Press Release: V2002062
Patrina MAK
Marketing Manager
pat@allcad.com
3 May 2002
The 1st Asian learns Embroidery in Europe
My name is Patrina. I was born in Hong Kong, China and moved to Singapore
in 2001. I’m the first Asian student in the Punching School of
The Embroidery Connection (“EC”). Currently, I’m staying
in Europe to learn the Splendid Embroidery organized
by “EC”. I chose to learn embroidery in Europe because embroidery
was invented in Europe.
Since
I joined EC in March 2001, I found embroidery is an interesting industry.
I have participated in the ITMA 2001 which was held in Singapore with
“EC”. The EC group wants to improve staff quality in order
to provide better service to customers. The management has therefore
decided to train its overseas staff in Europe to achieve the full knowledge
about embroidery.
With this opportunity, I have met two other overseas colleagues, Adriana
Duarte from Bogotá, Columbia and Angela Urrego from Altach, Austria.
The training is divided into 4 sessions: Embroidery Knowledge, Traditional
& Modern Punching Skills, Machines & Mechanics, and Embroidery
Designing & Punching with the ProArt & ProLace systems.
The 1st part of the training is a half-day sight seeing tour to the
embroidery museum and to a customer’s factory to see the differences
between traditional & modern embroidery machines, including digitizer
based punching machines, card cutters & readers, Card simulators
etc. As a beginner, I am amazed by the information about embroidery
an by learning its history and its progress. This is the easiest part
of my training as I get to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the snowed
areas of Austria & Switzerland at the same time.
The
2nd part of the training involves learning of traditional & modern
punching theory and the skills involved. I have to experience the difference
between a traditional digitizer based punching system and our high tech
software ProLace. The punching skills are very difficult to learn. I
have to learn how to look at a design and how to start punching from
the top to the bottom according certain rules. My trainer, Mr. Günter
Heinzle, has taught me to mind every single stitch that I have punched,
as there are hundreds of needles involved stitching on the fabric at
the same time. If I make a mistake in punching, many needles will break
in the production process.
In the 3rd part of the training, I learn to use an embroidery machine.
It involves learning the mechanical theories, including movement of
the frame, gear, drive and motor. I learn how to change the thread,
fill shuttles and put the fabric onto the machine. To understand the
mechanics is not easy, as there are many factors that can influence
the speed of machines and the quality of the embroidery.
My trainer, Mr. Andy Medik, has installed a servo system onto our embroidery
machine. From him I have learned how to upgrade old embroidery machines
to increase its speed, quality and reliability. This is the most difficult
part of the training for me, as I have never learned anything about
machines and mechanics before.
The 4th part of the training involves both
Mr. Dieter Müller & Mr. Günter Heinzle. Here I learn to
design my own graphic by ProArt and punching by ProLace. After punching
the design, I convert the design into Plauen format and then bring it
to the embroidery machine. Finally I got the embroidery on the fabric.
The result is fascinating and fabulous!
After that, I also made a design from the Heinzle embroidery library.
The designs of the library include also the stitch data, thus saving
me a lot of time on punching. Just a few clicks to retrieve the data,
save them on a floppy disk, to run them on the embroidery machine and
to view the result coming out of the machine.
The training period does not consist of work only. We also had much
fun during the recreation breaks involving Ice-Skating, Toboggan &
Skiing. I have enjoyed the time with my trainers & colleagues.
I would like to take this opportunity to give my sincerest thanks to
the Embroidery Connection in giving me this unforgettable experience.
In the future, the EC will organize a punching school to teach students
in the skills and techniques of Embroidery Punching. WISHING
YOU SUCCESS!
Article written by Patrina Mak
