ANNUAL REPORT – COLLEGE OF TEXTILES

1998-1999

DEAN ROBERT A. BARNHARDT

1. CHANGE IN ENVIRONMENT

The dramatic changes in the textile and allied industries experienced during the past three to four years have accelerated at an unprecedented rate during the past year. The changes were magnified because of the Asian economic crisis coupled with a very strong U.S. dollar. The results were a surge in textile and apparel imports into the U.S. This, coupled with an over supply of U.S. textile and apparel products and tremendous pressure from the large "box-type" retailers such as Walmart, K-Mart, Target, etc. suppressed the economic performance of the entire fiber-textile-apparel pipeline.

The impact on the industry is as follows:

• Many North Carolina Textile Corporations are establishing manufacturing operations in Mexico: Burlington, Cone, Guilford, etc. At the same time they are consolidating some plants in the U.S. and closing others.
• Corporate mergers and acquisitions continue at a high rate, and predictions are for more to follow.
• As the industry prepares to compete in a global environment, the structure and practices of the industry will change. In the 1997-98 college report, it was predicted "The structure of the industry will change, but it will not be revolutionary". In fact, the revolution has begun.

Internal Change in College Leadership

Dean Barnhardt indicated to the faculty and the University administration several years ago that he planned to step aside as Dean effective July 1, 1999. He made such an announcement in October 1998 and a search committee has been seeking candidates. It is unlikely that a new Dean will be in place by July 1, 1999 and Dean Barnhardt has agreed to stay on (no later than December 30) until one is selected.

2. FACULTY

The predicted retirement of faculty and staff continues with 1998-99 retirements including:

Dr. Aly H. El-Shiekh, Professor, TECS

Professor L. Tommy Lassiter, Extension Specialist

Mr. Robert McCall, Research Assistant

Dr. Pamela Banks-Lee has a 50% appointment as Associate Dean in the Graduate School.

College of Textile faculty members play prominent roles by serving on editorial boards of major scholarly publications: Dr. Keith Beck, Dr. David Buchanan, Dr. Harold Freeman, Dr. David Hinks, Dr. Trevor Little, and Dr. Brent Smith.

The College has developed a plan to hire five additional faculty with experiences that are in line with current industry trends:

Finance – emphasis on the complexity and cost of manufacturing – U.S. vs. off-shore, complexity of manufacturing, and world currencies

International Trade

Supply Chain Optimization – emphasis on systems integration for business and manufacturing – fiber to consumer

Logistics – emphasis on sourcing, distribution, procurement

Product Development – emphasis on product specification, design, marketing, and cost.

The new faculty coupled with four or five existing faculty will give us the critical mass to develop the curricula and research programs necessary to position us for the emerging needs of the industry.

3. STUDENTS

Students are the focal point of our College activities. Enrollment for the year was level with approximately 900 undergraduate and 125 graduate students. There were 187 B.S. degrees and 40 graduate degrees awarded at commencement exercises in December 1998 and May 1999.

Undergraduate scholarships and career placement are important to students. Twenty-four percent (214) of our undergraduates shared $550,000 in scholarships, while an additional 163 undergraduates held jobs in the College with a payroll of $410,000.

Final placement statistics will be determined on August 15 with a 93-95% level predicted. During the academic year there were 1,424 student interviews by 74 companies. The average starting salary for B.S. graduates was $38,215 with a range of $26,000 to $50,000.

For the first time in the past decade the dynamics of the industry have affected both graduating seniors and incoming Freshmen to the College. Approximately 10 to 15% of the graduating seniors chose not to accept employment in the industry because of a concern about future career opportunities. Simultaneously entering Freshmen will be down by 12%. This is understandable given the current activities within the industry. One year is not a trend, but special attention will be needed over the next few years.

4. INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS

Through the leadership of Dr. Jon Rust and the significant efforts of the Textile Engineering and Textile Materials Science Faculty, the Textile Materials Science Program was merged into the Textile Engineering Program. The TE Program was reaccredited for another six years by ABET. The TE curriculum now contains tracks in 1) machine design, 2) chemical process design, 3) product engineering, and 4) information systems. Several faculty have made significant efforts to improve writing by students in their courses. Dr. Marian McCord and Dr. Yiping Qiu developed a web-based version of TMS 211 lab. Drs. George Hodge and William Oxenham have also developed web-based courses.

For the third year several special sections of English 101 which contains the elements of both rhetoric and public speaking were jointly funded by CHASS and CoT. In addition a special section of Spanish 2, 201-T, was held using textile literature as one of the reading requirements.

Two additional classrooms were upfitted with multimedia capabilities and a major improvement in the teaching facilities was accomplished when Datacolor International donated over $130,000 worth of color measurement software and spectrophotometers.

5. RESEARCH

External research expenditures will approach $6.5 million in 1998-99. This is approximately $0.5 million (-7.1%) less than last year. Total funding for the National Textile Center decreased from $9.0 million to $7.5 million this year, even though the funds must now be distributed over six universities. This affects faculty spending on NTC projects, as they conserve as much funding as possible.

The Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center (NCRC) is working to expand its industrial base as its eight-year NSF support is scheduled to terminate. Dr. Benham Pourdeyhimi, an expert in nonwoven technology, has been recruited to the College as a full professor. The NCRC is also working to expand its laboratory technologies to include spun bonded/melt blown capabilities. When completed, our facilities will be the most complete in the world.

The Kenan Institute-Industry-University Consortium for Research in Supercritical Fluid Applications to Textile Processes is in its third year and is entering its development phase. At this state, the university activity becomes lower, and the industrial members activity increases. Funding for a $2 million development machine (which will be operated at Unifi) is proceeding. The second research phase of the Consortium, including cotton processing, and beam dyeing is underway. Two additional companies have shown interest in joining the Consortium for this effort.

The Hosiery Technology Consortium was formed, and has approximately 35 industry members. It received matching funds support from the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and NCACTs. The Consortium’s first project, developing appropriate automation for the hosiery boarding process, was accomplished by an undergraduate Textile Engineering design class , and, later a graduate student project. It is now being readied for commercialization. A second project involves developing standardized test methods and acceptance procedures for the industry. This has had major industry involvement and is nearly ready for presentation to retailers.

Both of the two active consortia are operated jointly by the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science, and Textile Extension and Applied Research. This has proven to be a successful model for combined research – applied research – development consortia.

 

6. EXTENSION AND PUBLIC SERVICE

With the implementation of NAFTA and the growing importance of globalization to the U.S. fiber, textile, and apparel industries, the College developed a program with AKRA, a major fiber producer in Mexico, to evaluate the textile industry in Mexico. A team of Extension Specialists and College faculty "audited" 12 Mexican textile plants. BANCOMEXT has requested the College expand this program during the next academic year. Negotiations are underway.

The College has also been involved in several specialized short courses for Mexican employees of U.S. companies.

Similar activities are expected to expand in the future.

Applied Research

Applied Research showed nearly a 50% increase in award value this year, owing mostly to two large projects involving multiple laboratories. These are the type of integrated research projects for industry that we alone are uniquely qualified to conduct. Our goal is to expand this capability.

In-Plant Programs

This highly respected program had another outstanding year. Although the number of conventional programs and income were comparable to last year, the AKRA Mexican program caused receipts to increase by nearly 50%. Once again repeat business is the best measure of success.

Short-Course Programs

Short courses continue to be a strong program. Three more courses were offered than last year, and over 200 more people attended. As a result, receipts increased by 40%

The three Extension programs, Applied Research, In-Plant Programs, and Short Course Programs, contributed $1.5 million to College billings. In addition TEAR was responsible for a major portion of the awards for the two Membership Consortia – SCF CO2 and Hosiery Technology.

TEAR is headed for increasingly global activities as justified by the general globalization of the industry. The opportunities are enormous.

7. ADMINISTRATION AND STAFF

The major administrative activity was the announcement by Dean Barnhardt that he plans to return to teaching when a new Dean is found.

Recognition and Awards

In recognition of the College’s 100^th Anniversary (first founded as a department within the School of Engineering) the North Carolina Textile Foundation named four faculty and staff as NCTF Fellows with a one-time stipend of $10,000 each. Those selected were:

Dr. Timothy G. Clapp, Professor, Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science

Mr. Philip R. Dail, Coordinator of Undergraduate Advising

Dr. William Oxenham, Professor, Textile and Apparel Technology and Management

Mr. Cliff L. Seastrunk, Director, Extension and Outreach

Associate Dean Perry L. Grady was elected President of the Instrument Society of America (ISA).

Mrs. Patty Davis, Research Program Manager received the annual NCSU Award for Excellence for SPA in the College of Textiles.

Dr. Barbara Scruggs, Research Associate, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry & Science received the annual NCSU Award for Excellence for EPA in the College of Textiles.

Dr. Samuel M. Hudson, Professor, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry, & Science was named as an Outstanding Teacher for 1998-99 at North Carolina State University.

8. CONCERNS FOR THE FUTURE

For the past several years the content in this section of the College’s annual report focused on the changing textile industry and resulting implications for the College. During the past year, the directions of the industry changed dramatically, and although the College planned for such activities the rapidity of the movement was unexpected.

We are searching for five faculty members who collectively will bring new academic disciplines and experience to our faculty. The identification of these individuals will be difficult because of the skill base required by the College. The success of these searches is key to the continued success of the College.

The College must build its reputation in the general field of Strategic Textile Global Operations. Research programs, consortia, and centers must be established to both attract the needed faculty and prove our continued value to the industry.

If the College does not move quickly, it could lose its preeminence in the world as the leader for textile education and research.