Oggetto: PARTNER SEARCH PMI7-EU-BSGSME-20  

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<Reference n.: PMI7-EU-BSGSME-20>
<Deadline: 04/09/2007>
<Programme: >
<Project Title: Development of a set-up technology for the quick
exchange of tufting tools>

<Description: Proposal Summary
The production of tufted floor coverings is of great economic
importance to Europe. In 2006 1.500 million m² of floor coverings were
produced in Europe. 38% of this amount were textile floor coverings
and within this group 57% were tufted floor coverings. The success of
tufted floor coverings is based on the fact that tufting machines have
a higher production rate than other textile machineries. Due to
mechanical wear the tufting tools (needle, hooks and knives) of such
machines have to be replaced in regular intervals. During this set-up
time, the machine is out of operation. For a machine with a working
width of more than 5 m the set-up could last up to three shifts with
2-3 persons. For small and medium carpet manufacturers with a small
machine pool the downtime of one machine means a dramatic loss of
capacity overall.
The technical goals of this project are a decrease of the downtimes
due to a quick exchange of tufting tools and an increase in the
precision of the alignment. This should be achieved by a new
technology, where the set-up of the tufting tools is shifted from
"onsite" at the machine to "offsite". The machine can be still under
operation while the next set-up is prepared. The basic element of this
technology is a new measurement technique for the determination of the
single tufting tool's position.
The economic impact is an increased productivity by dividing the
machine's downtime from the time which is needed for the set-up
itself. The new set-up technology offers the opportunity to transfer
the exchange and alignment procedure directly to the tufting tool
supplier. "Ready-to-use" elements are sent to the end-user instead of
shipping single tufting tools, which is a new way of distributing the
products. Additionally by this technology particularly SMEs can
benefit from the knowledge of the supplier regarding to highly precise
adjusted tufting tools for the production of high quality products
without having trained experts employed onsite.

<Organisation Type: Centro di Ricerca>
<Partner Sought: Profiles of Partner Sought:
SME - End user of tufting tools
SME - Logistics in a reusable transport system
SME - tools producer for textile machines