TCE Corporation, Vietnam’s biggest denim producer, celebrates the first year of its Eco Line installation achieving close fabric control and significant energy savings. Investment in the Eco Line enhanced output from 1.5 million yards a month to 3.5 million yards, the biggest production capacity in Vietnam.

The Monforts Eco Line was manufactured by Monforts in Germany and supplied via Peja Vietnam. It is engineered to save on water and energy use. Key issues with denim are consistency and shrinkage. The greatest benefit of this machine is that it permits finer control of shrinkage.

Starting operations in South Korea in 1956, TCE relocated its entire production to Vietnam in 2014. TCE was the world’s first denim producer to install a Monforts Eco Denim Line, and after a full year of production is now able to evaluate the advantages in terms of production and energy and water savings. The company is the largest producer of denim in Vietnam, and one of the largest in Asia. The Eco Line throughput is 1.5 million yards.

TCE exports 100 per cent of its production overseas with Europe, at about 45 per cent being the largest market, followed by the USA at 30 per cent, and Japan and Korea the other main export destinations.

Chief executive officer Stanley Hwang reports that their production ranges from lightweight to heavyweight denim, in the range of 4 to 14 ounces. “With the Monforts Eco Line, we can see exactly what is going on in the production line and it is very easy to operate. We have complete control of the shrinkage and we need one or two less staff to operate the machine.”

Production general manager Ku Myung Soo says that the fabric passes in one continuous run, through the Eco Applicator, then through the Thermex, and finally through the shrinkage process.