Modern Industry

Both in d u s tria lis e d and developing countries now have modern i n s t a lla t io n s capable o f h ig h ly e f f i c i e n t fa b r ic production. In ad dition to mechanical improvements in yarn and f a b r ic manufacture, there have been rapid advances in development of new f ib r e s , processes to improve t e x t i l e c h a ra c te ris tic s , and te s tin g methods allowing greater q u a lit y c o n tro l.

4 .3 .1 . Employment and Output.

As indicated by the In te rn a tio n a l Labour Organisation (1991), the t e x t i l e industry employed 5.3 m illio n workers in developing countries in 1985 or 16 percent of the in d u s tr ia l workforce. In the period 1967-1987 developed countries d r a s t ic a lly reduced employment in the t e x t i l e industry from 8.9 m illio n to 6.8 m illio n workers, mainly by b e tte r in te g ra tin g the design, spinning, weaving, and f in is h in g stages of production and by e s ta b lis h in g large manufacturing u n its and long production runs. In many cou ntries, the Government provided f in a n c ia l assistance f o r re s tru c tu rin g and

modernisation of the industry. As a r e s u lt , the value added per worker in 1985 in developed countries was $18,000, compared to $6,000 in developing co u n trie s, as indicated by Industry and Development (1987, p . 123).

Between 1970 and 1985, t e x t i l e output increased by 2.4 percent per annum in developing countries and 1.5 percent per annum

in developed co u ntries. As a r e s u lt , the developing co u n trie s ' share in world output increased from 19.5 to 21.7 percent on the basis of a sample of 82 countrie s, (In du stry and Development , 1987, p . 123).

T e x tile s and c lo th in g exports are therefore c le a r ly o f major importance to developing countries.

4 .3 .2 . The LTA and the MFA.

The massive l i b e r a lis a t io n of world trade since World War I I has provided a continuing impetus to change in t e x t i l e in d ustrie s of in d u s tr ia lis e d countrie s. Pressures f o r change in these countries have been imposed from many sides. Shephard (1981) fin d s th a t these include fie r c e competition in fo re ig n and domestic markets from low- wage countrie s, strong pressures from w ith in the ind ustry fo r s tr u c tu r a l reform and technical change and also competition fo r labour from other countries.

The prospect o f decline has brought f o r t h a v a r ie ty of 's u r v iv a l responses' from the governments and in d u s trie s of the in d u s tria lis e d cou ntries. Of these responses, government interve n tion

aimed at stemming the tid e of decline has been the most u n iv e rs a l, and by f a r the most important form of in te rve n tion has been provided by n o n - t a r i f f r e s t r ic t io n s on trade, a h is to ry of which can be found

in Keesing and Wolf (1980).

Mathur (1989, p . 217) points out th a t protectionism in the name of voluntary export r e s tr a in ts dates back to the 1937 Osaka

"Gentlemen's Agreement" between the American and Japanese t e x t i l e trade associations. Cline (1990) h ig h lig h ts the f a c t th a t what followed was the beginning of a cycle th a t has plagued t e x t i l e p rotectio n ever since: namely the s p illo v e r o f imports from c o n tro lle d to uncontrolled areas. Thus, under s e l f - r e s t r a i n t , Japan's share o f US imports o f cotton t e x t il e s f e l l from 63 percent in 1958 to 26 percent in 1960, while Hong Kong 's share rose from 14 percent to 28 percent. Imports also surged from many other countries.

Moreover, as indicated by Keesing and Wolf (1980, p . 14-15), US a g r ic u lt u r a l p o lic y aggravated import competition by fo rc in g domestic t e x t i l e m ills to purchase cotton at an a r t i f i c i a l l y high support price while fo re ig n producers could buy exported US cotton at a lower p ric e .

The General Agreement on T a r i f f s and Trade (GATT) discussions, led by US n e gotiators, developed the concept of "market d is ru p tio n " in 1959-1960. This was defined as instances of sharp import increases associated w ith low import prices not a t t r ib u t a b le to dumping or fo re ig n subsidies. In November 1960 GATT adopted the Decision on the Avoidance o f Market D isru p tio n, which meant th a t

r e s t r ic t io n s could be applied even i f actual in ju r y had not taken place. I t also established the occurrence o f a p ric e d i f f e r e n t i a l between imports and comparable domestic goods as a basis f o r determining the need f o r r e s t r i c t i o n .

A waiver of GATT's ru le s on non-discrim ination having been obtained, the Short Term Arrangement (STA) was adopted in 1961, and t h is applied the concept of market d is ru p tio n , and i t remained the cornerstone of t e x t i l e and apparel protectio n th e re a fte r in the Long Term Arrangement (LTA) and the M u lt if ib r e Arrangement (MFA).

The LTA came in to e ff e c t f o r f i v e years in 1962, and was la rg e ly meant to allow the ind ustries o f the importing ( in d u s tr ia lis e d ) countries a temporary 'breathing space' to adjust to increased imports from low wage countries. The 'breath ing space' was seen as being too short, and the LTA was twice renewed before i t was replaced in 1974 by an agreement th a t embraced a l l the major t e x t i l e fib r e s , the MFA. The MFA was renewed f o r yet fo u r more years in 1978 under s i g n if ic a n t l y more r e s t r i c t i v e con dition s, and then renewed twice more in 1981 and 1986.

Today, world trade in t e x t il e s and c lo th in g , continues to be regulated by the MFA. In 1986, the United States signed b ila t e r a l agreements w ith i t s three main Asian suppliers covering imports of t e x t il e s and c lo th in g up to 1991. Hong Kong agreed to l i m i t the growth o f i t s exports by an average of 1 percent per annum in th a t

period. Under s im ila r agreements, the growth of exports from the Republic o f Korea was lim ite d to 0.8 percent per annum, and those of Taiwan Province to 0.5 percent per annum. The EEC has been a l i t t l e more lib e r a l than the United States in i t s b i l a t e r a l agreements. With the extension of the MFA in 1986, i t has agreed to annual increases of 1 to 2 percent higher than in the previous b i l a t e r a l agreements.

4 .3 .3 . Effects of MFA on Developing Countries.

Although the quota system r e s t r i c t s the expansion of exports, i t guarantees the status quo. The e x is tin g suppliers are thus assured of a given share o f the export market to which they can attach a market value. This market value, commonly re fe rre d to as the quota re n t, is incorporated in the price of the exported t e x t i l e s and c lo th in g and becomes a guaranteed improvement to t h e i r terms of trade and export earnings. Trela and Whalley (1989, p . 137) po in t out th a t i t is the refore believed th a t t h is class of established exporters has a vested in te re s t in maintaining the status quo and w i l l favour the continued re negotiatio n of the MFA. Thus, Keesing and Wolf (1980, p.

125) state th a t developing c o u n trie s ' gain from quota rents more than outweighs the loss they s u ffe r as a r e s u lt of the r e s t r ic t io n s on t h e i r market access. As a r e s u lt , i t is not in t h e i r in te re s t to seek to terminate the MFA because of the loss of t h e i r quota re nts.

On the other hand, i t is argued by GATT (1984, p . 152), and Mark (1985, p . 8) th a t the quota rents only p a r t i a l l y compensate the

earnings foregone from the unrealised expansion of sales. Moreover, from developing countries could increase developing country exports of t e x t il e s and c lo th in g by 125 percent. UNCTAD (1986) estimated th a t

li b e r a lis a t io n f o r economies of scale, product d if f e r e n t i a t i o n , and s p e c ia lis a tio n .

Cable (1989, p . 148) points out th a t, the MFA, by re ly in g on q u a n tita tiv e r e s t r i c t i o n s , has the e ff e c t of fo rc in g the foreign suppliers to upgrade the added value content of t h e i r exports. I t has therefore increased competition in the upper end o f the market in

importing countries - pre c is e ly the part of the market where the importing ( i n d u s t r ia l ) countries have the greatest comparative advantages.

Cline (1990, p . 128-130) shows th a t the MFA also has an in d ir e c t impact on the economic stru ctu re of both in d u s tr ia lis e d and developing co untrie s. For example, a d is to rte d p rice s tru c tu re in the t e x t i l e and c lo th in g in d u strie s hampers the needed s tru c tu ra l adjustment which would have enabled a s h i f t o f investment in

importing countries to other sectors. At the same time, exporting countries, in response to the MFA, have been forced to develop the export p o te n tia l of other in d u s trie s , causing tension in the increasing number o f in d u s tr ia l sectors in in d u s tr ia lis e d cou ntries.

Developing country policymakers fre q u e n tly argue th a t the more serious im plica tio ns of the MFA are those which a ff e c t

in d iv id u a l cou ntry's growth and development. OECD (1985) argued th a t:

"the expansion of t e x t i l e and clo th in g exports had become fo r the developing countries an increasingly important determinant of t h e i r economic development.11

Their view was th a t they had seen the h ig h ly b e n e fic ia l

key fa c to r behind t h i s high growth ra te has been a rapid expansion of exports, fu e lle d to a large extent by the growth o f exports of t e x t il e s and c lo th in g .

4 .3 .4 . Textiles Manufacturing and New Technologies.

E s s e n tia lly , the processes involved in producing t e x t il e s are designing, f i b r e preparation, spinning weaving or k n i t t i n g , and f in is h in g ; making clothes involves designing and pattern making, c u ttin g , sewing and f in is h in g . These are summarised below, but a more d e ta iled elaboration of the technical a c t i v i t i e s in spinning is given in Hamby (1966), and Lord (1981) amongst others, and a de tailed account of the weaving process can be found in Marks and Robinson (1976), Aitken (1964) and Lord and Mohamed (1976). A good account of the e ffe c ts of new technologies on these processes can be found in Toyne et a l. (1984 c h .3), and Cline (1990).

Two important technological changes have taken place in the t e x t i l e ind ustry since 1945. The f i r s t came as a r e s u lt of the competition th a t occurred between man-made fib r e s and natural fib r e s in the 1950s and 1960s. Thus, as FAST (1986), t h is resulted in an impressive r a t io n a lis a t io n in spinning and weaving operations a f t e r 1950. The second wave o f technological change in the t e x t i l e ind ustry, which began in the 1970s, was driven to a large extent by the rapid advances in m icro electronics.

Designing.

Computer-aided design (CAD) techniques o f f e r extensive o p p ortu n itie s in making t e x t i l e designing a more e f f i c i e n t process.

T e x tile manufacturers have t r a d i t i o n a l l y had to prepare several samples o f c lo th f o r t h e i r p o te n tia l customers, which can be a time consuming task. With the CAD techniques, hundreds o f examples can be presented to a customer on a computer screen, and only a few are then woven in to samples before a f i n a l choice is made. Moreover, the computer has a l l the information ready f o r s e ttin g the loom f o r production.

Fibre Preparation.

Fibre preparation before spinning involves blending, carding and drawing out of fib r e s . These processes have undergone various degrees of mechanisation. Latest equipment is h ig h ly automated and can be operated w ith the use of computers.

Bales of f i b r e a r riv e at the t e x t i l e m i l l , as shown in Figure (4 .1 ), from d if f e r e n t sources. Fibre from a selected number of bales are then blended to produce a clean, uniform q u a lity of material f o r fu r th e r processing. The purpose of the opening room machinery is to loosen up and break the f i b r e layers taken from the bales in to smaller pieces and d e liv e r th is pre-opened stock to the cleaning machines f o r f u r t h e r opening and cleaning. I f the fib r e s are

Figure4.1. BalesofFibreatTextileMill

not properly selected and properly fed at th is stage of processing, production e f f ic ie n c y w i l l be decreased and the product produced may not have the expected q u a lity c h a ra c te ris tic s .

Toyne (1984) observed th a t computers are now widely in use f o r sele cting the best combination o f bales f o r a s p e c ific end-use product. The c r i t e r i o n f o r bale selection is based on how each f i b r e q u a lity con tributes to the manufacturing performance and product a t t r ib u t e s . Bale pluckers and automatic feeds, as shown in Figure (4 .2 ), can be programmed to feed a s p e c ific amount from bales at very high speeds while assuring homogeneous blending. These programmable machines, with t h e i r precision blending, minimise the w ith in -b a le and between-bale v a ria tio n s to a degree which is unattainable in manual feeding. Automated equipment in the opening room th a t is completely c o n tro lle d by microprocessors can d e liv e r a well-opened stock to the cards which are shown in Figure (4 .4 ). These remove any remaining d i r t or excessively short or immature f ib r e s , and arranges the remaining fib r e s in a roughly p a r a lle l disentangled form (c a lle d a s l i v e r ) th a t becomes the input f o r drawing.

The development of new card clo th in g and the use of chute feeding, as shown in Figure (4 .3 ), and e le c tro n ic s have g re a tly contributed to carding speed increases in the la s t decade. M e ta llic card wire was an important technological inve ntion. I t allowed automation in carding, and i t improved both production speed and t e x t i l e q u a lit y because i t provided t i g h t e r , closer s e ttin g s which enabled a b e tte r in te g ra tio n of fib r e s and reduced weight v a r ia tio n .

Figure 4.4. Carding

The use of e le c tro n ic clutches, s o lid state c i r c u i t r y , microprocessors, DC motors and minicomputers has provided greater control and higher carding e f f ic ie n c y , and now th a t carding can be programmed d i r e c t l y from the control room, the need f o r workers in the carding area has been v i r t u a l l y eliminated.

Pre-spinning operations include combing, drawing and roving.

The importance of combing depends on the q u a lity and fineness of the yarn demanded. Improvements in machine design, r e s u ltin g in the elim in a tio n of uncontrolled acce lera tion, weight reduction, balancing of swinging masses, and stronger rocker shafts have made higher speeds possible.

The drawing frame straightens and p a r a lle ls the fib r e s in the s l i v e r , improves the u n ifo rm ity of the s liv e r s , blends the fib r e s by feeding several s liv e r s through the drawframe, and d e live rs a s liv e r of a s p e c ific weight. This is done by passing the s l i v e r between successive sets of r o l l e r s , each of which moves more ra p id ly than the preceding one. Modern high-speed draw frames are equipped with a n t i f r i c t i o n bearings to support the c o i l e r , automatic stop motions at the break of the s l i v e r , automatic can chargers and larger cans, power-driven cre els, and le v e llin g devices.

The roving frame attenuates the drawing s l i v e r in to a roving so th a t i t w i l l be s u ita b le f o r the rin g spinning frame. This is also done by means of employing increasingly fa s t r o l l e r s . The s li v e r is simultaneously tw isted s l i g h t l y to strengthen i t . The continued use

and development of rin g spinning encouraged e f f o r t s to improve and automate roving frames. Frames w ith automatic d o ffin g are now a v a ila b le .

Yarn Spinning

The purpose of spinning is to obtain a s t i l l f i n e r yarn from the roving and to t w is t previously p a r a lle l strands into a s p ira l so th a t they adhere together and make yarn strong enough to bear the stress placed on i t in succeeding operations.

The spinning process takes one of two forms: ring-frame spinning or open-ended spinning which is shown in Figure (4 .5 ). The rin g frame spinning process which was f i r s t introduced in the United States in 1830 is s t i l l widely used today, though in a much improved form. For example, between 1950 and 1975 the speed of output doubled while the q u a lit y of yarn and r e l i a b i l i t y of operation also increased. Industry and Development (1987) states th a t as li m i t s on the ring-frame spinning equipment were approached, open-ended spinning machines were developed which operate at fo u r times the speed of ring-frames ( p a r t ly because they integra te three previously separate processes: roving, spinning and winding). Although fa b ric s woven from open-end spun yarns are reported to be i n f e r i o r to those from ring-spun yarns, the open-end technique accounted f o r more than 15 percent of a l l yarns produced in the US in the la te 1980's, compared to only 3 percent in 1975.

Progress has re c e n tly been made in improving the ro to r system. Otemas (1989) states th a t a t e x t i l e machine manufacturer claims to have produced a ro to r capable of spinning yarns in the fin e count range and which had outstanding e ff ic ie n c y and which could be

"opening up new f i e l d s of a p p lic a tio n f o r r o to r yarns." UNIDO (1989) points out th a t j e t spinning, a r e la t i v e l y recent Japanese innovation, spins yarn even fa s t e r than open-end spinning and does i t f i n e l y enough f o r high q u a lit y s h ir t in g and blouse m a te ria ls.

Weaving

Weaving involves in te r la c in g lengthwise yarns (warp) and crosswise f i l l i n g yarns (w eft) and is carrie d out on a loom. The simplest weaving is accomplished by ra is in g a lte rn a te warp yarns and in s e rtin g one length o f weft (a p ick) through the "tunnel" formed by raised and lowered ends and then reversing the pattern o f raised and lowered warp yarns and in s e rtin g a second p ick. The product of t h is pattern is c a lle d a p la in weave.

The major innovation, in weaving, since the mid-1950s has been in the method of weft in s e rtio n . T r a d it io n a lly , shuttles of approximately one fo o t were used on s h u ttle looms s im ila r to those shown in Figure ( 4 .7 ). But the development of the s h u ttle le s s loom means th a t e ith e r small p r o je c t ile s or no p r o je c t ile s at a l l are used. M issiles (small p r o je c t ile s used to tra v e l across the loom from

Figure 4.6. Rapier Weaving Looms (Shuttleless)

one end to the o th e r), rapiers (two small p r o je c t ile s which meet in the centre and one hands over the weft to the other to ca rry across, see Figure (4 .6 )) , w a te r-je ts and a i r - j e t s were a l l e f f o r t s in t h is d ir e c tio n .

S huttleless looms were estimated by Industry and Development (1989) to account f o r around h a lf the looms in use in Europe in the la te 1980's. They have the advantage of re q u irin g less power and space than conventional power looms, as well as being fa s te r . The more recent use of multiphase weaving has allowed up to 600 picks (number of weft in s e rtio n s ) per minute, as against 180 on high-speed conventional looms, with weft in s e rtio n rates r is in g from 400 metres per minute to 1840 metres. Further improvements o f up to 170 metres per man hour have been achieved with the use of m icroelectronics to control the looms and to monitor the q u a lity of the c lo th produced.

As a r e s u lt of the high level of automation th a t has been achieved, weaving is more computerised than any other t e x t i l e process. Some o f the la te s t machines use ro b o tic s , and the microprocessors in the machines can autom atically adjust the winding speed according to the yarn requirements of the loom. The robots are capable of evaluating acceleration in order to reduce weft stress to a minimum. Other machines use systems which can adjust the weft feed while the machine is s t i l l running. UNIDO (1989) state th a t in one t e x t i l e m i l l in the United States, computer con trol and automated materials handling devices allow production of about 1 m illio n metres of f a b r ic per week in 300 d i f f e r e n t styles compared to 275,000 meters

a week in 100 styles without the computer.

Finishing

Finishing involves some or a l l of the fo llo w in g processes:

washing; bleaching; dyeing or p r in t in g ; and heat s e ttin g . Washing, as shown in Figure (4 .9 ), is undertaken to clean the f a b r ic in preparation f o r the other f in is h in g processes. Bleaching is done in preparation f o r dyeing or p r in t in g . Dyeing can be e ith e r of the fib re -d y e in g type, the yarn-dyeing type (as shown in Figure (4 .8 ), or the fa b ric -d y e in g type, w hile p r in t in g is done e ith e r manually on f l a t screens, or on a ro ta ry p r in t in g machine. Another method of p r in tin g is c a lle d tra n s fe r p r in t in g where the design is tra nsfe rred from a p a p e r-lik e material onto the f a b r ic .

Figures (4.11 a ,b ), (4.12 a ,b ), and (4.13 a,b) show real wax p r in t s , im ita tio n wax p r in ts and machine woven kente clo th re s p e c tiv e ly , a l l o f which are manufactured by Ghanaian m i l l s . These represents some of the fa b ric s which can be produced using some of the f in is h in g processes discussed above, and a b r i e f review of the actual processes involved is given in Chapter (5 ).

Certain f in is h in g processes involve heat s e ttin g the f a b ric

Certain f in is h in g processes involve heat s e ttin g the f a b ric