Kidderminster, UK, Oct. 20--Brintons, one of Britain's biggest carpet makers, says it's close to unveiling a machine that could change the economics of the industry by turning out room-size carpets tailored to individual requirements, rather than restricting consumers largely to "off the peg" designs made in long production runs, according to the Financial Times.
The step towards "just in time" carpet manufacturing - in one of the most notable technical advances in the 150-year history of carpet manufacturing - could hasten the day when consumers can choose a pattern for their carpet, and then instruct a manufacturer to make it, instead of relying on whatever is in stock.
Looms based on the new technology are under development in Brintons' headquarters in Kidderminster in the Midlands.
This is one of the traditional homes of the UK's carpet industry, but where (as in other carpet industry strongholds in the UK) the number of suppliers has diminished rapidly in the past 20 years because of competition from low-cost producers.
Brintons, set up in 1783 and still family-owned, is among the UK's oldest manufacturing businesses. Michael Brinton, chairman, is the sixth generation of the Brinton family to be in charge.
John Pilling, managing director of the company, said the new looms were a "holy grail" for the carpet industry. "After almost 10 years of development we are now rolling out this technology and next year will start to turn out commercial quantities of carpets using the new equipment."
The "made to order" carpets are unlikely to feature for some time in the homes of ordinary people.
Most of Brintons' carpet sales of about £96m last year went to commercial rather then residential customers, at prices of up to £60 per square metre - considerably above the prices paid by most household consumers.
However, the company says it hopes to offer the new "tailor made" carpets to some private homeowners who can afford higher prices.
While some Brintons' carpets end up in prestige commercial buildings like the terminals at Hong Kong airport, they can also be seen in establishments keen on sophisticated and expensive designs.
Brintons' roll of customers include the Kremlin, 10 Downing Street and the White House.
Unusually for the carpet industry, Brintons has always relied on making its own weaving machines. The company relies on these for 95 per cent of its production in its seven worldwide plants.
The new technology is based on rethinking the process under which bobbins of coloured yarn are supplied to the loom. In a typical eight-colour carpet, about 8,000 bobbins are normally required, while under the new system this is reduced to less than 200, without affecting the sophistication of the pattern.
As a result, with the new equipment, the time to change the mechanical settings and alter the colours can be cut to less than an hour, from about eight hours in a traditional system.
That promises to make it economic to switch round the settings for looms after they have made carpets in production runs of just a few hundred, or even tens of metres, while at present it is not economic to do this except after the looms have been working for several days while turning out much longer lengths.
Mr Pilling said he thought Brintons had a "real competitive advantage" with the new technology which should make it possible to "give our customers more choice about the type of carpet they would like without pushing up costs". Eventually, Brintons could license at least some of its ideas to other carpet producers.
About a third of its sales last year were in the UK, with slightly less than this in the US. It has factories in the US, India and Portugal.
The company said it sets great store by producing new and special designs for customers, often swapping patterns among its network of global plants using the internet.
