Trigema W. Grupp KG (trigema), based in Burladingen, Germany, has recently installed a new Brückner Power-Dry relaxation dryer.

The family-run company has been producing high-quality sports and leisurewear for over 100 years and is now managed by fourth-generation owners Wolfgang and Bonita Grupp.

With integrated production from knitting, washing and dyeing to finishing, printing and making up, the company employs around 1,200 people for the production of some 20,000 items of clothing from ten tons of raw material daily.

Its staples remain single jersey, piqué polo and sweatshirts that have existed for decades and still account for around 70% of production.

 What has changed, however, is the consumer desire for more organic quality and sustainable clothing. As a result, trigema sources organic cotton from certified European companies to offer its customers an Organic and Recycled collection. In production too, great importance is attached to the conservation of resources and when purchasing new machines exclusively from European manufacturers, the company pays very close attention to energy, water and chemical consumption.

“In order to produce sustainably in the long term and ultimately bring a competitive product to market, our production machines need to be sustainable, energy-efficient and powerful at the same time,” explains production manager Simone Nuccio. “We chose the Brückner Power-Dry for its pioneering hybrid heating system, energy-efficient air-through suction zone and compact and space-saving design.”

Energy-efficient machines and smart, future-oriented technologies have always been the focus of Brückner’s development work and today hybrid heating concepts are offered for almost all machines.

The new trigema dryer, delivered at the end of 2024, is equipped with gas burners and one dryer compartment also has electric heating which can be switched on or off as required. All other compartments are already prepared for electric operation and can be retrofitted at any time without great effort, so that the machine can be heated with gas or electric, or with a combination of both. This flexibility creates enormous advantages for trigema. The first dryer compartment of the line is designed as the air-through zone, which is not directly heated. Here, the fabric is pre-dried using the warm exhaust air from the subsequent compartments without using additional energy. Compared to a conventional line without an air-through zone, this can save up to 35% in energy costs.

In addition, Brückner has succeeded in making the dryer compartments in this newly developed system a third shorter than before while maintaining the same high output and productivity. A typical four-compartment dryer, which used to be 12 metres long, now only requires eight metres of space. It has space-saving sliding doors and horizontally arranged lint screens that can be easily removed for cleaning during production.

“The line is easy to operate, the shrinkage values are optimal, and the dryer produces reliably,” says Wolfgang Grupp. “With this installation, we are well equipped for the future.”

www.brueckner-textile.com