Schmietex Engineering GmbH, based in Wüstenbrand in Germany’s Saxony region, has taken over the stitch bonding product range of the Chemnitz based needle and sinker manufacturer Naplafa.

With effect from 7^th January 2022 Schmietex took over a large part of the needle and parts range of the well-known needle and sinker manufacturer and will continue production at the Chemnitz site under the brand Naplafa. The nature of the takeover means that Schmietex has gained valuable know-how and preserved more than 70 years of experience in the professional production of knitting parts. For Naplafa, the merger means the preservation of a long history of success in the textiles industry.

When it became known at the end of 2021, that the then Naplafa owner Kern Liebers intended to close the Chemnitz site and relocate only certain product ranges, Schmietex Managing Director Jörg Bredemeyer and the Schmiedl family of shareholders entered into initial talks.

The basis for takeover was ideal, the company says. Schmietex Engineering, as a main customer, had been buying a wide variety of Naplafa products for many years, processing them in its casting department and either using them in its own machine production or supplying them worldwide to its long-standing customers in the stitch-bonding segment.

"We want to further expand the stitch-bonding business and maintain needle production in Saxony," says Erik Schmiedl, shareholder of Schmietex Engineering.

Since its foundation in Chemnitz in 1995, Schmietex Engineering has focused on the manufacture of individual stitch-bonding machines for the production of a wide variety of composite materials and technical textiles. Machines of the types Malimo, with weft insertion, Maliwatt, Malivlies, Kunit/Multinit and customized variants in working widths from 1600 to 6000 mm are developed and constructed. A comprehensive range of accessories and spare parts for all machine types are part of the service, as are on-site installation and repairs, and general overhauls at the Hohenstein-Ernstthal site near Chemnitz.

With the continuation of needle and casting production and the preservation of the Naplafa brand by Schmietex, not only is a long-standing tradition at the industrial location of Chemnitz being preserved, but the textile machine manufacturer is also becoming an international supplier of warp knitting elements and modules with a unique range of products and know-how in the field of stitch-bonding technology.

The Chemnitz site manufactures, amongst other things: knitting elements - pointed hook compound needles, closing wires, counter holding pins; and modules - needle units, closing wire units, guide needle units, counter-holding sinker units, knock-over sinker units, pile sinker units, hook-in needle units.

Schmietex.com