This information was Archived 25 February 2010
Spring Meeting of the Swiss Section of The Textile Institute
On the 29 th April 2009 the Swiss Section were able to hold their 30 th Annual General Meeting ( AGM) and also their 63 rd half yearly meeting at the premises of Gessner Ltd. in Wädenswil near Zürich, a first class, leading and highly regarded silk jacquard weaving enterprise. This meeting was well attended again with over 30 registrations, of which 25 were able effectively to attend.
30 th Annual General Meeting ( AGM)
The first part of the event was opened by Andreas Weber, Chairman of the Swiss Section, as dictated by the AGM. Under Chairman’s Report he looked back over the events of the previous year, which started at Fritz Landolt Ltd. in Näfels on 23 rd January 2008 and finished at Camenzind + Co. Ltd. in Gersau on the 29 th October 2008. The Committee Meetings were conducted simultaneously.
After this Andreas Weber led a discussion centred on the main item of the agenda, namely the proposed fusion of the Textile Institute with the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI). The due diligence procedure on the part of the Headquarters had been completed already at this time, so that Andreas Weber was able to reveal some of the background information to interested members. There followed a lively debate around this item of the agenda and some questions were posed. From the voting it can be taken that the majority of members, of whom 12 were present, look upon a fusion with the SCI in a positive light.
Following this the Chairman reported that the worldwide membership of the Textile Institute has been held at the level of the previous year, namely 2523 members. Also he pointed out that the Swiss Section with 31 members ( 30 individual members and one patron member; Rieter) still belongs to the eleven largest sections worldwide. Andreas Weber mentioned also that the number of members from the German speaking areas, including those from the Austrian and German Section with 49 members remains at the level of the previous year.
2008 belongs to the annals of the Swiss Section, because two members, namely Karl Gutzwiller and Dr. Christoph Haller, were honoured with the Fellowship Award for their services to the Swiss Textile and Textile Machine Industries.
The Treasurer’s Report was read out and afterwards approved unanimously.
The following Committee Members 2009/2010 were confirmed and/or newly elected:
- Andreas Hellwig Secretary (until 31.12.2009)
- Simon Hugentobler 2 nd Committee Member (new)
- Uwe Nick 1 st Committee Member
- Roberto Riedo Honorary Secretary (new; from 1.1.2010)
- Dr. Rudolf Seidl Honorary Treasurer
- Andreas Weber Chairman
Andreas Weber passed on sincere thanks to the retiring Committee Members; Andreas Hellwig and Othmar Forster, for their many years service given for the benefit of the Swiss Section. Small gifts were handed over to them.
At the close of the AGM the Chairman drew attention to the future events of the Swiss Section. On Wednesday the 28 th October 2009 the Swiss Section will have the opportunity to visit ISA Sallmann Ltd. in Amriswil. ISA Sallmann Ltd. is one of the few Swiss knitting enterprises with a range of products overwhelmingly made locally. On the one hand ISA Sallmann Ltd. is a family business run by the sixth generation. On the other hand it is highly fashion oriented and very quick to adapt to market changes. The 31 st AGM will be held on Wednesday the 21 st April 2010.
Under other business Andreas Weber animated the members to take part in the Parliamentary Lunch on the 6 th November 2009 in London.
Looking beyond this, he advertised the celebration of the 100 th jubilee of The Textile Institute on the 22 nd April 2010, which it is assumed will be organised by the Manchester and Cheshire Section. The 100 th AGM of The Textile Institute will be held probably on the 13 th May 2010 in Manchester. And the 87 th Annual World Conference will be held also in Manchester sometime during November 2010 either directly before or after the Parliamentary Lunch, which is planned for the 5 th November 2010 in London.
63. Half Yearly Meeting
A very interesting lecture by the management of Gessner Ltd. was presented by Eugen Weibel, Director of Marketing and Sales and Fredy
Baumeler, Technical and IT Director and showed the whole breadth of the product lines that included both furnishings as well as clothing. They brought greetings from Thomas Isler, Owner and President of the Board, who was unfortunately unable to attend and thus had to excuse himself.
The Gessner Company, which currently employs 90 staff, was founded in 1841 and still stands today in the ownership of the Isler family. Furnishing materials comprise the main output, making up more than two thirds of the total production. Furnishing materials include décor fabrics with a width up to 150 cm made from coloured woven jacquards for both classical and modern living. To the décor fabrics with a width up to 300 cm belong innovative transparent weaves with one or more layers made by using various additional technologies. And in the case of fabrics for upholstery covers there are coloured woven fabrics made from natural materials and blends.
The apparel fabrics include women’s outerwear with two new collections every year made from coloured woven fabric and piece dyed jacquard qualities for ready-to-wear clients from the whole world. Gessner Ltd. also offers printed women’s outerwear in cooperation with business partner Mitloedi Textildruck Ltd. For every season a new collection of printed jacquard materials is developed. The combination of many different weaving and printing techniques results in an incomparable product range for ready-to-wear clothing. Designs brought by customers are converted to the required quality and colour in the shortest possible time.
The main markets of Gessner Ltd. are Germany, Japan, Switzerland and the USA. To the customers belong the most famous fabric distributors, fashion labels and wholesalers of the whole world.
Gessner Ltd. works tirelessly to renew their highly valued range of machines starting with weaving preparation followed by weaving machines and through to the finishing plant.
Also the newly acquired trade name Climatex ® with sensible ecological products will serve to ensure future growth potential.
The tour of the plant that followed caused astonished looks and was highly regarded by the specialist visitors, a fact that is clearly shown by the photos that follow. The afternoon ended with a worthy intensive discussion during which aperitifs were served generously by Gessner Ltd.
Andreas Weber
Chairman Swiss Section Elgg, 25. July 2009
Obituary on the death of Dr. h.c. sc. techn. Hans Locher, Honorary Fellow of The Textile Institute
Dr. Hans Locher died on 8th June 2009 in Uster after a long and fulfilled life that was characterised by great energy and creativity. He was a co-founder of the Swiss Section, from 1981-1983 the first non-British President of The Textile Institute and since 1984 Honorary Fellow of The Textile Institute. He leaves behind his wife Alice Locher-Weisser as well as his three sons Hans Peter, Rolf and Beat with their families.
At that time Switzerland was still at the high peak of the textile industry in Europe, innovative in the search for new products, manufacturing methods and markets. Many people earned their living thanks to these industries and were able to get by. Many home workers especially in rural areas earned welcome extra income besides the often arduous management of business on the land.
Hans Locher was born into this environment on the 6th February 1920 in Rehetobel, in the beautiful hilly Appenzellerland. There he attended primary school followed by secondary school in Trogen, in order then from 1937 to 1938 to absolve a practical training at the Trade School for Metalworking in Winterthur, known in dialect as a loving "Metalli". This school had already served many outstanding personalities of Swiss Industry, providing a solid basis and springboard for an impressive professional career. Even today this school exists under the name MSW, a teaching centre for mechanics and electronics, and it still has an excellent reputation. As a gifted scholar, interested above all in the natural sciences, it was seen as a logical step in 1939 that Hans Locher entered then the Technikum Winterthur, today known as the Zurich University for Applied Sciences, and began studies in the direction of electronics. In 1942 he completed these studies and qualified with the Diploma as Elektroingenieur (electrical engineer) HTL. After this Hans Locher gained his first practical professional experience as a young engineer at the Institute for High Frequency Technology - part of the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich - in order then to move to Zellweger Ltd. in Uster in 1944 and so to venture into the private economy. An important and, as will be seen, a very successful move.
As an endowed engineer with a flair for markets, customers and a strong attachment to the textile industry, Hans Locher systematically developed processes in order to test cotton yarns quickly and reliably and to be able to subject them to certain quality criteria. In 1948 the first yarn evenness tester with capacitive measuring principle in the world, the so called GGP, was introduced successfully to the market. In connection with this, the term 'USTER® value', often known as U%, appeared; a term that is still recognised world wide today as the measured unit for yarn evenness. Thus the name of USTER was spread throughout the world. Many customers in all corners of the world knew (and know still today) of the 'USTER® value' but often did not know that Uster is at the same time the name of a small town in the Zurich upland region, which was then an area with many textile mills of which unfortunately only a few remain today. At that time in this region the innovations developed by Hans Locher and his team were able to be tested simultaneously in the locality. By means of the masses of data that were "deposited" by the GGP, the idea grew to evaluate these statistically and systematically and to present them to the market in the form of classified USTER® diagrams.
The first edition of the USTER®-Statistics appeared in 1957. By this means a quality system was made available to the textile industry throughout the world that was recognised from all sides and served from then on to give the yarn salesmen a strong sales argument and the buyers of yarn a quality assurance instrument that had substance. For many years this quality assurance was provided off-line in the laboratory. At times a fault would slip into production between the intervals of measurement and sometimes substantial amounts of yarn of substandard or even waste quality were produced, depending on the size of the plant. A costly misadventure! It was therefore the logical next step to attempt to realise the quality monitoring on-line. This was achieved by Hans Locher and his team in 1963 with the successful introduction of the first electronic yarn clearers at the 1963 ITMA in Hannover. After this, events followed in quick succession: In 1964 Hans Locher was appointed as Director of the sector textile electronics and textile machines of Zellweger Ltd. As a result of the exceptional sales success of their electronic yarn clearers, the textile electronics branch of Zellweger Ltd. grew continuously and in 1966 for the first time a turnover of more than 50 million CHF was achieved and only seven years later in 1973 in fact a doubling of turnover to over 100 million CHF. In 1980 Dr. Hans Locher was appointed as Honorary Doctor of the ETH in Zurich for his outstanding services in the sector of electronic textile testing and in 1981 he was appointed General Director and Chairman of the Board of Zellweger Uster Ltd. He continued this active service until 1985, only then to offer his services and valuable experience as Board Director to several important Swiss industrial enterprises until 1990.
Hans Locher joined The Textile Institute, Manchester in 1968 and became an Honorary Fellow of The Textile Institute in 1984 in acknowledgement of his outstanding contribution. The founding date and hour of birth of the Swiss Section can be seen as the 3rd June 1976, since the first lecture evening took place on this day at Zellweger Ltd. in Uster under Chairmen Hans Locher and Prof. emeritus Hans Krause. Today this has become a twice yearly event. The speakers were Dr. Greenwood, at that time Head of the Development Department of the Heberlein® Holding Company in Wattwil and Dr. Krieger from Viscosuisse in Emmenbrücke. The Swiss Section is still active today and organised the 30th Annual General Meeting on 29th April 2009 as well as the 63rd twice annual event at GESSNER Ltd. in Waedenswil, a high class silk weaver near Zurich.
Everyone, who knew Dr. Hans Locher, found in him a special person and friend, an impressive industrial figure and an example of a pioneer, who has in a sustained way both formed and changed the textile industry world wide. We shall honour the memory of Dr. Hans Locher.
Andreas Weber / CText FTI Wattwil, 16th July 2009
Chairman, Swiss Section
The 62nd Swiss Section Annual Meeting
TI Swiss Section Visits the Home of Swiss Mountain Silk
The 62nd Swiss Section Semi Annual meeting was held on 29th October 2008 at Camenzind & Co in Gersau. All in all over 30 members and friends of the TI Swiss Section participated at this interesting meeting.
Following the tradition of the summer meeting, which had been rescheduled according to the wishes of the Section members to autumn, a visit to a textile enterprise was on the agenda. Over 30 participants showed up to have a good look at the spinning of silk yarns at Camenzind + Co. AG in Gersau - the home of Swiss Mountain Silk. Some of these participants had followed the directions of Andreas Hellwig for a scenic tour from the city of Lucerne by boat on the picturesque lake of Lucerne to Gersau.
After welcoming the attendees Mr. Andreas Weber, Chairman of the TI Swiss Section, handed over to Mr. Matthias Camenzind, director of the company. In his introduction speech he gave an overview of the company's history, present production program and figures, their own energy production and staff.
All this information is readily available under www.natural-yarns.com.
Thanks to the large number of participants it was necessary to split up into two groups. One group was led by Mr. Camenzind and the other one by his sister Mrs. Amato-Camenzind. The interesting tour through this unique spinning mill in Switzerland proved to be absolutely impressive and gave a splendid insight how silk yarns can be spun successfully. The silk tow is purchased in the country which is synonymous for silk - China. This raw material is processed into a flabbergasting variety of silk yarns in the range from Nm 2 to 200. All this is made possible with a specialised machinery park which includes self-designed and modified machinery, older down-to-earth spinning technology to the newest high-tech spinning equipment available. Ultimately, these yarns are used in top class end products e.g. silk ties (Hermes), lingerie (Hanro), socks (Falke) and carpets. Several celebrities, just to name one, Madonna, own a carpet that was crafted with yarns from Camenzind. Most of the yarns are exported all over the world.
Definitely a highlight of the visit to the home of Swiss Mountain Silk was professionalism of our two hosts; with their openness to the intellectual curiosity of the participants no question remained unanswered.
After the tour everybody was invited by the TI Swiss Section for some refreshments at the nearby restaurant "Schäfli". Andreas Weber thanked Matthias Camenzind for showing us the company and how silk yarns are spun in the centre of Switzerland.
In the eyes of the organizing committee a successful event had been offered to all attendees, giving the opportunity to network, to see and experience something special. Especially pleasing was to see that the meeting and tour attracted textile professionals who are just starting their careers and those having a background of several decades of experience in the textile industry.
The 63rd meeting TI Swiss Section, which is also the 30th Annual General Meeting, will be held on 29th April 2009 at Gessner AG in Wädenswil, a company that produces home furnishing and Jacquard fabrics from yarns of a large variety of materials - including silk.
For the TI Swiss Section Committee
Uwe Nick
Committee member
61st TI Meeting Swiss Section
The 29 th Annual General Meeting (61 st semi-annual meeting) of the TI Swiss Section was held on 23 rd January 2008 in Näfels, Canton of Glarus, at the location of Landolt Ltd., a renowned producer of non-woven fabrics. 32 TI members and friends of the TI attended the meeting and the subsequent factory tour.
With 12 TI Members of the Swiss Section and 20 friends of the TI, the event was already considered a great success right from the beginning. Andreas Weber, Chairman of the TI Swiss Section, welcomed all the participants to the meeting. A special welcome was extended to Dr. Hans Locher, former TI World President and former Chairman of the TI Swiss Section, to Dr. Herbert Stalder, former TI Swiss Section Chairman, to Rainer Lorenz, Chairman of the TI German Section, and to the host Joseph Schittly, CEO of Landolt Ltd.
Right at top of the agenda stood the presentation and discussion of the results of the earlier conducted survey on the TI Swiss Section activities. The goal of the survey was to clarify if the activities and information offered by the TI Swiss Section fit the requirements of the attendees in respect to type of activity, frequency, timing, location and financial aspects. 182 questionnaires had been mailed to members and persons who had participated at TI Swiss Section events. With 19.2% the rate of response can be considered to be very good. The feedback came 40% from TI members and 60% from non-TI members. It turned out that the way the current activities are organized, carried out and the venue is conform to the attendee’s needs. Also the communication, mostly via e-mail, complies with the expectations. The efforts of the TI Swiss Section Secretary, Andreas Hellwig, to keep the members informed is highly appreciated.
Regarding the time of the year, the request of many was to shift the winter meeting to spring, and the summer meeting to autumn. Taking a look back at the two previous winter meetings, with snowy and icy traffic conditions, the desire to shift the meeting is comprehensible. Therefore, the next meetings will be held in autumn and spring.
Dr. Roland Seidl, Honorary Treasurer, presented the figures of the TI Swiss Section’s finances. Due to the fact that the only proceeds come from the participating non-TI members, it was not really a surprise that expenses were higher than the revenues. The auditor Dr. Herbert Stalder thanked Dr. Seidl for the orderly and transparent accounting.
A very lively discussion came up because the TI Swiss Section members were astonished to find out that all their annual fees are kept at the TI headquarters. Unanimously the attending TI members voted that a significant amount of their TI membership fees must be transferred to the TI Swiss Section to fund the section’s activities.
Before closing the meeting, the TI Swiss Section Chairman extended thanks to Mr. Joseph Schittly for hosting this assembly. Mr. Schittly on his part welcomed the participants on behalf of Landolt Ltd. and expressed his pleasure to greet so many textile professionals.
The interesting presentation that followed made a short tour back in history. Landolt was founded in 1864, initially ropes were produced, latterly the company changed to a spinning mill. This part of the history is still present in the company’s logo which is prominently displayed on the buildings. In the early 60’s the first steps into the new non-woven technology were made. Since 1981, 100% of the production at Landolt is non-woven fabrics which are utilized in indoor, outdoor and technical applications. As one of the outstanding, innovative products Landolt’s protective cover, for preserving the snow on the departure ramp to the Gurschen glacier throughout the year, was intensively presented.
At the production site in Näfels, Switzerland, three production lines produce non-woven fabrics in widths up to 5 meter and up to 6 meter with a weight of up to 250 g/m2. The filaments for the non-wovens are also produced at this location. Landolt operates a further two production lines at another production site in France. The majority of the produced non-woven fabrics are delivered to customers in Western Europe.
During the following plant visit an excellent picture was given by being able to follow the production of Landolts’s non-woven fabrics. Starting from silos filled with the pellets to the extrusion of the filaments to cables for crimping. Then from needle punching the web and marking the non-woven with the brand name to forming, finishing and packing the rolls according to the customer’s requirements.
After the extensive tour with a long walk in the factory and an occasional glimpse of the picturesque mountains surrounding the city of Näfels everybody reunited in the conference lounge. Here our host offered beverages and typical specialities of the Canton of Glarus. Andreas Weber gave thanks for the hospitality extended by Mr. Schittly and Landolt Ltd. and presented to our host and tour guide a typical speciality from the city of Wattwil.
Again, as many times before, the semi-annual meeting was an excellent platform to meet friends and professionals from the textile industry.
After this very well attended meeting the committee members of the TI Swiss Section relocated for the committee meeting. Thanks to the dedication of Othmar Forster, Deputy Treasurer, we will be able to hold the 62 nd semi-annual meeting on 29.10.2008 again at a company that produces technical textiles at a top level, namely Habasit Ltd. in Reinach.
For the TI Swiss Section Committee
Uwe Nick
Committee member
For more information on Landolt Ltd.
www.landolt.com
60th Meeting of the TI Swiss Section
All in all, 16 members and friends of the TI Swiss Section participated at the 60th semi annual meeting in Lichtensteig, Kanton Sankt Gallen. For this jubilee a special programme was organized: a visit to "Fredys Mechanical Music Museum" and to the well-known producer of embroidery "Leemann Stickerei AG".
Traditionally a visit to a textile enterprise is on the agenda of the Switzerland Section of the Textile Institute for the summer meeting. The Leeman Stickerei AG, Lichtensteig, hosted the textile part of this event. Mr. Thomas Leemann, Director of the company, welcomed the participants and gave a brief outline on the history and the embroidery produced on the premises. In 2004 Leeman Stickerei AG celebrated its 100th jubilee. A variety of embroidery machines, supplied exclusively by Saurer Arbon Ltd. are installed. Next to pretty "ancient" machinery, NV dated back to 1912, or even older, and equipped today with Soutache, and the legendary 1S and 2S-machines, also up-to-date machinery is in full operation. The new Epoca, built by Saurer, is equipped with the first Laser (2006) integrated in an embroidery machine and with a modern CAD/CAM system. On all the machines installed in Switzerland, as well as on the ones at the second location in China, lingerie for leading American and European brands is produced.
This was the first time ever event that the TI Swiss Section paid a visit to an embroidery manufacturer. Judging by the time spent taking a closer look at the embroidery machines and their technology as well as asking questions, the visit to Leemann Stickerei AG was interesting for everybody. Andreas Weber, Chairman of the TI Swiss Section, expressed in his closing speech his best wishes to the company and thanks for the professional factory tour led by the Leemann associates and for having had the possibility to see behind the scene of this successful embroidery producer.
For the special occasion of the 60th TI Swiss Section Meeting, additionally the committee organized a tour of Fredys Mechanical Music Museum, also in Lichtentsteig. The excursion to see music machines, such as mechanical street organs, musical boxes with barrels or perforated sheets, orchestrions and more, took the participants back to a past period from 1780 to 1946. The professional demonstration of these rare and well maintained music machines was a sheer pleasure and a further highlight of the meeting. Following this musical presentation of a time before juke boxes, record and MP3 players, the committee invited all attendees to drinks and snacks in the party room of Fredys Mechanical Music Museum. This was well received, giving everyone the possibility to discuss the day's interesting impressions and to network.
The committee members of the TI Swiss Section relocated after this jubilee event to Wattwil for the committee meeting. The committee with:
Andreas Weber, Chairman
Dr. Roland Seidl, Honorary Treasurer
Andreas Hellwig, Secretary
Othmar Forster, Deputy Treasurer
Uwe Nick, Committee Member
discussed the day's event. Even though the jubilee occasion as such has been well received by the 16 participants, including 4 committee members, the number of attendees was rather disappointing. The number of participants has been decreasing lately from meeting to meeting. Therefore, the decision was taken to carry out a survey with the TI Swiss Section members and friends to judge whether it is necessary to find a new schedule, different programme and form, or other ways of promoting these events.
Nevertheless, the next event, the 29th Annual General Meeting (61st TI Swiss Section Meeting), is already scheduled for the 23rd January 2008. It is planned that this upcoming meeting is held at an enterprise producing technical textiles.
For the TI Swiss Section Committee
Uwe Nick
Committee member
Find out more about Leemann Stickerei AG and Fredys Mechanical Music Museum under following links:
www.union-ag.com
www.fredys-mech-musikmuseum.ch
Leemann Welcome
Leemann Sample
Leeman Demo Lingerie
Leemann Check1912
Fredys Music Straesser
Fredys Music Machine
28th Annual General Meeting of the Swiss Section of the Textile Institute January 24 th 2007
The 28th Annual General Meetingtook place at the offices of Munzinger AG in Olten. The Chairman, Andreas Weber, welcomed 20 participants inspite of the snow.
He started with a review of the events of the previous year:
The 27th Annual General Meeting (or the 57th meeting) took place on the 25th January 2006 at the offices of Christian Eschler AG in Bühler ( www.eschler.com). And the 58th meeting was held at Jakob AG in Trubschachen on the 7th June 2006 ( www.jakob.ch). Both hosts were thanked by letter in the name of the committee by Andreas Weber. A short report can be found on website www.textileinstitute.org/SwissSection.asp.
Committee meetings were held on 25th January 2006 in Bühler and on 7th June 2006 in Trubschachen.
On 31 December 2006 the membership of the Swiss Section stood at 35 (40) individual and 2 (4) patron members (Rieter und Sultex) and has thereby reduced by 5 and 2 members respectively within a year. On the 31 December 2006 the membership of the German Section consisted of 18 individual members and 1 patron member (Trützschler).
In the meantime invitations by email are sent by the Swiss Section to 23 Swiss and 14 German members. Furthermore a total of 166 invitations (of which 40 by email) are sent for each meeting in Switzerland and each time to a total of 41 non-members in Germany (of which 33 by email). The Chairman also gave an overview of the changes to the membership of the Textile Institute worldwide.
The accounts of the Swiss Section for the year 2006 were approved after they had been checked by the auditor, Dr. Herbert Stalder, who was thanked for this service. Furthermore the Chairman presented a report about various committee activities in the area of finance.
At the 27th Annual General Meetingthe Chairman had to report the resignation of Andreas Bodmer as a committee member. So it is with great relief that he was able to introduce to those present at this year’s Annual General Meeting a worthy candidate in the person of Uwe Nick. The career of Uwe Nick is characterised by various, interesting stages. For example, he decided to follow his apprenticeship as a fitter by studying for his university entrance examinations at night school, in order then to grasp the opportunity of full-time studies as a textile engineer at the Fachhochschule Reutlingen. His first industrial experience as a freshly graduated textile engineer was gained at Sulzer Rüti AG in Rüti, followed by an engagement overseas for Sulzer Textile Inc. in USA. After returning to Switzerland Uwe Nick fulfilled various duties at Sultex AG (formerly Sulzer Textil AG) until in 2005 he moved to Rieter AG in Winterthur, where he is still employed today.
The following were proposed, seconded and confirmed as Committee Members of the Swiss Section for 2007:
- Othmar Forster 1 st seat; Deputy Treasurer
- Andreas Hellwig Secretary
- Uwe Nick 2 nd seat (new)
- Dr. Roland Seidl Honorary Treasurer
- Andreas Weber Chairman
Andreas Weber proposed that again this year both a summer and a winter meeting would be held on the following dates:
- 60th meeting: 6th June 2007, when a visit to an undertaking of the knitting industry will be organised.
- 29th Annual General Meeting and 61st meeting: 23rd January 2008, whereby the place and object of the visit remains open.
Andreas Weber also pointed out that the forthcoming 85th Annual World Conference of the Textile Institute will take place from 1st – 3rd March 2007 in Sri Lanka and that no-one from the committee of the Swiss Section is planning to attend. He suggested that those members of the Swiss Section, who enjoy the wanderlust, possibly could use this opportunity to make a unique visit to this far away country.
In conclusion the Chairman thanked all for their work, performed mostly during their leisure time. The Swiss Section receives welcome support for the carrying out of certain administrative duties, thanks to Susann Züst, the secretary of Othmar Forster. For this support Andreas Weber passed on his heartfelt thanks to Sefar AG (www.sefar.ch) in general and to Susann Züst in particular as well as to all committee members.
After the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting, Mr Knödler, CEO of Munzinger AG (www.heimbach.com) introduced its company. The works visit that followed demonstrated the really extraordinary breadth of the manufacture of paper-making felts: 10 m wide woven fabrics are woven in a double circular weave and subsequently needled and finished. In this connection special thanks are again due to Karl Gutzwiler, who took the photographs during the afternoon. The photos that follow give an impression of a very interesting works visit. Andreas Weber thanked Mr Knödler heartily for the access right that the Swiss Section is permitted to enjoy at Munzinger and passed on to him and to his other involved colleagues, who guided the participants with much commitment through the works, a small, typical gift from Toggenburg, namely a Mandelfisch.
A. Weber
Chairman
Meeting Minutes Posted
58 th Meeting of the Textile Institute Swiss Section at Jakob Ltd. on June 7, 2006
This year’s summer meeting took place at Jakob Ltd., Dorfstrasse 34, CH-3555 Trubschachen, a special wire rope manufacturer, which started its business in manufacturing hand crafted jute ropes for farmers. The company is located in the very picturesque country side of the Swiss Emmenthal area 40 km east of Berne. Trubschachen is not only the home base of Jakob® but also the village where the well famous Swiss biscuit manufacturer Kambly is producing its delicacy. Some of the Swiss Section’s visitors took therefore the opportunity to pay a visit to Kambly’s outlet store.
Mr Jakob, the CEO and owner of the company, warmly welcomed the unusual small group of only 10 visitors together with his Technical Director Mr Schneider. Jakob® has built a sophisticated new site in Trubschachen where they realised many construction details by using their special wire rope products. As a result of this the building looks light, modern and very attractive. A tour to the factory showed impressively how the special wire ropes are being manufactured. Textile know how is widely used and applied for this kind of production. The large product range of Jakob® is distributed on wire ropes, cable assemblies, inox ropes, chains, belts, fibre ropes and protective nets. The majority of these products is made out of steel but Jakob® is also offering in the range of belts, fibre ropes and protective nets products out of polyester and polypropylene filament yarns. Jakob®, a global player, exports its products in to more than 60 markets worldwide. Through a close cooperation with clients throughout the world Jakob® acts fast and efficiently on different market needs. Well educated and modern, well adapted production facilities secures the high quality of the products and fast supply on demand (see pictures attached). A visit in to the company’s museum, where traditional rope manufacturing machines are located, complemented this interesting visit. Mr Schneider showed us with great skill how traditional farmer’s rope were manufactured. For further details please contact the home page of Jakob® as follows: www.jakob.ch.
Please note the 59 th respectively 27 th Annual General Meeting is scheduled for January 24, 2007. A detailed program will follow as usual on time.
Textile Institute, Swiss Section
Andreas Weber
Chairman
Elgg, June 24, 200
ARCHIVE MINUTES:
57 th Meeting of the Textile Institute Swiss Section 25th of January 2006
On this occasion the 27 th Annual General Meeting of the Swiss Section of the Textile Institute took place first. The Chairman could welcome approx. 30 persons to this meeting, members and non members of the Textile Institute as well as friends of the Swiss Section. Click here to read the complete minutes.
The 56th meeting of the Swiss section was held at Brennet/Germany
on 14 th of June 2005 . The minutes are posted on the website.
Click to read them.
The 26th Annual General Meeting of the Swiss Section of the Textile Institute was held on January 26, 2005. Minutes of that meeting are available by clikcing
