BTMA Member Gives New Lease Of Live To Old Textile Machineries

Member companies of the British Textile Machinery Association (BTMA) are making a very critical contribution to a more sustainable textile industry, by giving existing machines a much-extended life.

According to BTMA, there are an estimated 90,000 jet dyeing machines in operations worldwide and between 60-70 percent are outdated and Adaptive Control Solutions is working to change this.

Adaptive’s widely-emulated Plant Explorer central control system sets the standard around the world for automation.

It has powerful features and ease of use, pulling together the control and monitoring of entire production plants and storing it in a standard Microsoft SQL Server database.

The BTMA member has successfully automated many makes and types of dyeing machines and found that the flexibility of PC-based controllers has allowed it to help customers in other parts of the dyeing and finishing plant as well, including with stenter frames and dryers.

“Our non-proprietary approach means that all this equipment can be monitored from a simple web-browser on the company network, while sophisticated integration and automation is going on in the background,” Managing Director Richard Armitage said.

“Smart-coupling and joint-scheduling are standard features on these controllers, making it simple for supervisors and operators to run whatever batch sizes are needed,” he added.

In a recent project, Scotland based FTS Dyers had its existing radio frequency dryers fully rewired and equipped with new PLC control and sensors by Adaptive.

Many of the original parts on these machines have been replaced over the years, with their longevity down, but still being managed by a skilled team of engineers.

However, now they have been fully automated and connect with similarly upgraded dyeing vessels and controllers all linked to a central computer system

“Many of the machines we have successfully upgraded date back to the 1970s and some of them to as far back as the 1950’s,” Armitage added

Working with fellow BTMA member Roaches International, Adaptive also supplies software packages and control panels for the automation of autoclaves and curing ovens used in the manufacturing of advanced composites.

Many companies in the field of Formula 1, marine and aerospace have benefited from these upgrades.

“At this year’s ITMA 2023, it was clear that many new technologies are being developed that will do much to reduce resource consumption,” BTMA CEO Jason Kent also said.

“But the reality is that faced with extremely tight margins, many textile companies are not in a position to invest in new capitally-intensive projects,” he too added.

“Outdated but mechanically sound machines used to be simply scrapped, with few other options, but this has now completely changed,” Kent informed.