Technology

Mimaki USA, a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and cutters, introduces two revolutionary technologies in textile printing while at ITMA 2023: a Textile Pigment Transfer Printing System and the Neo-Chromato Process. These innovations are showcased for the first time, and ahead of commercial availability, at the exhibition in Milan, Italy, solidifying Mimaki’s leadership in sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions for the textile printing industry.

A Better Way to Print: Textile Pigment Transfer Printing System
Hearing a demand for more sustainable and environmentally friendly ways to print, Mimaki has developed a Textile Pigment Transfer Printing System. Traditional methods of dyeing natural fibers with dye and pigment produce nearly 2 billion tons of wastewater, accounting for almost 20% of all industrial wastewater.* This water contains chemical substances generated from pre and post-dying processes worldwide. In addition to this negative environmental impact, large-scale dying facilities are responsible for high CO2 emissions from their production and the overseas transportation which is usually required.

Mimaki’s Textile Pigment Transfer Printing System uses nearly zero water for printing and significantly reduces CO2 emissions due to its on-site capabilities and small-scale structure (Figures 1 and 2). This smaller system makes it more affordable than conventional textile dye printing methods (Figure 3). It allows small-scale textile production to be done outside major textile-producing countries, reducing CO2 emissions attributed to overseas transportation.

The Textile Pigment Transfer Printing System comprises three parts: Textile Pigment Ink, Textile Transfer paper, and Transfer System. The textile pigment ink is currently undergoing bluesign® certification, with an anticipated approval in September 2023.

Evaluations are currently being conducted on the compatibility of these elements with the fiber materials needed for apparel, home goods textiles, and soft-signage applications. Mimaki plans to officially launch The Textile Pigment Transfer Printing System in fall 2023.

Reducing Waste with Reused Textiles
Another debut at ITMA 2023 is Mimaki’s unique Neo-Chromato Process, revolutionizing the reuse of colored polyester textiles. By removing the color from polyester textiles that have been dyed using dye sublimation technologies, this innovative process allows materials to be re-printed or dyed immediately, contributing to a smaller environmental footprint. There is no limit to how often reused polyester can be treated with the Neo-Chromato Process, which minimizes water usage and pollution.

Colored polyester textiles typically have short-term uses for products like banners, backlit signs, and tablecloths. These applications, along with fast fashion apparel and sportswear made of colored polyester, frequently find themselves incinerated after use, while only a small portion is recycled. According to our research, polyester textiles account for approximately 60% of the 92 million tons of wasted textiles worldwide. The Neo-Chromato Process eliminates the need for incineration and recycling by reusing these polyester textiles, making it a sustainable technology for the textile industry.

These two announcements align with Mimaki’s commitment to bringing new innovations to the print market that are sustainable and minimize environmental impact. Listening to customers’ needs worldwide, we feel that it is our responsibility to actively collaborate with industry patterns to explore the full potential of these new technologies.

ITMA 2023, the world’s leading trade fair for textile machinery, taking place in Milan, is once again marked by a significant presence of VDMA member companies. The 110 exhibiting VDMA members cover nearly all different machinery chapters with a focus on spinning, nonwovens, weaving, knitting, warp knitting, braiding and finishing. They are part of a strong German presence with a total of around 200 German exhibitors – including non-machine manufacturers – on approx. 17,700 square metres, covering 15% of total space.

How are leading VDMA members contributing to the transformation of the global textile industry? On the occasion of the VDMA press conference at ITMA, themed “Transforming the World of Textiles: efficient – digital – circular”, five renowned VDMA member companies presented their innovative solutions on sustainability, circular economy, digitalisation, efficiency enhancement and resource saving.

André Wissenberg, Chairman of the exhibition and marketing committee of VDMA Textile Machinery and Vice President, marketing, corporate communications and public affairs at Oerlikon Polymer Processing Solutions Division, presented a world premiere at ITMA in form of the EvoSteam process. This process enables, for example, annual water savings of up to 10 million litres. With regard to digitalisation, he highlighted Oerlikon’s digital Ecosytems, a solution to provide real time alerts, condition monitoring, machine learning, predictive maintenance and to steer all plant shopfloor operations. Wissenberg stated: “At Oerlikon, we contribute with our innovative technologies shown at the ITMA Milan 2023 for resource-saving use in almost all manmade fiber spinning mills in the world. Our promise for the future is to continue to expand the zero-waste production approach, being more efficient, digital and circular, and thus take care of achieving our customers’ and our own sustainability goals.”

Dr. Uwe Rondé, member of the Board of VDMA Textile Machinery and CEO of Saurer Group, emphasised the efforts of Saurer to dress the world sustainably by offering spinning and twisting solutions for yarns made of mechanically recycled or chemically regenerated fibres. At the press conference Dr. Rondé said: “Saurer has driven the transformation of the textile industry for more than 170 years. We support the textile industry in the areas of sustainability, digitalisation, and automation. As a trendsetter we anticipated early the need for processing short fibres. Today we already have a portfolio optimised to spin and twist recycled or regenerated yarns.”

Wolfgang Schöffl, Lindauer Dornier, head of the product line weaving machines and member of the extended management stated: “The challenges of the textile industry are driving the machinery building industry to new dimensions to fulfill very much related targets such as a constant increase in productivity, quality, innovation in a very dynamic and fast changing environment with regard to digitalisation and at the same time to secure the highest good, the life of human being and to preserve our natural habitat. These are the targets to whom Dornier is very much committed for now over 70 years, serving successfully our customers all around the world.”

Dr. Janpeter Horn, Chairman of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association and managing director of August Herzog Maschinenfabrik, showed that textile machines are enablers of CO2-neutral energy production. “Herzog, as the worldwide market and technology leader for braiding, winding and rewinding equipment, is at the forefront of transforming the textile world efficiently, digitally as well as circularly for braided applications. More than just developing braiding and winding technology taking this transformation into account, Herzog also enables the development of braided products which are needed for a circular, CO2-free economy such as extra-long and strong ropes replacing steel-wire strength-members for wind energy and deep sea exploration”, he said.

How circularity is addressed in the dyeing process, explained Verena Thies, vice-chairperson of VDMA Textile Machinery and managing shareholder of company Thies. She highlighted the Signature Series of Thies that enables an advanced after treatment process: “Thies is opening a new chapter in fabric coloration: Signature’s innovative ultra-low liquor ratio significantly enhances dye effectiveness, resulting in up to 20% decrease in dyestuff consumption. By combining Thies’ cutting-edge advancements, water usage is minimized by 52%.”

Digital Networking Demonstrator

The digital networking of machines paves the way for a variety of possible applications, such as a central overview of the status of all machines, order management and the exchange of process information. At the press conference, Dr. Harald Weber, managing director of VDMA Textile Machinery, presented a web-based demonstrator for digital networking of machines using the OPC UA standard. Standardised interfaces facilitate the integration of different devices. In a first project, the VDMA Textile Machinery has developed the interface specification called OPC UA for Textile Testing Devices. At ITMA, devices from exhibiting companies, among them the VDMA member Textechno, will use this specification to send live data to a demonstrator.

Investment in the future

ITMA is traditionally an event for junior engineers. With financial support of VDMA and under the guidance of their lecturers, 320 students from nine technical universities take the chance to see high tech live in Milan. “Our financial support in the amount of €95,000 is an investment in the future of our industry. Highly qualified engineers are the precondition to develop marketable technologies for the textile industry”, said Dr. Weber.

X-Rite Incorporated and Pantone LLC, global leaders in color science and technology, will showcase cutting-edge color measurement and 3D visualization solutions that facilitate a sustainable textile workflow at ITMA, June 8-14, in Milan, Italy. In Hall 4, Stand E201, X-Rite will highlight the benefits of digital color workflows for textile manufacturers. The solution will help manufacturers streamline color development, create digital material twins, efficiently formulate dyes, and improve overall color quality throughout the production supply chain of dyeing, finishing, and assembly partners. This results in minimized waste, reduced rework, and establishes of a more sustainable workflow.

“As the textile industry transitions to sustainable practices, a great place to start making changes is within the color workflow,” said Matthew Adby, Product Management Director, X-Rite. “At the X-Rite booth, ITMA attendees will learn how moving to a digital color workflow makes it easier to approve and produce colors quickly, accurately, and with little waste, water, and energy consumption.”

At ITMA, X-Rite will display color measurement solutions for every stage of the design to textile production process.

Design and Specification – Build digital color palettes and create digital color standards to share across a global supply chain. Learn which X-Rite spectrophotometer is best for your textile or digital printing application and how to digitally communicate color and appearance characteristics between designers, brands, dye houses, and OEMs.

Virtual Prototyping – Create virtual prototypes or digital material twins using spectral and imaging data to render original color and texture onto 3D models. to create digital material twins and virtual prototypes. See how X-Rite PANTORA™ software empowers brands and textile suppliers to digitally visualize color and appearance characteristics to expedite product development and reduce oversampling.

Color Formulation – Remove subjectivity from color formulation and increase color match rates by 50 percent. Learn how Color iMatch advanced formulation software enables dye houses to optimize initial color matches, reuse leftover materials, and reduce wasteful formulation attempts.

Production and Quality Control – Measure, maintain, compare, and analyze production color against the standard to ensure it stays intolerance. Learn how X-Rite color measurement solutions can capture spectral data on a variety of textile materials, including patterns, textures, performance fabrics, accessories, and other hard-to-measure samples.

Digital Textile Printing – Calibrate and profile production print equipment for accurate color. See how i1Pro 3 Plus can assure print quality on a wide variety of textile materials used by digital wide format and industrial printers for dye sublimation, direct-to-fabric, and roll-to-roll fabric.

For the first time, Stratasys is showing its advanced 3DFashion™ direct-to-textile 3D printing technology at ITMA 2023 in Milan, Italy, 8-14 June. The solution combines advanced materials with the J850 TechStyle™ 3D printer and enables textile and garment manufacturers to reimagine what’s possible by adhering full-color, translucent, rigid, and flexible materials directly onto textile and garments.

The technology is designed to open up a range of new fashion applications and drive profitable growth. As a result, textile manufacturers working on behalf of high-end fashion designers and brands in key sectors like automotive and haute couture are granted the power to differentiate their service offering with limitless creations and unparalleled flexibility.

The 3D printed materials also now include Stratasys’ VeroEco™ Flex resins, which meet stringent industry RSL standards.

Stratasys will also provide a preview of two technologies under development. The company’s conceptual direct-to-garment tool is designed to inject new creativity into existing garments to extend their longevity. This additional feature of the J850 TechStyle is set to enable 3D printing of a specific design directly to existing garments mounted on a dedicated tool, including trousers/pants, shirts, and jackets, to offer a ‘second life’ or new personalized style.

In addition, Stratasys will provide an early look at a 2D to 3D software tool that will enable J850 TechStyle printer users to easily adjust the height, colors, and textures of 2D images and transform them into 3D printed elements. Visitors will be able to submit a 2D logo that Stratasys will convert into a 3D printable image on textile samples during the show.

Hear directly from Stratasys within the Innovator Xchange Platform ITMA will also see Ofer Libo, Senior Product Manager at Stratasys, deliver an informative presentation as part of the event’s official educational conference programme. Entitled, “Innovating Textile and Garments Manufacturing with Stratasys 3DFashion Direct-To-Textile 3D Printing Technology”, this insightful session will take place on Monday 12th June at 15.35h in Hall #3.

“Textile printers are having to work harder than ever to push the boundaries of creativity and achieve true product differentiation, but we believe that 3D printing holds the key for such users to directly meet both of these needs,” says Enrico Toson, Marketing Manager, Stratasys.

“As our showcase at ITMA will demonstrate, Stratasys is ushering in a new era of textile printing that puts 3D printing technology directly in the hands of this community, opening up unlimited possibilities for them to introduce entirely new attention-grabbing added-value applications within their offering and drive new revenue streams,” concludes Toson.

Examples of the various 3D printed textile projects accessible to manufacturers will be on display on Stratasys’ stand. These will include stunning dresses and handbags from leading designers, as well as vibrant footwear.

Kyocera Corporation (President: Hideo Tanimoto) announced FOREARTH, a new inkjet textile printer that aims to eliminate virtually all water usage from fabric printing. We expect this printer to contribute to eliminating printing-related water pollution, which has long been an issue in the textile and apparel industries.

Development Background: Traditional analog textile printing consumes a large amount of water, especially in the washing and steaming processes, and wastewater pollution due to fabric printing is a long-standing issue around the world. In addition, waste resulting from the mass disposal of overstocked clothing is also an environmental concern, and the textile and apparel industries are under pressure to take immediate action toward alleviating this issue. Kyocera developed our new inkjet textile printer, FOREARTH, that combines patented inkjet, ink, and printing equipment technology to contribute to solving these environmental problems.

Key features include:
Water-Free Concept: In general, textile printing uses dye ink*1 and requires a large amount of water for the pre and post-treatment processes, such as steaming and washing. FOREARTH is an All-in-One printing system that uses new proprietary pigment ink*2, pre-treatment liquid, and finishing agent, which are constantly discharged in the same sequence from the inkjet head. This system eliminates the pre-and post-processes required of conventional dye printing and reduces the water consumption of textile printing by 99%*3. Also, this new printing solution contributes to reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions because it does not need large-scale equipment used for the pre and post-treatment processes of textile printing.

Creative Free: Conventional dye digital printing generally requires different types of dyes for various fabrics made from different fibers. FOREARTH solves the typical problems of pigment printing, such as less color development, fastness, and hard hand-feel, by using Kyocera’s proprietary ink technology and knowledge in a new, All-in-One printing system. This enables highly detailed printing on diverse fabrics ranging from cotton, silk, and polyester to nylon and blended fabrics with a single machine. Also, it is adaptable to a wide range of categories too, from ladies’ fashion and sportswear to baby wear and home textiles.

Location Free: In general, textile dyeing factories are operated in areas with abundant water resources since the printing process uses a large amount of water. On the other hand, FOREARTH needs only a small amount of water for printing, so the production site can be located anywhere, such as on-shore, near-shore, or in more suitable areas, like places close to consumers. Plus, FOREARTH’s simple two-step printing and drying system drastically shortens the number of steps from design to production. As a result of this streamlined processing, FOREARTH supports optimized production and location setting and therefore can handle small-lot printing and shorten delivery times, helping reduce logistic costs and surplus inventories. Moreover, FOREARTH can complete print production within a small area footprint compared to conventional textile printing, which requires many more printing processes with separate equipment, as you can see in the picture below.

Kyocera will unveil FOREARTH for the first time outside of Japan at ITMA 2023, the world’s largest international textile and garment technology equipment exhibition, opening in Milan, Italy, from June 8-14.

*1Dye ink: Dye with fine paint particles dissolved in water, which is printed by impregnating fabric with color, *2Pigment ink: Dye with large paint particles that do not dissolve in water, which is printed by sticking to the surface of the textile, *3Based on KYOCERA research (2022).

The adoption of FastReactPlan helped VT Garment secure the prestigious ‘Golden Award’ at the ‘Thailand Lean Award 2017 in recognition of its outstanding LEAN manufacturing and management processes.

About the customer: Founded in 1981, VT Garment Co. Ltd., is an award winning global manufacturer of outerwear, sportswear and protective equipment, such as: ski jackets and pants, boardshorts, polyester padded jackets, woven jackets and pants, knitted jackets and bulletproof armour-plated materials. Around 20 percent of VT Garment’s electricity usage comes from solar energy and it has ISO 9001 certified facilities in Thailand and Myanmar which produce over 136,000 pieces per month. The company boasts an annual turnover of 50 million USD and its customers include: Patagonia, Jack Wolfskin, Montbell, O’Neill and other big and small brands in the United States and Europe. VT Garment supports a workforce of 2,000 and has one of the largest Original Equipment/Original Design Manufacturing (OEM/ODM) factories in the world with Fair Trade certification. The company’s dedication to innovation, local sustainability, environmental protection, fair wages, and advanced digitisation has secured it a raft of awards including: Thailand Lean Award (Golden), Thailand Quality Award (Golden) and the Thailand Kaizen Award (Golden).

Key Facts
Customer: VT Garment Co. Ltd.
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Challenge
• Manual processes meant planning was inaccurate & laborious
• Capacity was often over-booked or under-booked
• Lack of visibility caused late delivery and overtime costs
• Poor planning resulted in material waste and loss of business
Key Benefits
• Productivity improved by 95%
• OTDP improved by 50%
• Plan accuracy improved by 92%
• Planning time reduced from 3 days to 2 hours
• Reduction in time spent loading orders by 67%

The Challenge – Inaccurate Planning Processes negatively impacted the whole business and restricted business growth
Prior to implementing FastReactPlan, VT Garment found that the lack of automation and real-time visibility in the production planning process not only meant there was limited information sharing between different departments, but also that manually produced capacity plans based on unreliable historical data were time consuming and cumbersome to produce and not accurate enough to make informed production decisions. As a result, VT Garment’s management and planning teams found that capacity was often over-booked or under-booked, causing late deliveries and unnecessary staff overtime costs.

Insufficient tools and resources for monitoring and optimising production efficiency, lengthy reporting times and limited information sharing and coordination between departments also meant that VT Garment was unable to respond to customer demands for quicker order confirmations, resulting in lost business and poor customer satisfaction levels. This led to increased pressure on staff, wasted resources and decreased profitability. The inability to make informed business decisions consequently not only negatively impacted overall company performance, but also its potential for growth.

The Solution – Accurate, Highly Visual Capacity Plans have significantly increased productivity, optimised on time deliveries and enabled staff to work on other business improvements
Following the implementation of FastReactPlan, VT Garment now has the ability to view capacity plans from multiple perspectives, resulting in a comprehensive understanding of its production capabilities and limitations. The solution has enabled VT Garment to easily compare different plans and select the most optimal option based on factors such as cost, efficiency and delivery time. The automation of planning processes has also freed up time for staff to focus on other important tasks, such as improving customer satisfaction and supporting new innovations and business growth.

A significant reduction in errors and a more accurate representation of its production capabilities has also led to an unprecedented 92% improvement in plan accuracy which has improved VT Garment’s ability to meet customer delivery expectations. The ability to quickly review and revise plans immediately by monitoring late order requests and on-time items has also increased its OTDP performance by 50%.

Since the implementation of FastReactPlan, VT Garment is now able to quickly evaluate the efficiency of each plan variation, which has reduced the time spent on planning from four hours to 10 minutes. This has helped the company reduce planning time by 57%, reduce order plan loading by 67% and improved its overall productivity efficiency by 95% across the whole business.

The Solution – FastReactPlan has eliminated overtime hours, improved staff morale and enabled the company to take on more complex orders
The solution has enabled VT Garment to save significant staff hours by streamlining the planning process, from order placement and checking delivery dates to tracking production activities, which has meant that extra time can be dedicated to delivering an enhanced customer experience.

VT Garment found that the FastReactPlan implementation had a positive impact on staff morale by simplifying the challenging task of planning and reducing unnecessary and unplanned overtime hours, so that staff had a more consistent, stress-free working environment.

With the ability to anticipate future plans and understand available capacity, VT Garment can now accurately calculate working hours effectively to take on additional business orders that it would have previously shied away from. FastReactPlan has also enabled the company to handle a wider range of orders, including shorter and more complex order requests, as it has the visibility and agility needed to make informed decisions based on accurate plan variation assessments.

The Solution – FastReactPlan helped company become award winners in lean manufacturing
The adoption of FastReactPlan was instrumental in helping VT Garment secure the coveted ‘Golden Award’ at the ‘Thailand Lean Award 2017,’ an influential government-subsidised nationwide awards ceremony covering all manufacturing industries. The annual Thailand Lean Award recognises companies that have undertaken strategic changes to their businesses to adhere to lean management principle. Award winners serve as exemplary leaders to others who are looking at adopting lean management for quality, savings, delivery and speed.

Testimonials – “Hyperinflation leads to softening market conditions leaving large amounts of excess stock for brands and retailers. This, in turn, adversely impacts order volumes for manufacturers. Against this backdrop, apparel manufacturers need to rethink and overhaul their operations. To combat the current ‘fluid’ fashion environment, it is inevitable that we needed to be more lean, digital and agile. We, consequently, chose Coats Digital as our transformation partner because of their experience in delivering innovative solutions that support our journey towards operational excellence. One of the defining reasons for our selection of Coats Digital was to support our entry at the ‘Thailand Lean Awards 2017’. We were subsequently delighted to win the prestigious ‘Golden Award’ for recognition of our adoption of FastReactPlan. The award is a testament to the effectiveness of how the FastReactPlan system has been instrumental in supporting our Lean Manufacturing objectives to help us achieve significant improvements in our production processes” said Chalumpon Lotharukpong, Managing Director, VT Garment.

We are exceptionally pleased with FastReactPlan. It allows us to plan better because we can choose the plan based on different factors, such as Capacity, Efficiency and OTD percentages, which has eliminated the need for manual calculations altogether. The customer experience has also greatly improved as a result of our ability to provide timely and accurate information, which is crucial for customers to make informed commissioning decisions. With the implementation of FastReactPlan, we are now able to send accurate plans and information to customers in less than two hours, rather than the usual 3 days it took before the implementation.

He further added that FastReactPlan has effectively eliminated the need for overtime work. Prior to its implementation, our planner often had to work four to six additional hours of overtime to meet delivery deadlines. Since implementation, our planner now has much more time for other tasks that can greatly enhance the business. Because all are plans are now based on accurate data, we are also benefiting from a significant reduction in overtime hours on the factory floor, as well as greatly reduced levels of firefighting, since we can now anticipate potential issues with future orders – such as delayed raw materials or late orders – and address them proactively.

With its many functions, FastReactPlan has enabled us to cope with all situations, whether large or small orders. In a nutshell – it is awesome. Each order is now identified by different colour codes, which makes it much easier for executives or planners to differentiate tasks, assess work in progress and act immediately if there are any issues. We can also plan activities super effectively, such as communicating the date to send a pattern file, since everyone involved in that job receives an alert when the file needs to be sent. This makes the whole production process run seamlessly and smoothly. And as an old industry saying goes, ‘if you have a good capacity plan, then half of the victory has already been achieved’. Greater resilience and agility will undoubtedly enable us to navigate through and respond quickly to supply chain shocks, and future proofing for agile manufacturing will undoubtedly be the key to our success in 2023 and beyond.

“We are absolutely thrilled that VT Garment has experienced such unprecedented results since its adoption of FastReactPlan. The solution has positively impacted all areas of the business and proves just how vital, accurate and highly visual capacity plans are to the future growth of a fashion apparel manufacturer. We are also extremely proud that Coats Digital has played such a pivotal role in helping VT Garment secure its much-deserved recognition as one of the most innovative manufacturing companies in Thailand. With its strong commitment to sustainable practices, fair wages, great working conditions and technological innovation, we are honoured to be continuing to play an important part on VT Garment’s journey towards increased award-winning digitisation and further global success” said Pakawan Veerarote, Customer Success Manager, Coats Digital.

Key Benefits and ROI
• Overall productivity improvement of 95%
• Plan accuracy increased by 92%
• OTDP improvement of 50%
• Overall planning time optimised by 57%
• Reduction in time spent loading orders by 67%
• Overall planning time reduced from 3 days to just 2 hours
• Quicker response in accepting or changing customer orders
• Ability to confidently take on new business
• Elimination of costly overtime hours
• Significant reduction in errors
• Reduction in last-minute firefighting
• Plan-based capacity monitoring in minutes
• Standardised PO, Colour & delivery level visibility across all departments
• Increased productivity across all departments
• Improved staff morale
• Automated data capture and consolidation
• Reduced shipping freight costs
• Quicker response in accepting or changing customer orders
• Reduced report generation time saving of 67% – from 3 days to 1 day
• Reports on Shipment & Plan Vs Actual generated within less than 10 minutes

Outro
FastReactPlan is the market-leading apparel production planning software solution, supporting a faster, more reliable order confirmation process and production plan which is optimised for delivery, speed and efficiency.