Itema’s R95002denim wows many

Itema, the world’s largest privately held provider of advanced weaving solutions, including best-in-class weaving machines, spare parts and integrated services, exhibited at ITM 2018.  Turkey and the surrounding area represents for Itema one of the most strategically important regions in the world. Present in these markets for more than 30 years, Itema technology is very well represented and loved by Customers as confirmed by the excellent 2017 sales results.

In the largest booth in the weaving hall, Itema displayed four weaving machines: one airjet and three rapier looms, including the absolute new launch for denim weaving in the market featuring innovative and breakthrough devices. Furthermore, the Company  highlighted benefits and latest developments in its OEM spare parts in a dedicated corner. Visitors also had the chance to learn more about Itema successful case histories through the interviews made with 8 among the top Turkish weaving mills active in multiple fabric segments (Berteks Tekstil, Ipeker Tekstil, Koton Tekstil, Osman Canli Tekstil, Ozanteks Tekstil, RB Karesi, Sürü Tekstil, Yedeks Tekstil).

Weaving machines on display in the Itema booth no doubt captivated the attention of visitors by weaving the most common fabrics woven in the region.

R95002denim: Itema chose ITM as the official stage to introduce in the market the second generation of the Company’s denim-dedicated rapier weaving machine, the R95002denim. The R95002denim is set to define a new benchmark in denim weaving delivering extraordinary, yet tangible benefits to denim weavers guaranteeing unparalleled cost savings, superior fabric quality and outstanding user-experience. Featuring breakthrough devices and enhanced skills, the R95002denim puts Itema – once again – one step ahead in the field of denim, guaranteeing an unrivalled competitive advantage in the market to denim mills.

The weft insertion system achieves here the highest performance levels in terms of fabric quality and components wear resistance, both key targets when it comes to denim weaving. The new SK UltraLight Rapiers, specially designed to meet specific indigo fabric needs, feature a revolutionary design which ensure their reduced dimensions and maximum lightness.

Streamlined and lightweight, the SK UltraLight rapiers further enhance the Itema Shed Geometry — widely recognised in the industry as the best-in-class — allowing an even smaller shed opening leading to unsurpassed fabric quality.

Redesigned and optimised, the tape-hook system provides the remarkable benefit of significantly extending components’ lifetime. The new Itema tapes developed by Lamiflex, an Itema Group company specializing in composite materials, feature an innovative configuration with a triple layer of carbon fiber leading to maximum reliability and represent the first result of the research and development cooperation between the two companies after the acquisition of Lamiflex by Itema. Great strides have also been made to guarantee an outstanding user-experience, such as the optimised machine ergonomy with a lowered front frame to facilitate loom accessibility, the new ergonomic rapier opener and, last but not least, the new Itema Textile Help dedicated to denim fabrics, a troubleshooting software that – loaded directly on the machine console – provides real-time support to the weaver to quickly overcome the most common textile difficulties that may occur during the weaving cycle.

Saving is the crucial point of the R95002denim. Not only the optimisation of the main mechanical components allows a considerable energy consumption reduction but the machine is equipped – in world premiere – with a revolutionary, never-before-seen in the industry device that eliminates the waste selvedge on the left-hand side of the fabric thus leading to unparalleled savings. Designed and developed by ItemaLab – the Itema advanced innovation department, the iSAVERTM combines the most innovative mechatronic principles and provides the saving that the weaver never expected that would have been possible to get. Working up to 4 weft colors and ensuring maximum user-friendliness, the device can be admired during ITM.

R9500terry: The champion of the worldwide high-end terry weaving market comes to ITM fully loaded with its famous and unique advantages. The R9500terry – at ITM in dobby version – represented an absolute best-seller carrying on the rich heritage and reputation in terry weaving of historic Sulzer, Vamatex and now Itema brands. The Itema positive pile back rest roller, unique in the market, guarantees a significant optimization of the pile warp tension, drastically reducing the friction during cloth displacement. Driven by a single motor, the new pile formation unit ensures an easy pile height setting directly from the user interface, guaranteeing superior fabric quality due to the pick-per-pick loop adjustment and cloth displacement up to 28mm (the most advanced in the market), leading to endless creative possibilities. The new ground back-rest roller, equipped with light weight cylinders and a load cell to control the tension, perfectly drives the yarn movement facilitating the shed formation. This innovative winning trio of advanced devices featured on the R9500terry provides unparalleled textile quality and utmost versatility.

Furthermore, the R9500terry on show feature a 380cm weaving width which is an undeniable unique proposition of Itema being the only weaving machine supplier to provide this version in the market.

A9500: The A9500 on display at ITM has been enjoying a worldwide boom in demand due to growing number of enlightened Customers who understand and appreciate the unique winning characteristics of the Itema airjet machines. When developing new technological devices for its weaving machines, Itema focuses on most innovative tools with the highest added value for the Customer, to assure reliability, user-friendliness and reduced maintenance and operational costs. The A9500 is designed for high productivity, whilst ensuring reduced levels of energy consumption and guaranteeing air savings, as well as top machine reliability.

A popular recent trend to weave stretch and super stretch fabrics with dedicated weft yarns inspired Itema to create and patent the innovative BLC – Brush Lycra Clamp® – nozzle to weave elastic weft yarns. Thanks to the BLC nozzle, the weft is held without movable parts to ensure superior fabric quality and reliability. Another Itema patented feature – the ELD Electronic Leno Device – with its innovative design, self-cleaning and no need to wind the leno spools, provides a perfect leno binding even at highest speeds, whilst reducing significantly operational costs.

Thanks to the electronic NCP New Common Platform, the new benchmark for reliability and easy control of all the technical parameters, the A9500 provides immediate, easy and perfect control of the weft insertion parameters. Courtesy of the Itema customer OZ-Eli, the A9500 was running a typical Turkish apparel style demonstrating real production speed and performance just as experienced in Customer’s mill.

R9500 Wide Version for Curtain Fabrics: The last machine on the show at ITM was the wide version of the most successful rapier machine in recent history, the Itema R9500. Traditionally renowned as the preferred supplier for furnishing and upholstery fabrics weaving machines, Itema does not miss the opportunity to demonstrate the superior versatility of the R9500 by weaving sophisticated curtain fabrics. The R9500 fully loaded with best-in-class Itema devices comes directly from Berteks Tekstil, leading producer of high-quality curtain fabrics.

The Motorized Weft Cutter, an Itema innovation designed more than 15 years ago ahead of any other textile machinery supplier, ensures superior textile efficiency due to the possibility to set independent cutting times for each weft, leading to utmost versatility and reduced fabric waste. The Itema SK Rapiers coupled with the Motorized Weft Cutter make the R9500 by far the most versatile and flexible rapier machine on the market.