Finishing lines

The wealth of new product on show at the big fair was impressive and proof positive of the determination of manufacturers in a competitive market to offer their customers that little something extra. Live demonstrations of the new kit were being performed on many stands and business was brisk with Italian suppliers  dominating in this area.

One such example was Italian manufacturer Barbanti, which showed its top-end steam-heated 484 shirt finisher and the  520 collar and cuff press alongside the 882 Double-Buck shirt finisher, 551 Double-Buck collar and cuff press and the  “easy” 435 shirt finisher. Making up the finishing package the company also aired for the first time its P650 trouser press, combined with the TP67 trouser topper and adjustable trouser stand, providing high quality finishing of trousers with crease. On top of this, it also presented the I10 – “the bagging machine we have been waiting for”. With auto or semi auto operation it is usable with bags of different thickness material and size  and can bag 200 units an hour.

Another well-known Italian company, Fimas, used Texcare 2016 to place emphasis on its full range of pressing tables, form finishers for jackets, toppers and presses, cabinets, spotting tables, pre-spotting cabinets and steam generators, as well as ironers.

Ghidini Benvenuto’s new offering for the show was its latest P88 RTL 150x50 press, which features a bigger rectangular buck with hot head for pressing tablecloths or bed sheets more easily.

The company’s Tornado/A vacuum and blowing ironing table also made its debut.

The new unit features a user-friendly pneumatic device for height adjustment, thereby improving the ironing quality says, sales manager Roland Fleischmann.

Meanwhile, the company’s latest MC100 form finisher for washed or drycleaned shirts, anoraks and jackets has a powerful 3HP fan, pneumatic sleeve stretchers, 19 ironing programs, a steam heated air heating device, height-adjustable dummy and adaptable shoulder width.

The Majestic Combi combined blow and steam finishing form comes with a powerful 3HP built-in fan for better finishing quality and a new air heating system also reduces drying time.

GMP showed off technical innovations and the latest versions of its flatwork ironers. The chest ironer range now has upgraded chests and rollers with
chrome-coated surfaces and a three-year warranty has now been brought into play by the company.

Demonstrations of its new Tenax professional roller padding, designed with a thinner thickness and a modified shape that conforms to the updated GMP rollers were also put on for stand visitors.

Also on show at Frankfurt was the 2016 version of its G-line drying ironers, promising increased  resistance in heavy-duty use.

Metalprogetti’s sales director Massimiliano Calisti presided over a stand that featured the Battista Combi, a
24-hour drop off and collection system for drycleaners that can be installed outside businesses to offers a secure and reliable service to customers and the Smart locker box mobile system that can be located in a variety of venues, including apartments and offices that allows customers to drop off and collect  their drycleaning using a pre-paid system. Also featured was the i-Genius cabinet that uses ozone technology to break down bacteria and eliminate odours.

Pony trotted out its Angel 2.0, an updated version of its single buck shirt finisher which now sprts a hot air recvery system allowing faster drying and reduced steam consumption which also leads to a better working environment and greater productivity.

Veit was there on its own stand and also on Meile’s where its machines  are the finshing component of Miele’s wetcleaning solution along with chemical provider Kreussler. The Veit stand featured its energy-efficient shirt systems the latest of which has a heat recovery system and intelligent moisture control sensors.

Veit has also made it easier for customers to buy machinery by launching “Pay Per Piece” whereby instead of buying the machine, customers pay only for how much they actually use it. If 1,400 to 2,000 shirts are processed per month for example, the cost of maintenance is Euro 0.19 per piece.

Solvents and solutions

On the subject of solvents, and recent concerns over the environmental impact of perc and health and safety worries, Renzacci’s Dr Marco Niccolini believes it is a big mistake to say that wetcare is the only way forward for drycleaners in the future and it is “the” alternative to traditional drycleaning using perc - which will be outlawed in new machines in France in the next few years. “There is a lot more choice out there in terms of solvents and many new formulae is being produced.”

Dow (which has perc in its portfolio), has developed Sensene, in partnership with Safechem, which is based on modified alcohols. Nevertheless, Dow stands by perc saying: “Within an alliance of leading equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and responsible distributors, we are establishing ‘The New Standard’ offering safe and sustainable use of perc.”

The standard encompasses products like the Safe-Tainer system that applies a closed-loop solution based on Dowper Pure Power to manage product-specific risks.

Renzacci set up an “Innovation Centre” on its large stand and promoted  its latest range of drycleaning machines designed to use new alternative solvents. Multisolvent drycleaning machines, the Excellence 2.0 range, have been developed with and without a distillation unit and are equipped with the Nature Care System to significantly reduces water and energy consumption.

These newcomers allow drycleaners to choose from a wide range of solvents, such as hydrocarbon, silicone, Solvon K4 and GreenEarth and new solvents such as Intense and Hi-Glo. Meanwhile, Renzacci’s Nebula 2.0 is the first drycleaning machine to use the company’s patented Combiclean system so users can select from several different cleaning systems as the Nebula can be adapted to work with a wide range of solvents.

Renzacci also displayed its RZ range of closed circuit tumble dryers with integrated recovery of airflow. A major advantage from a cost point of view is that the dryers do not require any external exhaust pipes or expensive and bulky exhaust hoods.

Maestrelli too, had an array of machines in a variety of sizes, engineered to take the new solvents from hydrocarbon to silicon alongside traditional perc machines ranging in size form 6kg to 80kg capacity industrial models.

Miele, however, believes its Aqueous wetcleaning system, “is a real alternative to drycleaning. Ten per cent of solvents need to be removed by solvents but the bulk can be removed by waters, says the company, which has developed chemicals in partnership with Kreussler. Miele fields a complete package including washer, dryer, chemicals and finishing  kit from Veit .

Meanwhile, Ideal showed visitors its British-made products including Ahoy Wet Cleaning and Ahoy Dry Cleaning products and demonstrated the Ideal Spotter Kit(Sk) and Miniroller Spotter kit (Sk) “Drycleaners have really taken to the spotter kits,” says Ideal’s Phillip Kalli.