Pakistani textile mills will gain local access to precision spray finishing trials after BW Converting, Archroma and Monforts confirmed a new three-way initiative, with the partners presenting the plan at IGATEX Pakistan at the Expo Centre Lahore this week (October 15-18).

BW Converting plans to install a laboratory-scale spray-finishing unit at Archroma's Pakistan laboratory. The move would let mills test finishing chemistries and applications on their own fabrics without first shipping samples overseas for trials.

The plan separates into distinct stages:

• Laboratory-scale spray finishing trials at Archroma's Pakistan lab
• Development work using Archroma's own formulations and mill-specific fabrics
• Larger-scale trials at the Monforts Advanced Technology Center (ATC) in Mönchengladbach, Germany
• Assessment of drying, fabric handling and thermal treatment before mills commit to production equipment

All three companies will exhibit jointly through their local representative Al-Ameen Trading Corporation, on stand F-2-09 in Hall 2 at IGATEX Pakistan 2026.

What does the technology change for mills?

The planned facility pairs BW Converting's Baldwin TexCoat G4 non-contact spray application technology with Archroma's textile chemistry and application expertise. The G4 system applies controlled quantities of finishing chemistry to one or both sides of a fabric using precision spraying.

Compared with conventional processes that run higher wet pick-up, applying only the required amount of chemistry reduces the volume of water that must be evaporated during drying. That can cut water, chemical and energy consumption, and potentially allow higher production speeds depending on the fabric and finishing application.

Pakistan is a particularly relevant market for the technology, given the scale of its textile processing industry and growing pressure on mills to reduce energy, water and chemical consumption while maintaining productivity.

"Pakistan has become an important market for precision spray finishing because mills are looking very closely at productivity, energy consumption, chemical use and process control," said Yiannis Vasilonikolos, global sales leader for textiles at BW Converting.

What happens after the lab stage?

The Archroma installation will also allow the chemicals specialist to run development work with its own formulations while giving manufacturers a route to test fabrics and specific finishing requirements using precision spraying.

Jan Mohammad Khan, segment head finishing at Archroma Pakistan, said bringing the technology into the country should enable mills to assess potential applications under conditions more closely related to their own manufacturing requirements.

Monforts adds the next stage in the development chain. Its ATC in Mönchengladbach houses pilot-scale dyeing, finishing and coating equipment on which customers can conduct trials under conditions designed to replicate commercial production. Applications developed in Pakistan can be assessed in combination with fabric handling, drying and thermal treatment before mills consider investment in full production equipment.

"Moving a promising application from the laboratory to production means understanding how it performs across the finishing process," said Manfred Havenith, area sales manager at Monforts.

The arrangement is intended to provide a more direct route from initial formulation and application development through to testing under industrial finishing conditions, shortening the trial loop for Pakistani mills that previously depended on overseas facilities.

The partners will outline further details of the initiative at IGATEX Pakistan, where sourcing and finishing teams can evaluate the technology on Al-Ameen's stand ahead of any capital investment decisions.