Southern Textile Association Spring Meeting
-April 12, 2011
 The Southern Textiles Association is holding their North Carolina Division Spring Meeting at the College of Textiles in Raleigh, NC on April 12, 2011. The meeting, titled "US Textiles - Evolving for Future Success," discusses current challenges being faced across the US textile industry and new potential growth areas for the industry. The meeting is open to anyone working in textile or textile related organizations as well as those who want to learn more about the textile industry in the US; membership in the association is not required.
The half-day program features four keynote sessions: Dr. Blanton Godfrey, Dean, College of Textiles, A View to the Future of the US Textile Industry; Gary Raines, Chief Economist, FCStone Fibers & Textiles, Cotton's Perfect Storm, and Retail's Response; Keith Crisco, Secretary, North Carolina Department of Commerce, Cooking with Crisco:Spicing up North Carolina's Economic Development Efforts; and Preston Aldridge, FTA, Inc, FOAM - Water for the Twenty-First Century; and includes presentations from current College of Textiles students. Tours of College of Textile facilities are available after lunch.
The Southern Textile Association was established in 1908 and is a nonprofit organization for textile and related-industry professionals with the purpose of promoting good fellowship among its members, exchanging professional knowledge and experience, and promoting social, educational, personnel relations, research, and other scientific activities for the benefit of the members, their companies, and the textile industry. The association consists of two geographic divisions, the North Carolina Division and the South Carolina Division. Each division hosts twice-yearly meetings in spring and fall. In addition to the divisional meetings, the association hosts an annual meeting which includes both informative business sessions and social networking opportunities.
Currently, the Southern Textile Association has over 400 members and 250 member companies from all aspects of the textile industry.
Registration for the event is $75 for non-members, $60 for members, and $20 for students and includes all meeting sessions, lunch and tours of the College of Textiles facilities.
See the Agenda and Register
|
|
Evolving Textiles: Competition. Innovation. Transformation
-May 12, 2011
The College of Textiles at North Carolina State University, in partnership with Textile Exchange and the support of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Textiles and Apparel, is bringing a conference on transforming the textile value chain to North America on May 12, 2011. The Evolving Textiles conference will focus on how manufacturers, brands and retailers can transform how they do business in the 21st century in order to build more innovative products and increase their competitive edge in the global marketplace. During the one day event at the College Of Textiles in Raleigh, North Carolina attendees will learn how existing companies have already started integrating social and environmental strategies into their long term growth objectives with excellent results, and how entrepreneurs can build new, successful businesses on these principles. Designed to start a real dialogue between manufacturers, brands and retailers about what it means to transform the textile value chain, how to implement new practices and how to communicate an organization's commitment to long term value to consumers and stakeholders, the day will include several round table discussions as well as time to network with peers.
Presentations on product integrity, responsible textile processing, sustainable textiles will be included. Attendees will also hear directly from the U.S. Department of Commerce on its Sustainable Manufacturing Initiative (SMI), a public-private dialogue to raise awareness of sustainable business practices and to link the private sector with public resources to address both the opportunities and challenges of adopting such practices for U.S. industry competitiveness and profitability. Speakers include Dr. Blanton Godfrey, Dean of the College of Textiles; Rick Elmore, Vice President of Global Supply Chain Support, HanesBrands, Inc; David Flowers, Belk, Inc; and Charlie King, Corporate Product Development Manager, Unifi.
Registration for the event is $350 and includes all meeting sessions, breakfast and lunch.
Learn More and Register...
|
|
Be sure to visit us on Facebook to submit Ask the TEXperts topics, discuss the articles and keep in touch with classmates.
April Events
+2 Upgrade to a Black Belt with Minitab
April 11-15, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
Nonwoven Meltblowing and Spunbonding Fundamentals
April 11-15, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
"US Textiles - Evolving for Future Success"
Southern Textile Association Spring Meeting
April 12, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
May Events
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Core
May 3-6, 2011
& June 7-10, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
Evolving Textiles: Competition. Innovation. Transformation.
May 12, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
American Society for Quality - World Conference of Quality and Improvement
May 16-18, 2011
Pittsburgh, PA
Visit us at booth #821
Forensic Discovery and Recovery Workshop
May 16-20, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
Forensic Image Processing and Analysis
May 23-26, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
Fundamentals of Textile Testing
May 31 - June 2, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
June Events
Textile Manufacturing Laboratory Workshop
June13-17, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
Introduction to Nonwoven Products and Processes
June 20-23, 2011
College of Textiles
Learn More and Register
|
|
Ask the TEXperts
|
Ask Marissa
Marissa Langford, Business Development Specialist for TexED, began her career in process engineering in the textiles industry. While Marissa's early training and experience was in manufacturing, she has worked almost exclusively with service based organizations during the last ten years, giving her a broad understanding of a variety of organizations and industries. Her varied experience enables her to help customers identify the appropriate training and service programs for them. As the Business Development Specialist for TexED, she routinely meets with customers and assesses industry trends to insure the programs offered meet customer needs. Marissa also trains and coaches Green Belts, Black Belts, executives and Champions. Marissa received her Bachelor of Science degree in Textile Engineering from NC State University in 1989 and her Master of Science in Textile Engineering with a minor in statistics in 1999.
Dear Reader,
Typically this column is devoted to answering your questions about Lean Six Sigma, but we've had several instances recently of readers, classroom participants and visitors to our Facebook page asking for more information about the types of programs and services we offer. We hope you will indulge us just this once while we use this column to talk about ourselves instead of Lean Six Sigma.
Q: During a recent Lean Six Sigma class at NCSU, I overheard one of the instructors tell a fellow student that they should take the class you offer on surveys if they wanted to learn more sophisticated survey methods and analytics. I didn't know that you offered more than the basic green belt and black belt courses. Can you provide me with information on all the training you offer?
A: I'm always happy to answer that question and I'll take it a little further and tell you about some of the services we offer in addition to training.
The class that you overheard the instructor telling your classmate about is our Effective Design and Analysis of Surveys course. That course is taught by Dr. Lori Rothenberg, our Associate Director of Quality and Applied Research in TexED, and is one of our Performance Excellence courses. In this specific course Lori teaches participants how to design effective questionnaires as well as how to analyze the results using several popular software packages. She also teaches a topic titled conjoint design and analysis which focuses on using a specific type of designed experiment to collect data on an individual's preferences.
The courses in our Performance Excellence program are suitable for any individual or organization that wants more advanced training on topics related to performance improvement programs. Other courses in this grouping include: Change Management and Effective Program Deployment, Design and Innovation with Computer Simulation, Design for Six Sigma and Mistake Proofing for Robust Processes. In addition to these courses, which are offered annually, we also create custom courses for organizations on topics such as ANOVA, Categorical Data Analysis, Design of Experiments, Graphical Data Exploration, Creative Problem Solving and Control Charts. When we are designing a custom course, we start by interviewing the client to make certain that we have a complete understanding of their needs and objectives. After the initial interview, we create a proposed course outline that is reviewed with the customer by the instructor assigned to develop and deliver the training. Once the outline is confirmed, the course is developed, often with the client's own data and examples integrated into the course and delivered at the client site or at our site if the customer doesn't have training facilities.
Read More... |
 Ask Jim
Dr. Jim Watson, Associate Director of TexED and TexLabs, joined TexED in 1993. He has worked in the textiles industry for over 40 years. He uses his vast experience to develop textiles-based professional development courses and to develop tailored training programs to meet each client's unique needs. In addition to his education and training work, Jim oversees TexLabs, the applied research arm of the College of Textiles. Jim received his Bachelor of Science degree in Textiles from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1963 and his Doctor of Business Administration from California Coast University in 2006.
Q: Is the rubber used in athletic and medical support braces, such as stabilizing wristbands, blended with a another type of fiber?
A: This has to be answered in several ways as it is not as simple as blending the two together.
For the type of products you mention, the elastic or bare rubber is inserted in to the fabric every so often along beside non elastic yarns in the case of woven fabrics or, it is plated (two yarns inserted together) with the elastic yarn behind the non-elastic yarn in the case of Circular knitting.
There are also elastic yarns formed by either core spinning on a short staple spinning frame or wrapping a non-elastic yarn an elastic yarn using a type of twisting machine.
In the case of the core-spun yarn, the covering fiber (for instance cotton) is spun thru the delivery rolls on its way to being twisted into yarn. An elastic yarn or rubber yarn is fed off a separate delivery above the fiber spinning rolls and taken down to the point where the Cotton fiber exists the spinning roll. As the cotton fibers are twisted they are twisted around the elastic or rubber yarn. This allows the resulting yarn, or fabric made from this covered yarn, to be dyed with cotton dyes the same shade as the non-elastic cotton yarns which are placed to the sides of the covered yarn.
See the schematic... |
|
