Smart IoT Applications in Textile & Garment Industry
Growth of IoT in Textile Industry
Indian garment industry is one of the biggest investment sectors. There are 20% of woven and 33% of knitted garments are produced and exported to other countries for every year. There are 60 lakes people working in approximately one lake units in India. Lots of small sectors provide the necessary support to the big industries like buttons, zippers, packing material, buckles etc. Good economy and flexible government policies have supported the economic condition of the women and the middle class. They are ready to spend for their interest especially modern trending garments like smart materials and luxuries product. It results in the country will making the lifestyle of the rural people good like urban counterparts.
Garment industry is a labor dependent industry. There are many advanced technologies and still a lot of manufacturers run their industry in traditional manufacturing processes with smart technology. Some manufactures have different machines and techniques, In the past two decades the garment industry has transformed a lot, when the IOT and automated machinery arrives, it makes the industry less labor dependent. Garment industry requires every single detail of the output in every department. So there is a need on digitization. If it is implemented, it will bring stock management, human resource management, work coordination etc., .Another big industry in textile field is weaving, The need of IOT is also necessary in the weaving industry, because weaving process need frequent monitoring. A lot of errors can occur and immediate action necessary to the error otherwise we face big difficulties and sustain the market. The implementation of IOT plays a major role in solving these problems.
IoT in Garment Industry
E-Clothing:
The E-Clothing or E-Fabric have different types of sensors fused for specific purposes. There are more number of E-Clothing’s produced and placed in the market for example, an E-Cloth design for the senior citizen, the sensor monitors the parameters like Blood pressure, Insulin level, Rate of heart beat etc. This type of garments enhances the industry to goodwill and profitability in the market.
Equipment maintenance:
The ecosystem of a factory is monitored continuously. The work performance of the worker will affect the physical environment of a factory. IOT can be very helpful to monitoring and maintaining the parameters of factory. Maintaining the machines is an important thing. The data of every operating machine like Time, Machine temperature, Air blow speed, RPM, Vibration are all documented and analyzed for maintaining the machine idle time. It leads to good operation efficiency and also it reduces the unwanted breakdowns, it is very helpful to avoid the stoppage of machine crucial times.
Embroidery machine:
Today’s embroidery machines are embedded with PLC systems. Using this system, the data can easily shared to the various devices. A device which is embedded with IOT it gives data like thread count, output rate, maximum hours worked, stoppages etc. these data is to be visible in PCs, phones, tabs and it gives better management and easy to further analysis and communication.
Inventory management:
The major problem of the garment industry is inventory management. The maintenance of the optimum level of storage is very difficult when we meet the demand of the product. IOT can help, the smart moving shelves, sensor for addressing the material, AI picking robots etc. it gives the exact status and location of the material. It helps to optimize the inventory. With the help of the IOT reach the customer demand directly without any retail orders.
The competition in the garment industry is very high in global market. Manufacturer wants industry in good standard and profitability aspects. So, they have to focus on transformation, in this present situation IOT plays an important role to attain the requirement. Using IOT in critical operations results reducing the time and reach the customer demand fastly, it leads to the industry ahead in the market. Meanwhile customer demands are changing frequently day by day because of trend updates happening in the world. Mainly the small and medium level manufacturers understand the importance of IOT, the companies who understands the need can make their goods as per the required standard and also possible to produce cost effective garments with competitive price. Fashion is naturally transitory; today’s trend will fade in a few months or years. Only solution to meet the global demand is possible by focusing on advanced technologies in industries to meet the buyer demand and to get sustain in the current situation of market.