Albstadt/Germany: On 16 and 17 September 2014 Groz-Beckert invited to the first international conference for large diameter circular knitting machine builders. On both days, 70 visitors from all over the world gathered in Albstadt to get and exchange information about recent developments and coming trends in the textile sector.

The event started on Tuesday morning. Eric Schöller, Member of the Management Board, welcomed the guests. After a short presentation of the company, he shared the concept of the conference with the participants. "We want to create a platform for our customers providing room for ideas and exchange. Bringing all big players together under one roof and getting experts for interesting presentations was our aim", said Schöller.

After the welcome, the guests were invited to a tour of the Technology and Development Center (TEZ). The first technical presentation of the conference held Roland Karle of the solidian GmbH. He presented the topic of textile-reinforced concrete by the example of the world's longest concrete bridge with textile reinforcement, inaugurated in Albstadt-Lautlingen in 2010. Till Krauss of the Forschungsgesellschaft Textiltechnik Albstadt (FTA), went then into the details of the potential of so-called non-crimp fabrics (NCF) – textile scrims of unidirectional fiber systems that can be produced on flat knitting machines as 2D or 3D structures.

After lunch, the participants could take a look "behind the curtain" as they got a tour of the Groz-Beckert production at the site of Albstadt. Finally, in the afternoon, the group went to Hechingen to the castle of Hohenzollern, where a tour of the castle and dinner rounded off the day in a comfortable atmosphere.

The second day of the conference was dedicated to technical presentations on different topics. In the morning, the group listened to the representatives of the companies Triumph International AG, Memminger-IRO GmbH, Lenzing AG, and Hermann Bühler AG. Their presentations and the following discussions included trends in the lingerie sector, innovative accessories for circular knitting machines, and innovations from the world of fibers and yarns, specially developed for the production of ultrafine knitted fabrics.

In the afternoon, with the presentations of companies Brückner Trockentechnik GmbH & Co. KG and CHT R. Beitlich GmbH, the finishing of textiles was in the limelight. Among others, the challenges of dry finishing sensitive and ultrafine knitted fabrics were discussed. Another issue was suitable auxiliary products for the finishing of sports and functional wear and the ever more challenging requirements on finishing considering the increased use of fine microfiber fabrics made of polyester (PES) and polyamide (PA).

As last item of the agenda, Groz-Beckert provided insight into internal market analyses concerning current and future developments of the global large diameter circular knitting sector, one focus being on Asian markets.

At the end of the two exciting and inspiring days, the participants left the conference with a lot of new information and a reinforced network. In its closing speech, Groz-Beckert held out the prospect of a new edition of this successful first conference.