Sometimes a simple measure brings forth results beyond expectations. That is what happened at Buettner, a company from Santa Catarina which has been active in the textile sector for more than 100 years and which produces more than two million bath towels for around 40 countries each month. The exchange of Standard motors on the ring spinning machines for the WMagnet motors from WEG last year made utilization of the equipment increase by 80%. The change and optimization of the process furthermore caused a 33% reduction in power consumption. The result was savings in production costs and consequent gains in final revenue.

The motors were installed in three of the 45 company spinning machines, but the objective now is to expand this. “In the first package we acquired three WMagnet. Now we’re going to buy three more. The goal is to replace all of them within three years,” discloses Aires Fantoni, Electrical Maintenance supervisor at Buettner.

It is on the ring spinning machines that the raw cotton is transformed into threads of the desired thickness for each use and it is wound onto spools. This equipment has a catch which determines what gauge of thread will be produced. For each thread thickness, there is a catch with a different diameter. Formerly, the machine operated with old motors, with two speeds, and it was necessary to stop the machine for each gear change. They were motors of 17/25 hp and 1180/1765 rpm. Without counting that each new ring took up to two hours to be “softened” before beginning the spinning, the time lost in the operation was substantial.

WMagnet of 20 hp were installed (operated only with a frequency inverter whose parameters are established at WEG), which vary revolutions from zero rpm to 1,800 rpm and are totally automated. “Our personnel no longer need to stop the machine to change gears. The operator himself programs this,” explains Fontoni, highlighting that the soft start reduces machine wear. The advantages of the exchange soon became evident: as well as lower maintenance cost (practically zero), the variation of motor speed with constant torque and energy savings increase the reliability and performance of the production line.