INTERVIEW (CBU), Zambia • Eastern Michigan University, USA • Busitema University, Uganda • Kenyatta University, Kenya • School of Textile Technology, Indonesia • Chenkuo Technology University, Taiwan • HOF University, Germany • Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic. • Wuhan Textile University, China • University of Bargamo, Italy • Texas Tech University, USA • Chonnam National University, south Korea • Yeungnam University, Republic Korea • Tennessee Tech University, USA • Northern University Bangladesh (NUB), Dhaka, Bangladesh • BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT), Bangladesh • HAFACEN, Vietnam • Aachen University, Germany • Saxion University, Netherlands Being an educationist, your journey from Industry life and interaction On my industrial experience, I have worked as Tech. Manager in Texto Craft, Madras and as a R & D Officer in Rajabahadur Spinning & Weaving Mills Ltd., Pune. The interaction with the industry is phenomenal, through multiple ways. I have undergone training in different industries. Apart from providing educational facilities of the highest standard, I myself and our team; we are intensively engaged in research and development and providing services to the industry. We have been helping the industry in the areas of material testing, training at various levels, product and process development and providing turnkey consultancy for set-
ting up projects in the areas of spinning, weaving, knitting, chemical processing and garment making. A good number of projects setup by us are already operational and are considered as ideal projects in these areas. Due to our high standard in academics, as well as research and due to our close interaction with the industry, many leading machinery manufactures from all over the world have come forward to donate their latest machines to our institute. Rieter, Trutzschler, ATE, Murata, Then, Fongs, Dornier, Smit, Staubli, Toyoda, Zinser, Savio, Promatech, Schlafhorst, ACIMIT, Pinter, SSM,KTTM, Harish-Wivita, Mayer &Cie, are amongst the prominent donors of machines to us. These machines are useful not only for training our students, but also carry out various trials on these machines for the industry. As a Mentor, what are the qualities, capabilities you choose in your Ph.D scholars? From my point of view, the PhD aspirant must be self-directed, motivated, and highly disciplined. The candidate should have good communication, good analytical as well as managerial skills. With the start of doctoral studies, the student must be in a position to define the research problem, with critical literature review. With a good knowledge of statistical tools, the candidate should be in position to plan the work with suitable statistical model. He/she should be able to identify the strategy for experimentation and data collection. Further, the PhD scholar should have the necessary skills to analyse the data, followed by drawing conclusions. With critical thinking and writing skills the students should be capable of writing the reports and research articles. He/She should have the inclination to put efforts to solve the problems in industry and society by choosing appropriate topics. How has the textile industry evolved in the last few years?
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The textile industry covers a wide range of diversified products, right from conventional handloom to the organised industry such as spinning, weaving, knitting, processing and garmenting, with a supply chain system. The Indian textiles industry is set for strong growth, buoyed by strong domestic consumption as well as an export demand. Being mass production system, large scale textile industries are capital and labour intensive. The textiles and apparel industry in India is the second-largest employer in the country providing direct employment to 45 million people and 60 million people in allied industries. The Indian government has initiated a number of export promotion policies for the textile sector. The domestic textiles and apparel industry contribute 2% to India’s GDP, 7% of industry output in value terms and 12% of the country’s export earnings. The domestic textiles and apparel industry stood at $140 bn in 2018 (including handicrafts) of which $100 bn was domestically consumed while the remaining portion worth $40 bn was exported to the world market. Further, the domestic consumption of $100 bn was divided into apparel at $74 bn, technical textiles at $19 bn and home furnishings at $7 bn. While exports comprised of textile exports at $20.5 bn apparel exports at $16.1 bn and handlooms at $3.8 bn. India has also become the second-largest manufacturer of PPE in the world. More than 600 companies in India are certified to produce PPEs today, whose global market worth is expected to be over $92.5 bn by 2025, up from $52.7 bn in 2019. (https://www.investindia. gov.in/sector/textiles-apparel) What are the latest trends in the industry? The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up the entire textile industry. The demand for textile products has been decreased both foreign and domestic markets. The textile community is scared because of cash crunch, increase in raw material cost, shortage in raw material supply, supply chain disturbance and manpower-related issues. It is NOVEMBER 2020
