During our interview, Monforts Area Sales Manager Thomas Päffgen provided us information on the position of their company in Turkish market and their preparations on the way to Itma Exhibition. The company currently carries out the production of weaving, finishing and coating machinery. Enjoy reading…
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 based on successive industry developments over many decades. We were founded in 1884 in Mönchengladbach in Germany, where we are still headquartered and where our Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) is also situated. Our machines are manufactured at our plant in Austria, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022.
Monforts Montex stenters – for processes such as drying, stretching, heat-setting and coating – are the industry standard for the fabric finishing industry, 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 coating units.
Q. What are the stand out features of Monforts technologies?
A. One major benefit of Monforts dyeing, finishing and coating machines is that they are built to last. Textile companies making major capital investments in new manufacturing lines rely on durability from the company’s production ranges, 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. We also have a range of options for achieving savings in energy, which we will be happy to discuss at the forthcoming ITMA 2023 exhibition in Milan.
Q. What level of progress made by Monforts to keep up with sustainability, digitalization and recycling?
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.
Another example is with the ongoing development of the Thermex universal hotflue line for continuous dyeing, condensing and thermosoling, which achieves unrivalled reliability for manufacturers of denim and home textiles.
The Thermex provides exceptional cost-effectiveness when dyeing both large and small batches of woven fabrics and benefits from the Econtrol® process, developed with DyStar, for reactive dyestuffs. This is a quick and economical one-pass pad-dry and wash off process, with drying in the hotflue at 120-130°C and controlled humidity (25-30% by volume) to obtain fixation in 2-3 minutes. Econtrol® ensures excellent reproducibility of all colours, improved dye penetration on difficult fabrics and no risk of the browning of cotton or other cellulose fibres due to the low fixation temperature. As such, it is the ideal process for fast change technology and operational savings – not to forget the savings in water and chemicals.
Q. Which target markets are closely monitored by Monforts?
A. We watch all of the major markets closely and gain valuable feedback by working closely with both our network of national representatives and service centres, and, of course, our customers. Despite all the difficulties faced by everyone since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, China has remained the number one destination for textile machinery, but we are active worldwide and in all of the major textile manufacturing centres – Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Pakistan and, of course Turkey. In addition, we have also been involved in several significant new projects in Turkmenistan, while the European market has also improved in terms of capital investments recently.
Q. Which products and technologies will be showcased at ITMA 2023?
A. At the Milan exhibition we will demonstrate a Montex®Coat coating unit. Many refinements have been made to the Montex®Coat in the past few years, resulting in higher coating accuracy and the resulting quality of the treated fabrics. A number of these systems have now been installed worldwide, including in Turkey.
Monforts is the only manufacturer to offer completely integrated coating lines from a single source and the coating machine is tailored to the subsequent Montex drying technology – with all the benefits resulting from fully integrated plc control.
Q. Would you inform us on the mid-term vision of Monforts in the global markets?
A. Last year was a very good year for us in terms of major projects. We realised more than 20 substantial line installations, especially in the field of woven fabrics for the denim and home textiles markets. Demand continues to be high for full Montex stentering lines and we also completed the installation of a number of new Monfortex sanforizing lines. Moving into 2023, we are so far making solid progress and expect the year to be boosted by the ITMA show.
We continue to explore every avenue for machine improvement and at ITMA 2023, for example, will be holding a special seminar on the potential of green hydrogen as a new energy option for our machines.
As we approach our 140th anniversary next year, our aim, as always, is to be a trusted and reliable partner to textile manufacturers around the world.
