Yarn is taken from the producer's package and wound on to a large spool called a section beam. After a section beam is full it is sent to the sizing department where an acrylic polymer (water soluble) "size" is applied to the yarn to protect it from chafing and breaking under the rigors of further processing and weaving.

When one considers that to weave a 70" wide fabric with 170 threads to the inch in the warp, (length-wise threads) it is necessary to have a warp that contains close to 12,000 threads side by side. Thus, several section beams are combined to make a warp (on a warp beam) - 12,000 threads, side by side, approximately 10,000 yards (5 1/2 miles) long.

Each warp is tied to an existing warp or is entered through the harness and reed of an open loom. A separate entering department is maintained to perform this latter task as needed.

Once the warp is in place on the loom, cross directional filling threads must be inserted between every other warp thread to produce a basket weave fabric.

Each filling thread is carried on a jet of air across the warp of which every other thread is raised or lowered to allow passage of the filling yarn. The filling threads (picks) are entered at the rate of 500 per minute - more than eight per second!

To make a 600 yard piece, for ribbon grade quality, with 110 threads per inch requires a loom to operate perfectly, without defect for 90 hours.

At 500 picks per minute, 110 picks per inch, we are making about 4 inches per minute, one yard every 9 minutes, times 600 yards, is 5400 minutes or 90 hours for a full length piece.

When a full length piece is completed, it is cut off the loom and sent to Examining, where every yard is visually inspected for any type of defect. Every defect, however minor, is reported for continual quality and efficiency upgrading.

After examining, the pieces are moved to the finishing department where they are sewn together to make a batch. Each batch is put on a "jig" (a washing machine) for multiple washing (scouring) cycles and rinsing.

The wet fabric is put on a tentering frame where, by passing through an oven with carefully controlled heat zones, the fabric is dried and heat set to remove the fiber's elasticity.

After finishing, the fabric is tested for weight, thread count, thickness and absorbency to assure that all specifications are met and the fabric will properly accept ink which will be applied.