Business

How Brückner Helps Bangladesh-Based Knit Concern Group’s Growth Story

Bangladesh-based Knit Concern Group aims to become the leader in producing knitwear fabric thanks to machines manufactured in Germany by Brückner

The Bangladesh-based Knit Concern Group which specialises in the production of high quality warp-knitted and knitted fabric has installed machines manufactured by the Germany-based Brückner.

“Our vision is to be the country leader in producing and exporting knitted fabric for the export market. Quality assurance and product safety are Knit Concern’s main focus areas. Therefore, we need high-quality machinery and that is one reason for installing Brücknermachines,” Knit Concern Ltd Managing Director Joynal Abedin Mollah said.

In the beginning, Knit Concern had about 500 workers. Later, the company grew into one of Bangladesh’s biggest textile producers.

Knit Concern produces T-shirts, polo shirts, sweat shirts and nightwear for well-known labels such as H&M, Camaieu, Obaibi, Okaidi, We, Mas Intimates and others. Currently, almost 200,000 pieces of clothing are produced each day which is about 35 tonne of knitted articles.

Shortly, Knit Concern plans to expand its daily production to 100 tonne of textiles and become Bangladesh’s leading producer and exporter of knitted fabric.

It was in 2005 that Knit Concern bought its first Brücknerstenter. Since then, the company has increased the number of installed Brückner machines. During the last ten years, Knit Concern invested in another ten Brücknerlines, among them several stenters, a sanforising line, a felt calender machine, a compactor and a relaxation dryer.

The Brücknerrelaxation dryer is designed particularly for the finishing of open-width fabric, but if required, the line can also be used for tubular fabric. Mainly articles made of natural fibres, for example, cotton or viscose are dryed, relaxed and shrunk on this 2.60 metre wide dryer.

Two padders are arranged in front of the dryer. The first one dewaters the fabric and provides uniform fabric moisture. The second padder serves mainly to impregnate the fabric with plasticiser. Before the fabric passes through the dryer, it is transported through an inclined pre-stentering zone and is overstretched in wet condition.

Given a corresponding overfeed of 80% to 100 % and a width overstretching between 30% and 50%, lengthwise distortions resulting from previous wet processes (washing, dyeing, and padding) are reduced.

The complete process on the pre-stentering zone serves to pre-relax the fabric which can be shrunk considerably better in the subsequent drying process. Within the dryer, the fabric first passes an air-through zone where it is pre-heated. In the following two passages, the drying and shrinking process begins, which takes place by means of a tumble-like fabric movement.

Pre-heating the fabric in the air-through zone has several benefits. On the one hand, this zone is heated up exclusively by exhaust air from the two drying passages arranged below – which means no additional energy is required. On the other hand, the fabric heats faster and requires lesser dwell time for the subsequent drying process.

The fabric can pass this dryer faster than other dryers. Another benefit is the reduced exhaust air temperature. This air-through principle developed by Brücknerallows energy savings of up to 15% with a simultaneous increase of production of up to 20%, depending on the type of fabric and the machine configuration.

This highly sophisticated Brückner relaxation dryer can be very easily integrated into an existing line concept. Due to the fact that drying passages are arranged one above the other, this line is saving space.

Knit Concern understood and estimated the advantages of this machine, stable residual shrinkage and drying performance. About 12 tonne of knitted fabrics are finished on this line every day.

In addition, Knit Concern uses the advantages of Brückner’sservice in Bangladesh. A local service team which is trained regularly in Germany supports customers in Bangladesh, including Knit Concern, during installation and commissioning of their lines.

In addition to this, Brücknerhas a service station in Dhaka, with a large stock of spare parts and lubricants. “We have a long-term and strong relationship with Pacific Associates Ltd, Brückner’sagent in Bangladesh. Brückner’ssupport and service is always excellent and we can count on their technicians’ expertise any time,” Mollah said.