AEI Installs All-Electric Monforts Stenter To Advance Efficiency
French textile finisher AEI – Ateliers d’Ennoblissement d’Irigny – has installed a six-chamber, fully electric MONTEX stenter from Monforts, strengthening its focus on energy efficiency, consistent finishing quality and lower carbon emissions.
The investment takes advantage of France’s electricity mix, which combines substantial nuclear generation with growing renewable capacity, offering a favourable setting for industrial electrification.
With a working width of 3.2 metres, the new line features a bespoke configuration with extended inlet arms. It can process fabrics as narrow as 70 centimetres and weights ranging from 15 to 1,000 gsm. Replacing a machine installed in the 1980s, the stenter incorporates an integrated heat recovery system and forms part of AEI’s long-term energy efficiency programme.
“We continue to monitor our consumption through targeted management and this new MONTEX stenter will significantly reduce our carbon emissions thanks to 100% electric power and the energy recovery system,” said Céline de Montigny, General Manager of AEI.
She added that the machine’s ergonomics help minimise handling strain, support safe operation and deliver more consistent chemical and mechanical finishes across the company’s textile range.
The new six-chamber MONTEX stenter line is 100% electrically powered.
Established in 2012 through the merger of two longstanding textile finishing businesses in the Lyon region, AEI belongs to a group of nine specialised workshops serving leading luxury brands. Together, the operations cover the full textile value chain and employ more than 800 people in France, primarily in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
AEI’s preparation, dyeing and finishing capabilities encompass silk, cashmere, cotton and linen, alongside man-made fibres such as polyamide and viscose. Retaining these processes in France helps preserve specialist expertise, maintain traceability and support the regional textile ecosystem.
“In France, electrification is not just an environmental choice but a practical and competitive one,” de Montigny said. “It builds on existing strengths in the energy system while supporting a more resilient, efficient and future-focused industrial base.”
Christophe Monel of Monel Industrie Services, Monforts’ longstanding representative in France, said the investment combines AEI’s processing expertise with resource-efficient technology, reinforcing the value of French textile manufacturing and German engineering.
