A conference entitled “Additive manufacturing for the textile industry“ was held at KARL MAYER’s premises in Obertshausen, Germany. The organiser of this event was the Textile Research Institute Thuringen-Vogtland eV (TITV), the cooperation partner was KARL MAYER. With this meeting the two innovation drivers of the textile industry have really hit the mark.
“We want to create the exchange between the two worlds, namely between the additive manufacture as a young discipline of production and the textile sector as an industrial branch with a long tradition,†explained KARL MAYER Product Manager, Michael Kieren, in the run-up to this event. Together with his team, he organised a programme that attracted roughly 100 specialists from different fields to Obertshausen. The invited guests included manufacturers of textiles for the automotive, sports and medical sectors, finishing professionals and yarn manufacturers as well as experts from science and research.
The interest in the meeting exceeded all expectations. “I am very surprised by the high response to our conference and by the wide range of different areas from which our guests come. Both aspects show the importance of this topic, and the significance of events of this kind,†said Arno Gartner, KARL MAYER’s CEO, during the conference. Dr Uwe Möhring, Managing Director of TITV, also expressed his satisfaction with the course of the meeting. “I think it’s great that so many people have come , and that so many different discussions arise, especially in view of the high event density at the beginning of the year. The contributions with real topics but also the size and mix of the audience encourage a successful exchange.â€Â
The agenda included lectures held by 3D-printer manufacturers as well as by companies that have already been working with additive manufacturing methods; they informed about their experiences with various possibilities but also about still existing limitations. Two experts presented first combinations of textile and 3D-print. Besides, a service provider in this business also took the floor: Tatcraft from Frankfurt presented with Maker Space its capacities for 3D-print, wood working, water jet cutting and other technologies to experiment and explore different possibilities without major investments.