Corporate Profile
By Carmen Pang,Executive EditorOne-Stop Shopping For TechnologyTurkish yarn manufacturer
iPOND decided early on that it will equip its open-end spinning line with only Rieter systems for a
one-source solution.Textiles and Turkey are interwoven in history. The Silk Road, which Marco Polo
so famously traversed, cuts through parts of the country that has a long history in textile
production. Today, textiles contribute about 33 percent of Turkey’s total exports — about $10.3
billion in 2001, according to the Export Promotion Center of Turkey’s Undersecretariat of the Prime
Ministry for Foreign Trade (IGEME).With the availability of good-quality cotton, cotton yarn and
fabric production is one of the most important textile activities in modern-day Turkey. According
to IGEME, the estimated cotton yarn production in the country in 2001 was 893,000 tons and the
estimated cotton fabric production was 1,590 million meters. The value of cotton, cotton yarn and
cotton fabric exports added up to more than $840 million in 2001.A Brand New PlantIn March 2003,
installation of a brand new spinning plant began in a 15,000-square-meter covered area in Tekirdag,
a city not far from Corlu, one of Turkey’s biggest textile centers west of Istanbul. Three months
later, yarn production began. Today, it employs approximately 80 people and churns out an average
of 18 tons of cotton and rayon yarns every day.The spinning complex, named iPOND, is part of Yumak
Iplik Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, a textile manufacturer headquartered in Istanbul. Yumak Iplik was
founded in 2002 by two families that have been in the textile business for more than 20 years.iPOND
also is the trademark under which the company markets its yarns, which range from Ne 16 to Ne 30 in
yarn count. According to the company, the majority of its yarns are sold to Turkish export
knitters. In addition, some of the yarns are used by Yumak Iplik’s new knitting plant, which was
completed in December 2003. The company also has plans to add a ring spinning line to the
operation.
Tekirdag, near the Turkish textile center of Corlu, is home to iPOND’s spinning
plant.Technology InvestmentsiPOND may not be the largest spinning mill in Turkey, but it is easily
one of the most advanced in technology installation. The plant is equipped with an open-end
spinning system made by Switzerland-based Rieter Machine Works Ltd.According to Melih Günugur
Hasircilar, one of Yumak Iplik’s owners, a decision was made early on to install machinery supplied
by one source. “At the time when one first goes into production, the responsibilities must be
clear. A solution with various suppliers would have meant that we had to find out ourselves which
machine had what influence on a production error,” Hasircilar said. “Thanks to the ‘everything from
one source’ solution, we have gained additional security.”
Melih Günugar Hasircilar, iPONDFiber PreparationiPOND’s blowroom line includes a Rieter A 11
bale opener, a Rieter B 11 pre-cleaner, two Rieter B 70 mixing units and two Rieter B 60 fine
cleaners with A 20 condensers. In addition, there are seven Rieter C 60 cards set up in a modular
construction to reduce resetting time to a minimum.According to Rieter, benefits of the C 60
include high production rate and improved quality and flexibility (see TWAsia Spring 2003
issue).For the drawing process, iPOND decided on using two drawing passages — a Rieter RSB-D 35
drawframe and a Rieter RSB-D 15 drawframe. According to Rieter, the additional dust removal leads
to higher efficiency during spinning. Moreover, the improved parallel alignment of the fibers
results in improved yarn quality and characteristics.
iPOND’s new spinning plant produces 18 tons of cotton and rayon yarns everyday.Rotor
SpinningTen Rieter R 40 open-end spinning machines are set up to manufacture yarn packages with
diameters of up to 340 millimeters and weighing up to 5 kilograms. Rotor speeds can reach up to
150,000 revolutions per minute. The R 40 uses Rieter’s SC-R spin box, which integrates piecing and
package change in a robot assembly.According to Rieter, an optimized take-off angle facilitates
reduction in yarn twist, while maintaining spinning stability and increasing delivery speed by 5
percent.All yarns are then conditioned by the Condimat conditioning machine made by Germany-based
Ph Welker GmbH. A final phase of quality control is done under ultraviolet light for foreign
fibers.iPOND has also integrated Rieter’s SPIDERweb mill monitoring system into its production
lines to provide plant personnel with instant access to production and quality data.
Ten Rieter R 40 open-end spinning machines are set up in iPOND.Knitting LineYumak Iplik
recently added a new knitting operation to the iPOND complex. As with the spinning line, the
knitting machinery, which includes a Monarch VXC-3S circular knitting machine, was also supplied by
Rieter.Because the knitting facility is so new, Hasircilar said the company has yet to set any
production capacity or goals for the plant. “It also depends on the economic consumption in Turkey
and in Europe,” he said.
Spring 2004