Virkler Reaches Distribution Agreement With Mardupol

The Virkler Co., Charlotte, N.C., has reached an historic agreement with Productos Quimicos
Mardupol S.A. de C.V., Mexico City.Under the terms of the agreement, Mar-dupol will distribute
Virklers entire wet processing line, with emphasis on specialized laundry chemicals for garment
processing, and dyeing and finishing chemistry for the denim, hosiery and piece dyeing industries.
Mardupol, which has represented DuPont for more than 50 years, is one of Mexicos oldest and largest
chemical distributors with facilities in 14 cities serving all the major textile markets in
Mexico.Virkler products are now in stock at Mardupols Torreon, Leon, Mexico City and Puebla
facilities and are available for immediate delivery, according to the company.According to Howard
Virkler, president of The Virkler Co., these central locations will enable Mardupol to deliver
Virkler products to all major markets within 48 hours and most deliveries will be made in less than
24 hours.The Virkler Co., under Drayton Virklers leadership, will be responsible for the sales and
technical support backed up by Virklers extensive laboratories and worldwide technical service
staff.According to Ing. Carlos Obert, director of Technical Sales for Mardupol, his company will
support Virkler in sales and service and provide the fastest possible delivery to customers.
Mardupol will also be responsible for billing and collection.

February 1999

World39 S Largest Carpet Shear Demonstrated

The largest new carpet shearing machine ever manufactured was demonstrated to customers in the
United Kingdom last month at the Huddersfield Factory of Sellers Engineers Ltd.

The five-head, 5-meter-wide machine is the latest of in Sellers Horizon range of machines.
According to the company, the new machine is able to run up to a maximum of 200 feet per minute.

The machine is fully automatic, with a computer system operated through a simple,
touch-sensitive display, the company says.

January 1999

Lion Apparel Kicks Off Second Century Of Progress

Lion Apparel, Dayton, Ohio, recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, serving as one of the
world’s largest maker of firefighter protective gear and a significant manufacturer of commercial
and government uniforms.

Lion was founded in 1898 by William Lapedes, who used a wagon pulled by two retired fire
horses to make deliveries and call on customers in Dayton and communities to the north.

Today, the company sells fire gear to both domestic and international fire department
customers. Its commercial uniform customers include large businesses and government agencies,
pilots and cargo handlers at major airlines and customer-contact employees from a host of
retail-oriented service companies.

“Reaching the centennial milestone testifies to Lion’s culture and our ability to continually
adapt and innovate in response to business needs,” said Richard Lapedes, president of Lion and
grandson of William Lapedes.

January 1999

ITMA Preview Innovative Wet Processing Solutions

ITMA ’99 PreviewBy Peter J. Hauser, Ph.D. 

Innovative Wet Processing SolutionsThe dyeing and finishing sector turns to the latest technology to reduce costs and increase productivity. ITMA 99 promises to be another significant event for companies involved with textile wet processing. ATI spoke with several machinery manufacturers to get an overview of what to expect in Paris this summer. In general, all manufacturers are concerned with lowering costs by improving productivity. These productivity improvements are coming from increased use of automated controls and monitoring of process parameters. Of secondary concern, but still important, is reducing water consumption and energy use.Babcock, Charlotte, N.C., plans to introduce improved tenter frames with newly designed airflows, modular electronics and automated controls. New technology will be seen in high-speed washers for knits and woven fabrics. An updated control system with graphical displays will allow monitoring of chemical usage. A closed-loop control system will be available to control process temperatures and dye and chemical dosing rates.Benninger, Spartanburg, S.C., will offer enhancements to its line of slashing equipment. Pre-wetting warp yarns prior to slashing is being emphasized. This wet-on-wet application allows not only for lower chemicals costs, but also provides sized yarns with better weaving performance. Touch-screen controls are being added to give a more operator-friendly process.Gaston County Dyeing Machine Company, Stanley, N.C., will emphasize a total systems approach to wet processing. Coordinating processes allows for increased productivity while reducing water use. Control automation, rather than just being offered as an option, is becoming standard on new dyeing machines. A new material handling aspect of package dyeing will also be shown.Jemco, Icard, N.C., bleach ranges have been refined to provide even further reductions in creases and rope marks. This allows fabrics with finer yarns and high torque to be processed successfully. In addition, Jemco and Clariant will present a combination of equipment and chemistry that provides a truly environmentally friendly bleaching system.The effluent from this non-silicate system will be lower in BOD (biological oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) and will not contain any sulfur, phosphorous, nitrogen or alkylphenol exthoxylates. Energy conservation is stressed (70 percent of the energy input is recovered and reused). Low water use is also emphasized, water consumption as low as 1 liter per kilogram of fabric is routinely achieved. The man-machine-interface (MMI) is addressed with personal computers in combination with PLCs (programmable logic controllers) that automatically monitor the important parameters of the bleaching process, such as alkalinity and peroxide concentration. Jemco will also show, for the first time, a completely closed-loop control system for Kier bleaching.Kusters, Spartanburg, S.C., will introduce two new processes for the carpet industry. FiberKleen is a yarn treatment for spun yarns that produces carpet yarns with greatly enhanced performance properties. The QuickChange Fluidyer is an improved carpet dye pad with greater side-center-side shade control and rapid-color-change capability. The QuickChange Fluidyer makes it possible to have complete color changes in inches rather than in feet, greatly reducing waste and improving productivity.Both FiberKleen and the QuickChange Fluidyer are now being offered to selected customers, but will be made available to the worldwide textile industry at ITMA.Roaches International, England, in keeping with the general industry trend, will offer laboratory dyeing equipment with lower liquor-to-fabric ratios and with more automated controls.Thies sees a strong demand for shorter cycle times in piece dyeing. One aspect of this desire is the need for charge tanks for dyeing machines. These are tanks where the next dyebath is being prepared and brought to temperature while the current dye lot is being finished, saving a significant amount of time on each dye cycle. Another requirement of shorter dye cycles is automated drug rooms. Dispensing of dyes and chemicals can be controlled by the computerized dyehouse process control system, eliminating some sources of error as well as reducing process time. Thies will also show its AirStream dyeing machine, especially deigned for dyeing Tencel® fabrics.Then GmbH, Germany, will present a new control philosophy called a local operating network (LON). With LON, the individual components of the dyeing machine are provided with some intelligence of their own.For example, a valve will keep track of the number of times it opens and closes and will notify the operator when maintenance or replacement is necessary. This type of control system allows for more efficient processes and higher overall level of productivity. Then also will show further refinements in its AirFlow dyeing machine, as well as automated dye and chemical dispensing systems.Tubetex will show five new machines for processing tubular and open-width knit goods. These machines will focus on providing tighter specifications for shrinkage and yield, in addition to lowering operating costs. Chemical application and mechanical shrinkage controls are included. Editors Note: This months wet-processing ITMA Preview is a brief overview of some of the new technology visitors can expect to see. A complete list and description of dying, printing and finishing vendors will be included in the April issue of ATI.Peter Hauser is an associate professor of textile chemistry at North Carolina State University. He joined the faculty in 1997 after 23 years in the industry with Milliken Research Corp., Burlington Industries and The Virkler Company. Hauser received his bachelors degree and doctorate in Chemistry from N.C. State, and his research focuses on high-performance chemical finishes for enhanced value textiles, indigo dyeing and denim garment wet processing, new textile processes to reduce costs, and energy use and pollution associated with wet processing. Professor Hauser holds several patents. He can be reached at (919) 513-1899 or by e-mail at peter_hauser@ncsu.edu.January 1999

BBA Nonwovens Licenses InterSpun Technology

BBA Group plc, Fort Mill, S.C., has acquired the InterSpun® Fabric Enhancement Group as part of its
recent purchase of International Papers’  Verstec Nonwovens Division.

According to BBA, the company has decided to pursue licensing of the technology largely to
the textile industry, and is currently evaluating potential equipment suppliers to work with them
in serving the market.

The InterSpun process uses water under high pressure to create microjets to treat a woven
fabric, which creates specific aesthetic, performance and quality characteristics for individual
woven fabric applications.

January 1999

Synthetic Industries Adds Seventh Extrusion Line

Synthetic Industries (SI), Chattanooga, Tenn., recently added a seventh staple fiber extrusion line
at its Chickamauga, Ga., facility. The line is capable of converting 45 million pounds of
polypropylene per year, the company said.

The line consists of machines built by Fare Corp., Italy. It is 300 feet long and produces an
800+ pound bale every eight minutes.

According to the company, the majority of fiber produced by SI is consumed in the making of
its own engineered fabrics such as geotextiles, Softbac carpet backing and yarn.

January 1999

Research: Developing New Textile Technologies


E
 ach of the 44 faculty members of the college participates in research programs. Together
they were responsible for nearly $7 million in sponsored research last year — one of the most
intensive research activities in the university.

Sponsors of this type of research include federal agencies (National Science Foundation,
Army Research Office, Environmental Protection Agency). Other programs are sponsored by industry.

In addition to these research programs in the traditional style, the college operates
centers and consortiums with multiple sponsors and multiple faculty involvement.

equip37_1159
Equipment at N.C. State University College of Textiles is often donated by major textile
companies.


Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center (NCRC)

NCRC is funded by the National Science Foundation, the State of North Carolina and industry.
At present there are 20 industrial members and four affiliate members. The center is active in
research with 24 faculty from N.C. State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia and
University of Tennessee. Dr. Subhash Batra is the center director.


Thermal Protection and Clothing Comfort Center (TPACC)

TPACC involves five faculty and 10 graduate students. It is funded solely by contracts and
grants from industry and the federal government. The center’s work includes: developing
instrumental methods and devices for assessment of protection and comfort in textile materials;
finding fundamental insights in the performance of protective materials; using the Pyroman test
facility to develop heat resistant and protective clothing materials; and using the Copernicus test
facility to relate quantitative data on comfort with human subjective assessments. Dr. Roger Barker
is the center director.


Hosiery Technology Consortium

This consortium was formed to aid the small companies of the hosiery industry in North
Carolina in three areas: development of appropriate and affordable automation, process audit, and
quality standards in conjunction with retailers. The principal investigators are Dr. Tim Clapp,
technical, and Cliff Seastrunk, administrative.

graph36_1171


Dye Applications Research Consortium

This consortium is based on nearly ten years of research on the monitoring and control of
batch dyeing processes. The goals of DARC include: developing monitoring and control systems that
address machine-dependent issues; evaluate existing machine models for control and develop new ones
that will be more broadly applicable; integrate dosing capabilities with machine modeling and
operation; unify machine models and control strategies with dyeing process models.

The principal investigators are Dr. Warren Jasper, technical and Cliff Seastrunk,
administrative.


The National Textile Center

The National Textile Center (NTC) is a research consortium among Auburn University, Clemson
University, Georgia Institute of Technology, N.C. State University, Philadelphia College of
Textiles and Science, and University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Funding is through the
Department of Commerce.

It is unique in that the research program definition is controlled by the industry through a
technical advisory committee and an oversight board. By the directive of the industry, only
fundamental research is performed in the NTC.

January 1999

GenCorp Acquires PolymerLatex39 S U S Acrylics

GenCorp, Fairlawn, Ohio, announced it has purchased the U.S. acrylic emulsion polymers business of
PolymerLatex, Fitchburg, Mass. PolymerLatex is a 50/50 joint venture of Bayer AG and Huls AG,
Germany.

According to GenCorp, the Fitchburg facility will be integrated into GenCorp’s Performance
Chemicals unit. The announcement follows the completion of GenCorp’s recent Sequa Chemicals
acquisition.

“This acquisition, along with others completed during 1998, exemplifies GenCorp’s strategy
for our growth platform businesses to strengthen our position in existing markets and expand into
new but related markets,” said John Yasinsky, GenCorp chairman and CEO.

January 1999

Mount Vernon To Purchase Assets Of Arkwright Mills

Mount Vernon Mills Inc., Greenville, S.C., and Arkwright Mills, Spartanburg, S.C., have announced
that they have signed a letter of intent for Mount Vernon to purchase Arkwright’s textile
manufacturing assets.

Arkwright is a leading producer of cotton flannel fabrics for work gloves and woven fleece
apparel.

“This sale to Mount Vernon gives the Castwood plant added market strengths,” said M.L. Cates
Jr., chairman and CEO of Arkwright. “We understand that Mount Vernon plans to replace the older
looms with more versatile looms. This will lead to better service and quality for both present and
future customers. Most importantly, this means the plant will be operating well into the future
providing opportunities for our employees.”

January 1999

Demand For World Polypropylene To Expand

World demand for polypropylene is forecast to expand 5.9 percent per year to nearly 30 million
metric tons in the year 2002, valued at $27 billion, according to World Polypropylene, a report
from The Freedonia Group Inc., Cleveland.

The report says that this is the strongest growth forecast for any of the major
thermoplastics, and only polyethylene will offer comparable gains.

Strong gains in the demand for polypropylene are attributed to its excellent environmental
profile. It is non-toxic and easily recyclable.

Freedonia reports that many of the resins new applications, particularly in packaging, are
coming at the expense of polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride, two resins that have been the subject
of regulatory restrictions related to solid waste issues and potential toxicity.

All of the major markets for polypropylene will see solid gains, the report says, with the
fiber and consumer goods markets offering the best opportunities. The strongest gains in fiber
demand are being driven by nonwovens, such as medical goods and disposable diapers.World
Polypropylene is available for $3,900 from The Freedonia Group Inc., 767 Beta Dr., Cleveland, Ohio
44143-2326.

January 1999

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