Turkiye is By Far Our Most Important Market
Interview: Tuğba Karademir
Founded in 1998 as a joint venture between Barmag and Brückner, BB Engineering has solidified its leadership in the industry with innovative products. Today, the company holds a strong position in the global market with a wide range of products, from flexible spinning systems to PET recycling technologies.
Turkiye is one of BB Engineering’s most important markets, with long-standing customer relationships and strong partnerships contributing to its continued growth. Through successful roadshow events held in Gaziantep and Bursa last year, the company showcased the latest developments to the Turkish textile sector. The potential seen in Turkiye is shaping the company’s future goals.
Marketing Manager Pia Kürten and Spinning Technologies Product Manager Ralf Morgenroth shared their insights for our Tekstil Teknoloji Magazine. The key highlights are as follows:
When BB Engineering was founded in 1998, what vision did the company pursue, and how did you achieve your leadership position in the industry today?
BB Engineering was founded as a joint venture of Barmag and Brückner, both leading companies in their business sector. Barmag is a machine builder for spinning lines, Brückner sells film lines. So, BB Engineerings business purpose was to carry and develop the know-how in the field of extrusion and filtration for both parent companies and supply them with the corresponding hardware.
Over the years, BB Engineering has continued to grow continuously as we made use of this know-how and developed further independent product lines for the global synthetic fiber market. We are very successful in the area of smaller, flexible spinning systems (VarioFil), air-texturizing machines (JeTex) and PET recycling systems (VacuFil).
Our development activities in the field of recycling are also welcomed by our parent companies, as PET is also one of their core materials.
How was 2024 for your company? Can you share details on your production volume, sales figures, and the growth rates in your export markets?
Despite the national and global market challenges 2024 was a good year for our company. We were able to work on our customer projects and R&D activities as planned and conclude a successful year. We already have a good order intake for this and next year and are therefore looking positively towards 2026.
“JeTex® offers the ability to convert the latest technology drawn textured systems into air-texturing systems”
What were the biggest challenges you encountered during the development of the JeTex® air jet texturing system, and what innovative features did you highlight when introducing this system to the market?
Challenges:
Our aim was to accommodate a particularly yarn-friendly yarn path in a compact design that would enable us to achieve high yarn evenness as well as high process speeds. To do this, we first had to build up process know-how, even though we were able to draw on Barmag’s decades of knowledge.
Highlights:
In addition to our specially developed high-end texturizing box, a special feature of JeTex is that we not only offer it as a complete system, but can also convert existing state-of-the-art draw-texturizing systems from Barmag to air-texturizing, so that this state-of-the-art technology is also available for air-texturizing and producers can easily convert their machines.
How do the advantages of energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness of JeTex® create a difference in the industry? What tangible benefits can users gain from this technology?
We use the very efficient godet technology by Barmag that is already familiar from the Barmag DTY system and has been optimized over many years. The same applies to the heaters. In addition, the selection of electrical components for controlling the drives also supports energy and cost efficiency.
JeTex is also characterized by its compact design with 3-deck winding. This makes our system very space-saving and ultimately also cost-saving thanks to fewer components.
“We are also optimistic about the future of Turkiye and still see a lot of potential in the market”
What can you tell us about your activities in the Turkish market? What are BB Engineering’s strategies for Turkey, and what potential do you see in this market?
Turkiye is by far our most important market. Our systems are particularly well represented on the Turkish market and we have a broad base of long-standing, valued customer relationships. Our Turkish agency Tekstil Servis is an important partner here. Close and regular customer contact is very important to us. That is why we are always personally represented for our customers at the ITM at the Tekstil Servis booth and last year we successfully held a roadshow in Gaziantep and Bursa, where we presented our latest developments together with Oerlikon Barmag. We definitely want to repeat this. We are also optimistic about the future of Turkiye and still see a lot of potential in the market. This is reflected in the current customer interest. We are in project negotiations and are currently also implementing projects in Turkiye.
The JeTex® system can process various materials. Which industries and products yield the best results with this system?
JeTex gives POY and FDY the air-texturized finish. Air-texturized yarn is used for numerous textile and industriel products.
- Fashion: socks, underwear, sportswear, …
- Home furnishing: upholstery, pillow covers, curtains, carpets …
- Functional textiles: outerwear, backpacks, …
- Industrial: car seat upholstery, filtration media, medical bandage, …
What are BB Engineering’s strategies regarding sustainability? Can you share insights on the environmental impact and energy savings provided by systems like JeTex®?
First of all and as explained before, JeTex uses energysaving drives and electric components. The compact design saves a few components. But one aspect makes JeTex very special in terms of sustainability. If customers already have a DTY system from Barmag, but do not want to implement a complete ATY system (e.g. for reasons of space or time), we offer a JeTex ModKit, i.e. a “retrofit package”. This allows us to quickly convert customers’ existing systems position by position. This is very sustainable in many respects: less manufacturing effort, therefore less resources and CO2, less transportation, less energy required for assembly and so on.
“We only use state-of-the-art components from our partners Oerlikon Barmag and Heberlein for JeTex.”
How do the modern components used in the JeTex® system, especially those sourced from suppliers like Oerlikon Barmag and Heberlein, affect the product’s performance?
This is explained quite simply: if you want to create a high-end product, you need a high-end process that guarantees the product’s quality. And for that you need high-end components. BB Engineering has always focused on the highest quality in technology in order to provide reliable processes and thus enable the customer to achieve high added value. This is why we only use state-of-the-art components from our partners Oerlikon Barmag and Heberlein for JeTex, because we know that the yarn treatment is optimal and the quality is maintained. Let’s take godets as an example. The components we use generate a very constant yarn tension without slip, which in turn increases the yarn quality. The yarn-guiding ceramics are also crucial to quality. Their surface must be absolutely even and flawless to prevent damage to the yarn.
How has the flexibility and diversity you offer to users in textile and industrial applications expanded with JeTex®? Can you elaborate on the advantages provided by this diversity?
We can now offer not only the production step of spinning POY, FDY, IDY and more, but also a finishing step. So now, our customers can also create ATY with our technology and have both systems from a single source. They are then very flexible, as JeTex offers a wide range of quickly changeable setting options for different end results. This means that we can react quickly to market requirements.
A special highlight in terms of flexibility: If customers already have a DTY system from Barmag, but do not want to implement a complete ATY system (e.g. for reasons of space or time), we offer a JeTex ModKit, i.e. a “retrofit package”. This allows us to quickly convert customers’ existing systems position by position.
What can you share about BB Engineering’s future plans? Are there any new technologies or products that you are working on?
This year we will introduce our new large-area fine filter COBRA. This is a continuously running automated melt filter with integrated intermediate cleaning. It was specially developed for demanding filtration tasks with high levels of contamination, particularly in PET recycling, but it is just as suitable for spinning due to its excellent filtration performance. The inline cleaning extends the filter’s service life many times over and automation makes the handling very simple.
