Maslow’s hierarchy of desires describes “physiological needs” (the lowest level of the hierarchy) of food, dwelling, and clothing. Textiles are perishable items. In short, billions of people demand textiles many times a year, creating huge demand for their products. The cumulative population of the world is about 7.8 billion. Estimated global demand for textiles will be US $ 1 trillion in 2022 with a growth rate of 4%.
This study deals with how the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century changed the textile manufacturing industry. The two basic methods for making textiles are knitting and weaving. Increasing market demand for textiles is putting serious pressure on industry owners. For this process, new technologies have been introduced to replace the traditional methods of manufacturing textiles. Textile companies refraining from new technologies must curtail their business flows, and workers refraining from learning about modern technologies are either unemployed or have value added to retain sociocultural value for profit. I made the dough.
The adoption of new technologies required huge capital investment to train new machines and workers. Workers are hesitant to break through the status quo, and trade unions demand higher wages and functional flexibility to do their jobs. Textile companies that succeeded in this transition enjoyed maximum production and benefited from economies of scale, resulting in increased productivity.
In the 18th century, industrial-scale production of textiles began in New England. The textile industry has grown exponentially and has grown into multiple countries around the world. In 1783, the first cotton spinning machine was invented by Richard Arkwright. Industrial production of fabrics is carried out by attaching artificial or synthetic fibers to manual or shuttleless looms. The need for time was to maximize production while using the minimum available means. The basic raw materials used in the production of fabrics are cotton, power supply, and machinery and labor. The Industrial Revolution played an important role in increasing textile production with less manpower.
Jeremy, DJ (1973), said: Attempts to compete with British imports, such as the wool industry, have failed. Only when innovation provided cheap and versatile equipment for the production of intermediate to high-end products (such as cotton roving frame differentials and flashy looms dobby) could challenge British products. .. These technological advances acted as a blessing to disguise the American economy and achieved operational efficiency.
Manufacturing fabrics from natural or synthetic fibers requires multiple processes. The fibers are converted into yarn during the spinning process and this yard is used to make the dough by weaving and knitting. Harvesting, carding, stretching, spinning, and warping of fiber requires a lot of effort. These processes (if done manually) are very expensive for business people. However, automated machines for plucking, frying, and splicing have increased production by up to 400 percent by saving labor.
Khanna, S. (1989) states: It is clear that the sharp rise in overall economic productivity and wage rates in developed capitalist countries has made it economically valuable for textile companies to introduce these new technologies. “
However, technological advances do not allow us to efficiently manufacture all textile products. Some products like bandhni, ikat, tie and dye or heavy bridal dresses required a lot of skilled workforce to make these products. If your organization is hesitant to move to the latest high-tech machines for your business, you need to retain the cultural value that accompanies your product. With his added value, they will charge a premium from their customers to stand out against the economy of large-scale production.
Mukund, K. (1992) concludes that: advantage. In the case of textiles, which are closely identified with the socio-cultural spirit of a particular region of people, there is a secondary pattern of survival. “
The state-of-the-art textile manufacturing technology is capital-intensive, so skilled workers must work hard to produce 100% production in order to increase the return on investment of producers. These manual skills, eliminated by introducing new electronic devices on looms, have created unemployment for that particular skill set group in the workforce. Therefore, workers need to acquire the new skills needed to operate new technologies, as well as the manual skills they had in the traditional way. To this end, trade unions have taken action and sought subsidies for the additional efforts being made by them.
RC data. (1996) Studying the impact of trade unions and new technologies, “There is no doubt that workers and their unions resisted the introduction of these technologies, but ultimately higher wages and some functional flexibility. Some of the workers who resisted efficiency standards were fired by management. “
The old technology of textile looms is a relatively slow process, but it gives workers more freedom in the labor process. Workers are responsible for entering raw material production per minute and overall consumption at traditional registers. The spinning process includes cider that joins broken ends (stops the spindle by hand), doffer gaiters, jobbers, and helpers that replace empty and filled bobbins. The thread rotates at 17,000 rpm and has a warp insertion speed of 250 meters per minute.
RC data. (1999) describes the benefits of modern technology as follows: .. The microelectronically controlled spinning machine is fitted with a piece “carriage” and “autoduffer”. The stitching work is taken over by the piece carriage, which is constantly moving over the spinning machine to find thread breaks and debris. Display monitors reduce labor processes and display (automatically record) accurate data related to the efficiency and effectiveness of looms.
Older methods required 4-5 people to develop compromised quality, as traditional methods relied on them. Modern technology has cut the number of workers per machine in half and developed consistent quality. After this transition, experienced workers earned higher wages, industry owners achieved maximum production, and the output gap in the market was closed.
The gap between textile supply and demand has created a need to introduce new technologies to the textile manufacturing industry. Modern technology provided cheap labor rates and 10 times more production, but at the cost of capital and electricity. The more efficient machines produced multiple textiles to compete with British imports. Private textile manufacturers and trade unions who have resisted changing the status quo have decided to create value-added fibers with socio-cultural value, such as bandini and tie-dyeing, in order to increase the profits needed to survive. became. Workers were given relatively high wages and functional flexibility because they had to learn how to operate modern techniques that required extra effort. Workers who refused to learn new techniques or make value-added textiles faced unemployment. Traditional manufacturing processes have been heavily dependent on workers, but modern technology reduces the number of workers required for each machine, increases production by a factor of seven, and provides consistent operational flow. did. Technological advances have transformed the textile industry.
People along the process have experienced breakthrough success and paved the way for a brighter future.
—M Khubaib Ahmad
Comments
Post a Comment