CIMI To The Rescue

CIMI'S new Lavanova Multifix range solves production issues for one Italian yarn and fabric manufacturer.Textile World Asia Special Report

Preparation Technology
Textile World Asia Special ReportCIMI To The RescueCIMI's new Lavanova Multifix range solves production issues for one Italian yarn and fabric manufacturer.

Minimal tension during processing results in a high degree of crabbing and a final high-quality handle.E. Pecci & C. S.a.s., an Italian textiles company, recently restructured its organization and expanded its product range. To handle the new production needs, the company acquired a continuous, open-width treatment line from CIMI S.p.A., Italy.According to Filippo Busi, general manager of E. Pecci, the company was restructured in 2002 to include two divisions: Pecci Filati S.p.A. for yarn manufacturing and Pecci Tessuti for fabric manufacturing. Major changes were implemented at Pecci Tessuti, which today employs about 135 people, has an annual turnover of 30 million euros, and produces about 2.5 million meters of fabrics, of which 70 percent to 75 percent is exported. While E. Pecci made only fabrics for men’s suitings in the past, Pecci Tessuti has started to include in its collections highquality fabrics for women’s wear.For fabrics made of wool and wool blends, the change in product range meant the use of finer and more delicate raw materials (about 19 microns). In addition, cotton, viscose, and linen fabrics made with yarns of finer counts also were added. Moreover, to keep pace with market trends, the latest collections also include stretch articles (mono and bistretch), as well as easy-care fabrics.To E. Pecci, such changes in production, especially the addition of cotton and man-made products, were not easy to implement with the existing equipment because the machines were installed mostly for wool fabric production. Thus, the decision was made to invest in a Lavanova Multifix continuous, openwidth washing and fixing range from CIMI. The "natural steam" trademark tank is a high-efficiency steamer fed with saturated steam.Ongoing EvolutionAlberto Bozzo, finishing manager of E. Pecci, said the CIMI acquisition provides several advantages. Compared to mid-level cotton finishing done in the past by various commissioned finishers, the handle of all articles is improved with the CIMI line.The CIMI equipment, which processes with a minimum amount of tension and at a perfect fabric setting, facilitates subsequent operations such as dyeing. Moreover, the equipment is fully automatic, requiring no special needs for service or skilled personnel. All operations can be controlled with a touch-screen interface.“As the Lavanova Multifix evolution goes on and flexibility increases, the range constantly offers the possibility of carrying on the development of new processes and products,” said Bozzo. The Lavanova Multifix line was designed for the continuous open-width treatment of wool, cotton, man-made and blended fabrics.New And Improved FeaturesAccording to Michele Zampieri, a textiles chemistries specialist at CIMI, the company redesigned some aspects of the Lavanova Superfix range to increase its versatility and to make it suitable for treating cotton. The result of the redesign was the new Lavanova Multifix.The features that remained unchanged from the Lavanova Superfix include the fabric-forward movement that is made possible by applying the minimum necessary force. This allows the machine to operate with an adjustable tension level while keeping the material relaxed even in the fully guided lengths. With the proper settings, even elastic fabrics shrink during the process.Another benefit is the savings in water and energy consumption, a result of the large number of interchange points between the liquor and the textile substrate being processed.Zampieri said the new Multifix module was designed to meet several goals: further reduction in water and chemical consumption, reduction in energy cost, reduction in purification cost, elimination of manual operations, improvement in treatment quality, and increase in flexibility. “The results achieved by Multifix satisfy all these points,” he said. “In some cases, the real data were better than our expectations.”The development of impregnation, “spray up” and “natural steam” treatment tanks with low volume has shortened the time for recipe change, which results in increased flexibility. Consumption of auxiliaries, chemicals and water also is minimized, resulting in lower energy and purification costs.Computer-controlled chemicals feeding guarantees the preservation of the concentration of the chemicals over time and the repeatability for different lots. With the special construction of the “spray up” saturator, the surface penetration and distribution of chemicals onto the fabric are improved, greatly enhancing the treatment quality, thanks to the higher level of energy provided by the saturated steam supplied to the “natural steam”treatment chamber.According to Bozzo, the new equipment has allowed E. Pecci to industrialize a series of processes, from the preparation of classic suiting fabrics, to washing and crabbing, to more niche treatments, such as those for creating “natural stretch” fabrics. The Multifix range has a "Spray-Up" saturation tank for the adding of chemicals.Cotton PreparationFor cotton preparation, the Lavanova Multifix line has provided positive answers to some difficult questions. The machine can handle any type of size used on the fabrics. It achieves a good and uniform hydrophilicity of the material being processed. The Lavanova Multifix range also achieves the right degree of white and of hydrophilicity without changing the cotton polymerization degree.The cotton fiber cuticle is attacked by enzyme desizing, removing the contact point and detaching from the cuticle any type of size present and leaving a surface more porous than the original one. This porosity permits the subsequent pad steam bleaching to penetrate into the fiber in shorter times (three minutes) and in a more uniform way.The combination of the two recipe formulations results in excellent hydrophilicity and degree of white; at the same time it ensures a decrease in the cotton polymerization degree to levels regarded as optimal compared to treatment by conventional cycles.
Winter 2004