By Melissa Donovan
Part 3 of 4
The first two parts in this series focused on cutting hard goods like metal and acrylic, with a nameplate manufacturer and fine art gallery turned promotional supplier. Automated finishing techniques are not limited to just these, but are also beneficial for flexible substrates, and more specifically soft goods—like textiles.
Using automated cutters for fabric is a game changer for many, but specifically busy manufacturing facilities requiring each and every product to look exactly the same—production lot to production lot. French knitwear clothing manufacturer, Bonneterie Chanteclair, bought into this with a purchase from Gerber Technology.
The PPE Pivot
Founded in 1973, Chanteclair is a family company that designs, makes, and sells knitwear products for designers, distributors, labels, and licensors. Well-recognized for its professionalism, and located in a region known for textile production, the business is certified Origine France Garantie, meaning all of its products are made in France.
In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic reached a height in France, Thomas Delise, GM, Chanteclair wanted to think outside the box when it came to protecting employees’ jobs and the community’s health. This meant designing personal protection equipment (PPE).
In response, the company created a high-quality mask with a HEPA filter, which attracted the attention of French president, Emmanuel Macron. Quickly, Chanteclair received order requests from regional administrations for these masks and to keep up, the company developed an ecommerce website to sell both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets.
To stay ahead of the game, Chanteclair turned to Gerber to help implement an end-to-end automated workflow solution by digitally transforming its supply chain. It specifically worked with the company through its PPE Task Force, which to date has helped over 1,700 companies pivot to PPE production. The following products were quickly instituted into the knitwear company’s production facility.
AccuMark, which is Gerber’s pattern design, grading, marker making, and production planning software. The October 2020 edition of AccuMark includes increased personalization options and provides users with resources for a successful workflow like avoiding data entry errors and consolidating information.
AccuNest and AccuPlan were also added. AccuNest is an automated, high-speed nesting system that uses powerful algorithms to analyze multiple nesting solutions and deliver the one with the highest material utilization. AccuPlan is a spread and cut planning tool designed to leverage existing libraries and databases, as well as the marker planning process.
Finally, it added the Gerber Paragon cutting system, which is an automated high-ply cutting system for apparel. It boasts ease of use and maximum throughput. Integrated with AccuMark, it’s not necessary to search for a file, scanning a barcode retrieves a job’s specific parameters. There are two versions of the Gerber Paragon, the LX Series cuts up to 1.08 inches of vacuum-compressed material and the HX Series cuts up to 2.8 inches of compressed material.
With Gerber’s end-to-end automated solution, Chanteclair helped its community and kept the doors open for its employees. It fulfilled a high demand for masks in a very short amount of time.
“Gerber was extremely supportive throughout the entire process. Its innovative technology and team of experts were critical throughout our transformation. We effectively digitized our entire workflow in such a short time, which is really remarkable,” explains Delise.
Future Look
As demand for masks levels out, Chanteclair plans to transition its newly acquired digital system to the manufacturing of other knitwear products. This enables it to join the evolution of just-in-time manufacturing, meeting customer demands quickly and handling customization requests as well as multiple SKUs.
Read part two, Maximum Art Effect
Apr2021, Industrial Print Magazine