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ADVANTAGES OF SHUTTLELESS LOOMS OVER

SHUTTLE LOOMS IN QUANTITATIVE TERMS

A. Sankaranamasivayam
Senior Scientific Officer, SITRA, Coimbatore

Introduction

There has been a tremendous growth in the production of fabrics in the

decentralised Powerloom sector accounting for nearly 70% of the total. The
Powerloom sector employs about 17 lakhs Plain Powerlooms catering to the
domestic and export market. But the quality of the fabrics produced by these
Powerlooms is by and large inferior compared to the international standards,
inspite of availability of better quality of yarn. And also, costwise it is becoming
very difficult to compete with other developing countries like China, Pakistan,
Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia etc., The players who are in a
position to give maximum attention to productivity, quality and economy will
survive in such games. Modernisation is one of the tools to improve the weaving
performance and hence for the success of the trade.

Need for Shuttleless Weaving

In the conventional shuttle looms, it is necessary to pass a shuttle weighing around

half a kilogram through the warp shed to insert a length of weft yarn which weighs
only few grams. The shuttle has to be accelerated rapidly at the starting of picking
cycle and also to be decelerated, stopped abruptly at the opposite end. This process
creates heavy noise and shock and consumes considerable energy. Beat-up is done
by slay motion which again weighs a few hundred kilograms. The wear life of the
picker and checking mechanism is also limited due to heavy shock. Due to the
above reasons smooth sequence of weaving is disturbed which affects the
maximum running speed and hence machine production. In multi colour weft
insertion, Drop box motion is attached which is also further limits the speed of the
machine. The small weft package in the shuttle requires frequent replenishments
and for each loom stoppage there is a possibility of one defect. The probability of
weft way fabric defects are high to the tune of 70% in shuttle looms. Even in
automatic shuttle looms there is chances of transfer failures and weft lashing in
defects.

Disadvantages of Shuttle Looms

Some very commonly known disadvantages of shuttle looms are

(i) Limitation in quality of fabric
(ii) Limitation in loom speed and hence productivity
(iii) More consumption of energy and frequent replacement of spares parts.

To overcome the above limitations of shuttle loom, the need for better weft
insertion system without shuttle has been realised.

Need of the Day

Today's consumers are to be satisfied for their following needs

- Wider Width fabrics (Minimum 63" and above)

- Fine varieties
- Defect free cloth for longer length

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- Competitive price
- Consistency in quality
- Adaptability in trend changes
- Quick delivery
- Value addition
- Best Services

To fulfill the above requirements modernisation is a must.

Advantages of Shuttleless Weaving Technology

The Shuttleless weaving is becoming more and more popular due to the following
advantages compared to conventional looms.

..High labour and machine productivity due to high speed and wider width of
looms.
..Reduced labour cost due to higher allocation of looms and productivity.
..Defect free cloth for longer length.
..Better environment due to low noise level.
..Pirn winding process is eliminated
..Less value loss of fabrics.
..Low consumption of stores and spares.
..Less space requirement per metre of cloth.
..More colours in weft direction (upto 12) by Pick and Pick method.
..Wider width fabrics and multi width fabrics can be woven,
..High degree of flexibiligy to suit a wide range of fibres and counts.
..Easily adaptable for market trends.
..Bigger flanges can accommodate 3 times more yarn.
Due to less beam changes lower down-time and lesser wastages.
..Less dependency on labour skill.
..Higher design capabilities dut to microprocessor and electronic controls.
..Easy maintenance and less work load for Jobbers.
..Lesser accidents.

Type of Shuttleless Looms

There are 4 types of shuttleless weaving technologies available

1. Projectile
2. Rapier
3. Air Jet
4. Water Jet

Recently multiphase weaving system is introduced to get 4 times weft insertion

rate of Air Jet.

All the above technologies have been successful in one or the other segments.
There are two categories of woven fabric in the market.

- Plain, Mass - production fabrics

- Fashion fabrics

For manufacture of Plain, mass production fabrics Air-Jet looms are the most
appropriate technology due to lower operating cost. Second hand double width
projectile looms are the next best. These looms are best suited for long set lengths.
Owing to rising competition and growth in demand for the fancy fabrics set lengths

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are shrinking thereby limiting the use of projectiles. Projectile looms are more
suitable for wider width Geo Textiles, Industrial fabrics, heavy fabrics like Canvas,
Duck, Denim etc.

Water-Jet looms are suitable only for mass production of Synthetic fabrics. It is not
suitable for Cotton fabrics.

Even though weft insertion rate is comparitively less, Rapier is known for its
versatality and more suitable for weaving fashion fabrics of any Count, Material,
Construction like dress Material, Suiting, Furnishing etc,. The possibilities of
bringing out more designs and combinations even in smaller lengths for marketing,
within a time limit is more favourable for rapier looms.

Weft Insertion Rates of Different Type of Looms

Weft insertion rate, defining the speed of the loom is given in Table 1.

Table 1. Comparison of Different Types of Looms

Loom Weft Insertion Rate

Conventional Powerloom - 200 Mts / Min

High Speed Automatic Loom - 300 - 400 Mts / Min
Rapier Loom - 1000 - 1400 Mts / Min
Projectile Loom - 1200 - 1500 Mts / Min
Air Jet Loom - 1500 - 2000 Mts / Min
Multiphase Loom - 5000 Mts / Min

Selection of Suitable Weaving Machine

Unlike the conventional loom, the selection of the appropriate weaving technology
for the envisaged application range becomes a major decision. Each system has its
own advantages and disadvantages and should be carefully selected to suit
individual product-mix. Therefore the system chosen should be capable of
providing :-

- Return of Investment
- Ability to weave wider range of fabrics
- Security against obsolescence
- Easy maintenance

Economics alone cannot be taken as a main criteria for the selection of a particular
machine, since it involves other factors also as mentioned below.

a) Technical Aspects

The selected system should meet out the technical aspects like Count range,
Weaving Width, Weft Sequence, Shedding with Dobby or Jacquard, Selvedge
construction etc.,

b) Manufacturer related criteria

- Lead time for delivery

- After sales service
- Reliability
- Ease of operation and maintenance

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- Ability to modify the machine

c) The Economical Aspects

Quantitative analysis of the following criteria should be done :

- Capital investment
- Labour requirement
- Power requirement
- Yarn waste
- Value loss due to seconds quality
- Training costs
- Spare parts and maintenance cost, etc.,

Economics

After understanding the need for modernisation and the technical merits of new
weaving technologies, the economics of different types of looms has to be
considered. Many people feel that fastest running machines will give better
profitability. But in many cases the fastest running machine is not the most
economic and cheapest one. The reasons are certain products have physical
limitations, which do not allow full utilization of the maximum speed. Furthermore,
in the case of fashion fabrics, other values have priority, quality, and design,
running properties of the machine independent of the different yarn structures. So,
the decisive factor is only efficiency. 14 minutes stoppage per 24 hours working day
reduce the efficiency by 1% and the weaving costs are increased by more than 1.5%.

For arriving at the relative economics of different types of looms, two comparisons
have been illustrated.

Illustration I is for mass production fabric. 40s Warp 40s Weft, 136 EPI, 72 PPI, 63"
Width.

Illustration II is for fashion fabric Shirting of 2/40s Warp, 20s Weft, 60 EPI, 52 PPI,
63" Width. The weaving conversion costs per metre of cloth and the profit per year
per loom before paying the interest on capital and after paying the interest have
been worked out. The economic comparisons made here are based on many factors
and assumptions. In these illustrations, higher price realization per metre of cloth
produced in shuttleless looms has not been considered. Only the selling price of
powerloom cloth after adding a profit of Rs. 0.70 per mtr. for plain sheeting and Rs.
1.50 per mtr. for yarn dyed shirting has been considered. But in real practice there
will be higher selling price and the profitability will be much more than shown in
the illustration.

ILLUSTRATION - I

Comparison of Plain, Mass Fabric Production in Different Types of Looms

GREY POPLIN FAB,REED 136,PICK 72,63" WIDTH 40s*40s

USED NEW AIR PROJ. S PROJ.

PLAIN AUTOLOOM INDEG
IMPOR RAPIER JET W DW
(SEMI
ITEM H.S RAPIER RAPIER
AUTO)
REED SPACE CM 190.00 190.00 190.00 190.00 190 190 190 190
RPM 120.00 180.00 180.00 250.00 450 700 400 300
AVG PPI 72.00 72.00 72.00 72.00 72 72 72 72

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EFFICIENCY 70.00 80.00 85.00 85.00 85 85 85 85

PROD/DAY
34.17 62.18 66.07 91.76 165.16 256.92 146.81 220.22
MTRS/M C
PROD/YEAR
11959.50 21763.00 23122.75 32116.00 57806.00 89922.00 51383.50 77077
MTRS/M C
EXPENS/MTR(RS)
WAGES 1.25 0.68 0.68 0.49 0.22 0.18 0.31 0.2
POWER 1.42 3.72 3.50 4.59 5.03 2.91 3.44 2.76
MAINTENANCE 2.19 2.41 1.29 0.93 0.51 0.33 0.58 0.39
INT ON WORKING
1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50
CAPITAL
WEFT YARN
0.00 1.20 2.40 2.40 2.4 2.4 1.2 1.2
WASTE
ADMINISTRATIVE
1.00 0.34 0.32 0.23 0.13 0.08 0.15 0.10
EXPENSES
TOTAL 7.36 9.85 9.69 10.14 9.79 7.40 7.18 6.15
EXPECTED VALUES
10.00 5.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
LOSS %
VALUE LOSS/MTR
4.00 2.00 0.40 0.40 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
RS40/-PER MTR
TOTAL WVG COST
CONSIDERING
11.36 11.85 10.09 10.54 10.19 7.80 7.58 6.55
NET OF RS. 0.70
PROFIT /-MTR
FOR PLAIN SEMI
AUTO LOOM
PROFIT PER MTR 0.70 0.21 1.97 1.52 1.87 4.26 4.48 5.51
PROFIT PER YARN
0.08 0.04 0.45 0.49 1.08 3.83 2.30 4.25
LAKHS
LOOM COST RS
0.75 6.00 3.00 4.50 17 16 5 8
LAKHS
PRIFIT PER YEAR
0.080 0.060 0.450 0.490 1.080 3.830 2.300 4.250
LAKHS
INT ON CAPIT
0.075 0.600 0.300 0.450 1.700 1.600 0.500 0.800
LAKHS
PROFIT AFTER CAP
0.005 -0.540 0.150 0.040 -0.620 2.230 1.800 3.450
INT LAKHS

ILLUSTRATION - II

Comparison for Fashion Fabric Production in Diffrent Types of Looms

YARN DYED FABRIC REED 56,PICK52,63"WIDTH 2/40S * 20S COTTON SHIRTING
DROP USED NEW
INDEG
BOX IMPOR. RAPIER
(SEMI
ITEM RAPIER RAPIER
AUTO)
REED SPACE CM 190.00 190.00 190.00 190.00
RPM 90.00 180.00 250.00 450.00
AVG PPI 52.00 52.00 52.00 52.00
EFFICIENCY % 70.00 80.00 80.00 80.00
PROD/DAY MTRS/MC 35.45 86.10 119.57 215.24
PROD/YEAR MTRS/MC 12407.50 30135.00 41849.50 75334.00
EXPENS/MTR(RS)

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WAGES 1.20 0.52 0.48 0.22

POWER 2.10 2.69 4.23 5.03
MAINTENANCE 2.19 0.99 0.93 0.51
INT ON WORKING CAPITAL 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65
WEFT YARN WASTE 0.00 2.64 2.64 2.64
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES 1.00 0.25 0.18 0.10
TOTAL 8.14 8.74 10.11 10.15
EXPECTED VALUE LOSS % 10.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
VALUE LOSS / MTR RS. 60/- PER MTR. 6.00 0.60 0.60 0.60
TOTAL WVG. COST CONSIDERING NET PROFIT
14.14 9.34 10.71 10.75
DUE TO WEAVING OF RS 1.50/- MTR FOR S A L
PROFIT PER MTR 1.50 6.30 4.93 4.89
PROFIT PER YEAR LAKHS 0.19 1.90 2.06 3.68
LOOM COST RS LAKHS 1.00 3.00 4.50 17.00

LOOM COST RS LAKHS 1.00 3.00 4.50 17.00

PROFIT PER MTR 0.19 1.90 2.16 3.86
INT ON CAPT RS LAKHS 0.10 0.30 0.45 1.70
PRO AFTER CAP INT RS LAKHS 0.09 1.60 1.71 2.16

Discussion

Net profit is one of the major considerations to keep any organisation running.
Analysis of the results shows that shuttleless looms are more economical than
shuttle looms due to the following reasons.

a) Less Value Loss

The reduction in value loss due to the improvement in quality is the major factor
for better profitability. Even 5% reduced value loss in shuttleless loom than a
shuttle loom for a fabric costing Rs.60 per metre will give additional profit of Rs.3
per metre.

b) Higher Production per Loom

Apart from the higher speed of shuttleless looms, the efficiency advantage of
shuttleless looms is about 10-15% as compared to conventional loom. This is mainly
due to shuttle changes and mending / unweaving of damages due to warp and
weft breakages and also due to reduced down-time for warp changes. 5% higher
efficiency of shuttleless looms than shuttle looms may give additional profit of Rs.
1/- per metre. This is due to the reduction of labour cost, over-heads cost, power
cost etc., due to higher production of cloth.

c) Less Ex - Works cost

Ex - works cost is less for the shuttleless looms due to less mending cost for
rectifying the defects and less inspection charges due to better quality of fabrics.
Ex-works cost is also less in shuttleless looms due to non-requirement of pirn
winding process.

From the above illustration, Air-jet looms would be more economical for mass
production of low priced fabrics. However from technology point of view it lacks

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versatility for weaving different fabrics. Then comes projectile looms. But rapier
looms are more suitable and economical for value added fashion fabrics. If the
fabric doesn't get better price, reduction in value loss alone cannot fully
compensate the increased cost in rapier looms. So, the projects with shuttleless
looms will be more successful if the product mix is also changed towards high
value added products.

Conclusion

With liberalization and globalisations of the trade and phasing out of multi fibre
agreement in 2005, there is an urgent need for examining our poor contributions
towards export of textiles compared to other developing countries and strategies
for modernisation, marketing etc., must be evolved to recover the lost ground and
also for the healthy future growth of our textile industry.

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