ITMA ASIA+CITME 2018:Intelligent manufacturing is changing the course of textile industry

It was pointed out by “Made in China 2025” that intelligent manufacturing would lead the direction of Chinese manufacturing. We are not allowed to lose sight of the fruitful achievement in the field of textile industry in recent years. With the establishment of digitalized and intelligent spinning workshops of domestic well-known textile enterprises including Jiangsu Dasheng Group， Ningxia Ruyi Group， Huaxing Group， Weiqiao Textile Company Limited and Texhong Textile Group Limited， automatic spinning was typically seen during textile production. Intelligentized equipment， besides cutting labor cost and bringing effective production， gave enterprises the edge over others in market competition by counting on high quality products.

More importantly， automatic intelligent equipment put an end to the backward production mode in textile enterprises. Such equipment introduced it into the high-tech industry and brought countermeasures against the bottleneck problems such as recruitment by attracting personnel and talented people.

The trend of intelligent manufacturing

The peaking up cost of labor force and the increasingly accelerating flow of skilled worker require automation and intelligence of equipment in textile enterprises. Under such circumstances， intelligent manufacturing highlights a new round of transformation and upgrading.

Judging from ITMA ASIA + CITME 2016， the exhibitors have made great progress in automation and intelligence. The sizing machine exhibited then counted on the application of internet technology， cloud technology， information processing and other technologies to improve the level of intelligent equipment. Except for stand-alone automatization， Japan Tsuda co.， Ltd. also presented the 3D animation simulation of intelligent weaving workshop in sizing and weaving process. As for the automatic drawing-in and warp tying equipment that attracted peoples interest， it achieved the goal of automatic warping of non-stranded yarn and met requirements of complex techniques such as colored yarn management and warping in addition to a large number of applications for non-contact optical detection. Meanwhile， it improved man-machine screen and management software， laying an equipmentrelating foundation for modern production and management of weaving workshop.

Lin Ziwu is a Professor of Wuhan Textile University and one visitor to ITMA ASIA + CITME 2016. He said， “As you can see from this exhibition， the development of spinning equipment is embracing a bright future， in which there will be short-time-cost process， clocking structure， intelligent operation and dehumanized equipment. In addition to drawing links， the cotton spinning production line has all realized the integration connection. His thought was echoed by Miao Dingshu， senior engineer of Suzhou Textile Engineering Institute， who deemed that spinning equipment in the near future will be the one that features two strengths： one is a resource-efficient production mode that is refined， intelligent， automatic， low energy consumption， low-carbon and environmentally friendly， and the other is a sustainable management mode which boasts of quality， brand and variety diversity. “The spinning machine show tells us that the machine is improved in a high speed， whose improvement in a whole features the followings： no coil， joint or shuttle； non-stop single machine； automation， intelligence， high speed， network connecting； low energy consumption and less fault.endprint

The intelligence in traditional production

It is actually that intelligent technology is transforming the traditional textile industry and some industries apply intelligent manufacturing to production. In July 13th， for example， Changji Esquel Textile Co.， Ltd. completed and put into operation the full process intelligent project of 30，000 spindles with a total investment of US $56 million. Its modern cotton spinning workshops， relying on the most advanced intelligent transmission system， realized the automation going through the whole process from raw materials to semi-products and then to finished yarns. In this way， there needed less labor force and existed improvement of productivity with higher quality products.

The digitalized cotton spinning workshop of Jiangsu Dasheng Group coasts such things as intelligent host equipment， intelligent monitoring system for workshop environment， intelligent logistics system， intelligent management system of cotton spinning production based on internet of things and big data application. On the basis of digital workshop， the group has increased its R&D investment to realize night-time“black light factory” （robotization factory） as soon as possible.

While in Ningxia Ruyi Group， a tender with an iPad can deal with 10 frames. It was in the past that workers toiled in factory were too exhausted to zip back and forth with their eyes fixed on the spindles so that they can link up disconnected parts. But things have changed since the advent of the tiny car which can transmit data to iPad in real time. Workers are allowed to link up disconnected parts just in their cars； the number of labor force needed for this job was cut down from 2，000 to 180.

Despite of lacking large-scale replacements or new sets of equipment with a higher degree of automation， some enterprises have significantly improved the product quality and production efficiency. Wang Enqing is a fabric design technician of worsted General Factory， Shandong Nanshan Textile Co.， Ltd. According to his words， “Our company is equipped with highlevel automation of stand-alone machine. In recent years， our company mainly replaced some key equipment that used to restrict the improvement of production efficiency instead of buying large quantities of conventional equipment. In the weaving department， for instance， the key process that restricts the overall efficiency is the whole axis. Efficiency improvement in weaving department can be prospected if the axis is done. Whats more， the reed process of weaving preparation impends the development of enterprises because of low efficiency and difficulty in recruiting. Therefore， our company introduced several automatic warping machine and reed machine in recent years. These equipment not only solve the problem of labor shortage， but also improve production efficiency and ensure high quality products.endprint

The prospect and apprehension of intelligent manufacturing

To a certain extent， besides solving the problem of labor shortage， the intelligence of equipment improves the competitiveness of Chinas textile industry. However， there are in the process of developing intelligence some problems which is worth our discussion.

On the one hand， many entrepreneurs believe that the machine-man replacement in the current textile industry is no at all the intelligent manufacturing. And the intelligent manufacturing in a real term is about the accurate calculation and judgment of data instead of decision making by human. Hence， it is open to ques- tion whether such an investment in the textile industry is worth or not. Furthermore， it cost a lot to invest， take care and upgrade machine， which tests a companys financial capacity.

On the other hand， intelligence as a labor-intensive industry can stimulate local investment and promote industrial upgrading while causes unemployment in a large scale. How to deal with such a contradiction remains to be done.

At the government level， the current guiding direction for intelligence includes the following four points： setting up demonstrate zone， establishing the alliance between supplier and manufacturer of intelligence； developing internet+， big data and artificial intelligence. At the level of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology， fruitful achievements have been seen in smart textile industry： a total of 12 items were listed in Pilot Demonstration Project for Intelligent Manufacturing between 2015 to 2017； a total of 6 items were listed as integrated standardization project for intelligent manufacturing between 2016 to 2017； a total of 10 items were listed as application project of new mode for intelligent manufacturing. Six demonstrated production lines of spinning， chemical fiber， dyeing and printing， nonwoven fabric， knitting and garment has come into shape， laying a solid foundation for the final goal in the end of the Thirteenth Five-Year Program.

Undeniably， intellectualization has been an inevitable trend. We are sure that more intelligent equipment will be on display on ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018， which will drive forward the industry through the way of industrial transformation. When the time comes， the answers will speak for themselves in terms of the enterprise development and industrial prospect.endprint