TECHNOLOGY MISSION

Government of India on Thursday, January 20th launched its 5 year national mission on technical textiles to boost the growth of the nascent nonwovens and specialty textiles sector.The plan has an outlay of US $45 million (200 crores Indian rupees) and the timeframe will be from 2011-2015.

This was announced by Mrs. Rita Menon, India's Textile Secretary in an event jointly organized by the Ministry of Textiles, India and the trade body, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi.Under this mission there are two mini-missions. Mini-mission I will focus on establishing four new centers of excellence and enhance the R& D capabilities in India.

The four centers planned are nonwovens, composites, indutech and sportech.Each center will be given a maximum of US $ 5.45 million (Rupees. 24.5 crores). Mini-mission II will focus on the marketing aspects to boost both domestic consumption and export opportunities.It is hoped that funds will be disbursed soon so that projects can begin as early in April this year.

A conference has been convened for interested parties in Mumbai by the Office of Textile Commissioner on January 25th.The mission opens-up opportunities for fiber producers, consultants and machinery makers. The mission will explore all sorts of fibers such as cotton, recycled fibers and processes in developing products and will build a good knowledge base through contract R & D at different institutes.

TEXTILES

Winner Medical Group Inc a leading manufacturer of medical dressings, medical disposables and non woven fabric made from 100% natural PurCotton products in China, announced that it was honored to receive the Shenzhen Baoan District Quality Award from the Market Supervision Administration of Shenzhen Municipality.

Winner Medical was awarded the top honor from a field of over 30 applicants, having undergone a rigorous evaluation by an independent board of examiners.The Award recognizes Winner Medical's management team and quality, and affirms the Company is operating at a global management level and is able to compete with world-class organizations.

The Award further spurs Winner Medical to continuously improve its quality, management and overall performance to enhance its competitiveness.The Shenzhen Baoan District Quality Award is the District's highest honor for quality and organizational performance, excellence through innovation, improvement and visionary leadership.

The evaluation of the Award is based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria (or 'Baldrige Performance Excellence Program') in seven key categories: leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement, analysis and knowledge management, workforce focus, process management and results.

The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence not only provides a systems perspective for understanding performance management, but most importantly, it offers excellent and integral tools to self-assess and compare with applicants' benchmarks to achieve sustainable development.

DENIM

Denim has gained much popularity that if you look around, you will surely notice somebody wearing denim in your nearby. Now, more than just complementing a rugged style, the denim has become suitable for any occasion. Denim is being worn irrespective of demographic differences.

The material denim is synonymous with familiar blue jeans and is denoted by a rugged twill textile that produces the familiar diagonal ribbing.

Today, there are around twenty Denim manufacturers in India alone catering to the domestic and export markets.

The manufacturing facilities are fast catching up at Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam. Denim today is now available in various shades of blue, black and brown within each there are different effects generated by washing.

As Denim is a competitive market product, there will always be pressure on price and quality. One can gain upper hand in pricing if their manufacturing cost is low. One of the ways of reducing the manufacturing cost is reducing the raw material cost, reducing the production losses and reducing the second's generation.

Quality Assurance in Denim mill can thus significantly help in achieving the above objectives. Academically, Quality Assurance may be defined as "the planned and systematic activities implemented in a system for fulfilling the quality requirements of a product or service."

The current paper highlights in brief various check points employed in Denim mill for arresting the non conformities so as to reduce the production losses and quality down gradations.

POLYSTER FIBRE

Outlast Technologies, leader in heat management and moisture reduction technology, announces the introduction of Outlast polyester fiber. After extensive research and development, Outlast has succeeded in creating the first-ever heat management polyester fibers extending the range of applications and markets in which the technology can be used.

The newest member of the Outlast fiber family is a bi-component fiber with a phase change material (PCM) core and polyester sheath. Other Outlast fibers include Outlast viscose and Outlast acrylic with PCM.

Staple fibers of the polyester will launch in the market first, followed by filament fiber.“Outlast is a leading R&D company in the PCM industry and the launch of Outlast polyester fiber demonstrates our commitment to innovation,” says Greg Roda, president and CEO of Outlast Technologies. “Outlast viscose and Outlast acrylic have seen great success and this new polyester fiber allows Outlast technology to infiltrate the functional apparel market, leading to company growth on a global level.”

Outlast polyester features the unique added value of heat management with the same characteristics of other polyester fibers: low moisture absorption, ability to transport moisture, improved wrinkle resistance, water and wind resistance as well as high tearing and abrasion resistance.

Outlast polyester is perfectly suited for functional apparel and other applications worn next to skin including t-shirts, socks, base layers, athletic wear and under wear all offering superior comfort..

DENIM

Denim has gained much popularity that if you look around, you will surely notice somebody wearing denim in your nearby. Now, more than just complementing a rugged style, the denim has become suitable for any occasion. Denim is being worn irrespective of demographic differences. The material denim is synonymous with familiar blue jeans and is denoted by a rugged twill textile that produces the familiar diagonal ribbing.

Today, there are around twenty Denim manufacturers in India alone catering to the domestic and export markets. The manufacturing facilities are fast catching up at Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam. Denim today is now available in various shades of blue, black and brown within each there are different effects generated by washing.

As Denim is a competitive market product, there will always be pressure on price and quality. One can gain upper hand in pricing if their manufacturing cost is low. One of the ways of reducing the manufacturing cost is reducing the raw material cost, reducing the production losses and reducing the second's generation.

Quality Assurance in Denim mill can thus significantly help in achieving the above objectives. Academically, Quality Assurance may be defined as "the planned and systematic activities implemented in a system for fulfilling the quality requirements of a product or service."

current paper highlights in brief various check points employed in Denim mill for arresting the non conformities so as to reduce the production losses and quality down gradations.

TEXTILES

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. announced that the Company, working in cooperation with leading laboratories, is synthesizing DNA sequences and genetic constructs for its second generation of advanced spider silk based polymers.

The artificial DNA constructs which the company is creating were specifically developed with the technical textiles market in mind."These new designer DNA sequences are being rolled out as a part of our plan to build on our recent success by creating new materials and new products," said Kraig's CEO Kim Thompson.

"These new genetic constructs are being created right now, for use in the production of a new class of high performance fibers. We are developing this next generation of genetically modified silk fibers specifically to capture a share of the technical textiles market. This is the primary market for high strength fibers and is currently estimated at $120 billion. We believe that these revolutionary materials will have tremendous potential in the technical textiles marketplace for high strength fibers.

""High strength designer fibers have the potential to satisfy the multi-billion dollar demand for new materials with tremendous strength-to-weight ratios," Thompson continued. "Based upon what we learned in the process of developing our first generation of revolutionary fibers, we believe that these second generation designer DNA sequences have the potential to significantly increase raw strength-to-weight ratios.

"Kraig Biocraft Laboratories recently announced its scientific and commercial breakthrough in producing genetically engineered (recombinant) spider silk in a scalable and cost effective platform. The biotechnology company is a leader in the development of genetic engineering technologies with applications for the global textile markets.

LATEST CROP RESEARCH

Those who took part in field tours traveled through 600 acres of land, including about 60 acres of cotton fields. They stopped along the way for informational presentations on research including irrigation and monitoring techniques, new varieties and planting dates, weed control and insect management, spokeswoman Ginger Rowsey said.

The event lasted from 8 a.m. to noon, with tours starting at 8:30 a.m. according to officials at the center, which is part of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.

Rowsey drove up the winding gravel road between 600 acres of land herself. Wilting, dark brown sunflowers line the right side of the road, and brown harvested corn leaves form the left side leading up to the cotton bolls. The gray and cloud-thick sky served as a backdrop for the agriculture institute's leading research, and the 600 acres of land as classroom space.

"It is an outdoor classroom really, and it allows farmers the chance to see up close and personally the different varieties, different planting dates, different weed and pest management techniques," Rowsey said.

The agriculture institute's farm is different from traditional farms because it is operated largely for educational purposes.

"Instead of just reading about it in a book or looking at it on the Internet, they can actually see it in person, so that's why we do this day," Rowsey said.

Experts showcased the new cotton varieties so farmers would be able to see which crops were doing best and how to increase profits on their farms, said Chris Main, extension cotton specialist for the University of Tennessee.

The most useful information has been row crop weed specialist Larry Steckel's seminar in controlling herbicide-resistant weeds because weed control is one of the biggest problems in farm maintenance, Main said.