La Filature du Sahel (FILSAH) located in Bobo-Dioulasso in the Banfora road industrial zone produces 100% cotton yarn. Today, September 15, 2023, we immersed ourselves in the heart of society to better understand how it works.
From the administration to the factory via the laboratory where each stage of spinning (from the material to the finished product) is systematically subject to rigorous quality control (regularity of the carded and stretched ribbon, presence of neps (buttons) , large stitches or thin stitches, thread strength) everything is done to produce 100% cotton thread that defies all competition on the market. With a production capacity of the open-end spinning mill which will increase from 5,000 tonnes/year currently to 10,000 tonnes/year of Nm 24 yarn, i.e. an additional production of 5,000 tonnes
History of FILSAH
Created in 1997 as a private company to transform cotton fiber into yarn, FILSAH was operational in 2000 and is to date the only spinning mill in the eight UEMAO countries that is operating normally. At its creation, the task for FILSAH was to have the approvals, financing and land necessary for its activities because this intervened in a liquidation dispute of Faso Fani. With the birth of the UEMOA cotton textile agenda which had been decreed at the level of heads of state, by setting a rapid transformation objective of 25% of cotton fiber in the UEMOA area, FILSAH was able to keep its head above water and remained the only normally functioning spinning mill.
FILSAH, flagship of the cotton industries
From opening to spinning, including threshing, carding and stretching, each stage of spinning is important at FILSAH to ensure the quality of 100% cotton yarn. Delivered in compressed bales, opening is an operation which allows this compact set of fibers to be broken down by tearing to transform it into coarse flakes. Following processing, threshing is a vigorous mechanical treatment of flakes of fiber intended to begin disentangling and eliminate solid impurities such as dried sludge, plant debris, etc.
Following beating, stretching will make it possible to parallelize the fibers and regularize the size of the ribbon to make room for spinning. At the stage of Open End or free end spinning, it involves the introduction of the ribbon by a breaker which releases the fibers in the form of a bundle and they come together again freely at a point of rotation by means of a rotor which gives them a twist, thus transforming them into wire.
Government measures on processing and local consumption are welcomed at FILSAH
Abdoulaye Nabole, Director General of FILSAH while welcoming the State’s initiative to partly materialize the concept of consuming local through the port of Faso Danfani by students from the start of the 2023-2024 school year, however, invites students and parents of students to turn to quality Faso Danfani fabrics, made with quality yarn, as produced by FILSAH. “Today people are raising the problem of quality when it comes to Faso Danfani. After a few washes, they found that the quality had deteriorated, hence the concern of some parents. I can assure you that we produce quality yarn at FILSAH to allow the population to have quality Faso Danfani.”
Aymeric THIS
