Application of Computer and Software in Textile and Apparel Industry

Application of Computer in Textile:
As scientific research progresses, man is equipped with more sophisticated technology. Textiles has a major contribution in bringing the naked human being to the current state of civilization. The textile research is not only focused on clothing, but also plays a vital role in other areas of research such as electrical and electronic engineering, geo-engineering, structural engineering and many more. The invention of computers has accelerated this research. MATLAB, Minitab, Microsoft Office, etc. are frequently used for statistical analysis, mathematical modelling, algorithm and report writing. Abaqus and COMSOL are used for finite element analysis, mechanical and electrical properties analysis and product development. Current era is the age of computerization. Each industry is getting benefit from automation and ease provided by computer science. Textile manufacturing industry, a major industry in terms of revenue generation for a country, has badly neglected all this ease. Information Technology is the industry which has its impact on each and every other field of life, bringing a lot of innovations. Converting the old, time consuming, manual approaches to very efficient and novel methods.

Like other industrial sector, nowadays textile and apparel industry also use a lots of software to promote their productivity; after all for business development. In this article, I will describe briefly which application of computer and softwares are widely used in textile and apparel industry to promote their business.

Application of computer in textile
Figure 1: Application of computer in textile and apparel industry

Application of Computer and Software in Textile and Apparel Industry:
Widely used software and technology in textile and apparel industry are described below:

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP):
Already we have published article on what is ERP, Uses of ERP in apparel industry, Application of ERP in textile industry, Benefits of ERP in textile and apparel manufacturing industry.

MIS Software development in textile industries:
A Management Information System (MIS) is a system that provides information needed to manage organizations effectively. Management information systems are regarded to be a subset of the overall internal controls procedures in a business, which cover the application of people, documents, technologies, and procedures used by management accountants to solve business problems such as costing a product, service or a business-wide strategy. Management information systems are distinct from regular information systems in that they are used to analyze other information systems applied in operational activities in the organization. Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the group of information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making, e.g. Decision support systems, Expert systems and Executive information systems, Design of management information system, Specific aspect of management control, Management planning and administration, Quality control and evaluation, Organization and personnel required in managing MIS, Manufacturing system, Human resource information system, Marketing information system, Financial information system etc.

structure of management information system
Figure 2: Structure of MIS

The field of information systems encompasses many complex technologies, abstract behavioral concepts and specialized applications in countless business and non-business areas. As a manager or business professional you do not have to absorb all of this knowledge. A useful conceptual framework that organizes the knowledge presented in this text and outlines what you need to know about information systems. It emphasizes that you should concentrate your efforts in five areas of knowledge.

Analyzing and Design Information System Techniques approaches to development of the master plan, system life cycle, analysis and design data, design principle, input-output design, processing design, record and file specifications.

Database Management System (DBMS):
A Database Management System (DBMS) is a collection of interrelated data and a set of program to access those data. The collection of data, usually referred to as the database, contains information relevant to an enterprise. The primary goal of a DBMS is to provide a way to store and retrieve database information that is both convenient and efficient.

A Database Management System (DBMS) is a software package designed to store and manage databases. It is a very large, integrated collection of data. An entity is an object that exists and is distinguishable from other objects. An entity may be concrete (a person or a substance). An entity set is a set of entities of the same type (all persons having an account at a bank). An entity is represented by a set of attributes. Name, T.I.N., street, city for “customer” entity. Every entity is described by a set of (attribute, data value) pairs.

  • Entities (e.g., students, courses)
  • Relationships (e.g. Shahana choices TM308)

Objectives of a DBMS:

  • DBMS for implementation with analysis and design of (DB) software, used to maintain, query large datasets.
  • Easy to define and handling of data.
  • Reduced time by quick application.
  • Data integrity, combining interrelated data and security.
  • Uniform data administration.
  • Digital libraries, interactive video etc.
  • Handling different user views of the same stored data.
  • Setting standards, concurrent access.
  • DBMS benefits include recovery from system crashes.

A data model defines that the structure and meaning of data. This article is primarily concerned with data models that enable the reuse of data by different applications, either by integrating and sharing data within a single database or exchanging data by some other means such as a file transfer. This document aims to provide a practical guide to developing high quality data models. A data model is a collection of concepts for describing data. Every relation has a schema, which is a description of a particular collection of data by using a given data model. The relation model of data is the most widely used data model, basically a table with rows and columns.

To develop data models that will:

  • Meet the data requirement,
  • Be clear and unambiguous to all (not just the authors),
  • Be stable in the face of changing data requirements,
  • Be flexible in the face of changing business practices,
  • Be reusable by others,
  • Be consistent with other models covering the same scope (if they were developed following these principles) and,
  • Be able to integrate data from different data models. In addition, they should be able to develop data models faster.

Store, stock and inventory control in different sections of textile and apparel industry:
Objectives:

  • Company strategic goals
  • Sales forecasting
  • Sales and operations planning
  • Production and material planning

Costing, whole sale and retailing of textile goods:
Cost per kg/per yard can be calculated:

  • Raw material cost
  • Depreciation of factory building, plant and machineries
  • Wages and salaries
  • Utility (water, power, fuel etc)
  • Repair and maintenance
  • Store and spares
  • Administrative and saling expenses
  • Financial (Interest, rent, tax and insurance) expenses
  • Other expenses

Computer Aided Market Analysis (CAMA) and Saling:
When companies wish to monitor consumer behavior, they may use CAMA data to analyze their sales. For example, the use of bonus and reward cards in supermarkets provides information about what products people are buying and when they are buying them. This helps designers target new products.

HRD and Payroll system development in textile industry:
Computer Aided Administration (CAA) here data can be collected and accessed in a quick and effective way to assist manufacturing or information management. For example, your university may have an electronic registration system or a company my use clocking-in identification to monitor the whereabouts of its employees.

HRD and Payroll system development in textile industry
Figure 3: Benefits of HRD and Payroll system development in textile industry

References:

  1. Textile Engineering – An Introduction Edited by Yasir Nawab
  2. Fibers to Smart Textiles: Advances in Manufacturing, Technologies, and Applications Edited by Asis Patnaik and Sweta Patnaik
  3. Information Systems for the Fashion and Apparel Industry Edited by Tsan-Ming Choi
  4. Structural Textile Design: Interlacing and Interlooping By Yasir Nawab, Syed Talha Ali Hamdani, and Khubab Shaker

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