Uster Technologies, in its industry often called USTER, is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

manufacturer of analytical instruments and on-line monitoring systems for the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry process Cotton manufacturi ...

, based in

Uster Uster (High Alemannic: ''Uschter'') is a town and the capital of the Uster District in the Swiss canton of Zürich. It is the third largest town in the canton of Zürich, with almost 35,000 inhabitants, and is one of the twenty largest towns ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It emerged as a

management buy-out A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

form of the textile division ''Zellweger Uster'' of the Zellweger Luwa Group in 2003. From 2007 until 2012 the company was publicly traded and listed on the main segment of SIX Swiss Exchange. Since 2012 Uster Technologies is a subsidiary of

Toyota Industries is a Japanese machine maker. Originally, and still actively (as of 2021), a manufacturer of automatic looms, it is the company from which Toyota Motor Corporation developed. It is the world's largest manufacturer of forklift trucks measured b ...

Corporation.

Products and services

Uster Technologies mainly produces laboratory and on-line systems used to measure and control the quality of

fibers Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate ...

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufact ...

s and fabric.

For cotton ginning, classing and trading

Modern, industrial

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

gins Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries (''Juniperus communis''). Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the Ne ...

often operate with

sensor A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

s by Uster, to control their process and to the resulting fiber quality.

Cotton classing Cotton classing is the measurement and classification of cotton by its specific physical attributes. This information is attached to individual bales, thus clarifying their value and helping producers market them. For cotton buyers, i.e. the spinni ...

is required to measure and classify each cotton bale according to its specific physical attributes. Measurement information produced by Uster's HVI (High Volume Instrument) covers following parameters: fiber length, length uniformity, fiber strength, fiber maturity, short fiber content, micronaire (fiber fineness), color grade, leaf and extraneous matter. When cotton is

traded Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

, its value is determined by the above-mentioned quality parameters, as measured by the HVI in the classing agencies. Hence Uster's HVI has defined a set of standards for a large part of all cotton trades worldwide.

For yarn production

Uster products are used in the

spinning mill Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally ...

for measuring and analyzing the quality of the raw materials (i.e., fibers of different materials), intermediate products (i.e.,

sliver Sliver may refer to: Entertainment *Sliver (novel), ''Sliver'' (novel), a 1991 novel by Ira Levin **Sliver (film), ''Sliver'' (film), a 1993 film adaptation of the novel **Sliver (soundtrack), ''Sliver'' (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the 1993 fi ...

roving A roving is a long and narrow bundle of fiber. Rovings are produced during the process of making spun yarn from wool fleece, raw cotton, or other fibres. Their main use is as fibre prepared for spinning, but they may also be used for specialised ...

) and final product (i.e.,

) along their entire manufacturing process. Most important process parameters a spinning mill has to control are: quality of the incoming fibers, yarn evenness, hairiness, tensile strength and elongation, contamination with disturbing materials, twist, friction, etc. By measuring these parameters, the instruments can be used as tools for a mill-wide

quality assurance Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to ensure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...

process. An overview of Uster products applied in the spinning mills: * The "Uster Tester", a laboratory system for the measurement of evenness, thick places, thin places, neps, hairiness, diameter, dust, trash, fineness of yarns * Yarn tensile testers - at conventional (5m/min) and high speeds (400m/min) * Yarn fineness tester * Yarn strength tester (Tensorapid) * Yarn twist tester * Yarn friction tester * Single fiber measuring system (AFIS = Advanced Fibre Investigation System) * Fiber bundle measuring system (HVI) * Yarn clearer (Uster Quantum), which is mounted in the automatic winding machine, i.e., "on-line" * Defect classification instrument (Classimat) * Cotton cleaning system (Vision Shield) While developing these different testing instruments, often the first of their kind, Uster also had to invent either the measuring method or the suitable measurement parameters. Some examples: For comparing such quality parameters in the spinning laboratory with those of other spinning mills worldwide, Uster established a number of benchmarks. The first so-called "Uster Statistics" were introduced in 1957 and have been periodically updated to account for the technical and regional changes in the industry. These statistics are an important element in the trading of yarns, as they allow yarns to be objectively specified and referred to a worldwide quality level. Uster Technologies also runs the Usterizing certification program for spinning mills.

History

* The roots of the company date back to 1875, when an aerial telegraphy workshop was established in Uster, Switzerland. * 1927, the production of weaving preparatory machines started under the brand Uster * 1944, the company started research and development for textile electronics, mainly for the Swiss spinning mills * 1948, the company launched the first ever yarn evenness tester under the name "Zellweger Uster". Being one of the first of its kind, this instrument and its following product generations became well known worldwide, which explains why the company was able to file "Uster" as a registered trademark, while being located in the city of the same name. * 1957, the company published the first set of quality standards for yarn evenness, called Uster Statistics * 1989, acquisition of Schaffner Technologies (USA) * 1990, acquisition of Spinlab (USA) * 1993, acquisition of Peyer (Switzerland) * 2003, buyout from Zellweger Luwa by Management and two private-equity investment companies * 2005, establishment of development and manufacturing site in

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

, China * 2006, secondary buyout by management and funds advised by Alpha Beteiligungsberatung GmbH & Co. KG * 2007, listing on main segment of

SIX Swiss Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange (formerly SWX Swiss Exchange), based in Zurich, is Switzerland's principal stock exchange (the other being Berne eXchange). SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other security (finance), securities such as Swiss government bonds and d ...

* 2008, introduction of new product groups specifically targeting the mid-market segment * 2009, acquisition of Zweigle products (Germany) * 2012, public takeover by Toyota Industries Corporation * 2013, acquisition of Jossi Systems * 2018, acquisition of Elbit Vision Systems (EVS)

References

External links

* Corporate web site
Uster.com
* USDA
Explanation of cotton classification data
* Cotton Incorporated
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