Posted May 5, 2015

 

By Devin Steele

 

CONOVER, N.C. – In an ITMA preview event, Lonati S.p.A. highlighted its revolutionary knitting technology for 119 people from 48 companies and five states at the Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC) here recently.

 

The three-day open house attracted a number of CEOs and representatives of yarn and hosiery companies. On hand for the event from Brescia, Italy was Lonati S.p.A. President Ettore Lonati, son of the company’s founder. Also taking part in an opening bell-ringing ceremony was Darrell Frye, vice president of Harriss and Covington Hosiery Co., High Point, N.C.; Conover Mayor Lee Moritz; and Dan St. Louis, director of the MSC.

 

“We were thrilled to host this event and particularly honored to have Mr. Lonati here,” St. Louis said. “It was the first time many of the folks who have been testing with us for years had a chance to see our new building. It allowed us to showcase the capabilities and services we have to deliver that some did not know we could perform.”

 

On display were two machines that will be revealed to the world market at ITMA 2015 in Milan. The new Lonati LAOP is made for “one-piece” production to achieve a semi-finished pantyhose directly from the knitting machine. Shown for sock production was the new GL 523 F/H, a two-feed machine with three colors per course with two elastics with the well-known “stitch by stitch” toe-closing system.

 

“The industry is always looking for new innovations, and we have delivered them with these machines,” Lonati told eTC.

 

Representatives from Henderson Machinery and PAM trading, Lonati’s U.S. agents, were present to answer questions about the LAOP and the GL 523 F/H machines, respectively.

 

Lonati 'leads revolution'

 

In his remarks before the bell ringing, Frye noted that his company is 95 years old and is in its fifth generation of family ownership and operation. Harriss and Covington is a vertical sock manufacturing operation that has survived in large part by keeping up with technological advances, he said.

 

“When I joined Harriss and Covington in the mid-80s there were some 30 hosiery-related mills in the city of High Point,” he said. “Today, there are two. That’s about the time when the revolution of circular knitting and computerized equipment really began. Thirty-five years ago, the family expanded into the electronic business. They took a chance that this would be successful and we see where we are today and we see the number of jobs they provide.

 

“There was a transition from getting from mechanical to electronic technology,” he continued. “And there was one name that led that revolution and that name was ‘Lonati.’ ”

 

Mayor Moritz, who was a vice president of sales for Moretz, Inc., which later GoldToeMoretz, said: “I’d like to personally thank Mr. Lonati for being here. Your machinery provided me a means to support my family for many, many years. And to all my friends in the hosiery business: Keep these jobs coming back to America.”

Event creates plenty of buzz

 

The event also provided a great showcase for the Manufacturing Solutions Center, whose mission is to help U.S. manufacturers increase sales, improve quality and improve efficiency to create or retain jobs. The MSC relocated to this 30,000-square-foot modern facility at Conover Station from its former 10,000-square-foot space at Catawba Valley Community College in 2012.

 

The MSC grew from a hosiery manufacturing training and testing hub in the 1990s to a broader manufacturing-focused entity. And with manufacturing jobs returning to the U.S., its importance has grown exponentially in recent years, St. Louis said.

 

U.S. hosiery and sock mill employment totals around 8,600, or about a quarter of its total in 2001, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal. But big players such as Hanesbrands, Gildan Activewear and Peds Legwear have announced domestic expansion of hosiery production in recent months, indicating a positive growth trend.

 

At the MSC, an event of this kind for the hosiery industry had not been staged in nearly two decades, and this one generated plenty of buzz, St. Louis said.

 

“There was optimism about he industry in general for the first time in years, with lots of smiling faces,” he told eTC. “The comment I heard a lot was ‘we need to do this more often.’ ”

Manufacturing Solutions Center open house

Lonati offers ITMA preview of new technology in N.C.