MCS Group

Evolution continues: Bergamo to Korangi Creek
by Amina Baqai, Associate Publisher & Editor, PTJ

MCS Group S.p.A, the 130-million euro turnover textile dyeing and finishing machinery manufacturing group, is now offering a training and service facility at Ebrahim Hyderi, near Korangi Creek in Karachi, Pakistan. A model dyehouse on an area of 10,000 square meters is established with new Multiflow single rope dyeing machines which represents a revolution in the concept of dyeing in rope form. Mr. Tariq Ishaque of Texco, Mr. Alex Zucchi and Mr. Marco Capra from MCS gave an exclusive interview to the team of editors of Pakistan Textile Journal. The salinet features of a visit to colour Ital and technical advantages of MCS Multiflow machines are given here for the interests of our readers. Ed.

The MCS Group comprises MCS Officina Meccanica S.p.A., a dyeing and finishing machinery manufacturer; Termoelettronica S.p.A., manufacturer of automatic dosing and dispensing systems, microprocessor controls and dyehouse management systems; Europea, a commission dyehouse using MCS machines; and Europizzi, a commission dyeing and printing plant and chemical products manufacturer.

Mr. Marco Capra, Mr. Alex Zucchi
and Mr. Tariq Ishaque at the
Colour Ital dyehouse at
Ebrahim Hyderi, Karachi

New Multiflow rope dyeing machine

Colour Ital has four new Multiflow
rope dyeing machines

The MCS new Multiflow rope dyeing machine offers high productivity with low liquor ratio in fabric dyeing compared to the conventional dyeing machinery. Multiflow, which has already been a known brand in Pakistan, was first introduced at Expomatex show in June 1997 and have sold more than 1200 Multiflow machines all over the world.

Control Room

Reverse Osmosis (Desalination Plant)

Waste water treatment plant

The MCS, alongwith their agents Texco, has also established a training and service centre near Korangi Creek at Ebrahim Hyderi, where several Multiflow rope dyeing machines and automated dye-house control systems are functioning in a dyehouse. MCS has provided the technical knowhow for this project, as MCS is not only a supplier of machinery, but a partner for its customers.

Standard Atmospheric MCS dyeing machine
(There are six dyeing units at Colour Ital)

Multiflow dyeing machine

The customers can visit the facility for open house events and can also run trials on the Multiflow machines and a competent technician and related staff is available to guide the customers. The facility will also be available for students of textile training centres and universities.
The facility also offers a full service finishing range such as stenters, jiggers, brushing and sueding lines from wel-known Italian manufacturers, such as Bianco (fabric spreader), Gavvazi (laboratory equipment), Lafer (brushing & sueding), Ferraro (tubular compactor), Mecciniti Officio, Lamperti (shearing, sueding, raising & shearing machines). These machines such as jiggers, stenters, brushing, sueding and finishing lines that are now part of any integrated dye-house unit are also available to complement the knitted fabric dyeing concept.
Furthermore, they also have an effluent treatment plant, desalination plant, power generation plant, Steam Generaters etc.
"We'll work towards offering our potential customers a full service dyehouse facility in order to market the advantages of MCS Multiflow rope dyeing machinery," said Mr. Alex Zucchi, sales manager, MCS group (for Asia region).

Latest Machinery from Italy is installed in order to complement the dye house

Texco's Chief Executive, Mr Tariq Ishaque said, “MCS machines installed at this dyehouse give an opportunity for those buying the Italian machinery to run trials and make their decisions based on the actual mill environment in Pakistan”.
Texco already represents a number of top Italian textile machinery manufacturers in Pakistan and has been active in sales and marketing of the MCS group's processing machinery in the country for the last four years.
Mr. Marco Capra, Mr. Tariq Ishaque and Mr. Alex Zucchi were present at the dyehouse when a team of editors from PTJ visited that factory in Ebrahim Hyderi.

Talking to PTJ, Mr. Tariq Ishaque said, “Texco has already sold more than 30 Multiflow dyeing machines in Karachi and Lahore. While more units are being installed, the four MCS machines for Colour Ital which you see here are state-of art machines and we are hoping that this dyehouse will serve as a reference point for MCS machinery”. Mr. Ishaque is quite optimistic about selling some more machines before the quota phase out in January 2005.
He said, “In future we shall organize open houses for our current and potential customers, training sessions and trials for our existing customers, in addition to sessions for the students of textile universities and colleges.”
“As for the scope for MCS going for joint venture for production of its range of dyeing machinery in Pakistan”, Mr. Alex Zucchi from MCS said, “that although right now this is not the priority for his company, still the MCS group do not ‘exclude’ the possibility of a joint venture because Pakistan enjoys the advantage of having skilled labour both in mechanical and software which will enable one to produce machinery competitively”.
“Our strength is integerted manufacturing facility in Bergamo where very stringent quality parameters are met in addition to the best technology, materials and methods, therefore, relocating a production base entails providing the same level of competence, which is at the moment not considered. However, we would rather invest our resources in R&D development in addition to the service and training facility for our customers. Last but not least our priority is to provide best possible services and technology to our customers in Pakistan. We are looking forward to work with knitted and woven fabric producers of Pakistan for the years to come”, concluded Mr. Zucchi.
Laboratory
MCS has also set-up a full service laboratory in addition to the finishing machinery range of other Italian textile machinery companies. This is the first time that an Italian company has extended a comprehensive assistance, like building plan, machine layout, and all related infrastructure for the utilities to a local company. Colour Ital is ideally located in Karachi to display the latest version of the Multiflow dyeing machinery targeting the knitted fabric processors.
Compared to traditional machines, the Multiflow works with shortened dyeing cycles and with 40% to 60% reduction in the consumption of utilities. The extraordinary performances of the machine have made it the most requested MCS machine all over the world.
Another innovation is the Termoelettronica TERMOdye vacuum dosing system and Termoelettronica claims an accuracy of ±0.01 gram. In case of small dosing and use of powder dyes, dye is often lost to the air during transfer and an enclosed vacuum system ensures complete transfer of all dosed dyes.
Exacting standards for high precision dyeing
In this economic scenario the garment importers globally are laying exacting standards for high precision dyeing, the quality of dyed fabric has assumed greater importance in terms of reproducibility and other qualities such as wash fastness, environment friendliness, etc.
In Pakistan the market for conventional dyeing machinery had saturated and the existing units are obsolete and they will have to be replaced by modern dyeing equipment that provide solution to cutting down idle time, low liquor ratio, reduction in cycle-time, dyestuff and energy consumption, besides improved productivity.
The MCS machines at Colour ITAL dyehouse can dye 4 batches per day in 24 hours seven days a week duration. It is quite possible to carry out 5 reactive dyeings in 24 hours according to the articles to be processed.
In the case of Multiflow single-rope dyeing machine from MCS, the total processing time will be four hours, against eight hours or so in the conventional dyeing.
The MCS Multiflow models are available in different sizes, from 50 kg to 1500 kg loading capacity and with varied chamber sizes from 100 kg per chamber to 300 kg per chamber to suit the various needs of the customers depending on the articles that have to be processed. All models are highly cost efficient and the steam, water & electricity consumption are at the bare minimum.
Above all, the multiple-flow of the fabric passing through different chambers eliminates un-levelling in dyeing of fabrics. It is also possible to load pieces of different widths and different weights with a guarantee of good result in terms of evenness and colour shade.
According to a leading dyeing House in Pakistan, “If we compare machines with the same loading capacity, installation costs are halved with Multiflow as my Dye Master needs two traditional machines to catch up with the production of one Multiflow”.

MULTIFLOW® SUPERIOR
Featuring single-rope technology, MCS' MULTIFLOW® Mod.SUPERIOR boasts uniform, repeatable reactive dyeing times of less than four hours. The use of a single rope allows the fabric to be moved from one dyeing channel into the next. Because all fabric passes through all channels, not one channel is favoured or disadvantaged during dyeing. This factor reduces dwell times because it's no longer necessary to wait for all channels to reach the desired shade. By using a stepping motor, the MULTIFLOW is the first machine on the market to change jet pressure on its hydrovario jet nozzle without changing the nozzle's diameter. The machine is capable of processing knitted and woven fabrics including terry towels and upholstery fabrics.

Jigger at Colour Ital

The Multiflow® single-rope jet-dyeing machine is an MCS exclusive. This concept allows movement of a single rope from chamber to chamber. In a three-chamber machine, goods loaded into chamber one move to the bottom of chamber three, then into chamber two, and back to chamber one. There is no longer a favourite chamber (closest to the pump) or a disadvantaged chamber (farthest from the pump). Fabric passes through all the chambers, so there is no need to extend dyeing times to wait for all chambers to reach the proper shade. Dye and salt are added as quickly as possible over four to eight turnovers. The new hydrovario jet nozzle, which uses a stepping motor, is the first in the world that allows change in jet pressure without changing diameter. Dye cycles for reactive dyeing on 100-percent cotton have been shortened to less than four hours. Since 1998, more than 30 Multiflow machines have been sold in Pakistan.

Waste water treatment plant