Antai Textile: 32 Years Weaving the Legend of Acrylic Yarn! Leading High-Quality Development of the Textile Industry with Innovative Technologies

In July in Zhangjiagang, the summer heat is intensifying, yet there is a calm busyness in the office building of Antai Textile. Li Xiong, the Marketing Manager has just put down his phone, the screen still lingering on the announcement page released by Huilong New Materials—a peer company that recently announced that its main product, dope-dyed polyester fiber, has been widely used in home textiles, garment fabrics, and other fields. He turned around and walked towards the production workshop, where he happened to meet Factory Director Huang from the Production Department walking towards him with a stack of process parameter sheets. "Director Huang, I just saw Huilong's news. The downstream demand for colored fibers is really on the rise," Li Xiong said with a smile, raising his phone. "Have we received many more custom orders for our colored acrylic top recently?"

Factory Director Huang didn't stop walking, pointing to the operating DCS control system in the workshop with confidence in his tone: "Absolutely. Last week, we just shipped 200 tons of 'Morandi color series' colored acrylic top to a leading home textile brand in Zhejiang. They反馈说 our color fastness is 1.5 grades higher than their previous supplier, and they will increase the order by 30% next month." He paused, took out a color card from his pocket, "Look at this 'ash pink'—it's a new color shade that our R&D department just adjusted last month. Using our independently developed 'dope dyeing + low-temperature setting' technology, it saves 60% more water than traditional dyeing, and the color uniformity can be controlled within ΔE ≤ 1.2. Now it's a bestseller."

The two walked side by side along the workshop's visiting corridor. Through the glass, rows of blue acrylic top could be seen flowing on the conveyor belt, like solidified waves. Li Xiong recalled another set of data he saw this morning: domestic acrylonitrile factory inventories have reached 45,800 tons, an increase of 3,000 tons from last week, while Lihuayi's spot quotation has also dropped by 50 yuan/ton. As the core raw material for acrylic yarn and acrylic top, fluctuations in acrylonitrile prices have always affected the entire industrial chain. "Shandong Haijiang's 130,000-ton unit has been shut down for 10 days for maintenance, and Jilin Petrochemical's new 260,000-ton unit will be put into production at the end of the month. The raw material market is really 'a world of ice and fire,'" Li Xiong mused. "Our purchasing team reacted quickly this time. Last week, they locked in 30% of the raw material quantity for the second half of the year with two suppliers, and the price was pressed down to 7,850 yuan/ton, 50 yuan lower than the current market price."

Factory Director Huang nodded upon hearing this and led Li Xiong to a brand-new imported German drawing machine: "Just locking the price isn't enough; we need to tap potential from the production end. Look at this equipment, which was just put into production last month. By adjusting the drawing ratio and hot box temperature, the specific consumption of acrylonitrile has dropped from 1.08 tons/ton to 1.05 tons/ton. Based on our annual production of 30,000 tons of acrylic top, we can save 900 tons of raw materials a year, which is equivalent to an additional profit of over 7 million yuan." He pointed to the real-time data跳动 on the screen, "Now the workshop's 'raw material - energy consumption - output' linkage system can automatically adjust process parameters according to the real-time price of acrylonitrile. For example, when the quotation came out yesterday, the system lowered the prepolymerization temperature by 2°C, which not only ensures fiber strength but also saves 1.2% of steam consumption."

As they spoke, the dispatcher's voice came over the workshop's radio: "Attention to Production Line 3. The Shanghai customer's 'slub fancy yarn' order has entered the final inspection stage; please pack according to Class A standards." Li Xiong smiled and said: "Speaking of fancy yarns, wasn't that designer brand in Shenzhen last month that used our 'loop yarn + slub yarn' blended fabric and won the Best Fabric Award at Fashion Week?" Factory Director Huang's eyes lit up: "Yes! That fabric uses our independently developed 'twin-jet vortex spinning' technology. The yarn bulkiness is 30% higher than ordinary processes, and the color spot distribution error within 100 meters can be controlled to no more than 2. Now they have given us 30% of their annual fabric orders."

From building the first factory on a tidal flat in Zhangjiagang in 1993 to now being a leading acrylic products enterprise with 8 intelligent production lines and an annual capacity of 50,000 tons, Antai Textile's 32 years are a microcosm of China's textile industry shifting from 'scale expansion' to 'quality breakthrough'. On Li Xiong's desk, there is a yellowed old photo: in 1995, young workers cheered around the newly produced acrylic yarn next to the first-generation spinning machine. Now, 90% of the equipment in the workshop has achieved digital control; the gas chromatograph in the laboratory can complete the proportion analysis of 16 color masterbatches within 30 minutes; even the warehouse uses AGV robots for automatic sorting. "A few days ago, the industry association came for research and said that our 'colored acrylic top customization cycle' has been reduced from the industry average of 15 days to 7 days, and customer satisfaction has remained above 98% for three consecutive years," Li Xiong picked up a freshly printed report. "Behind this are 28 patented technologies as the foundation, over 200 days and nights of process iterations by the production department, and more importantly, our insistence on 'striving for perfection even in a single yarn'."

The setting sun shone through the high windows of the workshop, gilding the flowing acrylic top with a layer of gold. Factory Director Huang looked at the ninth production line being installed in the distance—a line that will specialize in producing 'ultraviolet-resistant acrylic yarn' for high-end outdoor clothing, expected to add 120 million yuan in annual revenue after commissioning. "After Jilin Petrochemical's new unit is put into production, the supply of acrylonitrile will be more sufficient, and we can just increase the production capacity of 'dope-dyed acrylic yarn'," he turned to Li Xiong and said. "At next month's Shanghai Textile Exhibition, we'll put the 'Morandi color series' and 'ultraviolet-resistant yarn' in the C position; they will definitely attract a lot of attention."

Li Xiong nodded with a smile, and his phone vibrated again—it was a message from the Zhejiang home textile customer: "Received the sample of the new color 'misty blue-gray'. The color is perfect; we'll sign the contract next Monday!" He looked up at the busy figures in the workshop and remembered what the chairman often said: "There are no shortcuts in the textile industry. If you thoroughly understand the raw materials, refine the craftsmanship, and keep customers in your heart, there will be no market you can't break into." For 32 years, Antai Textile has woven its own 'specialized, sophisticated, distinctive, and novel' path with a small acrylic yarn, and has also written a vivid footnote for the high-quality development of China's textile industry.