“We are totally committed to reinventing our products for new and emerging challenges,” is what Wade Stevenson, President & CEO of Eastman Machine Company envisions for the future. Found way back in 1888, as the only American manufacturer of advanced cutting & spreading equipment, Eastman has over the years developed a strong working philosophy centred on the cutting room. Team StitchWorld reviews the versatile cutting and spreading solutions offered by the veteran company.
Majorly recognized for their straight knife cutting machines with the world market share of 80%, except in China, the company has emerged to provide automated cutting systems for diverse industry needs. The multi-ply cutting system, conveyor cutting system, laser, router and manual cutters serve a range of industries from apparels to aerospace to composite fabrics. A logical step forward for the company was to develop pattern & marker making software, which Eastman has integrated successfully. Serving industries worldwide from its headquarters in Buffalo, New York, its sales office in Hong Kong and the factory in Ningbo, China with the help of 100 worldwide dealers, Eastman has trimmed material wastages and excess times to put companies around the world back to profits.
The Multi-Ply Cutting System or the MPC-7000, the company’s highly popular cutting solutions, is capable of cutting up to 7 cm (2.5 inches) of compressed material. Supported by an automated reciprocating straight knife cutter, with a conveyor system, the machine provides for material to be automatically conveyed from a spreading table to the cutting area where a polyethylene film automatically covers the spread to create an airtight seal.
Eastman’s exclusive Intellicut™ knife control software increases the accuracy and precision of the cut from top to bottom ply. Automatic stack cutting minimizes manual labour and increases material utilization for more cut parts in less time.
The Variable Frequency Drive Control with Eastman’s high-efficiency vacuum provides consistent material compression while reducing power consumption. “When providing highly automated machines to customers spread all over the world, the maintenance and after-sales-service is of prime concern. Hence all Eastman machines are networked to its headquarters in New York and monitored in real-time by our technicians,” avers Stevenson.
In the spreading solutions quality resides in the flexibility to handle varieties of fabric not only for current requirements but also future developments as well. The NA-850 Automatic Spreading System is specialized for woven fabric. The spreader comes in three variants offering widths from 1625 mm to 2235 mm; all these are equipped with the automatic fabric alignment mechanism which evens out the fabric resulting in huge fabric saving when compared to manual spreading. With features such as dual material feeding system, static eliminator, encoder gear, feeding assistant bar and two sided safety guard, makes the spreader stand out from others.
“Speed wins… It is not the biggest companies that always win, but the fastest. Adaptability and responsiveness to your customer and employees will ultimately win the battle,”… is how Stevenson sums up the way Eastman Machine Company strives to do business.
