The automatic version of the WinTrax carbon-fiber winder from Oerlikon Barmag has successfully completed rigorous testing under real-life conditions. Further trials under production conditions are planned to take place in the fourth quarter of this year.
With this automatic special winder, the Chemnitz-based subsidiary of the man-made fiber processing solutions provider has set yet another milestone in the processing of high-end fibers: carbon fibers form the basic framework for many fiber compound materials. These, in turn, provide solutions wherever light, but nevertheless stable, structures are required. With their considerably lower weight and simultaneously higher resistance to pressure and greater tensile strength, these materials are being deployed in the automobile construction sector, in the civil aviation industry, in sports, in wind power systems and in architecture.
The special winder is not only convincing in terms of its superlative energy efficiency – the WinTrax-A is e-save certified – but generates additional cost advantages in downstream processing as a result of package weights that are well above the market standard.
The manual version of the carbon-fiber winder from Chemnitz, Germany – the WinTrax-M – was on show at ITMA Asia in Shanghai. This special winder, launched in 2007, has been successfully operating in large numbers throughout the world for four years now.
90 years of textile technology exports
Oerlikon Barmag, the tradition-rich, globally-successful company located in Remscheid-Lennep, celebrated its 90th anniversary on March 27 last.
Founded in 1922 in Wuppertal Barmen as “Barmer Maschinenfabrik AG” (Barmag for short), the purpose of the new West German company was to construct machines and systems for the rapidly-expanding man-made fiber industry. Today, the company is, and has been since 2007, part of the Oerlikon Textile segment, a subsidiary of the Swiss high-tech group OC Oerlikon.
Oerlikon Barmag is the market leader for spinning systems and texturing machines for polyester and polyamide. At its headquarters in Remscheid-Lennep, around 750 highly-qualified engineers and experts develop and manufacture technologically sophisticated textile machines for the world market.
Setting international standards
Over the long history of the company, many Oerlikon Barmag developments have set new standards in man-made fiber production, with most of the innovations creating and continuing to create the trail-blazing direction for the entire sector.
Oerlikon Barmag made a decisive breakthrough in high-speed spinning with the development of the world’s very first high-speed winder in 1969. Further, the company laid the foundation-stone in the 1980s for a rapid increase in the productivity in man-made fiber production with a completely new method for depositing the yarn on spun packages. And in 2007, the new WINGS winder revolutionized the man-made fiber manufacturing technology.
“We are particularly proud of this development as it enables us to grow further and acquire further international market shares, hence securing the future of both Oerlikon Barmag and its employees”, explains Stefan Kroß, the responsible Managing Director at Oerlikon Barmag.
The backbone and the engine of the company are the highly-qualified employees, comments Head of HR, Uwe Model: “Well-educated, motivated employees are simply irreplaceable in our high-tech business, as they guarantee the solutions for the demanding challenges of the future with their knowledge and expertise.”
Correspondingly, training and further training is a core component of the corporate philosophy at Oerlikon Barmag. After all, the company plans to celebrate many more anniversaries at its HQ in Remscheid-Lennep in the future.