Practical Study in Textile Fundamentals at Nippon Felt Co., Ltd.
The first year students in our program visited Nippon Felt's Saitama Mill in Kounosu, Saitama prefecture on September 15, as their second factory tour.
We were very touched by the company's warm welcome, Mr. Yoshio Oyama, the chairman was there as well to welcomed us; he's an alumnus of the Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University.
The Saitama Mill is their primary production site with R&D department and they showed us how their paper-making felts are produced. It was very fortunate for us to see and learn what the company's slogan "Do our duty. Do our best." means and what they aim for.
Participation report by Ms. Jiaping Zhang (1st-year student)
1. Purpose of participation
Nippon Felt is one of the world's leading manufacturers of paper-making felts, stressing importance on research. As a student in "Global Leader program for Fiber Renaissance", I think this trip is a great opportunity for us to discuss with excellent technologists and expend our horizons related to fiber industry. I aim to understand how good-quality products are made and learn some crucial concepts from them. In addition, from the question part, I would like to know more about the future direction of paper-making felts.
2. Issues identified as a result of participation
After a brief presentation of Saitama Mill, we started our visiting. There are two types of paper-making felts: needled and woven. The recent tendency is needled felts of synthetic textiles. The main manufacturing process contains: 1. yarn preparation, 2. weaving process, 3. Burling and joining process, 4. Needling process, 5. Finishing, 6. Inspection. However, each position of the paper-making machines requires different felts. Accordingly, felts designs must meet customers' needs, which boost the development of new materials and new technology. Nippon Felt strives to develop its technological fields for high quality products.
3. Results of participation
[Do our duty. Do our best] is an idea from Nippon Felt. I am really moved by these two short sentences. In daily life, we use paper every day, but I didn't learn about paper-making felts before which are necessary and crucial for paper-making process. However Nippon Felt does its work quietly, and almost does its best to boost the development of excellent felts even if most of us may not know, which most moved me deeply.
4. How will you apply what you learned to your research?
Doing research needs more precious skills and wide visions. After this visit to Nippon Felt, I really appreciate the exquisite technology. And more important, I got energy from the idea [Do our duty. Do our best], which will promote my endeavor. I will do my best even there are many challenges waiting for me, I won't be afraid and move forward continuously.