The fit to win
Manifesto
Testimonials
How you can win
from 75 years
of experience.
Innovations
& products
Luc Tack - Managing Director - Picanol Group
The fit to win manifesto

Winners are the ones who get the most out of every single opportunity, who grasp every single chance. The ones who dare to reach out and seize the moment. Those who go for growth and act fast, with a long-term future in mind.

So, are you a winner? Have you got the plans, the objectives, the talent and the stamina to make 2011 a winning year?
Good. Because in that case, we’ll be there for you. Picanol has always had one main objective: to make you “fit to win.” We aim to give you all the tools you need to be successful in your market: the machines and services, the know-how and dedication of our people. Being fast, reliable, flexible and cost-efficient ourselves, we want you to win. Because when you win, we win too.

Let’s say we’ve gathered more than enough fuel to start 2011 in pole position. Want to keep ahead of the competition? Buckle up!

Mr. Tack - Picanol Group

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Mr. Aguinaldo

Cedro textil

"The energy-friendliness of the Picanol machines lowers our ecological footprint."
Cedro textil

Mr. Aguinaldo

Cedro textil

"We are running with mill efficiencies of 93% and above, thanks to Energy-saving technologies."

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With over 138 years of tradition, Cedro is one of Brazil’s most important textile companies, producing 150 million square meters of fabric per year. The company was founded in 1872 in the city of Taboleiro Grande, in Minas Gerais. In a predominantly agrarian economy, the Mascarenhas brothers saw the possibilities in a neglected sector at that time: textiles. They realized that investing in textiles for domestic consumption was a great opportunity for development of industrial activity. Older than the invention of the electric light bulb, Companhia Fiação e Tecidos Cedro e Cachoeira was a pioneer in the industrialization of Brazil and is proud of being one of the few companies in the world with over 138 years of uninterrupted existence. Today the company is still 100% Brazilian-owned.

Based in the city of Belo Horizonte, the company employs around 3,000 people in four factories situated in the cities of Sete Lagoas, Caetanópolis and Pirapora. Currently the main products are denims, twills and drills for the fashion industry as well as workwear and technical textiles. To ensure the quality of products and the excellence of service, Cedro maintains a policy founded upon tradition, great versatility and the latest technology. This explains the choice of Picanol airjets for its weaving shed. In 1995 the first Delta airjet machines were installed and since then the company has invested in every new generation of Picanol machines, including the latest OMNIplus 800.

Energy-saving technologies have been implemented on these machines, taking into account the rules and regulations concerning the environment. The OMNIplus 800 is equipped as standard with the energy-efficient Sumo motor and highly effective main nozzles, relay nozzles and valves. These machines run at mill efficiencies of 93% and above.

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Mr. Dalmia

Century Textiles and industries Ltd.

"Insertion rate and tuning time, two speed aspects where Picanol is unbeatable."
Century Textiles and industries Ltd.

Mr. Dalmia

Century Textiles and industries Ltd.

"We have invested only in the latest technologies, giving us an enormous competitive advantage."

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Century Textiles and Industries Ltd. Was incorporated in 1897 as a Public Limited Company with its registered office in Mumbai. Until 1951 the company operated only one cotton textile mill in Mumbai and thereafter expanded its textile operations with yarn production and denim production and later on diversified into other industries such as paper and cement.

But the “jewel in the crown” of our corporation is without doubt the state-of-the-art Birla Century textile mill, in the state of Gujarat. In this greenfield project we have invested only in the latest technologies, giving us an enormous competitive advantage. It is in this mill that we installed 192 OMNIplus 800 airjets and 110 OptiMax rapier machines. As production is focused on short runs, but with very complicated fabrics, the Picanol QSC solution is a valuable tool.

We produce mainly fine shirtings, an eyecatching range of suitings, fancy and finer fabrics and dress materials and a whole range of bed linen and home furnishings. This is a niche market with high added value, so it is very important for Birla Century to be focused and to follow the trends of tomorrow.

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The late Mr. Albert Schneider († 2011) and his grandson Mr. Matthew McPherson.

Schneider Mills

"There are no seconds in high end synthetic industrial fabrics!"
Schneider Mills

The late Mr. Albert Schneider († 2011) and his grandson Mr. Matthew McPherson.

Schneider Mills

"The most stringent requirements, not only from our yarns, but also from the production equipment on which it is processed. That is why we choose for the OMNIplus 800 to take care of the weaving. With efficiencies of 98% and above Picanol gets the most out of our material."

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The company we know today actually began in 1916 as a small silk weaving business in Haledon, New Jersey. Its founder was Samuel Schneider. Throughout the past several decades, Samuel’s two sons, Isadore and Albert, grew the company into the state of the art facility we have today. Samuel’s son, Albert, is the present CEO of the company. Mr. Schneider’s grandson Matthew represents the fourth generation of the family business. Though times and technology may have changed, Schneider Mills has kept its tried and true work ethic and that’s why customers know that they can count on quality products every time. Schneider Mills manufactures fabric for industrial, military, apparel, medical, and specialty uses utilizing nylon, polyester, and acetate. The factory is located in Taylorsville, North Carolina with a sales office in New York City.

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Mr. Taborelli

Tessitura Serica A.M. Taborelli

"PICANOL TAKES TALENT FURTHER"
Tessitura Serica A.M. Taborelli

Mr. Taborelli

Tessitura Serica A.M. Taborelli

"Creativity has brought us where we are now: a leader in production of women’s clothing and tie fabrics."

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Creativity is a constant in the Taborelli mindset. And this creativity has brought us where we are now: a leader in production of women’s clothing and tie fabrics.

The company goes back to 1896 when Tessitura Serica A.M. Taborelli s.r.l. was founded as a manufacturer of umbrella fabrics. Later we shifted to ladies’ wear and in 1994 also tie fabrics. Production is constantly being modernized and we now have manufacturing plants in Fallopio, Gaggino, Paré, Gironico and Lucino, all in the Como area of Italy. In 2003 we started our first production outside Italy, in Romania. Our way of working is simple, yet very efficient. We sell mainly to a network of textile converters in Italy and abroad (not to wholesalers or apparel manufacturers). In close collaboration with these customers, our style designers develop new ideas for exclusive fabrics, paving the way for the fashion trends of the next seasons.

These fabrics are then produced in our different weave sheds. We use mainly filament warps, both natural and artificial, in combination with a large number of possible wefts ranging from acetate, cotton, silk or nylon to Lurex, steel, bouclette, cashmere, flax, etc. Tie fabrics are mainly silk.

With the ever increasing complexity of the new designs we decided in 2005 to go for Picanol GamMax rapier machines, which enabled us to guarantee timely delivery and superior quality for the more difficult styles. In 2007 we installed our first OptiMax machines, followed by repeat orders in 2008 and 2009.

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Mr. Monti

Tessitura Monti

"8000 new fabric versions for every collection!"
Tessitura Monti

Mr. Monti

Tessitura Monti

"with the mission to be the world leader in the shirting fabric market."

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In the second half of the 19th century, Giorgio Monti set up the Tessitura Monti Mill in Varago di Maserada, near Treviso, Italy. Production was mainly textiles in hemp and cotton. The Monti company grew and adapted itself to changing consumption patterns, techniques and tools. At the beginning of the 20th century, Bruno, Evaristo and Venerio Monti promoted the early industrialization of hemp and cotton weaving by installing the first power looms. Over time the power of brands became more and more predominant and the Monti company as we know it now was formed: an industrial textile manufacturing group with the mission to be the world leader in the shirting fabric market and to create, design and manufacture the best fabrics in the world. This is not merely a slogan or a logo; it is rather an atmosphere, a value attracting customers and ensuring their loyalty.

Today, our company produces 14 million meters of fabric a year and distributes its products in over 90 countries and exports about two thirds of its whole production.

The collections we create at Monti are the final result of studies, research and selection of materials. Our designers’ creativity aims at anticipating the market trends. That’s why we also need equipment that can cope with these changing trends. The Picanol machines take care of the weaving part. Our collaboration with Picanol dates back to the early 1990s when we were the first pilot installation for the Gamma weaving machine. Tessitura Monti now has about 260 Picanol machines weaving in its plants, not only in Italy but also in the Czech Republic and India.

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How you can win from 75 years of experience.

As you will have noticed by now, Picanol has only one objective: to help you be "fit to win." We aim to give you all the tools you need to be successful in your market and to win: the machines, the know-how and dedication of our team and our people. We offer world-class service, aimed at keeping your operations running as smoothly as possible.

2011 is an important anniversary for us: it will be 75 years since we produced our first weaving machine. In other words, we have been helping our customers to win for 75 years. During that time we have gathered some robust know-how and experience in our – and your – market.

But rather than looking back and reflecting on the past, we prefer to take a fresh look at the future. That’s why we keep investing in our production plant, and why even in years of recession we keep investing in research and development. The result of this dedication and hard work will be shown at ITMA2011 in Barcelona in September. Because we prefer not to wait for the future, but to create it ourselves.

Fit to win, thanks to 75 years of experience!

http://www.75yearsofpicanolgroup.blogspot.com/

OMNIplus Summum

Positive gripper on OptiMax

AirWave

Picanol Ecofill

FillMax

Para-Aramides on OptiMax

Picanol Blue Box

Direct Warp Control

Electronic pressure regulator for airjet machines

Electronic Filling Tensioner

Optileno Glass

Cordless

Airtuckers with Continuous reeds on OMNIplus 800-TC

Airmaster

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OMNIplus Summum

At ITMA Barcelona, Picanol will present to the world its new Airjet machine, the "OMNIplus Summum".

This new Airjet machine will be produced from the beginning of 2012 onwards and will gradually replace the OMNIplus 800.

As is the case with the other Picanol products, OMNIplus Summum has been developed according to the integrated concept philosophy. This concept is also key to reaching a high level of modularity.

The design of the machine structure of OMNIplus Summum is based on the robust machine frame structure for which Picanol is well known. However, the two elements that are considered to be most important in an Airjet machine, the insertion system and the electronic control, have been further improved.

The insertion system has undergone some important changes in order to assure the user of the maximum possible flexibility and user friendliness. Picanol took the decision to introduce fully electronic pressure regulators; these allow the user to set the machine electronically. Manual pressure adjustments are a thing of the past and moreover settings can be managed!
To assure the highest possible flexibility each weaving channel will have a separate air tank combined with electronic pressure regulation through the machine display. Optimizing the machine settings to different types of yarn on the machine thereby becomes very easy. For sure the user will be able get the most out of his Market, Time and Talent.

The advantages in terms of user friendliness and flexibility don’t force us to make any compromises when it comes to performance and energy consumption. Already the fact that the pressure is set electronically means that this setting can only be changed by persons that are authorized to do so. Practical experience from weaving mills confirms that having full control over the pressure settings is a must when it comes to keeping air consumption under control. Furthermore, OMNIplus Summum has a unique triple air tank setup for the relay nozzles. This development makes it possible to reduce the air consumption by 10 to 15 % compared to a setup with a double air tank. The OMNIplus Summum definitely offers the right platform for weavers to get the most out of their Energy.

Along with the OMNIplus Summum, Picanol is introducing for the first time its new electronic platform, the Picanol Blue Box system. The Picanol Blue Box system is not just a further development of the electronic system used at present on OMNIplus 800. With the new system all hard- and software elements and structure have undergone a redesign. Featuring superior microprocessor performance & memory capacity, a design constructed to meet the hardest working conditions, using state of the art components and detection technology, remote check up possibility, a modular build up and offering the user many monitoring tools, we are convinced that this new platform will be superior to any existing system on the market and this for many years to come.

The combination of a new insertion system and the Picanol Blue Box system creates a “future proof” platform. All elements are present to allow the implementation of new applications.

OMNIplus Summum, the new standard in airjet weaving.

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Positive gripper on OptiMax

Become a winner with the new positive gripper on OptiMax! Indeed, Picanol will introduce a guided positive gripper execution during ITMA Barcelona. The gripper is available in all widths but will mainly be used for wider width applications in the technical segment such as Coating fabrics, Primary & secondary carpet backing, Geogrids etc. The development was a logical next step for Picanol in order to fulfil the increasing demands from the technical markets.

The machine on display at ITMA Barcelona not only introduces a brand new positive gripper system, it also introduces a new width for the Picanol group, namely 540 cm! This width fits perfectly in Picanol’s core capabilities thanks to ongoing investments in Picanol’s own manufacturing.

This introduction is the fruit of a carefully planned development programme, including extensive mill tests with selected customers. The grippers, produced by the Picanol group, are based on the existing guided gripper-concept type GC that has been one of the basic insertion systems of the OptiMax for several years now. With the positive system, the gripper-heads are now mechanically activated around transfer and at gripping and release of the weft-yarns, increasing the capabilities of the insertion system so that PP-tapes, bigger monofils and large multifilaments come within reach, also in wider widths and this at top speeds.


It’s clear that this OptiMax will offer our customers the opportunity to aim at markets previously only reserved for wide projectile machines. It will allow our customers to also explore markets that could not be served with projectiles due to limitations of the machine’s concept itself. Good examples of this are applications where no oil-contamination is allowed or where a large variety of wefts is needed to increase the added value of the product. OptiMax offers all of this and more without losing productivity or increasing costs …

As the OptiMax machine was launched as recently as 2007, its technology is best suited for the next decades. The SUMO direct drive with on-board speed control reduces maintenance work to a bare minimum, a fact that is confirmed by many of today’s leading weaving mills.
The state of the art electronics and stable software add to a reduced set-up time when compared with what is on the market today. Flexible grippers are easier to set and to maintain over time, reducing the need for highly skilled operators during all shifts.

As for all of its products, Picanol strives to offer the best price-performance ratio and this is no different for this OptiMax execution. It is an extension of the OptiMax platform which offers significant advantages in after sales service. The machine has been plugged into Picanol’s existing customer service including spare parts, service and training.

Some of the hurdles involved with wide-width weaving had already been solved before with the introduction of a stable backrest system DWC (Direct Warp Control) and a reinforced cloth take-up.
The beat-up is strong and stable thanks to the application of multiple sley drives arranged over the width of the machine. These designs contribute largely to uniform and regular fabric characteristics.

Picanol’s philosophy of modular design has also been applied as the positive guided gripper can be replaced with negative GC grippers for those styles that do not require positive transfer but could benefit from a further boost in productivity.

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AirWave

Keeping the energy costs under control is considered one of the major challenges for Airjet weavers. In the case of airjet weaving about 2/3 of this cost is related to the compressed air.

Picanol has chosen to offer the necessary tools to the user to control the air consumption in a weaving department. About two years ago, Picanol was the first to introduce the unique fully electronic and integrated air consumption meter system, better known as the AirMaster system. In a next phase Picanol will introduce fully electronic pressure regulators, allowing the user to gain full control over the machine pressure settings and consequently the air consumption.

From a construction point of view, it has always been the Picanol philosophy to design machines with the lowest air consumption possible. Without making any compromises as far as fabric quality and speed are concerned. All insertion components have been carefully designed and chosen to meet the previously mentioned criteria.

But, even so there are still possibilities to further reduce air consumption.

When taking a closer look at the insertion cycle of a filling yarn we can clearly identify two phases during which high traction force from the relay nozzles is required. Obviously the first phase is the start of the insertion, where the filling yarn has to accelerate from zero to insertion speed. This zone is located on the first part of the insertion or the left hand side of the machine. The second phase is at the end of the insertion, during which again high traction force is required to keep the filling yarn stretched after arrival. Whatever is in between does not require high traction force or pressure.

This very fact has inspired Picanol to adapt the set-up of the relay nozzle tanks to this practical requirement. Meaning there will be 3 air tanks for the relay nozzles. One on the left, one on the right hand side and finally a central zone. As per the requirements of the insertion, the left and right hand side tank can be set at a higher pressure whereas the central part can be kept at a lower pressure. This lower pressure has a direct impact on the air consumption by the relay nozzles, which account for 80 to 90 % of the total air consumption on an airjet machine. As tests have already confirmed a saving potential in the range of 15%, weavers will be able to get the most out of their energy!

Picanol has a patent pending for this set-up.

It is however also a platform that will enable possibilities for future developments.

One of the features which are under development and which will be coming soon is the Picanol AirWave system. This system, for which Picanol also has a patent pending, is made possible thanks to the combination of the unique relay nozzle tank set-up and the fully electronic pressure regulators. Taking into account the information and data from various elements on the machine, which are processed in real time by the central microprocessor, the weaving machine will automatically adjust the pressure in the central air tank for the relay nozzles. By doing so the machine automatically sets itself for the lowest possible air consumption.

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Picanol Ecofill

Picanol’s Ecofill: Waste-less-system LHS on OptiMax flexible rapier-machines

Picanol has always been a technological frontrunner when it comes to helping its customers to win. Reducing the operational costs of the weaving-operation is a never ending opportunity.

Continuous work in this area has now resulted in the introduction of a great new feature to reduce waste in weft-direction called Ecofill.

Ecofill’s development was accelerated due to a strong demand from technical weavers. Indeed, a simple calculation shows that Picanol Ecofill is able to save up to a mindboggling 45.000 euros per year in materials alone when weaving expensive wefts such as Para-Aramides.

Picanol’s Ecofill working principle is quite simple and consists of a pneumatically controlled double clamp and a weft-scissor arranged at the beat-up point. It offers two colour-at-will and it remains possible to operate the Prewinder-Switch-Over or PSO - feature.

Picanol’s Ecofill will be deployed primarily on machines running Para-Aramide fabrics.

Operators will appreciate once again the robust construction, easy settings and the modularity of the system. Indeed, when switching towards 4 or more colours in weft, the system can be changed over towards a more standard scissor-set-up in less than one hour.

Besides huge savings in weft-materials, Picanol’s Ecofill also eliminates the use of flange-bobbins or extra leno-bobbins to form the catch-cord at the LHS.

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FillMax

It is quite obvious that on an Airjet machine the insertion system plays a very important role. Logically, this particular topic gets full attention at Picanol when it comes to research and development. As a result a lot of new developments as well as performance increases have been introduced in the past years when it comes to insertion.

All the experience and years of investigation made it clear however, that in a given conventional set-up the possibilities to further increase the insertion rate are rather limited.

For this reason, Picanol has been looking for alternatives to the conventional set-up of the main nozzles for many years. These efforts have recently resulted in a development that is really shifting the boundaries of insertion, The Picanol FillMax system.


This new revolutionary system, for which Picanol has a patent pending, has the potential to increase the insertion rate by up to 15%. The FillMax is a device that is mounted in the place of the standard fixed main nozzle, and is fully modular. With this development Picanol customers will definitely get the most out of their time.

In a first phase this feature will be developed for two of the main market segments, Bottom weight & Denim fabrics and sheeting fabrics.

Whereas for the Bottom weight & Denim segment the Picanol FillMax will allow the weaver to get to the maximum possible insertion rate, for sheeting the focus will rather be the capability to handle delicate or weaker yarns at an increased speed without affecting the stop level in weft. So, sheeting weavers will also get the most out of their material with the Fillmax.

This new feature is now going through a series of field tests in the targeted market segments and is expected to be introduced towards the end of 2012.

With the integrated concept and the real time processing of all data within the very same insertion cycle, Picanol machines have the right platform to install high-tech developments such as the FillMax system.

As is the case for all Picanol features, the FillMax is modular and it will therefore also be possible to install this feature on machines already installed in the field.

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Para-Aramides on OptiMax

Get more out of your market when weaving Technical Textiles! Indeed, Picanol is introducing new key components that give the best results when weaving Para-Aramides on OptiMax rapier-machines.

Optimax rapier-machines in free flight execution are ideal to weave difficult technical fibres. Most multifilament-yarns benefit from a small shed-opening, responsive backrest and a minimum amount of perpendicular frictions, caused by the insertion-elements. Especially when the warps are not sized.
This is no different when weaving Para-Aramides, known for their ballistic or bullet-proof properties.

The new Direct Warp Control backrest makes it possible to reach the highest possible tensile-strengths in warp-direction with a perfectly square property of the crimp in both zero and ninety degree directions throughout the fabric.

The also new Ecofill waste-less system at the LHS of the machine will help our customers to become more competitive in their markets and get more out of their materials since huge savings in material-costs are being achieved.

Most of our customers don’t just weave Para-Aramides, and will appreciate the versatility and modularity of the OptiMax machines when exploring other interesting markets.

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Picanol Blue Box

Electronics already play an important role in the weaveroom. Picanol is convinced that this role will become even more significant in the near future.

Electronics are now essential to meet the increasing demands of textile manufacturers. Automation to reduce the workload of personnel or to reduce energy consumption, higher safety requirements, flexibility to adapt to new situations, reliability, remote support: all these are becoming more important day by day.

Picanol has always been a pioneer when it comes to integrating the different machine functions and real time applications and controlling them centrally. But with market requirements pressing for further development, Picanol decided to develop an entirely new electronic platform.

This new platform will create further opportunities and allow Picanol to meet the increasing demands from the market.

The new electronic platform, Picanol Blue Box, is much more than an upgrade of the electronic platform we have at present.

Using the latest microprocessor technology, Picanol Blue Box increases calculation speeds by a factor of 10. For our customers this means far greater accuracy of the many controls and functions, which in turn will enable them to meet the increasing requirements for fabric quality and lower energy consumption.

The larger internal memory will also make it possible to store much more data, creating new opportunities for support and affording practically unlimited weaving patterns.

Picanol Blue Box is designed to fully exploit the possibilities of remote service: when it is connected to the Internet, our specialists around the world can look right into the heart of the system. For machines that are not directly connected to the Internet the CSF (Customer System File) can be downloaded onto a USB stick and sent to Picanol by e-mail. This file contains all the data needed by Picanol to analyze a particular situation and advise the customer on the action to be taken.

An important feature of the system is that there are only a few types of printed circuit board, covering all the main functions and options in a modular way. The actual number of PCBs will depend on the features installed on the machine, but covering many functions with just a few PCBs significantly reduces the inventory of spare parts that users need to hold.

To ensure maximum long-term reliability Picanol Blue Box is designed to operate under the toughest conditions. To give a few examples: it can handle weaveroom temperatures of up to 40°C, it is 100% short-circuit protected, and inserting PCBs in the wrong position will not cause any damage. In other words, user-friendliness and robustness are built into Picanol Blue Box.

Every component of the system, be it hardware or software, is tested to the limit before being approved for use on the weaving machine.

Moreover, state-of-the-art driver technology enables the system to detect potential anomalies at a very early stage and indicate their location to the user.

Picanol Blue Box, future-proof in every way!

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Direct Warp Control

video (click here to start the video) With Direct Warp Control (DWC) Picanol offers a new type of backrest that enables the weaver to get the most out of the material.

The unique combination of a light feeler plate, evenly supported over the full width of the warp with an air spring (with adjustable air pressure), results in minimum inertia of the moving parts of the backrest. The feeler plate takes up all the forces of the changing warp tension and moves so as to compensate for the tension changes as much as possible.

Every change in warp tension is compensated directly, thanks to the extremely low inertia. The Direct Warp Control follows the shed opening very accurately, minimizing the variations in warp tension. As a result the average warp tension is kept to a minimum. This low-inertia behavior is extremely useful for warp yarns that are particularly stiff (aramid, glass etc.) or weak (wool, etc.), but of course other articles also benefit from this advantage.

The stiffness (air pressure) of the backrest and thus the amount of compensation in the warp ends is controlled by the microprocessor. The required pressure in the air spring is calculated automatically, just by entering the drawing-in width, the total warp tension and the number of warp ends. The pressure is adjustable and very easy to set, in order to get the most out of your time. If required by the article, a maximum pressure or pressureless setting can also be used. The settings are saved with the rest of the machine data and can be transferred to other machines.

Direct Warp Control can be used on all widths of machine, from narrowest to widest, always affording very light compensation and evenly distributed warp tension over the whole width.

Direct Warp Control not only results in less warp stops for articles with stiff or weak yarns but also improves the fabric quality and fabric characteristics, to let you be a winner in your market.

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Electronic pressure regulator for airjet machines

At Picanol, the words “integrated” and “modular” are not just marketing slogans, they are basic for any new development. Over the past 20 years Picanol has always been the first to bring new developments to the market driven by this spirit.

Now with the introduction of an electronic pressure regulator, Picanol has finally achieved a fully integrated airjet weaving machine, including the insertion system. Users henceforth have full control over the insertion settings.

As the pressure settings can only be changed from the display, air consumption is now under full control: unauthorized persons no longer have access to it. It can even be monitored by the central computer. Experience demonstrates that this yields savings of up to 10% on air consumption.

A further advantage is that settings can easily be transferred when starting additional machines with the same or similar styles, thus saving time for the user.

Having developed this “missing link” the potential for further automation and management of the machine settings and energy consumption is huge.

As a technology-driven company, Picanol can be depended upon to bring the benefits to its customers.

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Electronic Filling Tensioner

All the mechanical components and advanced electronics of the Picanol OptiMax weaving machines are designed for maximum fabric quality and minimum waste. The newly developed Electronic Filling Tensioner (EFT) is one of these, helping you to get the most out of your material.

The Electronic Filling Tensioner ensures optimum filling tension during the complete insertion cycle.

The entirely new active brake uses a very long yet extremely light lamella, controlled by an active coil actuator and braking against an anvil with integrated damping elements. By using these long lamellas, the braking force is distributed over a long filling length. In this way the filling tension during insertion of irregular filling yarns, such as bouclette or flax, is kept fully under control. The first braking plate controlled by an actuator and the second braking plate supported by a spring system ensure that knots can pass without tension peaks or loss of braking force. The combination of the long braking plates and the damping properties of the spring system make it possible to decrease the static tension. This static tension can be easily tuned by a knob to a desired level or an absolute minimum, making the Electronic Filling Tensioner ideal for weak yarns that do not tolerate additional forces. The result of this highly dynamic design is correct brake force and timing.

Each individual Electronic Filling Tensioner is equipped with pneumatic cleaning, making it possible to weave contaminating filling yarns without any problems.

As time is precious in the weaveroom, the Electronic Filling Tensioner is easy to set and microprocessor-controlled, with a minimum of different braking areas to define. Special attention has been paid to user-friendliness, so that the brake can be opened easily for re-threading.

With the Electronic Filling Tensioner, control of the filling tension no longer places limitations on getting the most out of your market by using different filling yarns. The Electronic Filling Tensioner controls very delicate or weak yarns (such as wool), very heavy, irregular and thick yarns (such as chenille, bouclette or mono-filament), as well as contaminating yarns (such as flax or filling for blankets). It can be used on any type of prewinder, so you can only gain from the reduction of filling stops and increase in speed, thus improving both efficiency and fabric quality.

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Optileno Glass

video (click here to start the video)The OptiMax flexible rapier machine is the platform of choice for many applications in the sector of technical fabrics, thanks to its state-of-the-art design with focus on flexibility and modularity. The insertion system is suitable for weaving glass rovings as well.
Since glass fibers are very rigid and brittle, the warp let-off controls and backrest are specially engineered for best quality, to obtain optimum textile parameters of the fabric.
The famous Sumo direct drive (fitted as standard) also makes sure the machine is not harmed by loose, abrasive glass fiber lint because the drive is completely shielded from it.

The main characteristics of the Optileno-solution can be summarized as follows.

Doubling of the speed as compared to traditional leno heddles:

- With a typical width of 230 cm: 450 rpm for 300 Tex in weft.

Technology:
- No friction of glass yarns in the back shed
- Yarns only in contact with hardened surfaces, to eliminate wear
- Straight-through yarn guides to eliminate fiber damage

Covers the whole range of yarns for grinding wheels, fiberglass cladding and other leno-woven glass fabrics:
- 34-600 Tex in weft
- Starch, polymer and silane-spin finish are all tolerated well
- Weaving from spinning cakes is possible

The modular design of the OptiMax is shown clearly by the fact that an Optileno machine is able to accept normal harness frames in a matter of hours. Indeed, weaving mills that want to keep flexibility in production are not stuck with a dedicated leno machine when their market requirements change away from leno weaving.

Today, most leading weavers of glass fiber leno fabrics have opted for Optileno from Picanol. It has become an essential tool in their market approach as they can throw any fabric at it and expect first quality fabric in return.

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Cordless

video (click here to start the video)It is considered a given fact that airjet machines need waste or false selvedge on the right hand side of the fabric. Weavers have become so used to this idea that they can hardly imagine the advantages of a system that would make waste selvedge unnecessary.

The most obvious cost of waste selvedge is the cost of the yarn itself. A quick calculation shows that this easily amounts to 300 euros per machine per year. But the consequences of waste selvedge go much further than the mere cost of the yarn. Very often, specific yarn is used for this selvedge, or special winders are used. These elements result in extra logistics and/or labor costs.

In the weaving department, where mills increasingly face a shortage of labor, the waste selvedge puts an extra load on the workforce. Not only does the internal transport and mounting of the yarn on the machine take time, but also the extra stops situated in the waste selvedge increase the load on the weavers.

In order to avoid all this, Picanol has recently introduced the “Cordless” system.

One of the unique features of the Picanol Cordless system is definitely its compatibility with continuous reeds. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the yarn is mechanically clamped and stretched at the right hand side of the fabric. This last point is important for fabric quality.

Obviously, the main advantage of the Picanol Cordless system is the fact that the waste or false selvedge is not needed anymore. However, the system brings other advantages as well.

This feature has also been designed in a modular way and is in line with Picanol's integrated philosophy. The device can easily be mounted on the machine or taken from one machine to another. The functions of the Cordless system are set and controlled by the central microprocessor, thus ensuring that it is fully synchronized with the insertion system.

The ergonomics for the weaver are much improved as the right hand side of the machine becomes much more accessible.
When Cordless is mounted the filling waste is no longer mixed with other types of yarn. This in turn makes it possible to recycle weft waste in a more efficient way.
In the case of elastic yarns there is a significant reduction in filling waste length.


The Cordless system was first shown to the world at ITMA Asia in Shanghai last year.

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Airtuckers with Continuous reeds on OMNIplus 800-TC

Shuttle weaving machines offer very nice , closed selvedges thanks to the weaving-principle itself , whereby the weftyarn slings around the extreme warpends when the shuttle returns to the other side .

Since the introduction of shuttle-less systems , the wefts are measured and inserted from the same side , leaving a fringe at both sides of the fabric.

Some fabrics however require closed selvedges because of the end-use such as Sheeting, African Damast, Worsted Wool , while other fabrics need closed selvedges to allow further processing such as Tyrecord.

One of the most used methods to obtain closed edges in these fabrics is tucked-in selvedges. The fringe-length is returned back into the fabric before the next pick is inserted and this is done by means of a needle or even a burst of compressed air.

Tyrecord is used to reinforce the tyre-carcasses, mainly for cars, motorcycles and even bicycles. It consists of viscose, nylon or polyester cabled yarns , called Cords, that are crossed with cotton or elastic core-spun wefts. With only 1 tot 0,4 picks per cm, the pickdensity is very low . The amount of weft-material in the fabric is less than 3 % ! This part of the fabric is called Cord.

In order to adhese well to the rubber-compound in the tyre, the tyrecord needs to be impregnated and “ baked “ at high temperatures in a process called “ Dipping “ Since this process is continuous , customers want to wind the tyrecord on huge clothrollers of sometimes 2 meters in diameter. Beginning and end of a clothroll must be of much higher pickdensity to allow to stitch the end of the previous clothroll to the start of the next clothroll. This reinforced strip is called Tabby.

So on a tyrecord-machine, the tuckers need to be able to form a tucked selvedge in the open Cord as well as in the very dense Tabby-section.

Before the introduction of OMNIplus 800TC , our tyrecordmachines where equipped with mechanical tucking-in-devices using needles . One of the big advantages of this system is that the profiled reed can be continuous over the width. Using continuous reeds mean that the stock of rather expensive profiled reeds can be kept to a minimum. When only the width of the fabric changes, the reed does not have to be replaced, savings hours of work.

Thanks to intensive re-engineering of the existing Airtuckers, Picanol now succeeded to modify the Airtucker-units so they move with the reed-holder. So one of the disadvantages of the use of Airtuckers , having to cut the reed to the width of the fabric is no longer there ! At the same time, the quality of the closed selvedges in Cord and Tabby section match the excellent Mechanical tuck-solution. In comparison with the previous system a considerable speed-increase can be realised.

Customers still operating Mechanical Tuckers can now easily transform their machines towards Airtuckers with continuous reeds . This means their existing stock of profiles reeds can be used .

Needless to say that maintenance and servicing requirements on Airtuckers is reduced thanks to a reduction in moving parts and the elimination of oil-lubrication.

One version of Airtuckers with continuous reeds will be on display at ITMA – Barcelona later this year. The System will be running on a wide sheeting – machine .

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Airmaster

video (click here to start the video)Next to yarn and salary cost, the energy cost is an important fabric cost factor for air jet weavers.

It is thus an important challenge for an Airjet weaver, to keep the power consumption and more in particular the air consumption under control.

For many years PICANOL has been very focused on keeping the air consumption as low as it possibly can get. Reason why PICANOL is using a double air tank for the relay nozzles, has high performance main nozzles, has multi hole relay nozzles which offer the best performance/consumption ratio,  has a two relay nozzle per valve set-up, uses fast and precise responding pneumatic valves, has standard the adaptive insertion control, can offer features such as ARVDplus - Picanol Catching Device, has a separate control for both fixed and movable main nozzle etc. 

Keeping the air consumption at a low level, also means that the user has to be able to keep track of the air consumption and needs also to be able to check the condition of the insertion system on a periodic base.

Being aware of this need, Picanol has developed the AirMaster feature. Main element in the system is an electronic air consumption meter. This device can be fully integrated in the machine, as a part of the machine so to say, or it can be used as a tool that can be connected on the machine where the actions are to be carried out. There is in both cases an electronic link between the machine and the electronic air consumption meter.

Right from the start of the development of this feature however the goal was to cover the various aspects of air consumption. This means that the device is not only allowing the user to measure and manage the air consumption. Thanks to the PICANOL integrated concept, it is possible to carry out, fully automatically, a testing procedure to detect leakages in the compressed air circuit. The user has to decide when to carry out this test and the machine takes care of the rest. Of course a detailed report informs the user if a problem was detected during the test.

Moreover, all data regarding the air consumption can be retrieved by the monitoring system. Allowing the user to follow up and compare air consumption on different machines running on the same style.

Result is that the user has full control over the air consumption.

Needless to say that AirMaster is fulfilling the requirements of today's leading air jet weavers. Today 20% of the Air jet machines produced in Ieper are leaving our production line equipped with AirMaster.

Obviously AirMaster can be seen on our air jet machines on display at ITMA Barcelona later this year.

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