BEIER Envirotec focuses on sustainable production in South Africa
From the left: Warren Sachs, Group Managing Director BEIER ENVIROTECH, Thomas Wiederer, Area Sales Manager BRÜCKNER, Mawethu Ntsholo, Operations Manager BEIER ENVIROTECH, Andrew Patterson, Director TEXMATE (BRÜCKNER Representative)
"We believe that manufacturing can lead the way – if it is local, innovative and integrative."
In line with this inner attitude, BEIER Envirotec invested in a new BRÜCKNER finishing line for filter materials made of needled nonwovens at the Pinetown site in South Africa in the middle of the Corona pandemic. With this investment, BEIER is convinced that the company is well prepared when the South African industry picks up again after the pandemic.
BEIER ENVIROTEC has been active in the textile industry for over 90 years and is one of the leading manufacturers of technical nonwovens and filtration products in South Africa. The demands placed on the manufacturers of the production equipment in terms of process stability, efficiency and equipment reliability are correspondingly high. Only machines meeting these requirements allow to produce high-quality products under competitive conditions.
The BEIER Group comprises the business units: BEIER Envirotec, BEIER Safety Group, BEIER Drawtex Healthcare and Neucoat.
The BEIER Safety Group produces various types of personal protective equipment. This includes safety clothing from head to toe and BEIER supplies to all major brands in this field in Africa.
BEIER Drawtex Healthcare is a medical device manufacturer with a global presence. The Drawtex wound dressing is one of the most important products with almost worldwide distribution to USA, Europe or China.
BEIER Neucoat primarily produces coated fabrics that are used in the automotive industry or as tarpaulin fabrics for event tents or covers. In addition, the products manufactured by Beier Neucoat are used as crop covers in the agricultural sector.
The fourth company in the group is BEIER Envirotec, which is primarily involved in the production of environmental filter media. In addition, materials of the highest quality are produced, which are used in the automotive industry or in the form of nonwoven geotextiles in erosion control.
The German textile machinery manufacturer BRÜCKNER has been for many decades the worldwide leading system supplier for the textile industry. BRÜCKNER is therefore well known in South Africa as a partner of the local textile industry.
With more than 400 employees and a worldwide agency and service network BRÜCKNER produces and supplies lines "Made in Germany" and ensures the service for the trouble-free operation of the lines – including spare parts supply – all over the world.
But since BRÜCKNER has also made an extremely strong name for itself in the field of technical textiles and in the nonwovens industry for filter media in the last few years, it was easy for BEIER to place the order with a well-known partner on an equal footing. Warren Sachs, Group Managing Director of Beier Envirotec says: "Having a strong partner with decades of experience and excellent service was our focus when selecting potential suppliers."
The line is a TECHNO-LINE Coating with a BRÜCKNER POWER-FRAME stenter with 3 m working width and 6 drying and heat-setting zones with direct gas heating.
Highest efficiency, the precise air flow distribution typical for BRÜCKNER, the temperature uniformity as well as the high productivity were decisive for the order. But also soft factors like the fact that BRÜCKNER lines are "Made in Germany" and that both companies are family-run enterprises were important for the decision to go common ways in this project. Warren Sachs, Group Managing Director BEIER ENVIROTECH says: “Having a strong partner with decades of experience and excellent service was our focus when selecting potential suppliers.”
The line is designed for the treatment of different substrates in the weight range up to 700 g/m², which are supplied to the line pre-needled. The line allows to process the fabric with a padder or the one-sided coating with a BRÜCKNER OPTI-COAT KA knife-over-air coating unit.
Another special feature is the stretching unit in the entry of the stenter. As tensioning chain, BEIER has chosen a horizontally circulating pin chain with depot-lubricated closed ball bearings. The machine is equipped with the latest control and visualization systems, including remote maintenance.
In case of further demand, BRÜCKNER can offer the customer various future-oriented assistance systems within the scope of Industry 4.0 by means of modular extensions in order to optimize the handling of the line even more and to ensure a maximum of performance with minimum energy consumption at the same time.