Research and Development in Textiles and its importance in present scenario

Arindam Basu

Northern India Textile Research Association, Ghaziabad, U.P., India

Email: [email protected]

Introduction

As per Oxford Dictionary Research is endeavouring to discover new or collate old facts etc.
by scientific study of a subject, course of critical investigation. Research and Development plays a
very important role in the growth of a country. Hence it is very important for the textile industry.
Any country which invests in R&D improves in the similar scale. If the investment towards R&D is
calculated against a country’s GDP keeping Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in mind, the picture will be
clear. USA invests around 2.8% of its GDP towards R&D. Similarly Israel, Germany, Japan and China
invest 4.11%, 2.84%, 3.58% and 2.1% respectively towards R&D. India invests only 0.85% of its GDP
in R&D. It is presently ranked 76th among a total of 143 economies as per the Global Innovation
Index. New generation industries such as electronics, software, pharmaceutical, bio-technological
industries invest good amount of money in R&D to stay afloat. Conventional industries like textiles
invest very little in R&D. In India there are around 31000 spinning units, out of which 35% is in Small
scale Industrial units (SSI) category, around 200 units are fully integrated and capable to produce up
to final fabrics. But only 5-6% of total fabrics are produced in large scale units. Rest is produced by
decentralised power-loom units, handloom units and knitting units. Similarly around 2400 units are
power operated processing units and around 7500 units are hand operated processing units. Around
250 power operated processing units fall under large scale units. It is very important for India to
have a large number of textile and apparel industries as it provides maximum number of jobs for
semi-literate and semi-skilled/ unskilled personnel after agriculture. India’s National Manufacturing
Policy targets at creating 100 million additional jobs in the sector by 2025 in which textiles and
apparel industry can play a very important role. And to keep the industries running one must invest
in R&D. Research and Development do not mean discovery of new products, process or machines
always. Discovery comes only once in a while, continuous innovation can be done through R&D. As
per Albert Einstein, “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would
it”.

Research and Development in textile industries

 Indian textile and apparel industries used to get the benefit of cheap labour which has
disappeared gradually due to economic improvement in India and competition from low cost
countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam etc. Hence it will not be easy to run the industries profitably
without R&D. The Research can be in the area of new product development (higher value addition),
savings in energy, waste generation or improvement in machine and man-power productivity. The
damages in environment put further pressure in the textiles/ apparel industries by way of
implementation of Effluent treatments, water re-use and water recycling. This cannot be done
without proper changes in technology, dyestuff and chemicals. A study by TIFAC, Department of
Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India and IIT, Delhi in
collaboration with Textile Research Institutes of India and Educational institutes identified following
R&D Focus areas:

1. Development of Specialty and multifunctional textiles

2. Development of eco-friendly and sustainable technologies
3. Research on making the existing processes more energy efficient
4. Developments of attachments for spinning and weaving machines
5. Development of monitoring, control and testing instruments
6. Development of coated textiles for various sports and multi-functional applications
7. Development of new medical devices based on textile materials
8. Development of protective textiles
9. Development of composites for automotive, aerospace and architectural applications
10. Development of Nonwovens for apparel, medical and specialty applications
11. Development of Biodegradable fibres and
12. Development of electro-textiles for communication and health monitoring

The areas identified by the group worked as very good guideline for future work plan. Also the world
market has taught the industry regarding the areas where R&D, where it should be directed.

The needs can be classified as short term, medium term and long term for the industry.
Accordingly the plans can be drawn. The short term R&D includes solution of immediate problems
faced by a particular industry such as lower machine utilisation, higher energy consumption,
uncontrolled quality of the products, wastage of raw materials etc. A large number of retro-fit
products have been developed by various textile research institutes, machinery manufacturers and
other industries which can be fixed with the existing machines to reduce the power consumption.
After analysing the situation of a particular unit some of these accessories/ machines can be fitted to
reduce power consumption. Some of the examples are energy saving fans, frequency control drives
for ring frame, compressed air monitoring system, energy saving spindle tapes, belt drives and
spindles, energy efficient overhead cleaners etc. Gradually those techniques have been added as a
part of the new machines. Similarly various methods to reduce heat loss, waste heat recovery and
more efficient methods of transmission has been developed which can be utilised by the textile
industries. The products developed elsewhere such as energy efficient motors, LED lights etc. can be
used in the textile and apparel industries directly for reducing energy consumption.

Medium term R&D projects may include development of various wet processes which can
reduce the load in the Effluent, reduce liquor to material ratio in dyeing and other processes to
reduce the consumption of water etc. The water is becoming scarce and throughout the World there
will be huge pressure from society and governments for reduction in industrial water consumption.
Also awareness of the common people and pressure from the importers will force the industries to
recycle and reuse of water and zero liquid discharge processes. NITRA has taken up a project in this
area whose outcome will be very useful to the industry and many dye and accessories
manufacturers have initiated various R&D projects in this area. As we can see that in India a large
number of processing units are under small scale industrial units, hardly they invest in R&D. In India
co-operative research units are functioning for many years with the support of Government of India
and Industry which are called TRAs (Textile Research Associations). These research centres such as
ATIRA, BTRA, SITRA, NITRA etc. are supporting the large and small textile units by conducting
research and development. Government of India fund many such research projects along with
industry. The developments mentioned in last paragraph are the results of these research works
conducted by the TRAs.

In India very few long term research projects are being conducted which is very much
required for development of new fibres, machines and technologies. The countries like USA,
Germany, Japan, China etc. do many long time research works which has given them edge over
other countries. The production of specialty fibres, highly technical machines and products have
been developed by them which are giving them returns and they are supplying these products to the
rest of the world.

Technical textiles and R&D

The textile products produced for functional purpose are known as technical textiles.
Aesthetics or look is secondary for these products. These products are knowledge based products
and there is high value addition. Most of the developed countries have come out of conventional
textile products due to high competition from low cost countries such as India, China, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, and Vietnam and are engaged in mostly production of technical textiles. As these products
are specifically for functional purpose, research is must for them. India has initiated investment in
this sector lately and increasing their production gradually. Production of overall textiles and
technical textiles over the years has been shown in Table -1. It can be seen that over time the
production of textile products as well as technical textiles in India is increasing continuously and the
ratio of technical textiles and overall production is also increasing gradually. The per capita
consumption of Technical textiles per annum in India (as on 2015-16) is Rs. 616 which is far below
world standard. This shows that there is huge potential of these products in India though the
present growth rate is 8.56% per annum.

The technical textiles has helped in diversifying the industry and opened up many new
opportunities which were unheard of. Be it adult incontinence, fibres in building construction,
application of textile based composites in various high end products, such as aeroplane parts,
automobile parts etc. The advent of specialised fibres such as carbon, para-aramid, meta-aramid etc.
has increased the usage of textile products. These are the results of R&D.

Research will play most important role in this development. Presently the Ministry of
Textiles, Government of India is giving a number of benefits to the companies, engaged in
production of this product and also sponsoring research projects through R&D Policy and TMTT
scheme. Besides understanding the importance of the technical textiles many industries have
started investing in R&D in their units. This has resulted in import substitution of many such
products such as geotextiles, fire proof garments, extreme cold climate clothing, bullet proof vests
and other products. The awareness amongst the present generation, increased disposable income,
demand for higher quality of life, human safety are increasing the demand of these products in India
and abroad. The products have to be engineered as per the specific requirement of various
customers which will be impossible without continuous research and development.
References:

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_research_and_development_spending
2) Profile of Indian Textile and clothing Industry, Textile Times, March-April 2014.
3) White papers on R&D needs of Indian Textile Industry, IIT Delhi and TIFAC, DST, Government
of India, November 2009
4) Baseline Survey of the Technical Textile Industry in India 2015, ICRA Management Consulting
Services Ltd, Office of the Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India