Wool: sheep wool processing. Necessary equipment for sheep wool processing

Currently, the theme of their own business is very relevant. More and more people are choosing to start their own business instead of working for someone else. However, in order for the money spent to become profitable, you should carefully select the industry in which you will invest it.

It so happened that trade is considered the most low-cost and most profitable area. Although in reality this is far from the case. Work in the field of trade is now difficult - too many trading, agent, intermediary and the like companies have appeared on the market in recent years. What then remains? Production and agriculture.

Woolen business is a profitable business

The agro-industrial complex is an industry where capital cannot quickly turn around and grow, but at the same time, this line of business is attractive for investments. Industrial production, on the contrary, is a sphere that makes it possible to quickly return investments and increase capital, but at present it is not going through the best of times.

Based on the foregoing, we can conclude: now effectively invest in production, located at the junction of industry and agriculture. Sheep wool processing is just such an activity. A processing enterprise with competent organization of work can function very successfully. This is a low-cost and profitable business line.

To the question of wool

First you need to study all the subtleties of the material with which you are going to work. Sheep wool includes four types of fibers:

• fluff - very soft, thin, but at the same time strong fiber, round in cross section;
• transitional hair - a coarser and thicker fiber than fluff;
• awn - fiber, even more rigid than transitional hair;
• dead hair - coarse, unkempt and very thick fiber across, covered with large plate-like scales.

If the wool mainly consists of fibers of the same type, for example, only of fluff and transitional hair, then it is called “homogeneous”. One that contains all types of fibers is called "heterogeneous."

Material properties

The main feature of wool is the ability to get cropped. This property is explained by the softness and crimp of the fibers, the presence of a scaly layer on the surface. The production of woolen fabrics is a laborious process. From the material they produce drapes, cloth, felt, felted and felt products. Wool has low thermal conductivity, therefore it is indispensable in the production of costume-dress, coat, knitwear for the winter range.

Sheep material is usually highly contaminated and, as a rule, very heterogeneous in quality. Therefore, before sending wool to a textile mill, it is first processed. This process includes sorting, loosening, beating, washing, drying, packaging.

Factory Location

Sheep wool processing has one significant advantage over other agricultural businesses. Such activities are not related to food products; therefore, special requirements will not be imposed on production facilities and personnel. The building must comply with current building codes - this is the only thing to consider.

An ideal option for the location of the enterprise where the processing of sheep’s wool will be carried out is the district center of the region, in which livestock breeding is developed.Regional centers do not always correspond to sales needs, because the material gets there through a chain of intermediaries, respectively, its cost increases.

Among other things, if the district center is small and is an urban-type settlement, additional subsidies and benefits may be provided to you by the state. Now the government pays great attention to the development of the village, so it is quite possible that you can get tax preferences, a loan on special conditions, a discount on leasing equipment and many other bonuses.

Staff recruitment

In a field such as wool processing, employees do not need to have qualification for work and sanitary books. For an average enterprise with the functioning of two or three lines, there are enough attendants in the amount of five to six people, including a technologist and an engineer.

These two specialists must have specialized education, respectively, their salary will be higher than that of ordinary workers. The work of other employees is considered unskilled, so the cost of its payment will not be large.

Work specifics

Equipment for processing sheep wool should be selected depending on the extent to which you are going to process the received material. Such a business has several directions, and to work on each of them will require completely different starting investments. Cleaning wool is one thing, and processing it into threads or yarn is another. Of course, in the second case, you can sell products more expensively, but just peeled wool also finds its buyer.

When choosing a direction, take into account such aspects as the state of the market in the region, the possible volume of supplies of raw materials, the possibility of selling wool outside the region or even abroad. We will talk about options for the development of woolen production, taking into account different financial opportunities.

Purified wool production

This is the most inexpensive investment option. At the same time, one should not think that washing wool is so easy. Not at all. Many people mistakenly believe that the material processed in such a primitive way, it would seem, will not be in demand in the market. In fact, washing wool is a rather laborious process. We describe it in more detail.

Raw materials entering the plant are first accepted and classified in accordance with standards. Wool is also divided into grades, which are then processed and sold separately from each other. After sorting, the material enters a special loading machine. This is a machine that feeds wool in batches, depending on the performance of the equipment. Such an aggregate is also called a “sheltering machine”, since in it burrs are separated from the wool.

Then the raw material enters the second apparatus, where the tundles are torn and the wool is cleaned of debris. The material goes through several immersion baths - water tanks - and squeezing machines (five washing cycles in total). After the last spin through the loading machine, the same one that was used at the very beginning, but already intended for clean raw materials, the wool is fed into the dryer. After drying, it is packaged and sent for sale.

Cost of equipment

Processing sheep wool in the manner described above requires the use of expensive equipment. Prices for cars depend largely on their capacity. So, for example, a line for washing and drying wool, having a productivity of 10-20 kilograms per hour, will cost around 500 thousand rubles, and having a productivity of 400 kilograms per hour - about 10 million rubles.

You will also need a steam boiler to supply heat to the dryer and heat water for immersion baths of appropriate capacity.Such a unit with a pressure of 10 atmospheres and with a capacity of 2 tons will cost about 2 million rubles. In addition, it must be taken into account that the wool remaining after washing cannot be drained into the sewer.

To purify water from organic contamination, filtration treatment facilities should be used. Their cost is an average of 2.5 million rubles. Wool packaging is carried out using a pressing machine, forming briquettes weighing 70-80 kilograms and sizes 800x400x400 millimeters. The price of such a device is about 150 thousand rubles.

In principle, on this list of equipment through which sheep wool is processed can be considered exhausted. It should be noted that wool shipped in bulk is less valued than pressed wool, so the acquisition of a pressing machine is already a step towards improvement and the transition to a complete production chain.

Woolen thread production

This is a technically more complex version of the activity, and much more. It consists in obtaining yarn and thread from purified wool. Of course capital investment such production will also require more. You will need to expand production facilities, as well as the staff - they will need at least 20-25.

A spinning machine will cost about 12.5 million rubles, and a line for the production of threads will require costs in the range of 18-30 million rubles, depending on what capacity will be (4 or 8 tons per shift).

Felting wool

Felting is currently undergoing a rebirth. As part of a functioning wool processing enterprise, one can engage in such activities. Almost everything is made of felt now: hats, accessories, clothes, interior items, bags, toys and more. Felting refers to needlework, craftsmen often work at home, because special equipment for such an activity is not required. But you can put things on stream.

Felting in two ways. The technique of wet felting from wool is used in the manufacture of decorative interior items: garlands, vases, flowers. The dry method is used to create voluminous products: dolls, jewelry, toys. Each method requires the use of different materials. Wet felting involves the use of soap and hot water, for dry you need special needles with serifs.