[[TC].sup.2] Leading the Way in Changing Times

Bobbin, Oct, 1999 by Kathleen DesMarteau

[[TC].sup.2], the Textile/Clothing Technology Corp., is spreading its wings and flying into new territory to better serve the needs of the ever-changing U.S. sewn products industry.

Similar to the metamorphosis from fledgling caterpillar to vibrant butterfly, [[TC].sup.2], the Textile/Clothing Technology Corp., has reinvented itself time after time during the past two decades to stay on the leading edge of business strategies and technologies driving the U.S. textile and sewn products industry.

With each transformation, the not-for-profit organization has forced itself to let go of paradigms that no longer hold true -- to upgrade or end research, programs and products that once helped the industry but have lost their applicability -- and to delve with newborn energy into areas where it can make more of a difference.

Such flexibility has been essential to [[TC].sup.2] in its mission of strengthening the U.S. industry through a combination of education, demonstration and research and development (R&D), especially during a period of rapid, dramatic change. As [[TC].sup.2] president Pete Butenhoff emphasizes: "Companies and industries need to keep reinventing themselves, and the day they stop doing that is the day they start dying. We as an industry are seeing that reinvention right now.

Like any organization focused on R&D and next-generation strategies, [[TC].sup.2] has taken its share of "lumps and bumps" with the industry along the way. But it also has shared in some major triumphs.

The Way Things Were

When [[TC].sup.2] came on the scene in 1981 (see "What Is [[TC].sup.2]?" page 52), it faced an industry searching for automation, yet at the same time struggling to adapt new equipment and technologies.

"We were perceived as being a very low-tech industry with poor working conditions," recalls Mike Fralix, corporate vice president and director of industry services at [[TC].sup.2]. "There was a real need in those early days just to create the awareness of what was available from a technology standpoint."

Thus in its earliest years, [[TC].sup.2] focused on promoting existing technologies such as needle positioners, undertrimmers, backtackers and other labor-saving devices, as well as the capabilities of CAD and computerized cutting. The organization also worked closely with the Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA, to develop new tools for the industry. Draper served as the launch pad for work on automation projects such as the automatic jeans felling machine, the skipped stitch monitor and a fleece jogging pant machine.

The jogging pant machine -- a progressive assembly machine that automatically cut and sewed everything except the waistband on jogging pants -- is a prime example of the type of automation some major U.S. firms were requesting from [[TC].sup.2]. Yet by the time the $250,000 machine was commercially available, many of the manufacturers who'd said, "If you build it, we'll buy it" could no longer justify the investment from a cost standpoint as they moved more production to low-wage countries in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

Likewise, [[TC].sup.2] developed an innovative machine that automated the T shirt sleeve insertion and sewing operations, which were causing ergonomic problems among an estimated 4,000 U.S. operators who frequently performed the labor-intensive procedures. But again, the flow of manufacturing to low-cost offshore locales overshadowed the machine's debut.

"By about 1995, the handwriting was on the wall that we were not going to be able to produce automated machines and equipment that had productivity at a level that would convince apparel manufacturers to invest in automation vs. inexpensive foreign labor," recollects Jud Early, [[TC].sup.2] corporate vice president and director of R&D.

Even as industry R&D hit a frustrating crossroads, the la the '80s and early '90s also served as a springboard period for [[TC].sup.2']s educational services. Sewn products executives were hungry for information about the Quick Response movement, just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing and modular manufacturing. As a result, [[TC].sup.2] created its National Apparel Technology Center in Gary, NC, in 1988, to demonstrate the best manufacturing technologies and practices. Shortly thereafter, it opened its doors to full classroom after full classroom of executives pouring in to attend a little-publicized seminar: "What Is Modular Manufacturing?"

As Fralix remembers: "That launched many of our training careers here. We [the staff] weren't trainers or educators. We had backgrounds in the industry as managers, engineers and production specialists. But we took what knowledge we had, and put together a package to present. We weren't really thinking outside of the box. We were outside of the box."

Evolving with the Industry

In the years since that first "What Is Modular Manufacturing?" session, [[TC].sup.2] has evolved to become the industry's guiding light for modular, flexible manufacturing systems, as well as a leader in engineering, ergonomics and product development solutions. Needless to say, there have been many more seminars, addressing these topics and others, with attendees participating in hands-on demonstrations at [[TC].sup.2]'s Cary production facility.