The Importance of Digitizing the Textile Manufacturing Industry

The textile manufacturing sector has long been a significant contributor to global economic growth and employment creation in numerous nations. In India, the textile industry has been highly unorganized and fragmented, with a minimal prevalence of technology usage and very low capacity utilization of about 40-50 percent. This has been a key issue for Indian textile companies as they attempt to compete in the global market. Despite the challenges, digitization presents a fresh chance for increased effectiveness and quality in the textile manufacturing sector. Textile businesses can streamline processes, lower expenses and boost production by utilizing digital technologies.

The efficiency and quality issues facing the Indian textile manufacturing sector are of no small importance. Low capacity utilization rates restrict the ability of companies to expand and become more profitable. About 83 percent of the country’s textile industry comprises unorganized small and medium enterprises, however, with technology, these businesses can increase their operational efficiency and create top-quality goods. Technology can also benefit textile businesses by lowering costs, boosting productivity, and enhancing overall competitiveness.

Increased Efficiency

For textile companies, inventory management is a big problem because they frequently have too much or too little of it. This is brought on by a lack of managerial experience and demand forecasting skills. However, textile firms can enhance their inventory management and production planning by utilizing the appropriate technologies and digitizing their operations. Barcode scanning and automated inventory replenishment systems are two of the ways to carry out digitization successfully.

Predictive maintenance is very important as, often, machines or production units are not maintained well, leading to very low average utilization of the factory. Avoiding downtimes can be made possible by deploying IoT-enabled equipment and devices for preventative maintenance. Textile manufacturers can enhance every step of their production process, from distribution to sales, by utilizing technologies like Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM). Additionally, by using AI in manufacturing, companies can anticipate defects and fix them before they become bigger problems.

Indian textile manufacturers tend to lose ground to Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Indonesia as global clients are reluctant to source multi-textile materials from India due to a lack of trust and consistency in quality. Improved efficiency brought on by digitization will help the textile industry to direct its focus more on generating goods of greater quality and securing the trust of international buyers.

Sustainability

The global textile industry is one of the most pollutant-releasing industries in the world, with a very high amount of waste and causing 20% of the world’s water pollution. With the help of nanotechnology, factories can make their manufacturing more water-resistant, energy-efficient, and sustainable.

Digitization is also extremely important in order to ensure the traceability and tracking of resources. It is vital to demonstrate and validate that the materials used were grown under the proper conditions. Sustainable practices are being implemented by organizations like the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and Cotton Made In Africa, but monitoring those practices gets challenging for them as well. Companies can have more visibility and traceability of their resources, and ensure that they are cultivated and manufactured in sustainable ways, by digitizing the entire supply chain from farm to fashion. This will provide real-time information on the quality of the materials. Due to its highly unorganized nature, the Indian textile industry has been lagging in leveraging data-driven decision-making.

Deploying Data

Manufacturers can leverage data-driven operations to increase optimization, reduce unwarranted consumption of raw materials and streamline production processes. Information on goods that move along a production line, such as yarn density, temperature, and weight, is recorded by measuring systems. With the help of digitization in manufacturing, systems will be able to coordinate the vast amount of information in real-time with all the machines in the production process that require the data to control the fabric. Data collection in real-time will help in faster identification of inefficiencies and response to any deviations.

Decision-Making

Companies can obtain important insights into market circumstances, consumer behavior, and a variety of other aspects by using data and price trend analysis. This can help them make more informed decisions, which can ultimately result in higher revenues and profits, for both buyers and suppliers. By analyzing historical data and spotting patterns and trends, a company can obtain a deeper understanding of the forces that shape its market, and use that knowledge to make more informed decisions about pricing, manufacturing, and other aspects of business operations.

India's textile manufacturing sector must move towards digitization to increase productivity, quality, inventory control, sustainability, and decrease waste. Given that the textile industry is also one of the most polluting in the world, it is critical that while aiming for growth, action is also taken to mitigate the collective environmental impact.