#Industry 4.0 / Digitalization

2019-11-28

Luwa announces major new industrial climate control innovation

Luwa Air Engineering, part of the Nederman Group, has announced a major development to its DigiControl suite of air engineering controls. DigiControl 7 is the latest in a line of market-leading systems from the company.

Renowned for its quality and performance in the control of textile air conditioning and filtration, Luwa has now produced a combination of hardware, software and cloud services to move industrial environments to a new level.

DigiControl 7 is capable of precisely controlling industrial environments with minimal human intervention. Specifically, spinning and weaving operations with natural fibers will be closely maintained for maximum yield and quality.

"Our strength is the coordination of equipment, control and applications knowledge. DigiControl 7 builds on that strength with top-class controls technology and IoT solutions.” - Ulf Mattison, CEO of Luwa

Luwa’s integration with Nederman allows it to leverage its parent company’s innovative Insight remote monitoring platform. Insight brings real-time oversight to production and filtration operations, integrating sensor data across the cloud. In addition, Insight can produce predictive notifications to operators and maintenance teams so that unplanned downtime is minimized.

Ulf Mattison, CEO of Luwa states, “Our strength is the coordination of equipment, control and applications knowledge. DigiControl 7 builds on that strength with top-class controls technology and IoT solutions.”

“Production is a product”

From technical textiles and AI-driven robotics to the limitations of textile circularity: Professor Dr Thomas Gries looks back on more than two decades of development at ITA Aachen. In the interview, he explains why production technology remains a decisive success factor, discusses international collaborations and innovation ecosystems, and shares his views on the transformation of production landscapes and the challenges facing an increasingly regulated industry.

“We need to move away from the price trap and return to a value-driven mindset.”

With its new Textile Innovation Center, KARL MAYER is sending a strong signal for innovation, collaboration, and the future of textile applications. In this interview, Karl Josef Mayer discusses new opportunities in warp knitting, the processing of staple fibres, recycling, the changing role of machinery manufacturers, and why the textile industry must once again focus more strongly on the value of textiles. by Oliver Schmidt

“Innovation, resilience and international experience remain the great strengths of the Swiss textile machinery industry”

Geopolitical uncertainty, growing competitive pressure from China, new free trade agreements and the shift towards a circular economy are currently reshaping the global textile industry. In this interview, Cornelia Buchwalder discusses the current mood within the Swiss textile machinery sector, the industry’s distinctive innovative strength, new market opportunities in India and Asia, and the technological trends that could shape the upcoming trade fair cycle leading up to ITMA 2027.

EIM evolves into a new Environmental Intelligence to measure the impact of textile production

¿Do we really know the environmental impact behind a garment? Answering this question remains one of the textile industry’s major challenges. Garment production involves multiple stages, from yarn and fabric to final finishing, carried out by different players across the supply chain. Accesing reliable data from each process, connecting it and establishing a common language are essential to understanding a product’s true impact.

Orient Rongheng connects production planning across China and Bangladesh with FastReactPlan

Chinese apparel manufacturer Orient Rongheng is implementing Coats Digital’s FastReactPlan to digitalize production planning across its manufacturing operations in China and Bangladesh. The project aims to connect capacity, materials and order planning across multiple factories while integrating these processes with the company’s existing ERP and Manufacturing Execution System (MES).

Lectra launches Apogy with agentic AI for fashion product development

Lectra has launched Apogy, a new cloud-based solution for fashion product development that combines product data, collaborative workflows and agentic artificial intelligence. The platform is designed to connect the different stakeholders and processes between initial design and production while using AI agents to automate tasks and support decision-making throughout the development cycle.

Coats Digital launches AI-powered GSD RealMotion for motion analysis

Coats Digital has launched GSD RealMotion, an AI-powered solution designed to provide apparel manufacturers with greater visibility into factory-floor operations. By analysing shop-floor video and applying Coats Digital’s GSD methodology, the solution turns video recordings into structured, motion-by-motion method studies.

MK SONS Denim Research to make its debut at Kingpins Amsterdam

MK SONS Denim Research, a specialist denim development and manufacturing division of Pakistan-based textile and garment manufacturer MK SONS, will make its debut at Kingpins Amsterdam on October 14–15, 2026. The company will present its approach to integrating denim product development with industrial manufacturing at stand T in the Green Area.

Syre appoints Tim King as CEO

Syre has appointed Tim King as its new Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Dennis Nobelius, who has decided to leave the company after more than three years as CEO to pursue new opportunities in another industry. King, who has been with Syre since its early days, has been responsible for the company's industrial development and the execution of its strategy.