By Irene Muggler

Due to the increased demand for soft knitting yarn， Rieter customer Xinjiang Kangruixin Textile Co. Ltd. wants to increase production. At the same time， the Aksu-based company from the Xinjiang province， China， also faced pressures to save energy and personnel costs.

Xinjiang Kangruixin Textile Co.， Ltd. （Kangruixin）， a fully invested subsidiary of Henan Shenqiu Sanzha Textile Co. Ltd.， operates 50 000 ring spindles， 640 semi-automated rotor units and 260 sets of high-speed rapier looms. The company employs more than 800 people. Kangruixin covers the complete home textile process with its production chain from design， R&D;， through spinning and weaving， right through to dyeing and finishing.

The challenge： increased production with lower costs

Kangruixin has faced increasing pressure in recent years. There was a need to reduce energy consumption for ring spinning and save labor. To increase the production of high quality， soft yarn， the management focused on 100% virgin cotton and aimed for a shorter spinning process. At the same time， however， Kangruixin also wanted to meet the demand for yarn with lower twist， stable yarn evenness and consistent yarn strength.

The solution： R 66 rotor spinning machine

Kangruixin has invested in seven fully automated Rieter rotor spinning machines R 66， each with 600 rotors. These machines are equipped with spin boxes S 66， which are at the cutting edge of rotor spinning technology.

They feature unique functions including BYpass， SPEEDpass， CHANNELpass and TWISTunit. These allow stable running condition of the R 66 and a constant yarn quality. The robots with the VARIOclean units efficiently clean the rotor and the rotor groove before each single piecing operation. With the high degree of automation of the R 66 Kangruixin requires fewer operating personnel. With the R 66， the requirements of the customer were completely fulfilled.

More yarn with low energy consumption

The R 66 produces 25% more yarn compared to the semi-automated rotor spinning machine. The energy consumption per kilogram of yarn is 64% lower when compared with ring spinning production – also thanks to the energy-saving ECOrized drive technology.

The quality of the yarn produced is consistently high because of the new spin box S 66 technology. The machines run relia-bly and are easy to operate.

The number of operating personnel could be reduced by 75% compared to the ring production. The customers of Kangruixin are very pleased with the quality of the yarn. On a regular basis， they are able to sell the yarn above the cur-rent market price.