The synonym for automatic package winding for 55 years

With the mass production of the Autoconer in 1962, the era of automatic package winding began. The sales success was staggering. As early as the preview three years prior at the ITMA in Milan in 1959, the revolutionary concept of the Autoconer sparked enthusiasm among the experts in the textile industry. Since then, the name Autoconer has been the synonym for automatic package winding. Today, Autoconer packages are still the global benchmark for quality and efficiency.

The history of the Autoconer is characterised by a long list of ground-breaking inventions that have always increased customer benefits. Every product generation of the Autoconer exceeded the industry's expectations regarding efficiency and technology. Revolutionary splicing technology, innovative sensor technology and control systems, the unique FX technologies and intelligent automation systems became state of the art, thanks to Schlafhorst.

Autoconer 107 – the dawn of automation

The first product generation of the Autoconer radically changed workflows in the package winding sector. In manual winding, staff had to change the tubes and provide each bobbin individually, find the upper and lower yarn end, knot them together and put it in the yarn path. Moreover, the packages had to be changed by hand. The many manual handlings in the machine limited productivity and quality. The Autoconer 107 broke these shackles. The circular magazine with automatic bobbin changing drastically improved its ease of use.

A mechanical yarn clearer, a knotting aggregate and lastly the package doffer automated the winding

process. The operators were relieved of almost all manual work thanks to the Autoconer and took on mainly supervisory functions. Automation was the necessary prerequisite to increase productivity and quality, as the limiting factors of staff, and therefore the necessary manual interference, would be removed. Through this, the package winding sector became significantly more efficient; it was the breakthrough that changed the labour-intensive winding process to an automatic one.

The benefits of the Autoconer 107 compared to a manual winding machine spoke for themselves:

• The manual effort per kilogram was reduced to ¼ of the previous expenditure that was required
• Production increased fourfold.
• The manufacturing costs per kilogram of yarn (for example Nm 34) decreased by 40 percent.
  

Autoconer 138 – the invention of splicing technology

The Autoconer 107 was produced for over 15 years. Its successor, the Autoconer 138, astounded the textile world in 1976 with its separate mechanical, electric and pneumatic functions. But the real sensation entered the market only two years later. In 1978, the innovative splicer mechanism revolutionised yarn joining: the splice replaced knots for the first time. In doing so, quality for subsequent processes was re-defined. While knots were three to four times thicker than the yarn and often led to yarn breaks in knitting and weaving, the splice by Schlafhorst was practically similar to the yarn. Efficiency in processing increased considerably and the quality of the finished articles was enormously improved.

Autoconer 238 – the material flow revolution

In 1987, Schlafhorst brought the Autoconer 238 onto the market, the first winding machine with single

winding unit drive. This led to increased flexibility and quality in the spinning mills. In the 80s and 90s, the increase in profitability in spinning mills was closely linked with the increasing automation of the process cycles. In 1991, Schlafhorst went on to develop the revolutionary Caddy transport system to market readiness. Spinning mills were able to use it to implement more efficient material flow and automatization strategies.