Intelligent Textile: New Technology Helps "Weave" The Future

In the modern textile factory, the intelligent spindle flies up and down, rolling down a spindle of dense yarn; The industrial robot "shakes its head and arms" to "thread" cotton yarn and spin it into clothes; The small machine cars in the storage workshop shuttle back and forth, and the automatic control makes the loading of finished products exactly the same... The above scenario is the normal production of many Chinese textile enterprises.

The textile industry is a traditional competitive industry in China, covering many links such as raw and auxiliary materials manufacturing, textile manufacturing and clothing production. In recent years, with the help of new technologies, Chinese textile enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain have transformed and upgraded, and a large number of production plants have emerged to achieve high-end manufacturing and intelligent integration, promoting the formation of a more green and efficient industrial cluster. In 2022, the total export volume of China's textiles and clothing will grow by 2.5% year on year, breaking the US $300 billion mark for three consecutive years.

Recently, our reporter visited many upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain from north to south to explore how China's textile industry can use new technologies to transform and upgrade.

　　 Spinning: uninterrupted unmanned production all day long

Recently, the reporter stepped into the "unlighted factory" of Dezhou Huayuan Ecological Technology Co., Ltd. located in Decheng District, Dezhou City, Shandong Province. The room was warm, and a layer of mist rose from glasses. "To eliminate static electricity, we need to ensure constant temperature and humidity in the factory environment, which is the first step to realize automatic spinning," Liu Zhi, project manager of Dezhou Huayuan, told reporters.

The first thing that came into view was the huge carding machine. With the roar of the machine, the treated cotton was "sucked" into the carding machine through the pipe, and then "spit" into the storage bucket after becoming sliver. "Carding can not only remove impurities in cotton, but also make cotton raw materials fully mixed in a single fiber state, laying the foundation for the subsequent process," said Liu Zhi.

Through a small door, the reporter walked into the textile workshop and saw several automatic spinning machines with a length of about 70 meters were working. Hundreds of spindles were densely distributed on each spinning machine. The spindle rotates rapidly, making a "rustling" sound, and the spun thread is automatically wound on the spindle. The arrangement of the spinning machine is like a bookshelf in a library. It takes more than one minute to walk from the top of the machine to the end.

"To realize automatic production, not only large machines such as automatic spinning machines are needed, but also the distribution of machines and transport pipelines is particular." Liu Zhi said, "When designing the workshop, the design team chose to hang the material transport pipelines on the ceiling, which can save space and improve efficiency." The reporter looked up and found that raw materials and finished products are shuttling back and forth orderly. In the whole production workshop, no one is involved in spinning. Only three or two workers ride small electric tricycles to shuttle back and forth in the workshop, stopping to check the operation of the machine from time to time.

However, when the enterprise was just put into production in 2003, Dezhou Huayuan still adopted the traditional labor-intensive production mode. "The traditional production mode relies on the experience and technology of workers, which is low in efficiency, low in profit, high in pollution, and cannot guarantee the quality," Liu recalled. With the development of spinning technology at home and abroad, the traditional production mode is becoming more and more difficult to sustain. Dezhou Huayuan has decided to build a new factory north of the old factory, and all the machines are updated with the latest domestic equipment. "The rapid development of domestic textile machinery manufacturers has provided us with confidence, so we don't have to worry about being" stuck "by foreign manufacturers. The special action of" Gongfu Shandong "implemented by Decheng District has provided policy support for our digital transformation." Liu Zhi said.

Today, the "lamp free factory" of Dezhou Huayuan can achieve 24-hour non-stop unmanned production, and the production efficiency and product quality have been significantly improved.

In the workshop, the reporter also saw a special kind of color thread, which was dyed with pure natural dyes extracted from plants. With a gentle pinch, it felt soft - this is a new type of color thread independently developed by Dezhou Huayuan. "We not only focus on improving production efficiency, but also set about the research and development of high-end products and environmental protection. This kind of color thread is non-toxic and harmless, suitable for making baby clothes." Liu Zhi said, "In the future, we will increase research and development to make textile products more 'green' and more environmentally friendly."

　　 Knitting: intelligent manufacturing of industrial robots

"From yarn to cloth and even ready to wear, it is no longer a manual job, and industrial robots can easily do it," Li Lijun, deputy general manager of Ningbo Cixing Co., Ltd., told reporters.

What is an industrial robot? With this question in mind, the reporter came to Ningbo Cixing production workshop in Cixi, Zhejiang Province to find out. In the workshop, rows of textile industrial robots are working. From a distance, these industrial robots are no different from common flat knitting machines. After approaching, the reporter found the clue: each machine is equipped with an electronic touch screen. The operator expertly entered the command on the electronic screen, and the yarn in the bobbin was sucked into the slot, and then the knitting needle flew up and down. Before long, a piece of cloth was "fresh".

"Knitting equipment has gone through the stages of hand flat knitting machine, electric flat knitting machine and automatic flat knitting machine, and now it has been upgraded iteratively to the stage of digital full-automatic computer flat knitting machine, that is, industrial robot." Li Lijun introduced that the fully intelligent industrial robot can independently complete a series of production work according to the operating commands set in the background.

The key is to work independently and combine software and hardware. Ningbo Cixing began to research and develop full-automatic computerized flat knitting machine in 2003, and after five years of technical breakthroughs. Today, through the use of industrial robots, the production efficiency of Ningbo Cixing is 20 to 30 times that of traditional manual flat knitting machines.

In order to ensure the quality of ex factory products, every full-automatic computerized flat knitting machine must be tested and debugged by the operator of the industrial robot system before leaving the factory. "We are the 'medical doctor' of knitting equipment." Tu Xudong, the operator and maintainer of industrial robot system, made an analogy. Li Hongli, director of Ningbo Cixing Human Resources Department, introduced that the company currently has 67 industrial robot system operators, including 8 high-level professional technicians, to jointly ensure the normal operation and production of full-automatic textile equipment.

In addition to industrial robots, Ningbo Cixing has also developed "first-line forming" intelligent manufacturing equipment and built Cixing "Sitange intelligent manufacturing workshop". The workshop is a digital factory based on "5G+intelligent Internet of Things+cloud computing technology". After customers place orders online on the "flexible customized cloud platform" of Ningbo Cixing, the digital factory will start automatic operation. In the production process, the intelligent manufacturing equipment solves the problems such as sewing the cuff in the process of spinning clothing with the help of Zhipao yarn mouth, flexible pulling and other technologies, shortens the waiting time for automatic clothing making, and realizes the "line forming" from yarn to finished products. In addition, the big data of the "flexible customization cloud platform" can also quickly analyze the current popular elements and provide suggestions for platform partners. Digital design and personalized customization can be achieved regardless of style, pattern or size.

"From the sample selection and order placement on the customer platform to the delivery of goods, Cixing 'Sitange Intelligent Manufacturing Workshop' can be completed within 5 to 7 days, and the price of finished products is also lower than the retail price of the same model and quality in the market. Many domestic footwear and clothing enterprises have introduced the production equipment and streamline we developed," Li Lijun said.

　　 Garment making: using digital innovation mode

On the Bosideng full-automatic hanging assembly line located in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, each piece of down jacket seems to have "lightness skills" and "flies" on the red chain at the top of the workshop. Each process bayonet shall be removed by workers, cut, ironed and assembled in one go.

"Now we are all automatic filling, automatic packaging and automatic template, and the automation degree of key production links has reached 90%," said Wang Chenhua, vice president of Bosiden Co., Ltd.

Why Intelligent? Wang Chenhua told reporters that this is to solve the "structural shortage" of ready to wear brands.

Garment enterprises are the last link in the textile industry. Due to the direct facing of consumers, the market fluctuates greatly. Once the forecast is inaccurate, we will face the embarrassment of shortage of best-selling products and backlog of unsalable products. At the end of the last century, Bosiden suffered a big loss - the 230000 pieces of down jackets produced rashly sold only about 1/3 in the northern market, leaving 150000 unsalable stocks and more than 8 million yuan of bank loans, and the old brand almost failed.

The market is changing rapidly. How to preempt the opportunity? As a traditional clothing enterprise, Bosiden chose to embark on the road of intelligent production.

Transformation needs to go through three passes.

The first is monitoring. The reporter saw that every 6 seconds, Bosiden's enterprise big data platform will refresh the national sales data. No matter how hard it is for consumers to guess, it can also be clearly seen in big data. Factories can flexibly produce and dynamically deliver according to market demand.

The second is production. "We apply big data and AI technology to the prediction of the product life cycle, and realize the automatic generation of human body data collection, virtual fitting, samples and processes through 3D design, 3D printing, etc." Wang Chenhua said that the design efficiency of the new model has greatly increased, and the response speed of the supply chain has been faster.

The third is warehousing. In Bosiden's giant automated three-dimensional warehouse, silver metal shelves are arranged in a neat and orderly manner. Large mechanical arms grasp and put down, and small mechanical vehicles carry cargo boxes at a gallop. Here, the handling, sorting, distribution and inventory are all mechanized, and the daily throughput of the storage area can reach 1 million pieces at most. Even during the "Double 11" order explosion every year, Bosiden can deliver all goods nearby on the day of placing an order.

Through intelligence, Bosiden's current production lead time has been shortened to 7 to 14 days. "Digitization is not only a wind outlet, but also a model innovation. We hope to transform the past futures based mass production into spot based agile manufacturing." Wang Chenhua said.

The traditional textile industry was once considered as an intensive industry with high pollution and low profits. With the continuous enhancement of the innovation ability of textile enterprises, the traditional industry has shown new vitality. Sun Ruizhe, president of China Textile Industry Federation, said that the technological innovation capability of China's textile industry has entered the stage of "parallel and leading" from the stage of "following". With the help of new technology, China's textile industry is undergoing a butterfly change. Through intelligent transformation, the industry will have a better future.

(Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition)