Roaches Ships Record 19-Machine Textile Testing Lab to Indonesia

Roaches International has dispatched 19 textile testing machines weighing more than two tons to Indonesia — the largest integrated laboratory equipment order in the British manufacturer's history and its most concrete sign yet that Asian textile producers are buying complete quality-control facilities rather than standalone instruments.

The equipment, delivered over this summer, will equip a new laboratory being established by Alia Digital Printex in Jakarta. Roaches coordinated the project end to end — design, equipment specification, manufacturing, dispatch and on-site engineering support — together with its Indonesian partner PT. Kawan Era Baru.

Who is the buyer?

Alia Digital Printex, founded in Jakarta in 2017, specializes in digital textile printing and fabric production, with a focus on scarves, hijabs, prayer garments and apparel. The company employs more than 500 people, prints up to 18,000 metres of fabric per day — roughly 5.4 kilometres daily at full capacity — and supplies fashion brands in Indonesia and international markets. The new laboratory is intended to support expanded manufacturing and tighten requirements for consistent fabric quality and performance.

For sourcing and compliance teams, the deal signals a shift in how mid-scale Asian producers are investing upstream: the buyer is standardizing on one supplier's platform for testing, training and maintenance, rather than assembling a laboratory from multiple vendors.

What does single-supplier sourcing change?

Roaches, a member of the British Textile Machinery Association (BTMA), argues that a single supplier delivers equipment standardisation, consolidated operator training, unified maintenance and technical support, and — critically for future digitalisation — a more consistent foundation for data integration across instruments.

The company frames the order as evidence that its business model has moved beyond selling individual machines to supplying turnkey testing facilities.

"This is a particularly significant project for Roaches, not simply because of its scale, but because it demonstrates the advantages of working with a single supplier to establish a complete textile testing laboratory," said Seth Seagraves, Roaches marketing executive. "As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly important in textile manufacturing, we believe laboratories will need to move beyond treating individual testing machines as isolated pieces of equipment."

Seagraves said the commercial opportunity lies in connecting data streams from previously independent instruments, allowing manufacturers to correlate fabric properties, processing conditions and finished product quality. He pointed to Roaches' Martindale AXYZ and Sentire systems as examples of digital control and objective measurement already in development for laboratory operations.

How does the industry read the deal?

BTMA CEO Jason Kent called the order "another excellent example of the international reputation British textile technology companies have built through innovation, engineering expertise and customer support," and said Roaches shows how established testing technologies can evolve for an increasingly digital industry while winning business in highly competitive overseas markets.

The order confirms a completed delivery rather than an announced intention: the 19 machines are on site, and engineering support is under way. Roaches has not disclosed the contract value.

As AI-driven quality control spreads through textile manufacturing, suppliers able to connect instrument data into a single analytical picture — as Roaches is positioning itself to do — are likely to define the next round of laboratory procurement in Asian production hubs.