Because of the maturity of the current filament yarn markets, each manufacturer has to look at its area and look into the business developments in adjacent areas for diversification as well as application developments.

WUMAG has more than 40 years of experience in the construction of steam and thermo-oil-heated rolls for use in sizing machines, textile finishing machines as well as for the paper and plastic industry. WUMAG rolls are used in machines of leading manufacturers.

Combinations of Isodynamics with Profile technology or ProDyn® technology illustrate the advantages these offer to the roll goods supplier to improve not only the weight uniformity of the needlepunch fabric, but also the physical uniformity of the fabrics manufactured with these technologies.

A total of six innovations have been selected for this year’s Techtextil and Avantex Innovation Awards. The awards go to innovative solutions from the fields of material and product development, new processes and innovative garments.

ContiTech has developed its protective clothing material further with the new ContiBarrierSystem®. Two separate polymer layers ensure optimum impermeability. Greater safety, comfort and economy – these are the key advantages of the newly developed protective clothing material with ContiBarrierSystem® from ContiTech.

The nomination process for the prestigious 2010 Visionary Award is now open to the global nonwovens and consumer products industries.

Textile furnishings, including seat covers, curtain fabrics, carpets, wallcoverings, blankets and headrest covers, are an important element of any aircraft interior. They enable an airline to develop and reinforce its corporate identity and offer much greater scope for customisation than most other interior products.

Dow Corning Corporation, a leading supplier of innovative silicone solutions for the textiles industry, and DEVAN Chemicals have jointly developed a new softener to treat flame-retardant textiles. Dow Corning® brand DS-9000 Eco Repel is an eco-friendly multifunctional encapsulated silicone additive for technical textiles.

The latest research and development has lead to the carding specialist Crosrol launching its new highly anticipated MK7 Card. Recognising demand in nonwoven and medical textile applications, Crosrol supplies cards for these specialised end uses and exhibited it at Techtextil this June.

In recent years, leading German flat knitting machine builder H Stoll & Co, has achieved much in the quest to widen the use of knitting machines and in particular flat knitting machines in technical applications.

Bekaert (Bekintex), a leader in innovative textiles, presented its new anti-static, shielding and textile heating products during this year’s Techtextil.

Trützschler Nonwoven Group: Fleissner and Erko Trützschler as system supplier: Fleissner and Erko-Trützschler presents the full capabilities of the Trützschler Nonwovens Group.

How through strategic innovation, some machine manufacturers and textile companies are competing in a shrinking market?

German textile machines and technologies open up new production possibilities and application areas for textiles. Research and development of the German manufacturers aim to ensure higher production speed and throughput and more flexible production while meeting the quality requirements at the same time. Easier operation, reduction of manufacturing costs by process integration and saving energy are also main topics to increase the effect for customers.

Since up to 90% of all costs for an investment decision come within the scope of the operation phase, it is essential to consider the whole product life-cycle.

At its facilities now in Germany, Erbatech produces machinery for wet finishing processes of textiles and carpets. Its history dates back to 1960s.

Heusch is the world’s oldest manufacturer of textile and leather processing blades and has been supplier of the world-wide textile and leather industry since 1850. For four generations it has been the company’s objective to innovate and produce precision blades which meet its customers’ demands and expectations.

The beginning in Plauen/Vogtland, Germany: Oskar Fischer founded his mechanical engineering company in 1910. Already in 1911, the first patent was awarded to him, many others followed. The pioneering idea was to knot warp yarns mechanically. His knotting machines soon made their way into the weaving mills thanks to their performance and reliability as the increase in productivity compared to the manual knotting process was obvious.

Knotex GmbH & Co KG was founded in 1949 in Augsburg by Ernst Fleck, a local businessman. The objectives at the time were the manufacture and sale of a completely new tying machine. In 1950, the first “Universal warp tying machine” from Knotex made its market début. The excellent design of this machine and its modular concept contributed to its enormous success, at first nationally, and later also in Europe and overseas.

A Monforts Textilmaschinen, which has been participating in all international exhibitions, has been focusing on its energy saving solutions in textiles dyeing and finishing. These include its integrated heat recovery modules and exhaust air cleaning units to reduce energy consumption and clean the exhaust air of thermo finishing ranges.

The Andritz Küsters GmbH with approximately 480 employees is positioned at three locations, in Germany (Krefeld), Switzerland (Bülach) and in the USA (Spartanburg). Together with the representations, which have mostly been active for Küsters world-wide for many years, they offer its customers continuously available consulting, technologically state-of-the-art machinery and comprehensive service.

The depleting energy resources are encouraging companies worldwide to invest in effective energy saving concepts to remain on the long run competitive and successful. As producer of modularly harmonised systems Bruckner invested already some years ago a lot in the development of energy-saving systems.

The market for lace fabrics is becoming more and more varied and fast-moving, and continues to be a lucrative business area. Karl Mayer is continuously improving and revamping its range of lace machines, so that both this company and its customers can be one step ahead on this rapidly changing market.

With over 40,000 different product types, Kern-Liebers Knitting Parts GmbH maintains the world's largest sinker programme, complemented by an ever-growing range of needles.

As one of the world's leading producers of each kind of warp knitting machines Liba can look back to over 50 years of history as a partner of textile industry. Its product range includes more than 60 types of warp knitting machines to produce all kinds of fabric. This covers a huge range, from standard fabrics to sophisticated high-tech products.

The world’s leading manufacturer of circular knitting machines Mayer & Cie attaches great importance to Asia in general and to China in particular as vital emerging markets – as evidenced by the presence of a dedicated MCT Service Center in Shanghai and a subsidiary company in Hong Kong.

Oerlikon Textile, the world market leader for spinning and texturing machines, embroidery machines and production lines for synthetic yarns as well as with lines for nonwoven fabrics, BCF yarns and man-made staple fibres and one of the five major producers of textile machinery in China, has been coming out with its innovations.

Reiners + Fürst was founded in 1945 in Mönchengladbach (Germany) – a location which still is one of the textile centers of the world. Since the foundation, this company has achieved in six decades a worldwide acknowledgement with customers and experts for the unique variety and high quality of its products.

SETEX Schermuly Textile Computer GmbH is a worldwide operating high-tech corporation that realises and develops computer-based control systems and software solutions for the textile industry. Hard and software are developed in the Mengerskirchen headquarters, sales and support worldwide is handled via subsidiaries and partner companies.

Xetma Vollenweider has presented at international exhibitions some of its latest developments of products and services in the field of surface finishing systems for textiles. This includes products in the technology lines of Soft Touch (brushing and emerizing), Plush Touch (raising), Even Touch (shearing), Level Touch (carpet shearing) and Clean Touch (cloth cleaning).