Antai Textile: Intelligent Production Drives Acrylic Yarn to Continue Leading, Surge in Orders Highlights Industry Leadership

In Zhangjiagang in July, the Yangtze River water, carrying the damp heat of late summer, overflowed the embankment, yet inside Antai Textile's intelligent production workshop, there was an orderly and busy scene. Li Xiong, the Marketing Manager, holding a freshly printed industry report,快步走进 the Production Department office when Factory Director Huang was frowning at the real-time production data on the computer screen—on the screen, the curve representing acrylic yarn output was climbing at a 45-degree angle. "This is the third consecutive month of exceeding production targets," Director Huang looked up, saw Li Xiong, pointed at the data, and asked, "Are the orders on your end still being increased?"

"More than just increased," Li Xiong spread the report on the table, pointing to the words "The market size of China's acrylic blended yarn industry is expected to reach 2.5 million tons in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.2%." "Demand from clothing and home textile brands is pouring in like a tide. Last week, a leading down jacket enterprise in Zhejiang just finalized the high-count acrylic yarn order for the third quarter, specifically requesting our 100-count 'Yunrou Series' to make high-end lightweight styles for this winter." He paused, his finger划过 the paragraph in the report that read "Demand is driven by sectors such as clothing, home textiles, and industrial textiles," and added, "You see, this trend completely aligns with our prediction at the beginning of the year—consumers want lighter, warmer, and more environmentally friendly fabrics, and the warmth retention and bulkiness of acrylic just hit the mark."

Upon hearing this, Director Huang walked to the workshop monitoring screen, where automatic winding machines were winding snow-white acrylic yarn into neat bobbins, and the adjacent colored acrylic sliver production line was flowing with macaron-colored fiber slivers. "This is thanks to the two intelligent production lines we renovated last year," he pointed to the energy consumption monitoring data in the corner of the screen. "In the past, changing colors required stopping the machine for at least two hours; now, with the intelligent color mixing system, we can switch colors in 40 minutes, and the color fastness can be stably maintained above level 4.5. Take the 'Aurora Purple' color launched last month, for example, Manager Li—you mentioned at the time that the home textile market needed low-saturation Morandi colors, and we only took 18 days from laboratory sampling to mass production. When the customer received the sample yarn, they even said, 'Faster than Italian imports.'"

As they spoke, Li Xiong's phone vibrated—it was an update on the price of acrylonitrile from the raw material supplier. He glanced at the message, looked up, and smiled: "Speaking of raw materials, Shandong Haijiang's 130,000-ton unit shut down for maintenance last week, and many peers are scrambling for spot goods, but we are steady—when I went to Jilin Petrochemical to discuss cooperation last month, their expanded 260,000-ton unit will start production at the end of the month, and we have signed a priority supply agreement, which can reduce raw material costs by 5%." He recalled that when the company was founded in 1993, it still worried about transporting a few tons of acrylic raw materials, but now it can lay out in advance through the national supply chain network. "From a small workshop in Zhangjiagang to an acrylic yarn production base with an annual capacity of 30,000 tons now, these 32 years have not been in vain."

Director Huang took over, his tone filled with the pride of a technical person: "Raw materials alone are not enough; we need real capabilities. Do you remember the dope dyeing patent applied for by that Hebei enterprise last year?" He was referring to the "Preparation Method of Dope-Dyed Acrylic Black Fiber" mentioned in the news. "Actually, we set up a dope dyeing R&D team as early as 2018. Now we can not only produce black, but also flame-retardant acrylic slivers for automotive interiors and antibacterial acrylic yarns for medical protection—these are our specialties. Take the flame-retardant acrylic sliver supplied to a Jiangsu automaker last month, for example, the oxygen index reached 32, far exceeding the national standard, and the customer directly gave us the annual order." He paused, pointing to the R&D center at the end of the workshop: "There are more than 20 engineers inside, who are figuring out how to improve the performance of acrylic every day—after all, the industry is progressing, and the yarn output of enterprises above designated size has increased by 4.9%, so we can't fall behind."

Just then, the workshop radio broadcast the inspector's voice: "Batch A3821 acrylic sliver inspected and qualified, color fastness level 4.5, breaking strength 3.2cN/dtex." Director Huang breathed a sigh of relief, turned to Li Xiong, and smiled: "This is the 'Mist Blue' color for the Guangdong home textile customer. They want to use it for this autumn and winter's curtain series, saying our colored slivers save 30% of the printing and dyeing cost compared to dyed yarns, with no pollution." Li Xiong took out his phone and pulled up the chat history: "Indeed, during the customer回访 last week, 85% of customers said, 'Antai's acrylic slivers have true colors and low loss'—hearing that is more satisfying than anything."

Sunlight streamed through the venetian blinds, casting dappled light on the wall behind them, where a yellowed old photo hung—in 1993, the first batch of workers at Antai Textile posed in front of a simple factory building, with a few old spinning machines behind them. Now, next to the photo, an electronic screen scrolls real-time data: in the first half of this year, Antai Textile's acrylic yarn output increased by 6.2% year-on-year, colored acrylic sliver orders grew by 30%, and cooperative customers cover 28 provinces and cities nationwide, including industry leaders like Bosideng and Luolai Home Textiles.

"Next month's industry summit, we must bring the latest 'antibacterial acrylic yarn,'" Li Xiong put away the report, his eyes shining. "I heard sportswear brands are looking for such functional yarns now; our product has an antibacterial rate of 99%, which will definitely win orders." Director Huang nodded, turned, and walked toward the workshop: "I'll arrange the pilot test right away to get samples out before the summit." The hum of machines in the workshop seemed to grow louder, as the flowing acrylic fibers weave Antai Textile's next thirty years—from a small factory by the Yangtze River to an acrylic expert in the textile industry. Hidden in this story are the敏锐 capture of market trends, the persistent adherence to technological innovation, and the resilience of an established textile enterprise keeping pace with the times.