Quality versus Cost  by Hans Stahlecker, Chairman, Rotorcraft AG - Switzerland

Rotorcraft the leading Compact Spinning Manufacturer in the world is rapidly gaining acceptance in the global spinning industry. Mr. Hans Stahlecker’s remarkable contribution in the development of compact spinning cannot be denied. His far sighted vision is evident from his thoughts on the future of the textile industry, that he has put down on the paper upon our request. Pakistan’s textile industry can benefit a great deal from the invaluable insight and practical wisdom of Mr. Stahlecker.                                                                                                                          Nadeem Mazhar, Editor

During the boom years almost everything had only one way to go: Up! Turnover increased and so did the cost of labour and energy, yarn prices and last but not least profits. Under such circumstances, every solution promising improvement of yarn quality was highly welcome. However, because of the positive external environment, sometimes the basic rule became for-gotten: that an investment in improvements can only be justified if it leads to a monetary returns somewhere along the line.

With modern and sophisticated testing equipment, variations in yarn parameters can be established. But this does not necessarily mean that such variations have any effect, positive or negative, on the cost structure and/or the value of the final product.

At the latest since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the entire picture has changed dramatically. Virtually over night, the textile industry went from boom into the most severe recession since world-war II. Today it seems to me that our industry has hit the bottom, and that probably the worst is over. However, one can not expect for a long time to return again as a booming textile trade as experienced in the years before the recession started. In other words: We must expect a business climate which will allow the prudent mill to make a decent profit by carefully balancing cost and quality.

Today, it is common knowledge that compact spinning leads to an improvement of yarn quality. The first generation of compact spinning systems is using low pressure air for compacting. As a result thereof, it requires substantially more energy than standard spinning. Maintenance cost and cost of spare parts are also higher. As a consequence, such compact yarn must fetch a higher price in order to justify the investment and the higher running expenses.

It becomes more and more difficult to get this higher price in the market place. As a result, the use of such pneumatic compact yarns is only economical if it is used for luxury items.

The cost situation is dramatically different with the advent of mechanical compacting, the second generation of this technology. Mechanical compacting does neither require extra power nor extra maintenance and spare parts. Therefore, it is possible to spin compact yarns without higher cost versus standard yarn.

With mechanical compacting, a mill can produce either a better yarn at the same cost or the same yarn at lower cost. The second possibility, to produce a standard yarn at substantially lower cost, becomes more and more important under market conditions prevailing today and to be expected for a long time to come. This possibility has been overlooked in the past quite often, but now becomes more and more a central issue.

I am now active in this trade for more than half a century and I think I know what I am talking about: Compacting will rapidly become a must for ring spinning and mechanic compacting will be the standard.

Rotorcraft AG: Total solution for compact spinning Founded by Mr. Hans Stahlecker in Switzerland during 1973, Rotorcraft is one of the leading company in designing and marketing innovative spinning solutions. Represented in Pakistan by Industrial Trading Impex, Rotorcraft has been steadily gaining the interest of spinning industry with an increase in number of compact spinning installations. Rotorcraft stands for Swiss Innovations in Spinning Technology. The second generation of Compact Spinning Systems, RoCoS (Rotorcraft Compact Spinning), attains the significant yarn quality improvements introduced by the first generation of compacting systems, while performing considerably more economically and consistently than the conventional pneumatic compacting systems. The CORE RoCoS ensures that the core-filament is guided perfectly in the compacting slot, which guarantees that the filament stays in the centre of the staple fibres. As with all our innovations, these additions result from listening closely to the needs of their customers, who have been demanding RoCoS solutions for spinning these speciality yarns. RoCoS produces compact yarn without expensive pneumatic air suction; which means: Lower initial investment cost than pneumatic systems while delivering identical spinning results;  Lower cost of production for wear and tear parts;  Better quality of regular yarn at the same cost or; lower cost for same quality as regular yarn.