Can Sewing Robots Bring Garment Production To Modernization?

2017, global

The total sales of the market will exceed US $1 trillion and 400 billion.

But what is surprising is that this huge volume of industry is not as modern as expected, especially in the production process.

Although professional robots have learned to weave or cut, the more complex sewing work still relies entirely on manual labor.

This is what Jonathan Zornow, a 30 year old American, is trying to solve.

He was originally a web development programmer. In 2015, he founded a start-up company called Sewbo in Seattle. The only product was Sewbo, a sewing robot. It allegedly completed a basic single item in half an hour (for example).

Making.

According to the world clothing and shoe net, the working principle of Sewbo is actually very simple.

The difficulty in assembling sewing is mainly because the cloth is too soft to operate accurately on the machine.

Therefore, the whole system of Sewbo consists of three parts: a robot arm produced by Denmark Corporation Universal Robot, a traditional sewing machine and a reusable thermoplastic solvent.

They cost between 27 thousand and 35 thousand dollars.

Obviously, the most important part of the system is thermoplastic solvent.

This substance is in

It is also very common. It can make cloth as hard as steel plate, easy to machine operation, and can be dissolved in water at the end of the process to restore the original appearance of the fabric.

There is no difference between robot arm and metal products. First, two hardened fabrics are welded by ultrasonic welding machine, then they are sewn into industrial sewing machines to sew. Finally, the stitched clothes are softened in hot water.

Although the company was founded for only one year, Jonathan Zornow said it had received considerable orders from overseas markets.

"I can confidently say that if we put the system into a real production environment, it can reach the same speed as ordinary sewing workers.

And it can work 24 hours a day without any interruption.

He said to fastcompany.com.

However, judging from the current situation, there are still many problems to be solved for this sewing robot to be popularized.

First of all, thermoplastic solvent has one drawback: to achieve the hardening effect, the fabric must be thoroughly soaked.

Therefore, Sewbow can not handle wool and leather with strong waterproof.

Another problem is that each basic single product takes half an hour to complete, but costs 27 thousand -3.5 dollars, and does not include the cost of long-term maintenance.

Compared with cheap labor in China and Southeast Asia, the system seems to have long-term investments to create cost advantages for employers.

Generally speaking, clothing brands are more willing to invest large amounts of investment in channels or marketing, rather than relying on cheap labor to solve the production.

Atnyel Guedj is the purchasing manager of Delta Galil Industries, a multinational plant group.

He has reservations about Sewbow: "I haven't seen anyone spending money on expensive production machines in the US.

It is difficult to reverse current industry trends - clothing production, especially fast fashion, needs to complete precision production and fast delivery at a very low cost.

Profits are so thin that all companies are eager to find the cheapest manpower, so they have no intention to invest in new production technology.

This is why even Chinese companies have begun outsourcing production to Vietnam, Bangladesh, Ethel and other countries.

But with the backdrop of the US government's "manufacturing return", Sewbo may also find some opportunities in the local market.

According to the American Apparel&Footwear Association, 97% of the country's clothing is manufactured overseas.

If it is necessary to move back, the expensive local labor cost means that the clothing enterprises must be like Adidas in Germany, the new factory "Speedfactory" in Bach, Germany, by improving the efficiency of production links, shortening the pressure of supply chain and enhancing competitiveness.

In the long run, manufacturing innovation and enterprises' investment in high-end manufacturing is also a matter of time, but it still takes time.

More interesting reports, please pay attention to the world clothing shoes and hats net.