Howorth returns to its textiles roots

Howorth Pharma, best known for providing bespoke containment solutions to the pharmaceutical and medical markets, has supplied one of its downflow booths to Park Valley Dyers in Huddersfield, UK.

Park Valley Dyers is a new company formed following a collaboration between Holmfirth Dyers and Camira Fabrics. It is the first dye house to be built in the last 25 years, bucking a trend that has seen the textile industry decline in recent decades.

Howorth originally designed the downflow booth for use when working with pharmaceutical compounds. It provides a high level of protection for operators at Park Valley Dyers, who will use it to ensure safety during the precise measuring and weighing of dry powder dyes taken from bulk containers. This procedure is part of an exclusive new low liquor dyeing process being introduced by the company, which could save millions of litres of fresh water annually.

This project marks a return to working with the textile industry for Howorth since, as befitting a Lancashire company founded in Rochdale and now operating from Bolton, the firm’s history started with textile mills. The air in the mills had to be kept hot and humid to prevent the thread breaking and as a result rooms were poorly ventilated and the air was often thick with cotton dust. In 1858, Rochdale man James Howorth set up James Howorth & Co Ltd, manufacturing apparatus for humidifying, ventilating, heating, air conveying, dust control and drying applications within the textile industry. More than 150 years later, the company continues to engineer clean air for pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical clients around the world.

Michael Mellor, technical director of Howorth Pharma, says: “As Howorth has many ties to the textile industry, we are proud to be working with Park Valley Dyers. We are confident that Howorth’s input will enable operators to carry out their work safely and efficiently.”