Uster Technologies

Last updated
Uster Technologies
Company type Subsidiary
IndustryTextile Machinery
Founded1875;149 years ago (1875) (earliest roots)
2003;21 years ago (2003) (current company)
Headquarters Uster, canton of Zürich, Switzerland
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Davide Maccabruni (CEO) [1]
Parent Toyota Industries
Website www.uster.com

Uster Technologies, in its industry often called USTER, is a Swiss manufacturer of analytical instruments and on-line monitoring systems for the textile industry, based in Uster, Switzerland. It emerged as a management buy-out form of the textile division Zellweger Uster of the Zellweger Luwa Group in 2003. From 2007 until 2012 the company was publicly traded and listed on the main segment of SIX Swiss Exchange. Since 2012 Uster Technologies is a subsidiary of Toyota Industries. [2]

Contents

Products and services

Uster Technologies mainly produces laboratory and on-line systems used to measure and control the quality of fibers, yarns and fabric.

For cotton ginning, classing and trading

Modern, industrial cotton gins often operate with sensors by Uster, to control their process and to the resulting fiber quality.

Cotton classing is required to measure and classify each cotton bale according to its specific physical attributes. Measurement information produced by Uster's HVI (High Volume Instrument) covers following parameters: fiber length, length uniformity, fiber strength, fiber maturity, short fiber content, micronaire (fiber fineness), color grade, leaf and extraneous matter.

When cotton is traded, its value is determined by the above-mentioned quality parameters, as measured by the HVI in the classing agencies. Hence Uster's HVI has defined a set of standards for a large part of all cotton trades worldwide. [3]

For yarn production

Uster products are used in the spinning mill for measuring and analyzing the quality of the raw materials (i.e., fibers of different materials), intermediate products (i.e., sliver, roving) and final product (i.e., yarn) along their entire manufacturing process.

Most important process parameters a spinning mill has to control are: quality of the incoming fibers, yarn evenness, hairiness, tensile strength and elongation, contamination with disturbing materials, twist, friction, etc. By measuring these parameters, the instruments can be used as tools for a mill-wide quality assurance process. [4]

An overview of Uster products applied in the spinning mills:

While developing these different testing instruments, often the first of their kind, Uster also had to invent either the measuring method or the suitable measurement parameters. [5] Some examples: [6]

Measurement ObjectParameterExplanationInstrument
Cotton fibersNepsNumber of neps per gramAFIS
Cotton fibersNepsMean size of neps (μm)AFIS
Cotton fibersImmature fibersImmature fiber content (in %)AFIS
YarnUster EvennessCoefficient of yarn mass variationUster Tester
YarnImperfectionsThick places, thin places and nepsUster Tester
YarnUster HairinessTotal length of protruding fibers per sensor lengthUster Tester
YarnWeak places at 400m/minStrength of one percent of the weakest valuesUster Tensojet

For comparing such quality parameters in the spinning laboratory with those of other spinning mills worldwide, Uster established a number of benchmarks. The first so-called "Uster Statistics" were introduced in 1957 and have been periodically updated to account for the technical and regional changes in the industry. These statistics are an important element in the trading of yarns, as they allow yarns to be objectively specified and referred to a worldwide quality level.

Uster Technologies also runs the Usterizing certification program for spinning mills.

History

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yarn</span> Long continuous length of interlocked fibres

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for needlework. Yarn can be made of a number of natural or synthetic materials, and comes in a variety of colors and thicknesses. Although yarn may be dyed different colours, most yarns are solid coloured with a uniform hue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linen</span> Textile made from spun flax fibre

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant.

This timeline of clothing and textiles technology covers events relating to fiber and flexible woven material worn on the body. This includes the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, and manufacturing systems (technology).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wool classing</span> Examination of the characteristics of the wool in its raw state

Wool classing is the production of uniform, predictable, low-risk lines of wool, carried out by examining the characteristics of the wool in its raw state and classing (grading) it accordingly. Wool classing is done by a wool classer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metallic fiber</span> Thread wholly or partly made from metal

Metallic fibers are manufactured fibers composed of metal, metallic alloys, plastic-coated metal, metal-coated plastic, or a core completely covered by metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Textile industry</span> Industry related to design, production and distribution of textiles.

The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Units of textile measurement</span> Systems for measuring textiles

Textile fibers, threads, yarns and fabrics are measured in a multiplicity of units.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Textile recycling</span> Method of reusing or reprocessing used clothing, fibrous material and rags

Textile recycling is the process of recovering fiber, yarn, or fabric and reprocessing the material into new, useful products. Textile waste is split into pre-consumer and post-consumer waste and is sorted into five different categories derived from a pyramid model. Textiles can be either reused or mechanically/chemically recycled.

A staple fiber is a textile fiber of discrete length. The opposite is a filament fiber, which comes in continuous lengths. Staple length is a characteristic fiber length of a sample of staple fibers. It is an essential criterion in yarn spinning, and aids in cohesion and twisting. Compared to synthetic fibers, natural fibers tend to have different and shorter lengths. The quality of natural fibers like cotton is categorized into staple length such as short, medium, long staple, and extra-long. Gossypium barbadense, one of several cotton species, produces extra-long staple fibers. The staple fibers may be obtained from natural and synthetic sources. In the case of synthetics and blends, the filament yarns are cut to a predetermined length.

An S number on the label of wool suits or other tailored apparel, wool fabric, or yarn, indicates the fineness of the wool fiber used in the making of the apparel, as measured by its maximum diameter in micrometres. Fiber fineness is one of the factors determining the quality and performance of a wool product. In recent years it has also become an important marketing device used by many mills, garment makers, and retailers. The S number appears as a plural with an s or's following the number, such as 100s or 100's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ring spinning</span> Method of spinning fibres

Ring spinning is a spindle-based method of spinning fibres, such as cotton, flax or wool, to make a yarn. The ring frame developed from the throstle frame, which in its turn was a descendant of Arkwright's water frame. Ring spinning is a continuous process, unlike mule spinning which uses an intermittent action. In ring spinning, the roving is first attenuated by using drawing rollers, then spun and wound around a rotating spindle which in its turn is contained within an independently rotating ring flyer. Traditionally ring frames could only be used for the coarser counts, but they could be attended by semi-skilled labour.

Cotton classing is the measurement and classification of cotton by its specific physical attributes. This information is attached to individual bales, thus clarifying their value and helping producers market them. For cotton buyers, i.e. the spinning mills, this precise information about the cotton fiber enables them to achieve consistent yarn quality by optimizing raw material selection and blending.

Dimensional stability pertains to a fabric's ability to maintain its initial size and shape even after undergoing wear and care, which is a desirable property. Textile manufacturing is based on the conversion of fiber into yarn, yarn into fabric, includes spinning, weaving, or knitting, etc. The fabric passes through many inevitable changes and mechanical forces during this journey. When the products are immersed in water, the water acts as a relaxing medium, and all stresses and strains are relaxed and the fabric tries to come back to its original state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotton recycling</span> Reuse of cotton fabric

Cotton recycling is the process of converting cotton fabric into fibers that can be reused into other textile products.

The textile industry is the largest manufacturing industry in Pakistan and nearly 25 million people work in this industry. Pakistan is the eighth largest exporter of textile commodities in Asia. Textile sector contributes 8.5% to the GDP of Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jakob Heusser-Staub</span>

Jakob Heusser-Staub was a Swiss industrialist and philanthropist. Born and raised in the village of Irgenhausen, Heusser-Staub made Uster his home. With the support of his wife, Berta, he founded the Heusser-Staub foundation.

Bahauddin Zakariya University College of Textile Engineering, also known as BZU college of textile engineering, is an institute in southern Punjab, which provides engineering degrees in the field of textile. It is situated on 6-km Khanewal road in Multan, Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotton maturity</span> One of the analytical measurements of cotton fiber properties

Cotton maturity is a physical testing parameter of cotton fiber properties testing. It is quantified by the degree of cell wall thickening relative to its perimeter. The maturity of individual cotton fiber is an essential aspect of the cotton classing regarding the aesthetics such as appearance, dye-uptake, etc. High volume instrument (HVI) can test cotton maturity like many other fiber properties, including length, uniformity, micronaire/fineness, strength, color, etc.

In textile spinning, yarn realisation (YR), or yarn recovery, is an operational parameter of yarn manufacturing. It is the percentage conversion of raw material to finished yarn. The rest of the waste fibers with less value are compared to the weight of the produced yarn from a given weight of raw material. The quantity of waste removed during the various phases of yarn spinning, such as blow-room, carding, and combing, is often used to determine yarn realisation. Yarn realisation ranges between 85% and 90% in carded cotton yarns and between 67% and 75% in combed cotton yarns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Textile testing</span> Process of measuring the properties and performance of textiles

Textile testing is the process of measuring the properties and performance of textile materials—textile testing includes physical and chemical testing of raw materials to finished products.

References

  1. "Management Succession Planning at Uster Technologies AG" (PDF). 2021-11-18. pp. press release. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  2. muv/ste/awp (10 February 2012). "Uster Technologies wird japanisch". handelszeitung.ch. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  3. "US cotton standards". United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Archived from the original on 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
  4. "Efficient Yarn Production". Textile World.
  5. "Obituary of Dr. h.c. Hans Locher, former General Director and Chairman of the Board of Zellweger Uster Ltd". The Textile Institute. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
  6. "Quality parameters measured by Uster Technologies equipment" (PDF). Uster Technologies Ltd. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2009-12-18.