Leading Japanese flat knitting technologist SHIMA SEIKI will show its latest lineup in Shanghai this June at the ITMA Asia + CITME 2014 exhibition. Through its exhibition theme "Breakthrough Technology" it will propose solutions for current needs of the knitting industries in China and Asia and beyond, while emphasizing the importance of sustaining those industries for the future.
SHIMA SEIKI is confident in its ability to live up to such a challenging proposal, by presenting its ITMA ASIA + CITME 2014 exhibition lineup in 3 zones, catering to current needs (Breakthrough Zone), upgraded needs (WHOLEGARMENT® Zone) and diversified needs (Expansion Zone). These will be met by distinctive technology that is unavailable elsewhere.
Breakthrough Zone
While the Breakthrough Zone caters to conventional shaped knitting, it nevertheless provides unprecedented proposals that break with flat knitting tradition. With its new workhorse SVR machine, SHIMA SEIKI proposes new applications in shaping and integral knitting through higher production efficiency and flexibility, resetting the industry benchmark once again in the tradition of its legendary SES and SSG machines.
Also on display are the specialty intarsia machine MACH2SIR with 40 intarsia carriers being the highest number of carri- ers currently available, and the coarse gauge SCG122SN featuring SHIMA SEIKI's original SlideNeedle known for its wider range of knitting techniques, greater flexibility, higher efficiency and optimum loop formation and fabric quality.
WHOLEGARMENT® Zone
Because of their capability to produce an entire garment without the need for sewing or linking, WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machines realize quick response production with on-demand capability thanks to reduced lead times, and offer reduced dependence on labor as well as associated cost reductions. WHOLEGARMENT® knitting is no longer proposed as a "future" manufacturing method for China, as its market is steadily becoming ripe for WHOLEGARMENT® applications due to rising wages and a diminishing post-production workforce. Add to that the rapid growth of the domestic fashion industry along with increased demand for more fashionable, higher quality items, and WHOLEGARMENT® becomes a viable alternative to conventional knitting methods. In other words, WHOLEGARMENT® can now be considered an optional upgrade to current production. In that respect, the planning, design and virtual sampling capability of SHIMA SEIKI's SDS-ONE APEX3 3D design system make it an essential partner to WHOLEGARMENT® knitting.
In addition to APEX3, SHIMA SEIKI will have on display its flagship MACH2X with four needle beds and SlideNeedle that realize full WHOLEGARMENT® knitting capability, as well as its brand new SWG-N2 series suited to the production of small WHOLEGARMENT® items and accessories, as well as technical textile applications.
Expansion Zone
The Expansion Zone consists of two new machines that cater to diversified market needs, both with great potential for growth in Asia. One is a knitting machine that borrows heavily on SHIMA SEIKI's unique experience with four-bed knitting, featuring a pair of loop presser beds mounted above a conventional V-shaped needle bed. The new SRY machine offers full control over pressdown of individual loops for unprecedented capability in flechage and inlay patterns, opening doors to new possibilities in knit fashion as well as technical textiles. A new updated version of SHIMA SEIKI's SIP flatbed inkjet printing machine will also be on display to demonstrate the effectiveness of added-value to knitwear.
True to the original ITMA tradition of launching brand-new technology, and in true SHIMA SEIKI fashion, half the number of machines exhibited will be new technology. It continues to offer the cutting-edge in computerized knitting technology that is a must-see for all visitors keen to discover what is in store for knitting, now and in the future.
