Posted May 25, 2017

 

By Devin Steele (DSteele@eTextileCommunications.com)

 

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The U.S. textile industry continues to benefit from foreign investment, most recently on the capital equipment side.

 

In recent years, a number of fiber, fabric, apparel and nonwovens manufacturers based in such countries as China, India, Austria, Taiwan, Korea and Turkey have announced openings or have already opened or expanded operations here. The U.S., of course, is re-emerging as a hotbed of manufacturing for a number of reasons, not the least of which is a shorter, faster supply chain.

 

This week, a machinery supplier opened its doors in the heart of “Textile Country,” in this North Carolina city located near the I-85 corridor, along which hundreds of textile manufacturers and their suppliers are based in the South. Representatives of India-based Meera Industries USA, LLC, cut the ribbon on a 4,600 square-foot facility that will serve as a showroom and a sampling and small-lot production house.

 

The parent company, Meera Industries Ltd., has been in business 15 years as a supplier of winding, two-for-one twisting and heat-setting equipment with a worldwide customer base. Just recently, the ISO 9001 company was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

 

Based in Surat, India, just outside of Mumbai – known for its exquisite sari fabrics – has machines running in 19 countries on all five continents. It employs 90 people in India and its twisting and winding machines can be used to produce yarns for more than 20 applications.

 

On hand for the ribbon cutting were company co-founders and directors Dharmesh and Bijal Desai, a husband and wife team who started the company through humble means in 2002. They were joined by representatives Steve Charron and Jim Pye, American textile industry veterans with decades of sales and service experience, along with technicians Mike Moser and Raghu Upadhay. Charron, the operations manager, is based at the facility and will handle marketing and sales as well as will work with customers on yarn trials and production. Pye, based in Dartmouth, Mass., will handle sales in the Northeast and Canada.

 

About 40 companies that produce such items as hosiery and socks, carpets and rugs and medical, coated and covered textiles came through the facility during its three-day open house this week, Dharmesh Desai said.

 

“The U.S. is big enough for all applications – textiles, automotive, medical, carpet, etc. – and our machines are applicable to many of these areas,” said Dharmesh Desai, who exhibited in the U.S. for the first time in October, at the IFAI Expo in Charlotte, N.C. “We think this market desires our technology. We came here to have a permanent home to show customers our latest developments and allow them to produce samples and experiment through trials.”

 

And local service also is available, he added. In addition, machines can be checked or set remotely, from High Point, India or anywhere in the world via the Internet, he pointed out.

 

Facility houses adaptable equipment

 

Equipment installed at the facility includes:

 

• A 56-spindle two-for-one twister – one side with 28 spindles for twisting and cabling and the other side with 28 spindles for TPRS (Twisting, Plying and Reverse Twisting System);

• An 18-spindle assembly winder for plying before twisting, back winding, etc.;

• A 30-spindle cop winder to wind bobbins for the TPRS function; and

• A laboratory twister having three twisting spindles and one rewinding/assembling spindle, ideal for the product development or twisting small lots of yarn.

 

“Meera’s technology compares very favorably to European equipment but with extremely competitive pricing,” Charron said.

 

The TPRS system is an exciting new development and is patented by Meera, Dharmesh Desai said. It consists of plying several ends of yarn together and then reverse twisting – all in one step. The result is a perfectly balanced plied yarn with no torque whatsoever, he added. All spindles have individual motors and users can change to any kind of normal single-end twisting or two or more plies of twisting or cabling with S or Z twist, he noted.

 

One visitor, Clifford Caddell, who heads manufacturing at nearly 100-year-old Harris & Covington Hosiery in High Point, said he was particularly impressed by the machine’s capabilities.

 

“It’s easily adaptable to different yarns, which in this industry you really have to have in order to meet your customers’ ever-changing needs,” he said. “The machines allow you to take dissimilar yarns and put them together in a means that gives the customer the product they want.

 

“I’ve looked at a lot of the equipment in this arena, and none of it has the capability to do what these machines do,” he added. “They’re very well built and very robust. So we’re excited.”

 

Rusty Evans, owner of R. Evans Hosiery, Hildebrand, N.C., was having a yarn trial run during his visit and was awaiting results.

 

“As soon as they get the combination of my yarns, I think it’s going to open the door for some new things for us,” he said. “It looks like they have more capabilities than the other main suppliers that’s out there.”

 

Added Charron: “Some people know cabling for carpet, but we’re actually doing some very interesting things on cabling for socks, which heretofore has never been done.”

 

Meera Industries Ltd. employs eight people in its In-House R&D Center, which is recognized by Dept. of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Dharmesh Desai said. And it also has a 3-D printer that can create spare plastic parts as needed.

 

“R&D is the basic foundation for our company,” he said. “We are always looking to improve our products and develop new ones. We spend 50 percent of our profits on research and development.”

 

Great potential in U.S. seen

 

Charron said he sees great potential in the U.S. market for Meera’s machines and its sampling and production capabilities.

 

“There is a large number of potential customers across all of our industry, be it hosiery, be it braiding, be it twisting, be it weaving,” he said. “And, as a rising tide lifts all ships, I see them all coming up as the industry rises. More importantly, they are not at the stage where they want to buy 1,000 spindles or even 200 spindles – but they sure do want to buy four spindles to get their toe in the water in these different markets and applications.”

 

Sturdiness, electronic-based systems and economical price all make Meera equipment attractive, Charron added. And the fact that one can buy a small winder or twister instead of a multi-spindle machine is also enticing, he said.

 

“You could buy two bays of these machines and add on,” he said. “These machines bolt together and connect. So as you grow, we can link the machine up and continue growing with you. We service that smaller, yet growing market. We’re not going to sell 10,000 spindles to one customer. So the people who are growing and innovating and bringing this market up, they need to have the flexibility to have a machine that can do four things at once.”

 

Pye met Dharmesh Desai at the 2007 ITMA and Munich, and soon represented Meera with another company for a while.

 

“The equipment looked very well made,” Pye said. “I could tell Dharmesh was very knowledgeable and knew what he was doing, and we saw the opportunity to work with him.”

 

Now given the chance to work with the Desais and Meera again, Pye said that many opportunities for its equipment and capabilities are available in his territory, as well.

 

“There are a lot of niche companies in the Northeast and Canada – braiding companies, medical companies, industrial fabric companies, etc.,” he said. “So there is still a good, solid base of companies there.”

 

Dharmesh Desai said he is enthusiastic about having a presence in this market, particularly as companies look to differentiate themselves through niche products, innovation, speed-to-market capabilities and more.

 

“We want to give customers the flexibility that allows them to be agile, move into different areas and try different technologies that they may have not considered before, because we are so flexible,” he said.

Twisting, winding machine supplier

India-based Meera Industries

cuts ribbon on first U.S. facility