Despite a challenging year, the efficient solutions for textile finishing continuously developed by the leading German textile finishing technology manufacturer Monforts led to a successful 2024 for the company. Supporting the textile sector’s sustainable future with its new investments, partnerships and projects, the company is also well-equipped for a new year. Nicole Croonenbroek, Marketing Manager at Monforts talked to Textilegence about the company’s performance over the past year and its strategies and expectations for 2025. She also mentioned the significant points, such as the way the current Monforts’ customers increase efficiency in their lines in the challenging economic conditions that do not allow them to make new investments and the details of the WasserSTOFF Project regarding carbon-neutral finishing of textiles.
Nicole Croonenbroek, Marketing Manager at Monforts Image Source: Monforts
How was 2024 for Monforts?
It has been a challenging, yet transformative year. It wasa tough year for the textile machinery sector as a whole, with global crises and economic uncertainty weighing heavily on companies. The market is struggling worldwide and the geopolitical situation, stretching from the war in Ukraine to new climate regulations in Europe, have significantly impacted investments. In addition, increasing energy costs and inflation have forced companies to seek more cost-effective solutions.
Despite these challenges, Monforts has continued to innovate and adapt to address sustainability concerns and meet the evolving needs of our customers. We have focused on developing technologies that enhance energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprint, such as our hydrogen-based heating system.
How important is the Advanced Technology Center (ATC) at your headquarters in Mönchengladbach in terms of driving innovation and providing customised solutions for clients?
The ATC is pivotal to our operations and since its opening in 2013 has proved an invaluable resource to customers for achieving new standards in fabric finishing. Over an area of 1,200 square metres, it houses two full finishing lines, engineered to accommodate an extremely diverse range of processes, in addition to a Thermex range for the continuous dyeing of denim and other woven fabrics, a full colour kitchen and a number of lab-scale systems for smaller batch trials. The ATC allows our customers to test their own technical fabrics under fully confidential, industrial production conditions. Using the results from these trials, we are also able to make recommendations for improving many fabric finishes.
The ATC allows our customers to test their own technical fabrics under fully confidential, industrial production conditions. Using the results from these trials, we are also able to make recommendations for improving many fabric finishes.
In the latest development, we have just installed a Baldwin TexCoat digital spray unit on one of the ATC stenter frames, as part of a three-way partnership with its developer BW Converting and Archroma, the manufacturer of advanced chemistries for dyeing and finishing. Together, we will support dyeing and finishing manufacturers in their development projects, aiming to boost the quality and performance of their finished products, while at the same time maximising the productivity and resource utilisation of the finishing application processes.
This latest addition to the ATC’s capabilities brings together the surface functions, fabric transport and thermal processing technology of Monforts stenter frames with Archroma’s speciality chemicals, applied with TexCoat’s contactless precision, to achieve optimum absorption and maximum efficiency, exceeding the performance of traditional pad applications. Monforts is also exploring future projects with these two partners to expand eco-friendly solutions.
“The ATC is pivotal to our operations and since its opening in 2013 has proved an invaluable resource to customers for achieving new standards in fabric finishing” Image Source: Monforts
You have also introduced several new and innovative solutions in response to market demands, such as the MontexCoat and coaTTex coating lines. What are their key advantages?
The MontexCoat is a multifunctional coating line which offers versatility with knife coating, rotary screen printing and other applications. As a fully automatic machine, it fully caters to customers who require flexibility.
For clients with simpler needs, Monforts has launched the more cost-effective coaTTex coating line. There has been a lot of interest in these units from manufacturers in Türkiye where there is now great potential to capitalise on opportunities in technical textiles, as traditional manufacturing moves to lower-cost regions. In Europe, the automotive industry’s struggles have had a ripple effect on related sectors, including textiles, which will be advantageous to the many flexible and forward-looking manufacturers in Türkiye.
Our machines are known for their robustness and long service life but the retrofitting of specific modules with new control and drive technology – going far beyond the basic replacement of spare parts – can have a significant impact on the performance of an existing line.
If the market remains difficult in 2025 and textile manufacturers simply cannot afford to make new investments, what other options do they have for making savings?
For our existing customers, we are prioritising modernisation and upgrades that can make a significant impact in terms of efficiency. Our machines are known for their robustness and long service life but the retrofitting of specific modules with new control and drive technology – going far beyond the basic replacement of spare parts – can have a significant impact on the performance of an existing line. This is especially the case in achieving further energy savings.
The Monforts Universal Energy Tower, for example, is a flexible, free-standing air/air heat exchanger for recovering the heat from the exhaust air flow of thermal processes. It can result in a reduction of up to 30% in the energy consumed by a line, depending on the exhaust air volume and operating temperature.
The Monforts Eco Booster, which can be completely integrated into the chamber design of a Montex stenter, is another retrofitting option. As a single state-of-the-art heat recovery system with automatic cleaning, it can be added to existing ranges. For ranges of up to eight chambers, only one module is necessary to achieve very significant energy savings.
The Monforts Eco Booster can be completely integrated into the chamber design of a Montex stenter Image Source: Monforts
On an eight-chamber stenter with an operating width of two metres carrying out a fixing process on a 150gsm woven fabric, we have calculated the energy savings than can be achieved are around 35% over an annual schedule of 6,000 operating hours. In addition, the Eco Booster consumes only minimal amounts of water during the cleaning cycle and the entire process is controlled and monitored automatically.
There are also considerable benefits to be gained from bringing a machine’s HMI (Human Machine Interface) up to date, as well as with frequency converter options for bringing a machine completely up to date technically and reducing downtimes.
We are happy to explain the range of modifications and modernisations that can be made to a line to customers at any time because compared to a new machine, upgrades are a low-cost investment that delivers clearly defined benefits.
Can you outline the key objectives of the WasserSTOFF Project?
We are leading this project with the aim of developing a hydrogen-heated stenter frame that in the future will enable the carbon-neutral finishing of textiles. It is well known that the usual operation of stenter frames with natural gas currently leads to considerable CO2 emissions worldwide and emissions can be significantly reduced by the alternative use of hydrogen converted through the use of electrical energy from renewable sources such as wind or solar – so-called green hydrogen. The project investigates the effects of using hydrogen or hydrogen/natural gas mixtures instead of natural gas alone, as fuels for textile drying and fixation. This requires the development and adaptation of the stenter’s burners, including a gas mixing system, which controls the thermoprocess.
The government support the WasserSTOFF project has received underscores its importance to the industry and manufacturing in general, but the widespread adoption of hydrogen technology very much depends on its availability and cost
The mode of operation is initially being tested and evaluated on a gas-powered and burner-modified technical dryer at Hochschule Niederrhein’s Textile Technology Centre. Specific textile coating and finishing/dyeing processes have been selected for drying and fixation and in order to optimise the processes and adapt the finishing recipes, tests are being carried out to evaluate textile product quality, exhaust gas composition and energy balance.
In addition, a dynamic tool to evaluate the climate footprint of the drying system is being developed. This is taking into account factors such as the availability and origin of the required quantity of hydrogen – including the in-house production and development of the electricity mix for hydrogen production, as well as hydrogen admixtures in the natural gas network – all based on existing standards and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. This data is forming the basis for the scaling-up of the technology to the industrial level. In addition to Hochschule Niederrhein and Monforts, the project also includes the companies Pleva and Nova Textil-Beschichtung and is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
The WasserSTOFF project investigates the effects of using hydrogen or hydrogen/natural gas mixtures instead of natural gas alone, as fuels for textile drying and fixation Image Source: Monforts
The government support the project has received underscores its importance to the industry and manufacturing in general, but the widespread adoption of hydrogen technology very much depends on its availability and cost. Infrastructure and government policies will play a crucial role in making hydrogen viable for industrial use.
Do you have a final message for our readers?
Despite the challenges, Monforts will continue investing in research and development to provide our customers with cutting-edge solutions. By adapting to market demands and focusing on sustainable practices, we aim to remain a reliable partner for the textile industry. With a strong emphasis on flexibility, technological advancements and environmental responsibility, Monforts is well-positioned to navigate the uncertainties of 2025 and beyond.
