Images Magazine November 18

www.images-magazine.com NOVEMBER 2018 images 45 KB BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT networked single-heads simply cost more per head. For the benefit of versatility and the separation that allows the rest of your machines to run when one head stops, you pay a premium. As well as the capital cost, multiple single- heads necessarily have more electronic parts that may need replacing over time in comparison to a single multi-head machine, which provides the same number of heads, but has just one control unit and set of control boards. When equipment failures occur, however, the chief benefit of networked single-heads is that no failure can take down multiple heads. Although you can take any number of heads offline on a multi-head machine and keep running, any failure in the mechanisms that drive the needles or pantograph, or any electronic failure in the drive circuitry or control panel will stop the entire machine from functioning. Moreover, when it is time to repair a fault that affects only one head, the multi-head machine will be offline as a whole during the repair process. While there are more parts that can break down and a higher investment cost, networked machines are far more secure against failures as far as continuing production. Multi-function machines Multi-function machines such as the SWF Dual models do have advantages that place them between multi-head and networked machines: they have fewer working parts, only take up the space of a multi-head machine and can be addressed as one machine so there is no need to load and configure multiple machines. Although networked machines can also do that if they are centrally controlled, it is something you don‘t get from a fleet of non-networked single-heads. The dual function machines also benefit from splitting their capacity; even though one half of the heads stop during a thread-break or fault, the remaining half keeps running. This does not save as much capacity as the networked single-heads, which only stop one head at a time, but do offer some recourse for production stoppages. The added benefit of splitting between hats and flat embroidery, especially with the models that offer tool-free fixture swapping, makes for an increased versatility over a traditional multi-head. They are not perhaps the best of both worlds, rather they occupy a space that overlaps the two feature sets, trading some of the features of the networked single-heads for the savings and reduced complexity of the multi-head set-ups over the single-heads. They don‘t allow for the gradual purchase and expansion that the networked single-heads offer, nor can each head operate totally independently, but they do offer a middle-ground between networked single-heads and multi- heads in the space usually reserved for multi-head machines. Stack up, don’t swap out No matter what you choose to do, don’t replace an existing single-head machine with a multi-head unit as your sole means of production. To get the most versatility from traditional equipment, the set-up should (if you do not have the option of or the desire for a modular set-up) include both a single-head machine for small orders and individual personalisation and a THE MOST RELIABLE EMBROIDERY MACHINE IN THE WORLD Unit 1, Securiparc Wimsey Way, Alfreton Derbyshire, DE55 4HG Phone: + 44 1773 528212 Email: sales@barudan.co.uk