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Thursday, March 28, 2024

How Industry 4.0 solutions are impacting the textile process chain

– Dr. Christof Soest, CTO, Trützschler
Strauch: Dr. Soest, what is Trützschler’s latest I4.0 innovation?

Dr. Soest: We have developed intelligent, self-optimizing machines and connect them through digital monitoring systems. The latest examples are cloud-based monitoring solutions which enable customers to literally steer and optimize their spinning mill anytime from anywhere in the world. This combination of complete, intelligent machinery solutions and digital support systems means a big step in automation and ensuring high quality.

Strauch: And what is the exact benefit for a spinning mill?
Dr. Soest: Customer benefits range from improved productivity and quality to fewer downtimes, machine failures and reduced scrap. One of our monitoring systems, for example, warns operators about potential issues or optimization needs. It also specifies where exactly they occur and advises what needs to be done. There is no need for time-consuming searches for the source of the issue. This saves a lot of time and money! By connecting all machines in a unified data set, we eliminate the information silos that made it difficult to steer production in the past.

Wilhelm Langius, Division Head, Neuenhauser
Strauch: Let’s stay in the spinning sector. Mr. Langius, company Neuenhauser specialises in the handling of yarn packages within the yarn spinning process. Are transportation systems also influenced by Industry 4.0?
Langius: Indeed, a good example is a new development for the automated handling of sliver cans. Have you ever heard of AGVs?

Strauch: Should I?
Langius: AGV stands for Automatic Guided Vehicles, a technology that has been around for many years but has been fuelled recently by the introduction of Industry 4.0.

Neuenhauser saw with the recent advances in autonomous vehicles and navigation systems that an AGV is also a good solution for spinning mills. We thought it is a useful tool to automate the labour-intensive handling of sliver cans in a spinning plant. Within twelve months, our team developed a state-of-the-art transport system using a large fleet of intelligently controlled automated guided vehicles. The AGV will pick-up sliver cans which are filled with cotton sliver material and deliver them to the spinning frame where empty cans will be exchanged with full cans. The empty cans are then returned to the equipment which will refill the sliver cans with cotton sliver to repeat the cycle. Within a typical spinning mill, very large numbers of sliver cans are required to be moved each hour.

Strauch: And how do you make sure these vehicles find their way in a spinning mill?
Langius: The vehicles are equipped with the latest state-of-the-art safety sensors to ensure the vehicles operate safely alongside plant personnel who need to share the same floor space and aisles within the spinning mill. The plant personnel are also equipped with specialized sensors they wear on their safety vest, to inform the AGV where the operators are working and moving around within the manufacturing floor. With such a system both the AGVs and local plant personnel can work safely together within the same manufacturing area.

– Andreas Lukas, Managing Director, Andritz Küsters
Strauch: Mr. Lukas, Andritz Küsters specializes in technologies for the nonwovens industry. Which steps have been taken recently to address the topic I4.0?
Lukas: Andritz has pooled its relevant expertise under a new technology brand that covers smart sensors, big data analytics and augmented reality.

Strauch: Augmented reality is a good topic that has not been mentioned so far. What are the advantages of this technology?
Lukas: Portrayal of important information where operations are taking place and always with respect to the product or object are compelling arguments in favor of using Augmented Reality. Other benefits for customers: Conventional operating manuals are converted into digital instructions, virtual tools can be displayed in the real work environment, and users can perform difficult work sequences with a lower error rate.

– Steffen Müller-Probandt, Managing Partner, Dienes Apparatebau
Strauch: Mr. Müller-Probandt, company Dienes specialises in machine components for the manmade fiber production as well as textile special applications. One focus are pilot installations for research. How is Industry 4.0 touching this application?
Müller-Probandt
: One key product in our portfolio is a modular spinning system which allows customised solutions, starting from thread run studies to complete pilot installations. 

Each unit has its own PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), which allows to run DIENES units in foreign lines or to integrate foreign units in a DIENES line. The units can be operated with an interface directly or over the ethernet from an upper control system.

Strauch: What are the advantages for customers e.g. research institutes or R&D departments?
Müller-Probandt: Our modular system includes a line overview, which rearranges itself almost automatically for different operation modes in alternative machine sequences. The detailed process representation allows the customer to monitor directly the effect for all changes of parameters.
If a good yarn could be realized it is possible to backtrack the journey of this yarn through the process.

The parameters can be modified with mobile devices, like a pad or a mobile phone. All these functionalities allow the research institutes and industry to reduce the cost of investments and to operate fast and flexibly in the development of new products, which additionally save costs and time.

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