The textile industry faces increasingly tough times as labor costs deepen and customer expectations evolve. Today’s digitally empowered customers expect high quality fabrics customized to their needs. At the same time, intensifying competition and evolving regulations are putting the pressure on costs. This means textile manufacturers need to switch from product standardization to producing small, custom batches, while reducing costs and ensuring compliance.
Combining automation with IoT is the answer to these challenges. For instance, automation has enabled Parkdale Mills to reduce costs while Getzner Textiles has significantly improved operations and transparency through maintenance automation. Connecting textile-manufacturing machines with sensors enables predictive information and analysis that helps in minimizing machine downtime, enhancing equipment efficiency and meeting daily production targets. It also offers an opportunity for textile companies to rebuild their market position, get greater supply chain visibility and strengthen partner collaboration.
With IoT expected to generate sales gains and cost benefits valued at $ 1.9 trillion, there is little doubt that manufacturers who embrace the power of IoT will generate unprecedented business value.
Knit IoT with manufacturing equipment to drive better results
Here are two ways IoT can enable textile manufacturers streamline production, slash costs and enhance competitiveness.
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Streamline operations
IoT can reshape almost every aspect of textile manufacturing. Manufacturers can use IoT to enhance production rate and fabric quality. Using sensors attached to machines and leveraging a software suite, manufacturers can get real-time data of equipment functioning and operational performance. This helps fast track production, maintain fabric quality as well as reduce the number of workers, thereby significantly bringing down manufacturing costs. For instance, Pacific Textiles uses real-time data analytics to achieve desired fabric color, streamline operations and support their growth plans.
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Increase up time
In the textile manufacturing environment, equipment failure can dampen the production rate and delay time to market. Integrating IoT solutions with current equipment can help manufacturers ensure equipment uptime through condition-based monitoring and predictive maintenance. Connected machines are continuously monitored for their health and tracked for patterns that indicate potential equipment failure. This data is used to take timely action and prevent major equipment downtime. At the same time, textile manufacturers can build predictive maintenance strategies based on failure indication patterns. This will not only mitigate equipment failure but also ensure better production efficiency and reduced time to market.
Seize expansion and growth opportunities with IoT
As powerful market, regulatory and consumer forces hammer the textile industry, digital transformation becomes an imperative for small and medium manufacturers to capture and consolidate growth and expansion opportunities. Companies quick to leverage IoT solutions for textile manufacturing will be able to acquire greater visibility into manufacturing operations across geographies for enhanced decision making, smooth operations and competitive advantage.
