Metal detection on a roll

Explaining the rationale for inspecting textiles and paper, Fortress Technology’s European sales director Phil Brown says: “Metal detection is very much about quality assurance and is now an integral part of the textile and apparel production process. For garment and fabric manufacturers, metal detectors may look for broken needle fragments or other ferrous contaminants that could damage expensive textile cutting and processing machinery.”

In carpet manufacturing, for example, large shearing machines are used to trim and create a uniformed pile height. These razor-like blades are extremely expensive to replace, as they are the width of the carpet, usually 4m or more. If a metal pin is protruding from the carpet during this trimming process, you risk damaging the shearing blade. Even the smallest nick in the blade can create a groove running through the entire carpet roll, making it defective. In addition to being expensive to replace, few carpet manufacturers hold these blades in stock resulting in extensive machine downtime while waiting for a replacement.