Tekstil Business interviewed Monforts Area Sales Manager Thomas Päffgen for the March issue of our magazine. During the interview, cooperations achieved in dyeing and finishing, the most recent modernisation and upgrades highlighted as major headlines.
Q. Would you give us some information on the machinery range and available technologies of Monforts?
A. Monforts Area Sales Manager Thomas Päffgen: Monforts specialises in advanced technology for fabric finishing and MONTEX stenters are the industry standard, particularly in the sectors of denim and home textiles, providing a number of advantages in terms of production throughput and especially in energy efficiency and savings. The other key technologies in our range include relaxation dryers, THERMEX dyeing ranges, Monfortex compressive shrinking ranges and Montex®Coat and coaTTex coating units. Last year, we celebrated our 140th anniversary, so our technologies are based on successive industry developments and know-how accummulated over many decades. The company was founded in 1884 in Mönchengladbach in Germany, where we are still headquartered and where our Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) is also situated. All of our our machines have been manufactured at our plant in Austria since 1982.
Q. What are the stand out features of Monforts technologies? Which distinctive features of machinery and technology are applied to remain competitive specifically in the denim and home textile market?
A. Textile companies making major capital investments in new manufacturing lines rely on durability and it’s for this reason that there are currently an estimated 2,000 Monforts machines in operation worldwide – some of which were first installed over 30 years ago. This doesn’t mean, however, that they can’t benefit from many of the advances in performance and automation that have subsequently been made by Monforts. The retrofitting of specific modules with new control and drive technology – going far beyond the basic replacement of spare parts – can have a significant impact on the performance of an existing line.
Q. What level of progress has been made by Monforts to keep up with sustainability, digitalization and recycling? What measures are implemented to protect the environment and to save resources?
A. We are constantly updating and improving our machines. With the latest MONTEX stenters, for example, overall energy savings of up to 40% can now be achieved compared to a conventional stenter with no heat recovery or energy optimisation measures. In a recent development, we have just installed a Baldwin TexCoat digital spray unit on one of our ATC stenter frames, as part of a three-way partnership with its developer BW Converting and Archroma, the manufacturer of advanced chemistries for dyeing and finishing. Together, we will support dyeing and finishing manufacturers in their development projects, aiming to boost the quality and performance of their finished products, while at the same time maximising the productivity and resource utilisation of the finishing application processes.
Q. Which target markets are closely monitored by Monforts? What is the importance of Turkish market for Monforts and which products serve best for this market?
A. We watch all of the major markets closely and gain valuable feedback through constant contact with both our network of national representatives and service centres, and of course, our customers. We are active worldwide and in all of the major textile manufacturing centres – Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Pakistan, as well as Türkiye.
Our global network of partners is of great importance and in Türkiye we are very strongly supported by Neotek for service, installation and commissioning, providing specialised and rapid help to all our customers. Monforts was also early in recognising the future significance of global communication with customers, having first introduced our teleservices from Germany back in the 1990s.
Investment in new technology and capacity expansions are very important to our customers in Türkiye, in order to stay ahead in terms of sustainable, high quality production. We find that they carefully assess the benefits of each advanced new technology in order to thrive in a sector that is constantly changing and as a result, have adopted ongoing strategies for continuous investment.
We have just installed a THERMEX Econtrol range for Altoteks as the latest example of future oriented, flexible and environmental friendly dyeing in Türkiye.
Q. Would you inform us on the mid-term vision of Monforts in the global markets? Which future-oriented technologies are now being pursued and what are your capabilites and strengths to achieve these in the foreseeable future?
A. For our existing customers, we are now prioritising modernisation and upgrades that can make a significant impact in terms of efficiency and energy savings.
The Monforts universal Energy Tower, for example, is a flexible, free-standing air/air heat exchanger for recovering the heat from the exhaust air flow of thermal processes. It can result in a reduction of up to 30% in the energy consumed by a line, depending on the exhaust air volume and operating temperature.
The Monforts Eco Booster, which can be completely integrated into the chamber design of a MONTEX stenter, is another retrofitting option. As a single state-of-the-art heat recovery system with automatic cleaning, it can be added to existing ranges. For ranges of up to eight chambers, only one module is necessary to achieve very significant energy savings. The Eco Booster consumes only minimal amounts of water during the cleaning cycle and the entire process is controlled and monitored automatically.
There are also considerable benefits to be gained from bringing a machine’s HMI up to date, as well as with new frequency converter options.
We have also recently introduced the concept of using green hydrogen as a new energy source for textile finishing, drying and related processes and we are currently leading a consortium of industrial partners and universities in the three-year WasserSTOFF project to explore all aspects of this fast-rising new industrial energy option.
Q. Which products and technologies will be showcased at ITMA Asia Singapore?
A. It’s too early for us to announce what we plan to introduce in Singapore yet I’m afraid, but we have been making exciting progress in a number of technology trials at our ATC and we are now in discussions about the best ways to integrate certain new benefits into our existing technology ranges with the engineering team in Austria. We remain 100% dedicated to the development of technologies that will ensure the future success of our textile manufacturing customers for a diverse range of end-use applications – from denim and home textiles to advanced technical materials – and look forward to meeting customers and partners new and old at the Singapore show in October.
