended. The company exhibited its latest warp-preparation systems including the
Opal automatic warp leasing machine, Delta 110 automatic warp drawing-in machine and Topmatic
automatic warp tying-in machine; and shedding-motion systems including Rotary Dobby 2881 and
jacquard machines DX 110, LX 3202, and Unival 100. The DX 110 and LX 3202 are equipped with a new,
improved patented M6 module and a new JC6 electronic controller. The Unival 100 also is equipped
with a JC6 controller.

.

Warp Leasing

The leasing process prepares the warp yarns with a desired sequence and maintains that
sequence for the automatic drawing-in or tying-in process. The Opal automatic warp-leasing machine
– introduced at ITMA ’03 in Birmingham, England – processes up to eight single- or multiple-color
warp sheets usually prepared by direct warping process into a single leased sheet. The Opal,
capable of handling single or plied spun yarns and flat or twisted continuous filament yarns, can
lease warps up to 230 centimeters wide.

One operator is required to set the warp on the Opal’s frame, program the required warp
color sequence and yarn type for each color, and run the machine to start leasing. Then the
automatic leasing begins, and operator presence is not required until that process is completed.
Observing the programming of the Opal through a user interface via a color screen indicated easy
operation and full user color identification control. The machine displays a magnified color image
of good resolution for individual yarns so the user can recognize color and yarn type. The user
identifies a yarn color to the machine by touching one of up to 10 different colors available on
the user-defined panel.

The machine is equipped with two cameras to check for double yarn and color. The foremost
yarn in the warp is picked up by an air suction nozzle. The color recognition ensures correct
desired sequence of the yarns in the lease. If a yarn with a different color than that programmed
is picked, the yarn will not be leased, and the machine continues the leasing process until the
yarn of such color is required in the sequence. Depending on the application, the leasing speed of
the Opal is up to 100,000 threads per eight hours. If the warp contains single and plied yarns, and
thus yarn type recognition is required, the leasing speed range is 30,000 to 60,000 threads in
eight hours. The highest speed of 100,000 threads per eight hours can be achieved when leasing a
single-sheet warp. The range of yarn linear density that the machine can handle is 10 to 50 tex.

The Opal enables weavers employing direct warpers to produce striped warps as easily as
those using sectional warpers. Other recognized advantages of the Opal are the significant
reduction in labor cost; removal of a bottleneck in warp preparation, as it replaces the manual or
semi-automated warp leasing systems; capability of manufacturing intricate woven fabric designs;
and response in quick mode to short orders and frequent style changes.

Jacquard Machines

Stlis new DX 110 and LX 3202 jacquard machines are equipped with the M6 module and JC6
controller. The DX 110 also features a capacity of 1,408 or 2,688 hooks, easy access to centralized
lubrication points, and vacuum cleaning of the fan filter without the need for disassembly. The LX
3202 is available in a broad range of capacities 6,144, 8,192, 10,240, 12,288 and 14,336 hooks. The
filter and fans in the LX 3202 are mounted vertically to avoid lint accumulation, and the
maintenance program is automatically managed by the JC6 controller.

M6 Module

Stäubli’s new DX 110 and LX 3202 jacquard machines are equipped with the M6 module and JC6
controller. The DX 110 also features a capacity of 1,408 or 2,688 hooks, easy access to centralized
lubrication points, and vacuum cleaning of the fan filter without the need for disassembly. The LX
3202 is available in a broad range of capacities – 6,144, 8,192, 10,240, 12,288 and 14,336 hooks.
The filter and fans in the LX 3202 are mounted vertically to avoid lint accumulation, and the
maintenance program is automatically managed by the JC6 controller.

JC6 Controller

The new jacquard machines are provided with an improved, more compact JC6 controller. The
user interface is accomplished via a color touch screen. The JC6 is provided with a flash disk as
opposed to the hard drive used with previous controllers. It allows pattern loading via universal
serial bus, external drive, and/or networking for compatibility with the latest computer file
communications and storage. The realized advantages for networking include weaving-room management
locally or remotely from anywhere via Internet access.

The Unival 100

A prototype of the Unival 100 jacquard machine was unveiled at ITMA ’99 in Paris. The
machine was shown at ITMA ’03 in commercial form, and several machines have been sold since then.
In 2003, the Unival 100 was demonstrated running on a Picanol Omniplus-6-J 250 weaving machine
producing mattress ticking and table cloth fabrics at a filling insertion rate of 2,460 meters per
minute – the highest speed in jacquard weaving history. The reason behind such a high speed is the
control of each harness cord by a stepping motor, termed Jactuator, which eliminates the
electromagnets, movable and retaining hooks, and pulleys. The Jactuator raises or lowers a harness
cord, or warp end, by rotating its pulley. The module in the Unival is the assembly of 16
Jactuators.

The Unival design permits easy-to-set features including formation of different sheds –
symmetrical, asymmetrical, shifted, venturi and multiple – and shed height. All settings can be
conducted electronically through a user interface with the JC6 controller. Another significant
feature of the Unival is its independence from the weaving machine drive because it has its own
drive without mechanical coupling to the weaving machine. The Unival modular construction enables a
jacquard capacity range from 6,144 to 20,480 hooks.

The new developments in shed-formation and warp-preparation systems enable weavers to
explore new opportunities, weave industrial and intricate designs at the speed of commodity
fabrics, respond quickly to style change and produce short runs economically. These innovations
also set the stage for weaving machine manufacturers to increase weaving speed to new levels..

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Editor’s Note: Abdel-Fattah M. Seyam is a professor in the department of textiles and apparel,
technology and management at North Carolina State University’s (NCSU’s) College of Textiles,
Raleigh, N.C.

W
hile in Bangkok on business this spring, I visited an Indian tailor to have some shirts
made. As I was describing the type of collar I wanted, which has a certain curve, the tailor
interjected, “Oh, you want the Pat Riley!”

Pat Riley is, of course, the successful National Basketball Association coach. He may be a
household name among sports fans in America, but among traditionally dressed Indian tailors in
Bangkok?

Globalization has indeed made the
world a smaller place. This is especially true in the fashion industry, in which the design centers
of Milan, Paris, London and New York City are linked more tightly than ever before with the
production centers of the Far East and Central America. For the aggressive fashion manufacturer or
retailer, never has the potential for profit from building international brands been greater. After
all, malls in Dayton, Ohio, and Singapore all carry the same Ralph Lauren Polo shirt these days.

To cope with the ever-changing demands of the global market, it is imperative that today’s
retailers efficiently move trendsetting designs from the studio to the store floor as quickly as
possible. As a result, the ability to manage a finely tuned supply chain becomes a key enabler of
success.

Every day, manufacturers and
retailers face daunting logistics challenges. As with other industries, government and customs
regulations are always at the forefront. Hot shipments and samples in many instances need to be in
the hands of merchandisers and production staff overnight without fail. Any late delivery or
delayed production at origin, air transit delays, or customs issues at destination can have a
dramatic impact on a merchandiser’s ability to present and move product. Time to market is
critical, but time to showroom is often make-or-break for the garment center community. The
industry recognizes that better control of supply chains is the key to being able to meet changing
customer demand at the lowest possible cost, helping companies achieve the overall performance that
will take them to the next level.

Industry members aspiring to global leadership expect their logistics partners to add
significant value, and the bar is constantly rising. To begin with, they recognize the advantages
of having a single entity take responsibility on a global basis for moving goods efficiently from
design to production centers to stores. They seek rapid replenishment, vendor management and other
strategies that will squeeze supply chain costs without jeopardizing delivery commitments. They
seek greater shipment visibility with the assurance that no item on any pallet, or the pallet
itself, is ever simply “missing.”

Further, they expect continual innovation so as to maintain and enhance their competitive
positions. Can the vendor conduct consolidation sweeps in which multiple shipments from multiple
factories are consolidated into a reduced number of consignments? How about onsite sample room
management in which the vendor provides all receiving, invoice verification, sorting,
consolidating, documentation and forwarding services? And does the vendor employ multiple
air-transport options, even direct-service aircraft in some cases, designed to move shipments to
market in the most timely and cost-effective manner?

But above all else, the industry expects from its logistics partners flexibility in
responding to everyday issues that can hobble global operations. Needed are quick and imaginative
responses to unforeseen events such as natural disasters, war, or the discovery of wrong addresses
or the wrong number of packages, at either the point of origin or the destination.

The trend toward offshore sourcing
can only intensify. Today, China is the world’s factory floor, although apparel manufacturing in
India, and to a lesser extent in Vietnam, is on a significant upswing. Also, the passage of the
Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement should stimulate activity for certain stock
keeping units manufactured in that region.

Longer supply chains mean more borders to cross and additional complexity. So for the
apparel manufacturer or retailer with global aspirations, particularly those focused on the $250
billion US market, optimizing the supply chain becomes more important than ever. These days, best
logistics practices call for vendors, working collaboratively with their clients, to build their
services around customer needs, not their own systems. Telling clients that exceptions to standard
operating procedures can’t be made is no longer considered acceptable, if indeed it ever was.

Winning has always demanded putting the right team on the field. For the truth of that, just
ask Pat Riley.

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Editor’s Note: Thomas E. Hickey is vice president, Fashion and Retail, DHL.

I
n today’s business environment, where “doing more with less” is the order of the day and
workplace stress continues to rise, marketers might do well to add stress management to their list
of product benefits.

Marketers traditionally segment their customers into groups by demographic characteristics
such as age, gender, income, occupation and education; psychographic characteristics such as
attitudes, perceptions and beliefs; or firmographic elements such as business size, industry
classification, job title, purchase decision-maker, or those who influence the purchasing
decision.

The Stressographic Factor



In their book, “Simplicity Marketing:
End Brand Complexity, Clutter and Confusion,” Steven M. Cristol and Peter Sealey suggest adding
what they call “stressographics” to the list of segmentations to use when trying to identify your
target audience. In the business marketplace, stressographics might include job security concerns,
downsizing, the pace of technological change, production efficiency, short-term business results,
pending mergers or acquisitions, and shareholder pressure.

For example, a study by Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. reports
one-fourth of employees view their jobs as the number-one stressor in their lives. Three-fourths of
employees believe workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago, according to a study
by Princeton Survey Research Associates, Princeton, N.J. And, problems at work are more strongly
associated with health complaints than is any other life stressor — even more so than financial
problems or family problems, according to St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co., St. Paul, Minn.

Job stress has become a common and costly problem in the workplace, reducing productivity,
increasing management pressures and making people ill in many ways. Stress at work also provides a
serious risk of litigation for all employers and organizations, carrying significant liabilities
for damages, bad publicity and loss of reputation. Dealing with stress-related claims also consumes
vast amounts of management time. So, there clearly are strong economic and financial reasons for
organizations to manage and reduce stress at work.

Every customer has personal strategies for coping with and reducing stress. It’s part of the
survival instinct. By observing these strategies among your customers, whether they be formal
stress management programs or less organized techniques, you can position your products and your
brand to be an enabler rather than an obstacle in the war against job-related stress.

The Four R’s

More and more in today’s society, our
customers and we, as consumers, are making buying decisions based on dealing with or escaping
stress. Rather than adding to our customers’ stress by offering more product lines, the Simplicity
Marketing model of Cristol and Sealey suggests the four R’s of Simplicity Marketing rather than the
four P’s —Product, Price, Place and Promotion — of traditional marketing.

The four R’s — Replace, Repackage, Reposition and Replenish — are approaches that help
position your product or service as one that simplifies, and thereby reduces stress.

The first R, Replace, involves developing and positioning products as replacements for
several products, or for a more complicated product or process. “Replace may be as basic as
substituting a simpler product for a more complex one, or may focus on consolidating the number of
products or steps required by the customer to accomplish a particular task or goal,” Cristol and
Sealey write.

Consumer products companies have done a good job of implementing the Replace technique. For
example, hair care products companies introduced a conditioning shampoo that combined shampoo and
conditioner, eliminating the need and cost of buying shampoo and conditioner separately.

The next R, Repackage, bundles together a number of products or services that previously
were available only separately from multiple sources or as separate purchases from the same source.
This approach gives the customer integrated solutions from a single point of contact. Many
retailers, such as drug stores, have incorporated this approach by adding groceries and other items
to repackage themselves as “one-stop shop” brands.

Reposition is the third R, and is defined by Cristol and Sealey as positioning a brand on
the promise of simplicity, or expanding a brand’s positioning to reduce the number of brand
relationships required by the customer.

Streamlining your brand and eliminating sub-brands can declutter the landscape and thereby
reduce customer stress. You can, and should, continually improve your product or service without
introducing a new-and-improved brand or sub-brand to further confuse the marketplace.

The final R, Replenish, focuses on providing a readily available, continuous supply of
zero-defect product or service to existing customers at an acceptable price. One of the first
lessons you learn in business is that it costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep
an existing one, so never discount the value of existing customers and their ability to provide
referral business. 

November/December 2006