How Indian Spinning Industry is Evolving with Technology

By: Rohith Ram | Tuesday, 25 May 2021

Spinning technology is probably one of the oldest technologies invented by humans in which animals, plants, and synthetic ﬁbers are drawn out and twisted to form yarn. In this, India is one of the chief producers and purchaser of cotton in the world. The Indian Textile Industry has an overwhelming influence on the economy of the country.

In spinning industry, ring-spinning is one of the most used techniques that is still being used for many applications such as high strength yarn productions, and ﬁne count yarn. It is universally applicable for any material spun. However, ring-spinning has some drawbacks such as travelers’ high-speed which damages the ﬁbers, high energy consumptions, low production rate as a result of which there is a need for some recent advancements in ring-spinning technology. The new winding process is required to make bigger packages and more signiﬁcant expenditure on machine maintenance.

Blowroom process undergoing perfections
In the present day, the blowroom process in spinning technology has undergone a signiﬁcant degree of changes in terms of recovery of good ﬁbers, degree of opening, the intensity of cleaning including reduced number of machines, and removal of a large number of contaminants. The quality of yarn depends upon the detection and removal of contaminants from cotton lint. The contaminants similar to that of cotton such as white contaminants present in the cotton ﬁbers are difﬁcult to identify and separate during cleaning and opening, and it requires efﬁcient detection methods.

During the processing stages, a machine vision with an appropriate algorithm offers an excellent solution for detecting and removal of contaminants. The primary purpose of the blowroom is opening and cleaning of textile material without any considerable loss of ﬁbers. The use of the opening is to increase the volume of the material and to remove the impurities. The increase of opening and cleaning intensity also increases the neps level and ﬁber loss. And these are the reasons why finding the correct process has become a necessity.

Neps removal efficiency being improved with C51
The removal of neps efﬁciency in C51 is much more as compared to other cards machine. The C51 Card machine removes 57 per cent more neps as compared to other machines. This could be due to better ﬁber parallelization and orientation in the sliver of the card. Also, because of this reason, the neps percentage in the yarn produced from the sliver of the C51 card becomes lower when compared with other card machines. With improvement in card technologies, neps removal efﬁciency also improves.

Simplex machine
On the simplex machine, the slivers are subjected to the attenuating process, and a small amount of twist is received by slivers and followed by winding on bobbins. This machine produces roving for the ring frame.

The proper attenuation and twist of ﬁbers are not correctly given in the draw frame. A perfect sliver is produced having proper attenuation and twist in the simplex machine, and the production cost of this machine is also increased, the recent development is going on in the simplex for reducing the cost of yarn.

Several recent developments of the simplex have to be known. The signiﬁcant progress has been made in the winding system, drafting system, monitoring system, and roving package transport system. The drafting system provides the required drafts and attenuation of ﬁbers in roving. For the wrong drafting and twisting, the different faults could have appeared, and during this process, the operators should be careful.

Deliberate imperfections – the growing fashion trend

Inspired by the look of ‘peat bogs, marbling, tearing, spilling and the disrupting of classic expected patterns, also described as Meticulously Damaged and Fanciful Corrosions; roughing-up of surfaces, textures, menacing prints of diabolic tendrils and roots moving across fabric, Gothic fancy yarns and lace, fabrics decorated with yarn, metallics and passementerie. Embroidery and decoration are back, but lighter and more fanciful. The growing fashion trend among the people to sport imperfect clothing has boosted the production for such products and subsequently has improved the export orders too.

“Export orders are good for garments now, and garment producers buy yarn depending on the export orders. However, of late, the textile mills are stopping yarn supply by mid-month. Ours is a design-driven industry and the production process should go on uninterrupted. If there is disruption in yarn supply, it affects exports. There is an impression that the mills are focusing on yarn exports,” says Raja M. Shanmugham, President of the Tiruppur Exporters’ Association.

The technological up gradation in this industry has been a challenge for many industrialists. Similarly, another challenge in this industry is the waste created in a large amount.
Waste creation – An effect of the fast fashion
The current linear model of textile and clothing production and consumption (fast fashion) leads to enormous quantities of textile waste, because clothes are discarded after being worn for a relatively short time. There is also the issue of overproduction; only 30% of the clothing produced today is sold at the recommended retail price, another 30% goes in the sales and 40% remains unsold or even fails to reach the shops. These wastes created can be classified under three categories: Post-industrial waste, Pre-consumer waste and Post-consumer waste.

The scope for future technologies to be implemented in the spinning industry is enormous. One such adoption is in the line of reducing the power consumption. Addressing this challenge, the industry is expected to shift towards renewable energy sources such as solar energy.

Reduction of Power Consumption by adopting solar energy
The highest amount of power is consumed in rotor spinning during opening roller, winding, and suction systems. The textile sector consumes a tremendous amount of energy during production from the singeing process to ﬁnal fabric production. The textile sector is always searching for shifting to modern and efﬁcient technologies. Today the electricity is needed for mills to operate. The textile industry is using renewable energy sources and contributes mostly to the clean and environmentally friendly atmosphere. With the advancement in the solar energy and knowing the advantages of the energy system, the textile sector is expected to adopt the solar energy on a large scale. The infrastructure in these industries also pave the way for implementation of solar panels as there are a lot of free open surfaces.

The future of the spinning industry lies in the hands of the Government as it needs to take steps in order to promote this industry. The Budget 2021 is being welcomed by experts in this field as it allows India to become a textile sector giant. Speaking on this, Anuj Mundra, Chairman and MD, Nandani Creation says, "With focus on Aatmanirbhar Bharat, announcement of establishment of 7 textile parks by the Modi government in Budget 2021 should be welcomed with open arms. It's a big boost for the local textile industry. And, this will help India become a world leader in the textile sector.”