Swiss specialty knit producer relies on Monforts

MILL REPORT

Christian Eschler AG, a Swiss producer of specialty knits for alpine skiwear, leisurewear and lingerie, has installed two Monforts stenters and a Monforts "Dynair" dryer at its B_hler facility. For environmental reasons, all machines in the plant are connected to a new Koenig ionization clean air system.

Founded in 1927, Christian Eschler produces approximately 1,500 tons of knitwear at its four plants, two in Switzerland and one each in Germany and Thailand. Renowned for its quality knits, the finished textiles are used for active sportswear such as skiing and cycling garments, leisurewear including fleeces (the company patented polyester fleece in 1988), lingerie and embroidery. The company also produces technical textiles for cleaning mops and protective clothing.

But it is in sportswear where the company has made its name; all the alpine national teams wear racing ski suits made from textiles manufactured by Eschler. The company is also recognized as the inventor of trouser pads for cycling pants, and today many of the world's leading cyclists wear Eschler manufactured pads.

At its Buhler facility in Switzerland, the company has two "Montex 5000" stenters and a "Dynair" relaxation dryer, all connected to a new Koenig "Air-Clean" ionization exhaust air cleaning system.

Two weeks before the company's planned 75th anniversary in September 2002, the Buhler plant was forced to close for two months because of flood damage. The nearby Rotbach River burst its banks and flooded the production area, machines and stored fabric rolls. The entire ground floor of the factory was under water, but today all signs of the devastation are gone, and the company and all of the machinery is back to full production.

The flood happened just after the company installed its first "Montex 5000" stenter, which after some thorough cleaning and maintenance is now operating normally, according to Alex Eschler, who is a managing director of the company along with his brother Peter.

This year, Eschler installed its second "Montex" stenter and a "Dynair" dryer. According to Alex Eschler, both "Montex" units were purchased to eventually replace two older stenters, thereby optimizing capacity.

The "Montex" units are oil -fired, with one unit having six chambers and the other four. Both of the stenters are equipped with the Monforts "Qualitex PLC" control system which incorporates a touch screen monitor.

"We decided to purchase Monforts stenters because of the company's reputation for quality machinery," says Alex Eschler. "After visiting another nearby plant using Monforts equipment, we were convinced the 'Montex' units were the right choice."

"We purchased one unit prior to the flood, but had to wait until our factory was back to full production before the second stenter was installed," explains Alex Eschler. After the flood, Eschler had to replace a damaged relaxation dryer, and decided on a "Dynair" unit as the best option.

Both the new "Montex" stenters and the "Dynair" dryer are connected to an installed Koenig exhaust air cleaning system featuring the new "Air-Clean" ionization unit. "We already knew of Koenig clean air systems prior to installing our new equipment," says Alex Eschler, adding "we already had an older Koenig system incorporated into the old stenters."

When the company purchased the new stenters and relaxation dryer, the "Air-Clean" system was also installed. "We must have an exhaust cleaning system to comply with local government environmental regulations, so we chose the Koenig system because of our previous experience with their systems," he says.

This new unit achieves substantial reductions in exhaust air pollution with reduced investment and maintenance costs. The first module of the exhaust air cleaning system cools down exhaust air via condensation (heat recovery system), and this results in a primary reduction of air-borne pollutants. The pollutant particles then pass through the new ionization unit where the particles receive an electrical charge. The charged particles subsequently cling to fine water droplets that are collected by a mist collector and siphoned off into a low volume separation tank.

The exhaust air fan finally expels the cleaned exhaust air into the atmosphere via three chimneys.

The new Koenig 'Air-Clean' system achieves improved results in the reduction of exhaust air pollutants and requires far less cleaning and maintenance than previous units.

"Clean air is very important as the B_hler plant is very close to residential buildings," says Alex Eschler. "Before we used to get a few complaints about the smell from the smoke, but since installing the Koenig system nobody has complained."