First Impressions of Our Low Carbon Dyeing and Printing Facility

First Impressions of Our Low Carbon Dyeing and Printing Facility

First Impressions of Our Low Carbon Dyeing and Printing Facility 1600 1066 NTX

It’s one thing to look at energy and water savings offered by NTX® Cooltrans® on paper when reviewing operations reports, it’s a completely different story when you get to experience them in person by visiting an NTX® Cooltrans® facility. We recently sat down with our Sr. Sourcing Manager, Jervel, and talked with her about her takeaway from visiting our newest Cambodia facility.

Note: Although this was Jervel’s first visit to an NTX facility, she is by no means an industry greenhorn. Jervel is an experienced sourcing professional who most recently worked with a leading global brand headquartered in the US northwest area. She has visited many processing facilities across Asia, yet she was still quite pleasantly surprised by what she saw on her trip to our Cambodia plant. 

The following are some impressions along with photos taken directly from the first visit.

NTX® Cooltrans® Facility Looks Like the Future

“Looks like the future!.” – Those were the first words we heard after asking – So what’s the facility like? Indeed, looking at some of the images taken from the trip, the plant seems more like a high tech clean room than a textile processing plant. The overall takeaway of the facility was that it is nothing like she’s ever seen on her visits to other textile coloration facilities. 

Here are some key highlights:

  • The machinery itself looks pristine as it encases our proprietary technology within
  • Employee interaction with the raw materials and the machinery are safe 
  • The facility operates at comfortable ambient temperature rather than being a steamy heat trap
State-of-the-art NTX® Cooltrans® Rocket Machine – for printing solid colors
Cooltrans Simple Wash Station – for washing off minute excess dye residue

The control panel for NTX® Cooltrans® V (Rocket)

NTX® Cooltrans® Facilities Are Safe

Another key aspect of the facility that Jervel mentioned dealt with safety, she noted that unlike other facility visits, the NTX® Cooltrans® plant didn’t have any of the chemical smells. This is due to the fact that our facilities use non-toxic dye inks and the fact that these inks are precisely applied doses directly into the substrate.

The employees never have to get close to any moving parts of the waterless coloration process where the temperature may be uncomfortable. The key areas where steam is applied during the processing are completely enclosed and out of reach of the employees.

Fabric Inspection Station – checking for defects and quality
NTX® Cooltrans® Digital – used for making film/paper transfer prints for sampling or small lots
Artwork pattern on film
NTX® Cooltrans® 2.5 Media Transfer – gravure prints created on film/paper and then transferred onto fabric
Stentor Station: performs the final setting process to retain width and occasionally functionality

Meeting Specifications via Precise Testing 

Another pleasant surprise was the attention to detail, specifically when it comes to ensuring customer specifications are achieved. One key advantage of NTX® Cooltrans® facilities is that once a design or color has been chosen to apply to a substrate, the process can be replicated 100% to specification every time at any NTX® Cooltrans® equipped plant. It is very important to make sure that the client requests are met exactly when creating the coloration profile. 

Testing to confirm that the output meets the client request is a very serious business at the NTX® Cooltrans® facility. It employs a combination of high-tech testing equipment and experienced professionals. 

Quality Check – color matching for customer specifications
Fabric Testing – abrasion to test ability to resist surface wear caused by rubbing

Small Footprint – Surprising Output Capacity 

The final surprising takeaway of NTX® Cooltrans® facility was the relatively small overall real estate footprint. While the facility itself does need ample space to host the necessary raw materials, the area necessary to actually execute the coloration process is relatively small compared to traditional coloration plants. 

There is also another factor that contributes to the small footprint of the facility – the lack of wastewater and the associated wastewater treatment plant. Jervel mentioned that this aspect of NTX® Cooltrans® was still surprising when experienced in person. NTX® Cooltrans® requires up to 90% less water than traditional coloration methods, and once the water is used up, it can be safely routed to local treatment plants. It doesn’t contain any of the hazardous materials typically associated with large scale coloration processing plants. 

Outside view of NTX® Cooltrans® facility
NTX® Cooltrans® 2.5 Media transfer – gravure prints on film/paper and then transfer pattern onto fabric
Color Fixing Station – steaming process to fix color

If you’re a fashion brand that is looking to improve your ecological footprint, we invite you to get in touch with us and come check out our facility in person. We hope to positively surprise you as well. In the meantime, you can learn more about NTX® Cooltrans® on our website.