The company Kraus Textilveredlung in Rottenburg, established in 1959 and taken over by Elmar Kraus in 2005, dyes, bleaches and finishes since more than 60 years a wide variety of fabrics for well-known textile producers. With great passion the owner directs the textile company at the Neckar river together with his wife, his son and currently 23 employees.
The structure of the textile industry has changed considerably in recent years. Today, the requirements of the end customers are completely different than 10 or 20 years ago. Fashion gets faster and faster and often several collections are presented each year. The manufacturers’ product range is much wider than before and the trend gets more and more towards functionalization and high-quality textiles made of different fibre blends. This presents enormous challenges also to KRAUS TEXTILVEREDLUNG. In order to react even more flexible in future and to supply at the same time high quality, Elmar Kraus recently invested in a new stenter made by BRÜCKNER and is very satisfied: “The decision for BRÜCKNER was made for several reasons. On the one hand I felt very competently advised and attended during the whole offering phase and the BRÜCKNER technology is simply mature. Beside the reliable and qualified staff, the machine technology is just as decisive for a company’s success. In the end, of course, also the geographical proximity to BRÜCKNER played an important role”.
A two-stage heat-recovery and exhaust air cleaning system also made by BRÜCKNER is integrated in the new stenter. The exhaust air heat of the stenter can be used by KRAUS TEXTILVEREDLUNG to heat up fresh water. This covers a part of the warm water requirements of the washing, bleaching and dyeing ranges in the company. The exhaust air purification system cleans the remaining cooled exhaust air so that more than 90 % of all aerosols are removed from the exhaust air. For the residents this means no visible smoke from the chimney and no odour nuisance.
Every day around 3.5 tons of fabric for clothing, underwear and wellness are finished at KRAUS, about half of which are already processed by the new stenter. As soon as the integration of a new automatic batcher is completed, the capacity will be increased further. The new line allows a clearly faster processing than the existing stenter frames. Productivity has increased by approx. 25%, of course while maintaining the same high fabric quality. The finished articles are mainly knitwear made of cotton-polyester or cotton-polyamide blends with or without elastane, but Kraus Textilveredlung also finishes pure cotton or wool or silk blends for its customers. Despite the constant challenges and the currently somewhat weakening economy, Elmar Kraus is optimistic about the future.