Atlantic Fine Yarns selects Barco and Loepfe as system supplier

A large group based in Canada has decided to build a brand new ring spinning mill, under the name Atlantic Fine Yarns, the 100,000 spindle mill will produce carded, combed and blended yarns.

The order for the production and quality management systems was awarded to the Barco group. This means that Swiss based Loepfe will supply YarnMaster Spectra yarn clearers for all 88 Schlafhorst winders. The YarnMaster Spectra clearers will be equipped with the newest features such as the on line measurement of the surface index SFI, which allows a comparison of yarn hairiness on a per bobbin basis. Further a Windows/NT based Millmaster package will be installed to report production and quality data. This system also includes the LabPack software, which allows reporting of on-line defect classification and many other yarn testing items, which otherwise would have to be done in the lab.

The 100.000 ring spindles will each be equipped with BARCO's Opti-Spin detector. This allows ends down detection, spindle speed detection and detailed analysis of the reasons why yarn breaks occur, since the breakage can directly be related to the position of the various machine parts at the very moment of the breakage. More and more, spinners are starting to recognize the advantages of a detector on each spindle, as opposed to the traditional mouse sensor, which falls short of expectations on long ring frames.

Also all flyers, draw frames, combers and cards will be connected to the Barco Sycotex management system. The cards and draw frames are from Truetzschler and for quality monitoring these machines will be equipped with the KIT sensor and software for on-line sliver weight, CV% and spectrogram analysis.

All quality and production information will be in the database of the Sycotex system, which will also be used to manage yarn inventory, labeling of cases, preventive maintenance and spare parts management.

This order confirms that yarn producers are going away from the concept of installing a different computer system, in many cases from different vendors, in every department of their yarn mill. More and more a total plant solution is preferred.