Overall view of the Multi-Matic. © Karl Mayer

Karl Mayer, a leading German textile machinery manufacturer, is recording an increasing demand for its Multi-Matic warp sampling machine from Portugal. “No matter if exclusive shirtings and suitings with multicoloured patterns and in small production runs or high-quality furnishing textiles and upholstery articles with striking designs in large fabric widths – Karl Mayer’s Multi-Matic is always much in demand if it comes to flexibility, quality and efficiency,” the company says.

The machine is designed to help increase the production of sample warps fourfold and that of plain warps even eightfold. The system provides an automatic colour change: 128 yarn guide fingers are individually controlled and precisely guided without any loss of speed. The positioning accuracy of the yarn selection is 0.05 mm, with an acceleration of 200 m/s². The results are premium-quality products. The beams having lengths of up to 1,500 m are characterised by uniform lap build-up, constant yarn tensions and precise material laying.

“In case of an optimum economic use, the payback time is less than four years,” said Dieter Gager, Vice President Sales and Marketing of Karl Mayer’s Business Unit Warp Preparation.

So far, the most feedback has been coming from the Italian market, where a lot of fashion manufacturers rely on collections with diverse patterns, high level of quality and short order cycles. During the last five years, however, Dieter Gager and his sales team have been registering a growing interest in this machine type from the fabric manufacturers in Portugal.

“In the recent past we sold six Multi-Matic machines to Portugal. A seventh machine is currently under negotiation,” he said. “Main reasons for the favourable investment climate in Portugal are the extremely fast style changes of the leading brand suppliers. Fashion companies like H&M and ZARA provide new collections twice a month, so that the supply chain is put under significant time pressure. The proximity to the sales and logistics centres becomes an important success factor, so that Europe is again an important production location – and Paulo de Oliveira can also benefit from this development, for example.”

Paulo de Oliveira, a family-run traditional company, founded in 1936 by José Paulo de Oliveira as a weaving mill, has developed to a fully integrated textiles company over the years, with an export share of more than 90%. Today, the vertical production capacities include a spinning plant, a weaving mill and a finishing department including a dyeing section. On an area of 40,000 m² the Paulo de Oliveira company produces 10 million square metres of worsted fabric per year, being one of the three biggest wool producers in Europe.

The company fully relies on state-of-the-art machines for all its production areas. The largest investments during the last few years have been focused on warp preparation, as well as weaving. The main objective is to make the production process even more flexible.

The company ordered its first Multi-Matic machine in 2013, and in 2018 it was followed by another model, which was installed in October. The Portuguese company uses Karl Mayer’s warp sampling machine to produce premium beams for high-quality worsted suits. “The machine is fast, flexible and helps us to save energy and yarn,” commented Dr Luís Oliveira, Managing Director and one of the company’s founder’s sons.

www.karlmayer.com