The Hindu Business Line : SSI unit develops shuttleless rapier loom

A SMALL-SCALE unit in Tamil Nadu's Namakkal district is close to commercialising what could well turn out to be a true breed indigenised `rapier' shuttleless loom. The prototype of the `rapier' loom developed by Sree Andal and Company is currently on trial. The company is a textile-engineering firm engaged in the manufacture of conventional plain shuttle-looms and other textile machinery/accessories.

The commercial launch is likely in about four to six weeks' time, the managing partner of Sree Andal and Company, Mr R.S. Raju, has said.

The company's R and D programme has been funded through the Department of Science and Technology's Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) loan assistance route.

Mr Raju told Business Line that the Andal `rapier' loom is capable of working at a speed of 280-300 rpm as against the speed levels of 230-/240 rpm of other contemporary Indian `rapier' loom models of same genre and the 200 rpm generated in the plain shuttle-looms being used widely in the powerloom cloth weaving at present.

As for the mechanical aspect, the new breed shuttleless loom is cam-driven unlike the crankshaft-driven models of other Indian rapier looms available in the market. The company may price the loom in the region of Rs 6 lakh plus. The rising steel price makes fixing the price still uncertain. Sree Andal is likely to look for a marketing partner to sell the new model across the country.

The company is looking at the weaving clusters in Gujarat, Maharashtra besides the Tamil Nadu's yarn dyed fabric weaving centres of Salem, Madurai and Erode as potential market. Here the preference for rapier looms over the `projectile' looms is greater as the yarn-dyed fabric weaving would call for multi-colour weaving applications. The manufacturers of grey/unprocessed fabrics mostly opt for the `projectile' weaving machines.

TIFAC has been extending technology development assistance (TDA) for select sectors including the textile machinery manufacturers to try out upgrading the manufacturing technology. The TDA assistance is offered in the form of loan for specific product development project whose cost is to be divided between the promoter company and the TIFAC on a 50:50 basis.

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