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A Turkish spinning plant's decisionBy Carmen Pang, Executive Editor

Corporate Profile
By Carmen Pang,Executive EditorOne-Stop Shopping For TechnologyTurkish yarn manufacturer iPOND decided early on that it will equip its open-end spinning line with only Rieter systems for a one-source solution.Textiles and Turkey are interwoven in history. The Silk Road, which Marco Polo so famously traversed, cuts through parts of the country that has a long history in textile production. Today, textiles contribute about 33 percent of Turkey’s total exports — about $10.3 billion in 2001, according to the Export Promotion Center of Turkey’s Undersecretariat of the Prime Ministry for Foreign Trade (IGEME).With the availability of good-quality cotton, cotton yarn and fabric production is one of the most important textile activities in modern-day Turkey. According to IGEME, the estimated cotton yarn production in the country in 2001 was 893,000 tons and the estimated cotton fabric production was 1,590 million meters. The value of cotton, cotton yarn and cotton fabric exports added up to more than $840 million in 2001.A Brand New PlantIn March 2003, installation of a brand new spinning plant began in a 15,000-square-meter covered area in Tekirdag, a city not far from Corlu, one of Turkey’s biggest textile centers west of Istanbul. Three months later, yarn production began. Today, it employs approximately 80 people and churns out an average of 18 tons of cotton and rayon yarns every day.The spinning complex, named iPOND, is part of Yumak Iplik Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, a textile manufacturer headquartered in Istanbul. Yumak Iplik was founded in 2002 by two families that have been in the textile business for more than 20 years.iPOND also is the trademark under which the company markets its yarns, which range from Ne 16 to Ne 30 in yarn count. According to the company, the majority of its yarns are sold to Turkish export knitters. In addition, some of the yarns are used by Yumak Iplik’s new knitting plant, which was completed in December 2003. The company also has plans to add a ring spinning line to the operation.

Tekirdag, near the Turkish textile center of Corlu, is home to iPOND's spinning plant.Technology InvestmentsiPOND may not be the largest spinning mill in Turkey, but it is easily one of the most advanced in technology installation. The plant is equipped with an open-end spinning system made by Switzerland-based Rieter Machine Works Ltd.According to Melih Günugur Hasircilar, one of Yumak Iplik’s owners, a decision was made early on to install machinery supplied by one source. “At the time when one first goes into production, the responsibilities must be clear. A solution with various suppliers would have meant that we had to find out ourselves which machine had what influence on a production error,” Hasircilar said. “Thanks to the ‘everything from one source’ solution, we have gained additional security.” Melih Günugar Hasircilar, iPONDFiber PreparationiPOND’s blowroom line includes a Rieter A 11 bale opener, a Rieter B 11 pre-cleaner, two Rieter B 70 mixing units and two Rieter B 60 fine cleaners with A 20 condensers. In addition, there are seven Rieter C 60 cards set up in a modular construction to reduce resetting time to a minimum.According to Rieter, benefits of the C 60 include high production rate and improved quality and flexibility (see TWAsia Spring 2003 issue).For the drawing process, iPOND decided on using two drawing passages — a Rieter RSB-D 35 drawframe and a Rieter RSB-D 15 drawframe. According to Rieter, the additional dust removal leads to higher efficiency during spinning. Moreover, the improved parallel alignment of the fibers results in improved yarn quality and characteristics. iPOND's new spinning plant produces 18 tons of cotton and rayon yarns everyday.Rotor SpinningTen Rieter R 40 open-end spinning machines are set up to manufacture yarn packages with diameters of up to 340 millimeters and weighing up to 5 kilograms. Rotor speeds can reach up to 150,000 revolutions per minute. The R 40 uses Rieter’s SC-R spin box, which integrates piecing and package change in a robot assembly.According to Rieter, an optimized take-off angle facilitates reduction in yarn twist, while maintaining spinning stability and increasing delivery speed by 5 percent.All yarns are then conditioned by the Condimat conditioning machine made by Germany-based Ph Welker GmbH. A final phase of quality control is done under ultraviolet light for foreign fibers.iPOND has also integrated Rieter’s SPIDERweb mill monitoring system into its production lines to provide plant personnel with instant access to production and quality data. Ten Rieter R 40 open-end spinning machines are set up in iPOND.Knitting LineYumak Iplik recently added a new knitting operation to the iPOND complex. As with the spinning line, the knitting machinery, which includes a Monarch VXC-3S circular knitting machine, was also supplied by Rieter.Because the knitting facility is so new, Hasircilar said the company has yet to set any production capacity or goals for the plant. “It also depends on the economic consumption in Turkey and in Europe,” he said.
Spring 2004