Lucky With Monforts
Monforts equipment used in Lucky Textiles expansionTextile World Asia Special Report
Dyeing & Finishing
Textile World Asia Special ReportLucky With Monforts
Lucky Textiles Group, one of China's leading textile export producers, recently opened a new
factory equipped with state-of-the-art production machines, including Monforts' tenters, shrinking
machines and dyeing units.The new Lucky Textiles facility is located in the middle of the Yangtze
Delta, south of Shanghai in China. The company started production in a new purpose-built plant in
April 2005, following a 16-month construction period. The new building covers an area of 35,000
square meters (m2) on a 350,000 m2 site. Lucky Textiles employs 300 people at the new plant,
working 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Lucky Textiles dyes and finishes cotton corduroy,
twill, denim, sheeting, linen, terry cloth and nano-tech fabrics. According to Ji Qing, general
manger of Lucky Textile, the new facility has already produced 10 million meters of fabric since it
opened.
Ji Qing, general manager of Lucky TextilesThe company has invested in imported machinery for
its production, focusing on high, consistent quality for its 100-percent export-quality production.
Machinery includes four Monforts lines a new Montex 6000 tenter in combination with a Monforts
Dynair relaxation dryer, two continuous Thermex 6500 dyeing lines and one Monfortex shrinking line
all delivered through local representative K&E Co. Ltd. Monforts could deliver the most
advanced machines with a recognized high quality,Qing said. We only deal with large production
runs and cannot have anything but top-class equipment across the entire production range,he added.
Lucky Textiles' Montex 6000 tenterA standstill would be very costly and must be kept to an
absolute minimum. A Monforts service station in Shanghai and factory technicians located in China
were therefore a prime consideration for Lucky Textiles. The multifunctional Montex 6000 tenter
frame features 10 chambers for heat setting. It is combined in a unique configuration with a
four-chamber Dynair relaxation dryer. These 10+4 chambers in combination provide Lucky Textiles
with a wide variety of operational options, including releasing tension in cotton and elastic blend
fabrics. All the Monforts ranges feature a 2,000 millimeter working width. Each Monforts Thermex
6500 continuous dyeing range has four C-type chambers. The Thermex 6500 is the latest Monforts
system for the continuous dyeshop and finisher, featuring techniques and process technology
specially developed for continuous range operation.
All of the new Monforts equipment features Qualitex control technology.A Monforts Monfortex
shrinking range completes the installation to achieve a reproducible minimum residual shrinkage.
Minimum residual shrinkage values and highest reproducibility are achieved using environmentally
safe process engineering. We were also obliged to receive an approval from the local governments
Environmental Protection Agency before we started building the facility,said Qing. Lucky Textiles
is a fully computerized company. All of the Monforts equipment is equipped with Qualitex control
technology. [Qualitex] was an important feature for us, said Qing. We are further investigating
the possibility of connecting our equipment to a central Management Information System (MIS), for
management purposes. Energy consumption was also an important factor and we looked at the cost for
treating different materials and weights before deciding in what type of equipment to invest.
Lucky Textiles produces 3 million meters of fabric every month. Production is 80-percent cotton and
20percent cotton blends with a range of weights between 100 and 400 grams per square meter (g/m2)
The majority of the fabric weighs between 200 and 300 g/m2 and is generally used for casualwear and
trousers. Lucky Textiles started its production in 1985 and has expanded significantly most
recently with the new plant in April 2005. Annual production capacity is currently 35 million
meters per year, and the company is looking at future expansion. The company produces more than $85
million in annual sales and exports 100 percent of its production to clients in Europe, the United
States, Japan and Southeast Asia.
November/December 2005
