Reichenbach Wirkstoffe has developed in to a leading supplier for the automotive industry and produces backing material for artificial leather. New ‘state of the art’ facilities include a new Montex stenter.

Reichenbach Wirkstoffe GmbH produces more than 20,000 meters of knitted material as backing material for coating with artificial leather per day with 25 employees in Einbeck, a town in Lower Saxony between Kassel and Hannover.

"Our customers are primarily suppliers for the automotive industry, where know-how and flexibility are in-demand," comments the new Managing Director, Artur Weidelich.

Emerging from 50 years of tradition as a family-owned company, the operations and machinery were only recently expanded and brought up to the state-of-the-art. This includes a 500 m² annex that was finished in 2007, which expanded the production area to around 5000 m² making it possible to further optimize the flow of materials from delivery of the threads to the dispatch of the rolls.

“Now we’ve reached the size that allows us to react quickly and flexibly to the needs of our clients,” explains the former managing director, Herbert Weidenfeld, who acts as a consultant to the company.

Around 60 circular knitting machines as well as a brand new Montex stenter with 240 cm of working width and six treatment chambers make up the backbone of the production.

“We are certified according to ISO 9001 and are among a mere handful of knitting mills in Germany that have enough machines to take care of short-term inquiries from automobile suppliers," says Dipl.-Ing. (Textile Engineer) Artur Weidelich with visible pride.

Quality, though, is the ‘end-all and be-all’ of the entire production chain. The customers demand absolutely similar material quality to prevent problems during the process of coating the materials.

The knitted items have a weight of approx. 70 to 150 g/m² and are in open width between 150 and 200 cm wide.

The backing material usually consists of high-quality polyester/cotton blends and therefore creates the basis for high tensile strength, stretchability, sewability, and freedom from wrinkles for the later processing of the artificial leather after the coating.

20,000 m of goods per day are supplied in 1 ½ - 2 shifts. Batch lengths are normally 10,000 m cad. Each batch has its own quality certificate issued by the very modern, fully-equipped, in-house laboratory of Reichenbach Wirkstoffe.

The company's newest investment is a gas-heated 6-field Montex stenter that is used in two shifts and stretches the goods to a defined final width and trims an absolute straight-line edge. "Our customers value absolute uniformity above all so that no imperfections arise during the coating process," explains Herbert Weidenfeld.

The Montex stenter operates with an average speed of 40 m / min and also has no problems with polyester goods. The stenter, along with a Koenig exhaust air cleaning device, is equipped with an integrated Monforts heat recovery system.

This takes care of environmental concerns for the surrounding residential area and also realizes savings in energy consumption. Reichenbach Wirkstoffe GmbH is especially pleased with the easy cleaning of the heat recovery and air purifying components.

"The higher efficiency of the stretching equipment allows us to approach the goal we've set of a 20% increase in production in two years with aplomb,” continues Artur Weidelich: “as long as premium cars are produced in Germany, we will be among the leading suppliers.”