Every other year, Messe Frankfurt, a technology trade event company, presents the Texprocess International Trade Fair for Processing Textile and Flexible Materials in Frankfurt und Main, Germany. An estimated 13,300 visitors attended the 2015 show to search the emerging technologies for business solutions—and see award-winning process innovations.

The Texprocess Innovation Award is presented for outstanding innovative developments, technologies and methods of processing textiles and other flexible materials, and the 2015 awards ran the gamut of new and notable ideas. The winners:

• Veit GmbH, Munich, Germany, manufacturer of ironing, fusing and pressing equipment, won in the ‘new technology’ category for its Fusing 4.0, a decentralized control process that makes it easier to regulate production processes;
• Xi’an Typical Europe GmbH, Kaiserslautern, Germany, manufacturer of industrial sewing machines, won in ‘new technology’ for Vetron Autoseam, a sewing machine that can produce three-dimensional components without an operator;
• Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen GmbH, Emmerich am Rhein, Germany, won in ‘new technology’ for its S-7300A NEXIO, the world’s first lock stitch sewing machine with an electronic feeding system directly connected to a stepping motor; and
• Dürkopp Adler AG, Bielefeld, Germany, won in the ‘new process’ category for its M-Type PREMIUM sewing machine with a sewing program that supports the operator in visually ascertaining where he or she is in the process.

The next Texprocess Trade Fair takes place in May 2017.