By Flora Zhao

The sixth ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018 exhibition witnessed a success in Shanghai with industry players set to focus on technologys impact on taking Chinas textile industry forward into the future.

The combined show grossed 180，000 square meters of exhibition space and attracted a total of 1，733 exhibitors from 28 countries and economies to showcase a wide array of latest technology solutions that will help textile makers to become more competitive.

Mr. Fritz P. Mayer， President of CEMATEX， said： “Each ITMA ASIA+ CITME edition features an interesting presentation of the latest technologies by European exhibitors. On show this year will be a wide range of solutions for automation and sustainable production， as well as those for the production of technical textiles and nonwoven materials.”

Mr. Wang Shutian， President of China Textile Machinery Association（CTMA）， added： “The combined show provides industry members with a useful platform to conduct business， and learn about exciting new trends. Hence， we are very pleased to have the participation of both large and emerging players as they are important for meaningful industry collaboration， dialogue and networking.”

Following the tradition of ITMA and ITMA ASIA exhibitions， only manufacturers of textile machinery and accessories are qualified to take part in the combined show， and exhibitors must display original equipment on their stand， creating added interest for visitors.

China fielded the biggest number of participants， occupying over 68，000 square meters of net exhibit space. In terms of Asian participation， Japan was the next biggest group， taking up over 3，500 square meters of net space. China Taiwan occupied nearly 2，500 square meters net.

In terms of European participation， Germany took the largest space at nearly 6，400 square meters. This was followed closely by Italy with more than 5，200 square meters， and Switzerland with over 2，600 square meres.

By product categories， spinning was the largest sector， occupying 22 per cent of the total exhibit space. Finishing machinery formed the next biggest group at 20 per cent， followed by knitting （19 per cent） and weaving （17 per cent）.

The pace of intelligence is accelerated

At present， textile machinery enterprises keep up with such market demands as the efficiency， cost reduction， sustainability， environmental protection and intelligence， having made a lot of efforts in equipment technology innovation — all from the single machine transformation to improve unit production efficiency to the complete set equipment technology innovation for continuous production. Equipment technology innovation rely on current automation， intelligence， networked resources and mobile Internet technology.

At the same time， reducing the production costs of the textile industry is also becoming an important direction for textile machinery technology innovation. For example， the spinning frame with automatic doff-ing function has maintained a certain scale of growth， which not only reduces the employment of textile enterprises， but also improves the product quality， and the overall product cost is also reduced. In addition， relying on product technologies such as automatic doffing trolleys to transform and upgrade traditional old equipment has also largely solved the related needs of some textile enterprises. Meanwhile， through the new technology and new applications， the production intermediate links are more effectively and closely connected， and the consistency and interchangeability of components are improved， so that more and better quality products are produced in a unit time. It will become a major direction for the development of the textile machinery industry in the next few years. These trends and new features are also reflected in this years ITMA AISA + CITME Exhibition.

The intermediate sectors are closely linked with new technologies

The development of automation and intelligent technology has made further continuation of equipment possible. The combination of new technologies and new applications provides technical support for the development of short processes.

During the exhibition， Tianjin Shanggong Fuyi Co.， Ltd. exhibited new production line equipment configuration， including automated core production line， mattress automation production line， duvet automation solution and 5-in-1 computer embroidery machine. The level of automation and continuation of these devices has been further enhanced.

The level of intelligence has received more and more attention and praise from customers. Zhou Guoxiang， Chairman of Jiangsu Kaigong Machinery Co.， Ltd.， clearly felt the explosive growth demand of smart combing. He said that in the past， it was difficult to find a test factory after new products were developed. But now， the smart comber has not been off the assembly line， and many companies have rushed over to try it out. Why is the smart comber suddenly recognized by our customers？ These devices have firmly grasped the new market demand of our customers， that is， they have released people from the heavy manual labor and replaced the old， cumbersome and heavy labor with machines.

Consistency and interchangeability of components are improved

Stability and reliability are weakness of domestic equipment， and improving the consistency of components helps to improve the stability and reliability of the equipment. In addition， improving the consistency and interchangeability of equipment components is also conducive to the modular production of equipment and the intelligent level of equipment.

In recent years， domestically produced equipment has achieved certain effects in this respect. For example， by improving the assembly quality， it is possible to reduce the frequency of early failures of the product， shorten the running-in period， and ensure the reliability management of the product. In response to these circumstances， under the premise of intensifying the control of core technology， the textile machinery enterprises have digged deep into the assembly precision， performance test， assembly process specification， assembly standardization operation potential of key components of the new high-grade textile machinery and achieved some effects.

For example， Yichang Textile Machinery increased research and development investment to develop a new high-efficiency K3501BC energysaving straightening machine， K3502A highspeed large-volume carpet machine， F series new twisting machine for glass fiber with single-motor independent yarn feeding and segmented modular design， fully satisfying the need for yarn twisting in various fields and meeting the requirements of energy saving and environmental protection. During the exhibition， the company exhibited the latest high-speed double-twisting machine， which， on the basis of the original one， improves the speed of the equipment and greatly improves productivity.

At this years show， Jingwei Tsudakoma Textile Machinery launched the ZAX-GSi （MASTER） upgraded air jet loom， which uses the original technology of Tsudakoma and incorporates Chinas rational production system to produce high-quality air-jet looms， achieving high-quality， automated， intelligent， and low-cost weaving. It strengthens the automatic setting function and the simple setting function， making various setting items more specific and simple， ensuring the running reliability of the loom. As long as a few items are input， the control conditions required for weaving are automatically set and the mechanical adjustment recommended settings are displayed.