CSS GmbH has developed design systems for the use in textile industry and especially for carpet

manufacturers since 1988. Attention is particularly paid to the making out of programs for the different fields of application like machine woven, hand woven, hand knotted and hand tufted carpets. The programs of the CSS design system give help and support to carpet manufacturers and their designers for designing of patterns, beginning with the first idea for the pattern and ending with the finished product. The different work processes like scanning in of patterns, free drawings, point paper designs, colouring, printing, producing of sales documentation as well as the realization of these details for the weaving machine are done by programs easy to understand and easy to operate. CSS is also working out and executing the network of the plant for its customers. The design department, the production planning department and the weaving machines are connected in optimum way. Special requests and ideas of our customers are also considered for the developing of software. Of course, all textile design systems of other makes can be processed with the programs of CSS.

JACQUART DESIGNER: THE CSS JACQUART DESIGNER: THE ULTIMATE TOOL TO CREATE ART FOR JACQUARDS The CSS Jacquard Designer program has been developed specially for carpet designers. Versatile creative and technical drawing functions support the artist to create designs in many different styles.

Advantages: The program works under Windows 2000/XP and consistently uses all the advantages of this operating system. The user interface can be adapted to the designer's wishes. The layout of the menus and toolbars, the keyboard shortcuts, the number of design windows: anything can be arranged as desired. Other Windows utilities can be integrated in the menus as well. When working on a design, it is possible to use several windows. Each window can either show a design with a cooler palette of up to 256 colors or as a true color (RGB) picture. The program includes many manual and automatic drawing functions, i.e. repeating function, mirroring a design over 45 (even with different warp/weft ratio), rotation of a design or brush over any angle, copying parts of a design from one window to another, masking colors, filling areas with a plain color or pattern, adding contour lines, adding text, creating colors shades, and so on.

 Super fast zoom functions speed up the work. Working in any zoom level is possible: from zoomed-in on point level to zoomed-out for an overview. Editing very large designs (up to 16,000x16,000 points) is as easy as working on small designs. Zooming and scrolling is always faster than the eye. Up to 20 undo/redo steps are possible in each window. Each design in each window can be shown with its own color palette, or one general color palette can be used. This allows working on the same design in several color variations at the same time. Color palettes of different designs can be combined to form a new palette. The designs can be displayed on point paper in the exact warp/weft ratio; the size of the grid can be selected as required. Many functions are available to resize a design: automatic scaling of the whole design or just a part, adding or removing single warp/weft threads, adding or removing a free range of warp/weft threads, etc. Scanned designs can quickly be converted to a design ready for production with functions like automatic color reduction, color smoothing, and point filters. Abstract designs and portraits can be almost automatically converted with the dithered color function. All standard Windows file formats are supported, but also the special file formats used by other textile CAD/CAM systems. Besides this, designs (or parts of them) can be easily transferred to other programs via the Windows clipboard. COLOUR & PRINT MANAGER: THE CSS COLOUR & PRINT MANAGER: IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT COLOUR

Getting the colours in your printed designs to match the colours of your yarn is always a problem. Two monitors or two printers are never the same. But CSS has the solution for this. Select the colours from the colour catalogue (generated by the program), printed on your own printer, and there will be no more surprises. Do you want to print your design on a large scale? No problem: the program allows you to print the design divided over multiple pages. Advantages: The program works under Windows 2000/XP and consistently uses all the advantages of this operating system. Any Windows compatible printer can be used, from an A4-size ink-jet printer to an A0-size plotter. For any kind of printer, a colour catalogue can be generated. From this catalogue, the wool colours for printer and for screen can be selected. All colours are saved in a colour database, with their name, monitor RGB code and printer RGB code. So once the printer colour that matches the yarn colour perfectly is found, it can be used for any other design. The colours in the database can be divided in groups. Within the colour groups, colours can be sorted in several user-defined ways. Different colour variations of the same design can be made by "drag & drop" of a colour from the database on a colour of the design. The automatic allocation function automatically selects the wool colours that best match the screen colours of the current design. Colour combinations created like this can be saved in the colourway database and be used for other designs. Creating one colour way matching the colours on the loom is enough. While "browsing" through the colourway database, the current design is simultaneously shown in the selected colour combination. The print preview of the program shows exactly how the picture and the text will be printed, giving you the chance to make changes still before printing. A text editor allows adding additional information to the printed design. The text can be saved in the text database for use with other designs later on. Colour swatches with name, RGB code and statistics can be added to the design: vital information for the production.

 If the design contains the correct aspect ratio information, it will automatically be printed in the correct proportions. In any other case, the height and width of the print can be adjusted manually to get the correct proportions. For hand-knotted carpets, a grid can be printed over the design. The size and thickness of the grid can be selected as required. If the design has to be printed "real size" and the printer is too small, it can be printed over several pages. CARPET WEAVER: THE CSS CARPET WEAVER: THE MOST VERSATILE PROCESSING SOFTWARE FOR

MACHINE WOVEN CARPETS The CSS Carpet Weaver program can handle any kind of weave structure, reduce "mixed contours" to the absolute minimum; it is compatible with all current CAD/CAM systems on the market. CSS offers full support in finding the optimal solution for your specific weave type. You require special weave structures or you have problems with yarn breakage, loops on the back of the carpet or "mixed contours"? CSS may have the solution for you. The program works under Windows 2000/XP and consistently uses all the advantages of this operating system The Carpet Weaver is user-friendly, with only one screen. No searching through menus and sub-menus, three mouse clicks are enough to start processing.

 The designs are displayed on the screen in the colours of the final carpet. If necessary, the colours can be exchanged on the screen to make different colour combinations of the same design. All parameters of a loom can be loaded by a single mouse click. The program supports any kind of electronic Jacquard machine by Stubli, Schleicher, Takemura and Van de Wiele. A wide range of weave structures can be used. Single, double pile and triple pile, mixed pile, flat weave and any combination of these can be used in one design. Designs can include up to 254 colours (even for a 6-colour loom) to profit from all the possibilities. Even double and triple pile corrections for "mixed contours" are made automatically. Multiple designs can be selected to be processed simultaneously. Designs can be loaded in the program by "drag-&-drop", for example from the Windows Explorer. All information about how design is processed is saved in a database. Your hard disk is full? No problem, the weave files can be deleted and reprocessed automatically at any time. The program is fast, very fast. But if the processing takes more than a second: the processing of the designs is done in the background, so the next design can already be loaded while the first one is still being processed. All standard Windows file formats are supported, but also the special file formats used by some textile CAD/CAM systems. If you have an ERP system, the Carpet Weaver offers a standard interface for fully automatic processing of designs. WEAVE EDITOR: THE CSS WEAVE EDITOR: THE PROGRAM FOR CARPET WEAVING SPECIALISTS

The CSS Carpet Weaver program offers a standard package of weave structures. If you want more, you can ask CSS to create custom-made structures for you. Or you can make them yourself with the CSS Weave Editor. If the loom can do it, it can be programmed. The CSS Weave Editor includes the CSS Binding Analyzer. This program helps to display and analyze the weave structures on screen. The program works under Windows 2000/XP and consistently uses all the advantages of this operating system. The weave structures are generated from only a few basic parameters. This saves time, and helps to avoid errors. The parameters are saved as a standard text file. Corrections for mixed contours are also generated from a few basic corrections. Here, even more time is saved. For example 12 basic corrections in the parameter file can result in 1296 corrections in the final weave structure file. Up to 32 creel colours can be defined; more than enough for any loom. 2, 3, 4 or more Jacquard positions can be defined. Up to 100 different kinds of "mixed pile" weave structures can be used. For example: double pile, triple pile, flat weave in top and bottom carpet, etc. The mixed pattern can be several reeds wide. Up to 10 different types of "floating dead pile" can be used in one single weave structure. For example short floats in single pile, long floats in double pile and no floats in flat weave. The repeat of the "floating dead pile" pattern can be several reeds wide. This way, "stripes" in the surface of the carpet can be avoided. Parameter files can easily be modified for looms with a different number of colours. Just change the list of basic colours, and in a few seconds the next weave structure is ready.

 The program checks the parameter files for syntax errors and gives helpful hints whenever an error is detected. LOOM MANAGER THE CSS LOOM MANAGER: THE WORLDS'S BEST PROGRAM TO PLAN YOUR WEAVE JOBS

Working with the CSS Loom Manager saves time, reduces the material waste to a minimum and increases the total efficiency of your looms. Weave plans (also called jobs, schedules or compositions) can be copied to the loom directly via network. No more time-consuming file transfer via diskettes. CSS can supply complete network systems for all your looms. All different types of electronic Jacquards can be integrated in one network. This program is used only in combination with the CSS Carpet Weaver program and is just as easy to use. The program works under Windows 2000/XP and consistently uses all the advantages of this operating system. The Loom Manager is user-friendly, with only one screen. No searching through menus and sub-menus. A few mouse clicks are enough to create a new job. All looms can be programmed from one central PC in your office. This saves a lot of time compared to programming the jobs on the controller of the loom itself.

 The Loom Manager program helps to reduce the amount of lost space in a weave plan to a minimum. Just select the designs to be woven and enter the number of pieces required. Or let the program calculate the optimum number. The program shows the whole weave plan on the screen with all designs in the correct colours, even if different creels are used in one or more sections of the loom. This considerably reduces the number of mistakes. The Loom Manager program also allows sorting the designs by the colour of the border. This way of sorting saves a lot of time in the finishing department. As soon as the weave order has been fully optimised, the program generates a job file like for instance a composition file for Stubli, or a path definition + schedule file for Van de Wiele. These job files can then directly be copied to the loom by network or disks. The file transfer to the looms is done in the background. In the meantime, the next weave plan can be created. The program supports any kind of electronic Jacquard machine by Stubli, Schleicher, Takemura, and Van de Wiele. If you have an ERP system, the Loom Manager offers a standard interface for fully automatic creation of weave plans and transfer to the looms. LOOM STATUS AND STATISTICS

THE CSS LOOMSTAT: FOR ALL YOUR LOOM STATUS AND STATISTICS INFORMATION

The CSS LoomStat program monitors the status of all looms in the production network, and generates reports of efficiency, monthly production, etc. The program consists of two main parts: Loom Status and Loom Statistics. The Status screen displays the current status of active weave plans, speed, stops, start time and estimated end time, etc. The Statistics part creates overviews of stop causes (weft, warp and pile breakage, etc.), loom production per day, week or month, weaver production, etc. The program works under Windows 2000/XP and consistently uses all the advantages of this operating system. On one screen, the status of all looms is displayed: active weave plan, starting time, end time, number of stops, etc. Not only the production department can see this information, but "view stations" can be connected to the sales, finishing and logistics department, so they will know when the next weave job can be expected. By clicking the "Finished jobs" button, all weave jobs that have already been finished are displayed. Click the "Waiting list" button, and the weave jobs in the queue are displayed, so you can check which weave jobs will be woven next. The order in which the weave plans will be woven can be altered whenever priorities change. The Loom Statistics part of the program collects the information about the efficiency of your looms. All stop information is collected in a database, so reports can be generated whenever needed. No additional sensors, switches and wiring are required to capture information. The program uses the existing electronics of the loom. So all that has to be installed is the Loom STAT software and a network cable. By entering a standard time for repairing a broken weft, warp or pile yarn, the efficiency of the loom and the weaver can be recorded separately. Reports can be generated per day, week or month about total running time, total stop time, number of yarn breakages per colour, number of weft breakages per rapier, number of woven wefts per shift/weaver, number of square meters, number of carpets, etc. With the help of these reports, problems like bad weft material, bad warp beams, worn out rapiers, etc. can easily be detected.

 The reports can be printed with full colour graphics or saved as a standard text file for further use, for example in your ERP software.