KARL MAYER acquired STOLL on 26th February 2020. The merger of the two world market leaders was officially completed with the closing on 1st July 2020.
The established STOLL brand broadens the portfolio of the global player, KARL MAYER, by competencies in the field of flat knitting. It will be continued and further developed as an independent business unit within the corporate group. After the acquisition of STOLL, the KARL MAYER Group is the only supplier of innovative solutions for warp knitting and flat knitting. The joint growth is now also emphasized by a relevant addition to the name of two of the German KARL MAYER companies.
Starting from 12 August 2020, KARL MAYER Textilmaschinenfabrik GmbH operating under the name of KARL MAYER STOLL Textilmaschinenfabrik GmbH, and KARL MAYER R&D GmbH will be trading as KARL MAYER STOLL R&D GmbH With the PROWARP® and MULTI-MATIC® 32, KARL MAYER presented innovative series machines for weaving preparation at ITMA 2019. The MULTI-MATIC® 32 is a highly productive warping machine for the production of sample and production warps with short running length, which is particularly well received by manufacturers in the high-quality fashion sector.
PROWARP®
The selectable, innovative solutions offered by the PROWARP® configuration include PROACTIVE warping, a system for optimising warp beam quality that will be cloudbased in future. The new development comprises a total of three levels and the amount of information increases with each one. Level 1 provides protocols with data on warping or beaming quality, which are supplemented in level 2 by active quality management with a customer-defined star rating. This extension level also offers the possibility of integrating a modern high-resolution camera system. The innovative solution records measurements including the band width and band set-up – i.e. the distance from band to band or to the cone. In addition, level 3 offers evaluations and diagrams for the single thread tensions of the optional MULTIGUARD yarn stop motion. In levels 2 and 3, the data is also exchanged with the KM.ON cloud via the KM.ON device key. Using cloud networking, a real-time machine dashboard can be created and, in future, it can be synchronised with new start parameters via an algorithm. If deviations occur, production data can be optimised and adopted for repeat orders if desired. This allows the beam quality to be improved, regardless of the operating personnel.
Further systems for ensuring high product quality relate to regulating the layer thickness during the sectional warping process. To do so, either the yarn tension at the creel exit or, if available, the speed of the yarn feeding elements is adjusted. Fine adjustment is triggered by measured values taken from the layer thickness of the individual sections, which are continuously recorded by laser in a contactless manner and compared with the values of a master section. PROWARP® ensures a high degree of quality reproducibility with well-thought-out solutions to manage orders and production data.
Flexible use, best performance values
In addition to product quality, the PROWARP® is also efficient. An innovative order management system not only enables weaving mills to be up to 5 % more efficient and performance to be increased by up to 30 % in weaving preparation compared to standard market counterparts, but yarn waste is also reduced. A high degree of application flexibility completes the PROWARP® performance package. The new high-performance sectional warping machine is suitable for all material types and combinations, and guarantees a constant winding build-up over the entire yarn spectrum. It manufactures production warps that are used in technical and standard applications. It has a special configuration to produce warp beams for technical woven fabrics, determined by the suffix “HT”. For the apparel and home textiles sector, PROWARP® offers warp beams for creating detailed patterns and designs of different colours. To meet the wide range of applications, the PROWARP® is designed for pulling forces of up to 40,000 N and has a working width of up to 5.6 m. It reaches a maximum speed of 1,000 m/min for warping and 500 m/min for beaming.
MULTI-MATIC® 32
The MULTI-MATIC® 32 particularly stands out thanks to it excellent price-performance ratio. With the benefit of eight pattern threads, the single-end warp sampling machine offers a third more performance compared to the previous model, but without costing more. It is most efficient at run lengths of 200 to 400 m. When equipped with KAMCOS® 2, the MULTI-MATIC® 32 can be digitally networked via an integrated OPC-UA interface, which means operating data can be gathered in real time. In addition, the reduced number of bobbins allows for a smaller creel, which can be equipped with rollers and arranged differently depending on the yarn quality. The innovative MULTI-MATIC® 32 was designed to replace the GOM-24. It processes bobbins with greater yarn volume and thus with longer change intervals than the model in the GIR-O-MATIC® series, which cuts handling effort and yarn storage costs. Overall, the price performance ratio of the MULTI-MATIC® 32 is up to 30% better than that of the GOM-24.
Flattering the Skin
Development work on JERSEY EVOLUTION continues at Interfilière in Paris in January 2020, KARL MAYER launched its first series of warp knitted jersey articles, garnering great interest, especially among international lingerie brands. These supple, next-to-skin fabrics are called JERSEY EVOLUTION. They were produced on the high-performance tricot machine HKS 2-S, which was used with a high machine gauge to create a sophisticated lapping design. This results in highly elastic fabrics. It is possible to stretch the fabric by up to 245 %, while still retaining a high rebound force. Warp knitting running costs are also lower since the needle units must be replaced less frequently. Compared to circular knitting machines, these key components can be used around six times longer, thus halving the cost per set. Following the successful launch, KARL MAYER created a second JERSEY EVOLUTION series. As part of recent development work, the lapping and yarn use have been modified to achieve different fabric weights and stretch values. With regard to the lapping, variants and patterns were chosen which are commonly used by KARL MAYER’s customers and which had already proved to be highly effective in the first series.
