Page 50 - TEXtalks March/April 2022

50
A story, how a small Loepfe product has
become a part of the success
In an interview with
Loepfe, Werner
Kaufmann of
Rohleder Germany,
describes why a
small Loepfe product
is part of the
company's success.
CUT-iT systems
Loepfe since its establishment in 1955 by the Werner Kaufmann: We have very flexible employees
brothers Helmut and Erich Loepfe, has been the with high-quality awareness - there would be no other
pacesetter for innovation in textile quality control. way. Of course, our extensive design and R&D
They have established themselves in the field of competence is also an important building block, in
optical yarn clearers with pioneering achievements. addition to the constant maintenance and renewal of
Today, Loepfe is considered world-wide as the our machinery.
specialist for integral quality control systems. Fifty
percent of the world-wide staple yarn production are Loepfe: Alongside the distinctive design requirements
monitored by Loepfe yarn clearers. On the other side, at Rohleder, the quality concept is a mainstay running
Rohleder the HITEX® Manufactory is much more through all process steps. Why is quality so important
than a weaving mill. At their plant in Konradsreuth to you?
Germany, they have been producing designer fabrics Werner Kaufmann: For us as a company with
of the highest level of quality, comfort, and durability production facilities in Germany, quality is a natural
since 1946. They manufacture sophisticated feature.
upholstery and furnishing fabrics of the highest
quality in a wide range of colours, textures and Loepfe: You rely on modern technologies and machines
patterns, implementing specialist knowledge of the and components customized especially for Rohleder.
highest level. Why did you choose a product from Loepfe for the
fabric separation?
Loepfe considers itself fortunate to have one of the Werner Kaufmann: The hot wire cutters prevent
most successful weaving mills in Europe as a unwanted problems in our thermal-mechanical
customer. As a result, the weaving machines finishing process during further processing. The
specially modified for Rohleder have been equipped CUT-iT system gives the selvedge more stability,
with the WeftMaster CUT-iT thermal fabric cutter since which means we produce significantly less second
mid-2019. choice.
Loepfe: Rohleder offers a wide variety of high quality
fabrics. Whether these are velvets or epinglé, Loepfe: How many CUT-iT systems are in use
furnishings or flat wovens, dobby or jacquard, Rohleder throughout your production?
offers a seemingly unlimited choice of materials, Werner Kaufmann: Six, possibly seven soon, all other
textures, colors and patterns. What challenges does machines run with the machine manufacturers cutting
this pose for daily production? system.
March/April 2022
51
PicConnect: An industrial
revolution from Picanol
With the style
administration app, you
can easily manage all
your Picanol machine
settings
PicConnect - Style administration
Picanol is “Driven by data”, and as such it has set energy costs and to adhere to the Picanol principle of
“Sustainability Inside”.
itself the goal of tackling the next industrial revolution
for its customers with the launch of PicConnect. With
PicConnect, a new fully digital platform, Picanol is The style administration application allows the user to
offering a wide range of features, from industrial IoT swiftly open, edit, and manage Picanol machine
to service-related applications. PicConnect is a settings through a central repository. A unique feature
web-based application that can be accessed through of PicConnect is that a weaver can now easily
a web browser on any device and it functions as the compare and copy settings between different
gateway to all Picanol’s digital services. The platform machines, ensuring the machines are all using the
is cloud-based and it allows connecting the Picanol optimal settings.
weaving machines to the platform in order to
leverage its full extent of possibilities. The new webshop for original Picanol spare parts,
PartsLine, is a cornerstone of PicConnect. PartsLine
PicConnect enables weavers to quickly react to offers a seamless online shopping experience,
changes in the weaving room, and it will have an covering everything from quotations to reviewing
immediate impact on the performance of the weaving orders and invoices.
machines. It will not only change how weavers
interact with their machines but also the way they In PicConnect, you can create a library of machine
interact with Picanol. For this reason, Picanol can settings using the file management system. When
boldly state that PicConnect is bringing weavers into machines are connected, settings can easily be sent
the era of intuitive weaving. to and from the platform. Ensuring your machines all
use the optimal settings is very convenient. Machine
In the production monitoring application, it is possible settings can be visualized in the style administration
to track the production of the weaving machines. app, where you get an intuitive overview of the most
Real-time monitoring of the machine status enables relevant settings. They can also be edited, to finetune
the weaver to react quickly with regard to operational the performance of your machines.
tasks and increase overall efficiency. The historical
data, graphs, and tables provide the hard data to An additional feature is the ability to compare
pinpoint exactly where action is needed. settings of two different machines or compare the
actual settings of a machine with a reference file.
The energy monitoring application keeps an eye on Differences between the two are highlighted, and
the power consumption of the machines. In the case settings can be copied from one file to another. After
of airjet machines, also air consumption is monitored. settings have been changed or copied, you can start
It gives a better insight into the total energy flow in to synchronize all your machines with just a couple of
the weaving room, helping to reduce the overall clicks.
March/April 2022