In December 1999, "Textile World," one of America's foremost textile industry magazines, covering the industry for over 100 years, published an article entitled "TW Selects Industry's 50 Most Influential." The sole Asian named to the list was our chairman, Junichi Murata.

To mark the end of the 20th century, the 50 people were honored for having the greatest impact on the development of the textile industry over the previous 100 years. They were selected by the editors of Textile World, and by a poll of the magazine's readers.

Other honorees selected for the list included nylon inventor Dr. Wallace Carothers, the inventors of revolutionary textile technologies and the founders of Milliken & Company, Springs Industries, Inc., Unify, Wal-Mart, and other companies which played a significant role in the growth of the textile industry in America.

Textile World article, "TW Selects Industry's 50 Most Influential": Profile of Junichi Murata (abridged article)

Mr. Junichi Murata has shown leadership in revolutionary textile technologies, and has led the way in charting the future of manufacturing in the textile industry. His reputation is built on his trail-blazing in the textile industry, especially through the development of the technologies listed below.

1) Through the development of the air splicer (a device which uses compressed air to automatically splice yarn, publicized in 1979), he contributed in large part to the speeding up and automation of the winding process, and the direct linkage to spinning machines.

2) Through the development of the bobbin tray system (an automatic transport system for winding bobbins supplied from spinning machines, publicized in 1982), he made it possible to link the spinning and winding processes, and at the same time provided the foundation for the adoption of a variety of material handling systems.

3) The development of the nip-belt system (a system which uses two belts to draw in filament yarn and twist them together, publicized in 1979) led to the enhancement of synthetic yarn quality and expanded the possibilities for the processing of micro-denier and novelty yarns.

4) The development of air-jet spinning (an air spinning system which unifies the processes from spinning to winding, publicized in 1981) had a profound impact on the production systems for manmade and blend yarns (which combine manmade and natural yarns).

5) The development of vortex spinning (an air spinning system which allows optimal spinning of 100% cotton and other natural yarns, and unifies the processes from spinning to winding, publicized in 1997) has provided the fastest takeup speed of any spinning system commercially available.

from "Textile World", 1999 December issue, An INTERTEC/PRIMEDIA Publication, GA, U.S.