Cluster Development is a Timely Need
As technical textile industry is a knowledge dependent industry,
it is not possible to be competitive even for large industries without constant
input of new information. Pooling of resources together by all stake holders
with the knowledge source in the center will be vital for the development of
the technical textiles industry in India. In this connection, the Government already
has done a valuable service in creating category specific resource centers such
as Agro, Medical, Geo and Protective textiles. These Centers of Excellence should
be utilized to create knowledge hubs to promote the growth of technical
textiles sector. For example, MANTRA being a part of centrally funded Center
for Agrotextiles will be great a resource If it outreaches to entrepreneurs and
trains them in processes that are at their disposal such as coating and
laminating to develop products that of multiple applications such as coated
textiles for defense, antimicrobial treated bed liners for hospital
applications etc. The author is positively hopeful that this is what happening
in Surat right now.
To sum up, growth in the technical textiles sector is
certainly there if the effort is concentrated towards developing converting
sectors that develop products that are needed by consumers. Again quoting an
old adage, "Consumer is always the King." Those industries that come
to the market first with the products that are useful and competitive will be
the winners. Just for example, electronic giants Sony and Samsung are currently
reporting huge losses that have never happened to them over a decade. On the
other hand, Apple is booming with its iPhone sales. The sales figure is astonishing
that Apple sold 22 million iPhones globally in the last quarter of 2008. What
does this tell us? Customer centered innovative products will always be the
winner. In the manufacturing industry like textiles and in particular technical
textiles sector in growing economies like India, it is a pooled effort that
will help with the growth. In other words, cluster model will be the way to go
forward for boosting the interest and affordable investments from SMEs.
The article was originally published in Textile
Review, February 2009
About the Author
The author
is associated with Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA.
