#Dyeing, Drying, Finishing

2023-01-18

Data-controlled production

Web gauging with Qualiscan QMS © 2023 Mahlo

Extreme rising in energy prices and a growing uncertainty in almost every industrial sector: many manufacturing textile companies face immense challenges these days. To compete in the market, they must increase the flexibility and efficiency of their production and minimize manufacturing costs by reducing the input of resources. Online quality control in textile production processes is suddenly more important than ever before. German machine builder Mahlo shows, how data-controlled production can solve today’s problems.

The answer to today’s challenges in textile coating and converting

“The key points are the correct collection, analysis, and treatment of the right data as well as the seamless transition of data flows between machines, company divisions and to other companies such as customers or suppliers”, says Matthias Wulbeck. He is the product manager for Quality Control Systems (QCS) at Mahlo. The expert also notes that leading industrial companies are thinking ahead as well, producing in a sustainable way before they are forced to, and introduce automated processes and high-tech networked devices to perform live data analysis.

Controlling parameters with broad sensor portfolio

I4.0-compliant Mahlo quality control systems installed throughout a modern textile coating line show the variety of options to control a production. “To adapt to the different needs, Mahlo has a broad portfolio of intelligent scanners and sensors in the Qualiscan QMS system. They record product and process parameters online, such as basis weight, add-on weight, thickness, moisture content, web temperature, residual moisture, exhaust air humidity, air permeability etc. at different stages of the production.”

The measured values are processed directly in real-time processors of the sensors. The finished measurement data is visualized internally in an intuitive control display or transmitted via interfaces (OPC-UA, Modbus etc.) to an external network. The implemented automatic control algorithms interact directly with the suitable actuators of the textile coating line and reduce deviation from the target and thus, results in a more uniform end-product. This allows optimised target value specifications and, in addition to better product quality, leads to significant savings in raw materials and energy costs. Furthermore, process reliability and production throughput increase. “And you can react fast and flexible on changing market demands”, Wulbeck adds.

Besides the online control of the above-mentioned parameters, an important function of any quality control system is to provide detailed historical data. By a simplified and direct data exchange, the end user can keep track at any time where and especially how its product is fabricated. With that, not only a trouble-free value chain is guaranteed, according to Wulbeck. The end user can also be sure that its fabric is always produced with the right parameters. “That security in these unsecure times is of high value.”

The measured values are visualized in real time © 2023 Mahlo

Smart Quality Control for Technical Textiles

In the end, what matters is the result: a filter that performs reliably, a membrane that remains stable in storm conditions, a composite material with precisely defined properties. But the path to achieving this is demanding. In the production of technical textiles, numerous parameters interact – and even the smallest deviations can have major consequences.

New Gravimax MMX-R X-ray sensor platform opens up new application fields

The demands placed on quality control in web-based production processes are increasing: materials are becoming more complex, basis weights are varying more widely, and at the same time, pressure is growing to make processes more efficient and transparent. Precise measurement data across the entire web width has therefore become a key factor in ensuring stable production processes. With its new Gravimax MMX-R sensor platform, Mahlo introduces a radiometric measurement solution designed to set new standards in determining basis weight and material composition. The platform combines advanced X-ray technology with newly developed signal processing, enabling measurement tasks that previously often required multiple sensor technologies.

Orthopac RVMC-20 plus: German Engineering for Smarter Weft Straightening

In times of rising cost pressure and growing quality demands, textile producers worldwide are searching for solutions that combine precision, efficiency, and sustainability. With its latest innovation, the Orthopac RVMC-20 plus, Mahlo once again demonstrates the strength of German engineering: improving proven technology to meet today’s challenges.

Stefan Moll becomes new CEO of the machinery manufacturer

Starting January 1, 2026, Stefan Moll will take over the management of Mahlo GmbH + Co. KG, the world’s leading provider of measurement and control technology for web-shaped materials. With this move, Mahlo is focusing on the long-term safeguarding of its market position and technological leadership. The current CEO, Rainer Mestermann, will leave the company after 14 years as part of a planned succession arrangement.

SETEX turns dyeing and finishing data into daily production control

At ITM 2026, SETEX will show how textile mills can use machine, recipe, quality and energy data for more reliable daily production decisions — not as another reporting layer, but as part of the running dyeing and finishing process. With OrgaTEX X3 MES, E390x/C390x controllers, CamCOUNT and FabricInspector Portable, SETEX connects planning, machine execution and fabric-related quality insight within existing mill structures.

Tradition and Innovation – Phoenox Textiles Ltd. relies on state-of-the-art carpet back-coating line from Brückner

For more than 70 years, Phoenox Textiles Ltd. has been synonymous with quality, reliability, and inno-vation in the textile industry. Founded in 1954 in Huddersfield (Yorkshire, UK), a region with a long tradition in textiles, this family-owned business has continued to evolve without losing sight of its roots. Today, in its fourth generation under the leadership of the Mosley family, Phoenox successfully combines decades of experience with a clear, forward-looking corporate strategy.

Ence and ShareTex begin initial testing of the ATENEA innovation project to promote textile recycling in Spain

Ence and ShareTex are making progress on the Atenea R&D project, which aims to develop a complete value chain for textile recycling in Spain. Specifically, the goal of the ATENEA project—which is funded by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI)—is to connect all the necessary stages for the recovery of textile waste, from collection and management, through recycling and transformation into new raw materials, to their incorporation into new textile products.

DePoly Inaugurates its Showcase Plant in Monthey Switzerland

What if used plastic bottles, PET packaging material and polyester textiles could become raw materials just as high performing as virgin resources? That is the ambition of DePoly, a circular materials company based in Sion, Switzerland which inaugurated its Showcase Plant in Monthey on July 6th & 7th. The first depolymerization facility of its kind and scale in Switzerland, this industrial Showcase Plant represents a major milestone in the company's growth and its journey toward commercialization.

Commission clarifies rules on plastic bottles recycling

The European Commission today adopted new rules on recycling of single-use plastic beverage bottles made primarily of polyethylene terephthalate (PET bottles). These rules establish, for the first time, a methodology to calculate, verify and report chemically recycled content. This is part of the Commission’s December 2025 plastics package.