Page 34 - TEXtalks. January-February 2023

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Uster Tester – The foundation

of global textile quality

Celebrating 75 years of the world’s most famous instrument
GGP - first evenness tester in 1948
GGP – first evenness tester in 1948.

Uster Tester 6 - the Total Testing Center
Assessing textile quality was once a matter of innovations. Measurement capabilities have
opinion. Today it’s a matter of fact – objective, extended with specially-developed sensors, and
repeatable and universally understood. Quality now ingenious software. Connectivity with other Uster
has numerical values, as the basis for trading, pricing systems at every stage of processing has created a
and ultimately consumer satisfaction. And this year unique Quality Management Platform for the entire mill.
marks the 75th anniversary of the pioneering idea of a comprehensive service of quality thanks to seamless connectivity with other Uster
innovation which fostered that change – and created Setting global standards information grew into the now-legendary Uster testing and measuring instruments. Critically, it unites
the global quality environment of textile production in The original tester is displayed in a museum on the Statistics publications. lab testing with in-process monitoring, by intelligent
the 21st century. top floor of Uster headquarters. It is, or course, cooperation with Uster yarn clearers in the winding
manually operated, and outputs test results as a line This detailed collation of accurate data from all department.
It all started in the early 1940s, with a request from a on graph paper. This first venture into testing was around the textile world has become essential to the
group of spinners in Switzerland. They wanted a based on a capacitive sensor and simple electronics. entire industry. It is the framework for meaningful fiber Through the Uster Quality Expert, and the unique
reliable way of measuring textile slivers, rovings and It was the precursor for gradual development stages purchasing, yarn development and trading, now of ‘Assistant Q’ guidance facility, mills now have the
yarns for ‘evenness’. This property was – and still is – over the next two decades, leading to the emergence course, available as an app for mobile devices. In an benefit of ‘Total Testing’. This delivers effective and
seen as critical to the uniformity, consistency and in the 1970s of the name ‘Uster Tester’ and its rapid environment where speed and user-friendliness are preventive process optimization, with smart alerts
processability of materials, and the ultimate popularity across the textile world. vital, the latest Uster Tester interacts with Uster pointing instantly to potential trouble spots in the
determinant of value and quality. The first Statistics to provide a one-click check of yarn quality entire process. Integration between 100% in-process
instrumental method for evenness testing was A key aspect for those early Swiss spinners was to and specifications. monitoring and precise lab measurement ensures
developed for these spinners by Zellweger Uster, at learn more about their yarn quality, to improve it for quality is secured at the right level every time.
that time a company active in the emerging field of their customers but also to benchmark their own Managing the whole mill
electronics. standards against other producers. Giving quality a It’s clear that the evenness tester will also continue to Spinners today have the power to analyze every
numerical value was a massive breakthrough, be the must-have laboratory testing instrument in its element of their processes and select the best
That company is known today at Uster Technologies, reflected today in the ‘language of quality’ used for own right, whatever the benefits of its connectivity. options for their own profitability and their customers’
and it’s fair to say that every textile producer in the marketing, trading and competitive progress today. Test conditions in the lab are more consistent than in complete satisfaction. In one system, fiber, yarn and
world knows the name of its most famous product, the production halls, so results can be compared fabric quality are optimized and secured. Thanks to
the Uster Tester. In fact, the word ‘Uster’ alone is The concept of global benchmarking took a giant over time to establish a basis for best settings and the Uster Tester and Uster Quality Expert, mills can
used by textile mills to signify both the process of leap forward in 1957 with a short article in the procedures in mill equipment. rely on a world-class Quality Management Platform
evenness testing, and the instrument itself. In the German textile magazine Melliand, giving basic data that takes their business planning from imperfect
past 75 years, the Uster Tester has been developed on yarn quality from a number of spinners. The data So, the Uster Tester has its place in every serious approximation to guaranteed certainty ready for the
and extended apace with fast-moving technological was, of course, based on the Uster Tester, and the textile laboratory. But its modern role is much wider, next 75 years.

January/February 2023 January/February 2023