Chinese spinner Shandong Liaocheng Huarun Textile part of the Huarun Group established among China’s leading producers focused on super-fine counts made from combed long staple cottons, exporting 50% of its production to Europe. In order to select the best way to monitor and optimize quality and productivity, the company decided to run a comprehensive practical trial to identify the best yarn clearer to meet its challenging quality and cost goals.

The company has put Uster Quantum 3 clearers to the practical test to prove whether they help achieving consistent quality and successful in-process yarn optimization by implementing systematic quality management.

The Uster Quantum 3 clearer is known as the preferred choice for many spinning mills producing fine and very fine count yarns for demanding applications such as high-quality woven fabrics, the manufacturer reports.

In the trial, the Uster clearers were installed on 60 spindles, matched against a competitive brand clearer on similar automatic winders. After a month, the mill assessed the trial results from cuts and remaining faults, using the Uster Classimat.

This showed that the Uster Quantum 3 left 50% fewer disturbing thick and thin places in the yarn, with 13% fewer cuts per 100 kilometres. The overall verdict was that Uster Quantum 3 had proved its ability to deliver better quality and less waste, enhancing the optimization potential of the mill.

The Uster Quantum 3 measures yarn quality parameters including CV, imperfections and hairiness, using the Q Data feature, correlated with Uster Tester data. These controls allow Liaocheng Huarun to meet its goal of managing outliers in the final yarn package. In the trial, outlier bobbins collected from winding were checked again in the laboratory, using the Uster Tester. The laboratory tests confirmed the accuracy of the clearers in identifying these outliers.

For spinners aiming at consistently high standards of yarn quality, systematic quality management is essential. Thomas Nasiou, Head of Textile Technology within Uster said that they strongly recommend it as a general policy, since it is the best way to achieve both optimum quality and homogeneity of quality between and within yarn lots.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are used to set the yarn quality at the right level. Especially at the end of the production process, KPIs are essential because they have a direct impact on the yarn quality of the package. In winding, for example, eight indicators and checkpoints, such as production, clearer settings, cuts, splices etc., are applied to manage this last stage of the yarn production process.

Liaocheng Huarun’s dedication to continuous optimization shows how Key Quality Indicators can be applied – in this case maximizing the capabilities of the yarn clearer to monitor and manage clearing limits and quality outliers – to develop successful systematic quality management.

The Uster Group headquartered in Uster, Switzerland is the leading high-technology instrument manufacturer of products for quality measurement and certification for the textile industry. The Group provides testing and monitoring instruments, systems and services that allow optimization of quality through each individual stage of textile production. This includes raw textile fibres, such as cotton or wool, all staple fibre and filament yarns, as well as downstream services to the final finished fabric.

The Group has sales and service in the major textile markets and Technology Centers in Uster (Switzerland), Knoxville (USA) and Suzhou (China).