Technology Resurgence in the Indian Textile Engineering Industry Article by Fibre2fashion.com

By: Saha Chandan

Technology is an important component in manufacturing ofCapital Goods to sustain in the competitive market. Indian Textile EngineeringIndustry (ITEl) is one of the critical components of the Capital Goodsmanufacturing sector, as this sector has been playing an important role catering to the needsof domestic industry as well as forex earning and controlling outflow offoreign exchange. This sector has got a direct contribution for the economicgrowth of the country.

This sector had been excelling well till mid80s butthereafter it showed no improvement for the next two decades. The capacityutilization of this sector has been moving to a downward direction, productioncapacity is not indicating any encouraging trend till the beginning of thecentury. There is no improvement in export of textile machinery but there is a risein import for the last couple of years. The industries in the sector have beenpassing through a rough weather till a couple of years back due to recession inthe textile industry.

However, now the industry has been able to resurge andslowly move towards a path of growth. But over all, the performance is still far behind thetarget in absence of technology res urgency and innovative design to producehi-tech machinery of international standard.

It is reported that there will be a huge demand of textile machineryby 2010 to modernize the textile industry through up gradation of existingtechnology or absorption of new technology. So there will be enough opportunitiesto resurge the sectors with a new hope. Machine manufacturers of developedcountries have shown keen interest to enlarge marketing through joint ventureor Technology transfer. At present, the Indian textile including Garmentmanufacturing industry has been importing second hand & reconditionedmachinery to absorb the technology for modernization of the unit to cope upwith the challenges to meet the buyer's needs in the Global market. But the ageold imported technology & machinery may temporarily fulfill the requirement;certainly it does not serve the purpose in totality.

So, long-term solution is the Technology Resurgency inIndian Textile Engineering Industry (ITEI) to bring back the industry on railand also to meet the users needs both in the country & in the Global market.

Brief of the Indian Textile Engineering Industry:

Indian Textile Engineering Industry is more than 50 years old.This segment of engineering industry comprises of 700 units, of which, 250units are manufacturing complete machinery and the remaining units areinvolved in manufacturing parts and accessories. There is an investment ofRs.1750 crores to build up an annual capacity of Rs.3800 crores. However, thecapacity has shrunk to Rs.3050 crores as a result of the deep recession facedby the industry during the last 10-12 years.

The capacity utilization of the industry was only 67% in theyear 2005-06 and 55% in the year 2004-05. This sector directly employs around50,000 people. Indian Textile Engineering industry is one of the important andlargest segments of capital goods manufacturing sector in terms ofmanufacturing activity & business.

The Indian Textile Engineering industry has been totally depending on borrowed technology. Industrialists have also not shown much interest to invest in R&D instead they are keen in the transfer of technology at a cheaper cost from the developed countries to build up capacity in a shortest period. A large number of technologies have been imported through technology transfer or in collaboration with overseas manufacturers but the industry has, so far, failed to reach the level to satisfy the users' needs in various areas and success rate has not been much significant.

It is reported that small and medium scale units are usually manufacturing cheaper variety of all machines to cater to the needs of small and medium textile manufacturing units and have been able to maintain their market share & remain in better shape. Today there are 500 SME units engaged in the manufacture of accessories and components catering the needs of original equipment manufacturers. These industries are the back bone for both domestic and imported machinery manufacturers and suppliers. 30% of the parts and accessories are absorbed by the OEMs and over 55% 'Of the total exports of the machinery contributed by the organized sector. These units primarily thrived by indigenising technology through joint ventures and obtaining technical know how from the available R&D Centers & Technical Institute within the country.

Source: Office of Textile Commissioner & TEI

The Indian Textile Engineering Industry technically lacks far behind the developed countries in all-spheres.

There is no strong manufacturing establishment of modern spinning machines in the country to supply machines except Ring Spinning machines of international standard.
Manufacturing activity of Machinery of Fabric forming is in the doldrums. There is no developmental work undertaken at all since the beginning.
Indian manufacturers are mostly manufacturing ordinary Power loom, Automatic shuttle loom by transferring technology from the developed countries. These machines are no way for any good use to produce long length flawless fabric required for high speed modern processing m/c & garment industries.
Manufacturing of knitting machine is mostly confined in SSI sector. There is no systematic effort of developing any design to provide effective utility of machine to manufacture a wide range of product. The industries are mostly manufacturing ordinary type low speed circular & flat knitting machine to manufacture common variety of fabric. An effort was made to manufacture power operated flat V' bed knitting machine and special type circular knitting machine early in 90's but fails to show any tangible results as the machines are not capable of manufacturing desired quality products produced on imported m/cs.
Manufacturing of Non-woven fabric developing machine is still a dream. The scenario of Garment manufacturing machinery is no way good. The industries are mostly established in SME sector, confined in manufacturing a wide range of sewing machines, copying the imported machines. These manufacturers have been catering the needs of domestic industries. There is no such serious effort of manufacturing other machines like Automatic Cutting machines, Button Hole and stitching, special type of Stitching machine, Garment dyeing and Washing machines, Modern Embroidery machines etc.
Present scenario of Testing Equipment manufacturing industry is no way encouraging. There is no manufacturing establishment to manufacture sophisticated instrument for evaluating fibre & yarn quality and also to provide various information on the product. The technology is mostly available in developed countries. Only a few units only have been able to manufacture a few simple instruments for evaluating quality of Yarn Strength, Crimps % of yarn (from fabric) Pilling Tendency, Fastness Tester either in collaboration with foreign manufacturers or copying the design of the imported instrument. The performance of this equipment is not to a level of international standards. However, these equipments have got an acceptance the market till 90's. Slowly demand of such instruments has also comedown.

Relevancy of Technology Resurgency in Indian Textile Engineering Industry

At present Textile Engineering Industry in the developed countries is highly advanced in comparison to India. The industries of these countries are dominating the world market by supplying latest model machines with innovative design & useful salient features to extend the benefit to the user industry.

It is reported that annual production of the machinery in the world is estimated at US $ 20 billion of which Germany, Switzerland and Italy account for more that 50% of the supplier. The other major producers are Japan, USA, UK, Taiwan, Korea, China and India. At present, there is hardly any presence of Indian Textile Engineering Industry in the developed countries in field of machine manufacturing.

India is mostly known for borrowing technology from the manufacturers or as user industry of these machines. Indian textile engineering industry technically lack behind in all areas of manufacturing capacity. On the contrary Indian Textile Industry is moving ahead to capture the market by tapping the huge potential in Global market. So there is a huge demand of machinery to maintain the pace of growth by modernizing the industry.

It is reported that there are around 12 mn. Spindles to be modernized and about 8 mn. Spindles need to be scrapped. Around 2.5 lakh looms are to be replaced to modernize the fabric manufacturing sector by installing shuttle less looms. Textile processing sector looks no way comfortable to meet the requirement.

Till date 60% of the processing units are using conventional technology to process the fabric. There is no systematic control on various parameters during processing. A large no. of units is functioning with manually operated machine. Imported machines are mostly used in Garment manufacturing units involved in exports as well as supplying products for high end customers.

It is reported by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in the strategy paper regarding the demand potential of textile machinery, which needs to be exploited by Indian Textile Engineering industry by speedily addressing various issues and take initiatives for rapid growth of the sector.

Customers expectations on various aspects have also been assessed and it is mentioned that Technology, Brand, Productivity, Price, Customer Service ,Availability of Components, Energy Saving etc. are the priorities of customers. There are some other factors like Energy Conservation, Eco friendliness, Reduction in Labour Cost & facility of operation also influence demand.

Deloitte has observed that willingness of foreign manufacturers to Transfer Technology but continuity of transfer & cost of transfer are important aspects to be considered while transferring technology. It is understood from the study that a few manufacturers in developed countries have expressed the willingness to float joint venture to enlarge market in India as the demand for modern textile machinery is expected to grow in a big way in the next couple of years.

It may be difficult for Indian Textile Engineering Industry to reach the level to fulfill the requirements with the present infrastructure & capacity. There is an urgency to build capacity & competitiveness through Technology Resurgency to tap the potential and also to make a significant contribution to keep its presence prominent in the Global market.

Government support in Technology Resurgency

Govt. of India has renewed the effort to provide adequate support both technically & financially to resurge the sector. TIFAC, Ministry of Science & Technology has undertaken 15 R&D projects with the support of machinery manufacturers to develop design & technology to enhance capability & competency & to boost this sector.
An R&D center has been established in IIT, Mumbai with the support of Textile Engineering industry to develop Technology & Design for the benefit of Industry to meet the emerging challenges.
Ministry of Textile is providing financial support on various projects undertaken by Textile Research Association to develop new Technology & Design to provide supports to the textile machinery manufacturers to absorb appropriate technology to meet the requirement.
An R&D Centre has been established a couple of decades back at Ludhiana with the support of UNDP & Govt. to develop innovative design to manufacture high speed Sewing machines to give a fillip to this sector.
Govt. of India has constituted a core committee to look into various issues concerned to this industry to pave the way for a healthy growth.

Conclusions:

Indian Textile Engineering Industry (ITEI) needs to intensify the R&D efforts to develop low cost technology.

There will be ample opportunities for the Indian Textile Engineering Industry to tap the potential and this will surge for rapid growth. Certainly, it needs to build up capacity & competitiveness to sustain in the competitive market.
Technology Resurgency is the only vision to bring back on rail. R&D activity needs to be strengthened to develop new Technology and Design to produce Energy Efficient & Eco-friendly machine to cater the needs of users.
It is also expected that Technology will be chosen judiciously for transfer, understanding the suitability of the industries needs.
Commitments of machine manufacturers & confidence of users both need to match on one line. Users must not get motivated to import age old second hand/ reconditioned machinery to get a temporary relief.
Govt. may frame policy not to encourage such issues, instead plan to encourage the industrialists to Transfer Technology through joint venture on Technology agreement in a systematic way. This will pave the way of Technology Resurgency to build capacity & competitiveness of Indian Textile Engineering Industry in the coming years. This will benefit the domestic industries as well as the country in future.

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