Over a decade of service is enough for any company to establish and prove its expertise in any segment or field of business. The same holds true for Eastman Machine Company, the USA based manufacturer of cutting room solutions for the apparel and other sewn products industry. Catering to the apparel and technical textile industries for 12 decades with cutting edge manual and automated cutting solutions, Eastman started its operations in India about 7 to 8 years back. Since then, the company has already done successful implementation of its automatic cutting and spreading equipment in companies like Shahi, Mandhana, Killer Jeans, Wave Tex and Al-Rakyan Exports.
Heading Eastman’s operations in India, Syed Hafeez, Regional Manager – South East Asia says that Eastman’s focus has been on the new range of Raptor cutters with two variants manufactured in USA and China assembled respectively, but with the same cutting edge technology and performance. Besides being equipped with features like Intellicut™ knife control, variable speed function, reciprocating knife and knife chiller mechanism, the aspect of real time diagnostics provides the cutter a definite edge above its competitors. “Our cutters are equipped with the innovative and patent pending tool head with Synqnet technology for predictive maintenance of the automatic cutter, based on the various KPIs of machine, which are monitored closely by the system,” claims Syed Hafeez. Since all the cutters are digitally controlled, issues such as wiring problems do not stop the cutter, rather the cutting operator is alerted about the problem, while the cutter keeps working.
Another innovation that the company has done in the cutter is the presence of rack & pinion for movement of cutting head for both Y-axis and X-axis, instead of teeth timing belt in Y-axis like in most of the cutters. Due to this, the control and grip of the cutter on the cutting head is more precise and accurate. Similarly with the same cutter one can make notches, drill holes, owls and V-notches. “The only difference between the Chinese assembled and USA manufactured cutters is the price difference of 35%, rest all parts and technologies are the same, since the assembly happens in China. This is a highlight of our cutter as all the automatic cutting machine brands manufacture cutters only in China,” asserted Hafeez. The Raptor 75X is the one manufactured in the USA and the MPC Raptor is the China-assembled version of the same. Hafeez claims that Eastman cutters are compatible with all the available CAD software solutions.
The early success that the company has had with its automated cutting and spreading solutions can be attributed to the company’s brand image and penetration in the apparel manufacturing segment. Eastman claims to have saved 2% fabric in the manufacturing facilities of Mandhana. “The market is upbeat now, and to continue with this upward trend, people would have to adopt automation in the cutting room, because it would not only reduce the manpower requirement but also save on the most expensive raw material, the fabric,” concluded Hafeez, who foresees growth in the coming years with the existing set of clients only. Eastman has also started manufacturing plotters and fusing machines, aimed at becoming a complete cutting room solution provider.
