Yarn into Carpet

When the finished yarn arrives at Cavalier Bremworth's tufting plant at Papatoetoe in Auckland, the process begins to turn it into carpet.   Regardless of the style of carpet, the process remains pretty much the same.

The first step is to take the yarn and wind it onto beams (these look like giant cotton reels) to feed onto the tufting machines.  There can be anywhere from 50 to 200 ends of yarn on a beam, depending on the thickness of the yarn and the type of product being made. The total number ends across a tufting machine can vary from 390 up to 2344 and the beams from 3 up to 16.

Special care is needed to ensure that the yarn is wound in the correct sequence of colours to make the required carpet - just one yarn out of place in 200 ends can disrupt the end pattern.

There are 21 tufting machines at the Papatoetoe plant - essentially giant sewing machines that stitch the woollen yarn into place onto a primary polypropylene backing. The tufting machine uses yarn feed rollers to determine the height of the stitch. For texture and high/low effects the yarn feed can vary to deliver more or less yarn depending on the look required. The line of needles doing the stitching can also shift across if needed to create a particular pattern.

All cut pile carpets start out life as loop piles - but the tops of the loops are cut during the tufting process by knives attached to the six specialist cut pile machines.

Once the tufted carpet, stitched onto its primary backing, has been made, it then has the secondary jute backing applied - using low VOC latex to bond it together.  This secondary backing stops the tufts from coming loose and gives the carpet dimensional stability needed when it is installed onto the floor.

The critical part of this process is ensuring there are no folds or creases in the backing when it is attached to the carpet as it goes through the dryer.  At a temperature of 180 degrees Celsius, the dryer cures the latex compound, after which the carpet is trimmed at the sides to remove any unnecessary backing.

From there it goes through a cooling zone, and then to the finishing area for final inspection and grading.  Cut piles will have an additional process through a shearing machine to trim off any high tufts and ensure an even surface.

Cavalier Bremworth has a large distribution warehouse at Wiri and all finished carpet is stored there, ready for despatch to dealers and installers.