Highlight of the growing dominance of Chinese sewing machine manufacturers, is now in providing automation for the sewn product industry, among which Shanghai-based Hikari Precise Machinery Science & Technology is at the forefront. The company displayed not only computerized and automatic version of lockstitch, interlock and overlock sewing machines at the recently concluded CISMA, but also machines for automatic button holing and sewing on a shirt placket, placket preparation machine, button sewing machine with feeder, with & without jig pattern sewing machines, belt loop attaching machines and trouser panel serging machines, all of which were the domain of European companies. “These new machines have been displayed at the fair to inform our customers of the direction in which Hikari’s future developments will move. We have displayed more than 10 new models of sewing machines at the fair,” asserted Alex, Regional Manager – International Business Department, Hikari.
Having attained a big chunk of China, Bangladesh and India’s apparel manufacturing sector, Hikari owes the success to the fact that even the most basic machine models from the company are direct drive energy saving computerized machines. “All these interventions support improvements in the quality and productivity of the sewing operator and have been made possible by our R&D department, in which we have invested a total of RMB 20 million, since our inception,” added Alex. The R&D centre employs about 30 domestic and foreign senior professional engineers, and Hikari has collaborated with Harbin Institute of Technology for giving thrust to its R&D activities.
[bleft]All these interventions support improvements in the quality and productivity of the sewing operator and have been made possible by Hikari’s R&D department, in which the company has invested a total of RMB 20 million, since its inception.[/bleft]
Among the machines which drew the maximum attention at the CISMA show were the computerized overlock machine with cylinder bed, button feeding machine, interlock machine with left and right trimmer and bartacking sewing machine. The HX6800T-UT2/AK series overlock machines are equipped with various automated functions like thread trimmer, thread suction, presser foot lifter and sensors, increasing the working efficiency by 30%. The overlock machine has cloth edge sensor which can efficiently control the fabric wastage, improving the working efficiency and overall sewing quality of the products. With a built in puller the fabrics can be fed with better accuracy, as it is possible to electronically adjust the timing and the duration of the puller operations, at the beginning and at the end of the sewing process.
