Picanol has always been a forerunner in adapting its weaving machines to enable them to weave industrial fabrics like tarpaulins and conveyor belts. Also today, Picanol is still focusing on technical textiles, thereby combining its state-of-the art technologies, made possible by the strong innovative focus that brought it to the top in apparel and household weaving, combined with a strong R&D and services teams that adapt the weaving machines towards the specific needs of the technical weavers. Picanol weaving machines offered for technical Fabrics are made in Europe, based on two platforms, the OMNIplus Summum airjet and the OptiMax positive gripper. This gripper is available in all widths and is mainly used for wider width applications in the technical segment: a variety of very demanding fabrics such as one-piece-woven airbags, super-wide ( 540 cm ) agro-textiles, industrial glass, para-aramides, monofilaments etc. The development was a logical next step for Picanol in order to fulfil the increasing demands from the technical markets. Where needed, modular adaptations have been designed to extend the weaving range .
One of these modular adaptations is the new guided positive gripper, offered in widths of up to 540 cm. This machines aims at markets previously served uniquely by wide projectile machines. Positive guided gripper-technology however offers a more economical solution and adds versatility and ease of operation to the equation. Having introduced the OptiMax platform as recently as 2007, the latest technologies in electronics, software and mechanical parts are present.