Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Lydia Pla Moderniz d.. oy mtHiinier imks, ill Senior Associate Editor fl Textile World it b Clinton Mills Inc.'s Lydia Plant replaced ti 140 cards with 32 and turned a slow-speed operation into a showplace that is virtually h dust free. fi When the Lydia printcloth plant changed h from 15 Ib/hr. lap-fed cards to 70 Ib/hr. chute-fed units, it also... ...drastically reduced carding reworkable n waste. n ...reduced slubs in direct-spun filling. tl ...improved silver weight variation. a ...reduced drawing CV. q ...improved fabric appearance. d Improvements In I Fabric Pay Off Processing statistics show that Lydia had C a reputation for superior quality printcloth before its carding modernization: r Finisher drawing CV was a respectable I 3.75% After installation of new cards (Mk III, CrosroDand new drawing (720, Zinser), drawing CV now holds at a consistent 2.75%. ; Lydia spins 50-50 polyester-cotton into j Ne 35 for warp and filling. "Ends down have ( always been good (just under 20 EDMSH)," says Joe B. Nelson, plant manager. "There wasn't much room for improvement. But our latest reports show ends down at 8.1 Most of v them now result from spinners' piecings at | creeling." j Stubs and waste in direct-spun filling now stand at less than one-fifth of former , levels. This is a big quality bonus. "When you direct spin filling, you don't have an opportunity to clean up tne yarn prior to L weaving," Nelson notes. ( An occasional quill would contain enough "I slubs to ruin several inches of fabric. Clinton cutsout these strips during fabric inspection and records the number of cut-outs. Before ; installing new cards, the plant averaged 250 cutouts/day. The daily average now stands at 48. ( r Lydia produces 280,000 lb. (1.1 million ( yd.) of printcloth each six-day week. Nelson says there is a marked improvement in fabric cleanliness and appearance since the new cards were installed. ( t DrnHaistfistn Dsvr riuuuuiiun rci v t Employee Increases i Now, with no laps to lay and fewer ends to piece, two tenders operate 32 cards at 70 > Ib/hr. At 100% that comes to 1,120 lb/hr/ < tender vs. 525 Ib/hr/tender with the old cards. Efficiency levels of 92-94% are addi- i uonai Donuses. < Lydia complemented its carding installation with additional upgrading in its carding department. Automatic stock feeding (Bale 0 Matic. Automatic Material Handling) now serves the cotton opening operation. This \ function is located in a building adiacent to : the main plant. I nt Card ations Ir Intimate blending takes place on the third oor, just outside the carding area. Before lodernization, Lydia transported polyester ales up an elevator to the blending operaon. Carding modernization included six new oppers (Fiber Controls), installed on the rst floor. This eliminated a major materials ananng siep. Staffing of carding department mainteance personnel remained intact. Managelent feels that (1) you can't shortchange le importanceof maintenance in producing quality product; and (2) maintenance reuirements are determined by pounds prouced, not machines in place. At drawing, Lydia replaced 40 deliveries ach of breaker and finisher with six twoelivery machines at each stage. The units re equipped with automatic doffing. Complies With OSHA )ust Requirements "You won't find a single employee in the :arding department?including supervinon?who wants to go back to the old sysem," says Van C. Oxner, carding superinendent. "Nobody wants to return to wearing espirators." The carding area, where everyone had to vear respiratory protection, now operates at ess than half the OSHA dust standard. And t processes the same poundage as before. 'We also made substantial reductions in loise levels." says Oxner. The cards, equipped with new lint and lust removal systems and filtration Pneumafil), are almost totally enclosed. ne only exposed area is the flats section. Lydia opted against installing flat covers o provide easier, more frequent inspection. 'We feel the wisdom of this decision has jeen born out in the carding operation, :specially since we are able to more than neet the dust standard without them," says Dxner. He also feels that employee acceptance of he new cards was enhanced by use of a Jemonstration machine. Its purpose was to ;nable the plant to conduct onsite evaluaions. "By the time we made our decision, he employees had an opportunity to see vhat it would do?on our production. And hey all liked it." Cards deliver 60-grain sliver into 30x48 n. cans with 95-lb capacity a far cry rom the 18x42-in. cans on the old cards. The units also have long term autolevelling (Crosrol) and crushing rolls (Varga, Crosrol). "The secret to good quality on these cards is use ot Tour stationary tiats at the delivery end." says Oxner. "This concept provides better fiber parallelization and a much bet ter sliver " Do the cards hold their settings well? 'Like a tank." says Nelson "Each card weighs 12.000 pounds. " (That also tells you something about the construction of Lydia 3lant: Cards are on the third floor.) Room nprove Qi TI *T - r> Thurmon Jones observes o i *. ?' w/m* ? RKJm * w ? % Willie Brown checks sliver being p Nelson also points to the cards' improved drives. And Oxner likes the design features ( that permit removing screens out the side: < "That really saves a lot of time." < i Another design feature touted by Lydia management is the builder's attention to ' safety?a strong concern at Clinton. "The ! enclosures are a big step in this direction," 1 says Nelson. "We haven't had a serious 1 medical injury in carding since installation began in April, 1981." The card control panel includes a slowspeed button tor startup and end piecing, when needed But card tenders have experienced no prnh'<-~- in nutting up ends. . ...page 3 lality -:m | ' ? wpfc' .' y Arm ????/ IB I cy 1HI ,Bni :^h peration of new cards. - ?. m ^ ^ i ' reduced on drawing machines. Following carding, Lydia produces 57?rain sliver at breaker drawing and 55-grain it finisher. Both processes use 20x48-in. :ans, an increase from 16x42-in. on the old machines. The plant produces 1.00 hankroving, resulting in a 35 draft requirement at spinning. This calls for stiff quality standards at each preceding process. If'c nKuirti ic h it lAiith mrt/^Arn mirKmnr*! ii o uuviuwo ii-ai wiui MIUUCMI iiiaLimiciy and dedicated personnel. Clinton's Lydia Plant is up to the task Reprinted by permission from Textile World