Using WTiN’s Discovery tool, which analyses the sentiment of published articles across WTiN.com and third-party sources, it can be noted that positivity in digitalisation and Industry 4.0 has returned after a sudden but expected decline across last year. The sentiment for Q1 of 2021 inclined by 25.58% (from +0.43 in quarter four (Q4) of 2020 to +0.54 in Q1 of 2021).
Digitalisation unavoidably had a tough ride throughout 2020. With the textile & apparel industry’s supply chain and economy in shambles, investment into new technology appeared to slow. But Industry 4.0 laid dormant, with extra time for research & development (R&D) and new digital solutions keeping the conversation consistent. Many continued to argue Industry 4.0 and digitalisation would be the solution to new and ongoing issues, and in analysing news and reports from Q1 of 2021, they have seemingly proven themselves to be.
The sentiment of the Textile 4.0 channel for Q1 of 2021 inclined by 25.58%
Manufacturing
Despite the positive incline across the overall Textile 4.0 channel, there was a notable reduction in R&D news in this new quarter, which contributed to a reduction in positive sentiment for the theme. However, R&D efforts did indeed continue, so it could be assumed that the decline in quantity is underpinned by the rounding up of this past year’s financial year. Perhaps with new budgets launched in Q2, the theme will increase in quantity and positivity.
Regardless, there were a few instances of unique R&D that highlight notable Industry 4.0 trends. Firstly, a graduate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) spoke with WTiN about their method of 3D printing tulle-like garments and objects – as industry looks for new, innovative and sustainable ways to manufacture, the additive manufacturing of textiles is an increasingly tended area of R&D. Elsewhere, WTiN examined a patent that puts forward a way to generate digital profiles for garment fittings using a vacuum scan suit, highlighting efforts to digitalise and personalise the garment fitting process.
The sentiment of the theme of R&D fell by 25% between Q4 of 2020 and Q1 of 2021
But the first instance of positive incline is within the theme of manufacturing, which rose by 3.03% in positivity (from +0.66 in Q4 2020 to +0.68 in Q1 2021). Europe has often been considered the epicentre of the Industry 4.0 movement, and stories from the northern and western regions of the continent tout it as the driving force behind continued innovation.
The Swiss Textile Machinery Association, for example, shared developments in advanced textile applications for weaving manufacturers that included a woven textile calculator and the use of new control systems to monitor warp tension. Meanwhile, members of the Swedish Textile Machinery Association (TMAS) announced they would actively advance new colouration technologies as part of a “wave of innovation that is sweeping out of Scandinavia” that aim to tackle issues within the dyeing & finishing industry using new innovative tech. It could be assumed that, given the global context, manufacturers are preparing to leap back into pushing industry forward in a positive and innovative fashion.
Other news within the theme of manufacturing explored the bedrock for new, smart manufacturing models in the textile & apparel industry: the IPC released a plug-and-play industry standard for factory communication based on Industry 4.0 concepts, while WTiN explored the use of smart artificial intelligence (AI) tech for predictive maintenance in the production line, and analysed the demystification of supply chains using transparency technology for resiliency and the betterment of social and environmental impact.
Supply chains & the smart factory
Conversation around supply chains continued through the designs & trends theme, which jumped in sentiment from +0.47 to +0.51, an incline of 8.51%. This is unsurprising – as more industry players look for digital solutions to supply chain bottlenecks, many have admitted digitalisation is indeed unavoidable. The founder of Suuchi told Sourcing Journal that supply chain digitalisation is a ‘must’.
Elsewhere, the aforementioned smart factory stood as another important trend that helped support the positive incline of the Industry 4.0 conversation. News continues to circle the use of advanced AI and machine learning (ML) technologies to enable the smart factory: for example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Library (CSAIL) team has been working on an approach to automate the pattern knitting creation process.
Ecommerce and retail
Similarly to how textile & apparel industry supply chains were decimated, retail and commerce too suffered a huge blow in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, this led to investment into unique retail technology solutions that would strengthen fashion brands’ resilience to supply chain issues and their ability to stay ahead of new shifts in consumerism, particularly so as industry headed into a new year.
Notable news in this area included Crocs’ deployment of Aptos’ cloud-based retail platform, a customer engagement and merchandise management solution; retail clothing store C&A’s use of Centric PLM’s product lifecycle management (PLM) solution, which enables its teams to “collaborate digitally, maximising communication, speed and efficiency in product development”; and furniture brand Stoffus’ selection of Gerber Technology’s end-to-end digitalised hardware and software solutions to keep up with growing demand for made-to-order furniture.
Doubly, Industry 4.0-based retail news continued in positive sentiment as copious reports of company acquisitions spread the industry. Retail technology solutions provider Aptos announced a definitive agreement to acquire LS Retail, a developer of software solutions for retail; ecommerce giant Amazon acquired Australian company Selz, which creates digital tools to enable businesses to launch online stores; and tech company Accenture acquired Businet System, which develops cloud-based ecommerce websites in Japan. Such acquisitions were present in the manufacturing sector too, with technological solutions provider Lectra announcing its plans to acquire the capital and voting rights of US-based Gerber Technology.
Consequently, the theme Company & Finance dictated a large part of the boost in sentiment, characterised by this news surrounding concrete interest and investment into ecommerce and retail technology solutions.
The theme of companies and finance jumped a whopping 41.86% in positivity (from +0.43 to +0.61)
The theme jumped a whopping 41.86% in positivity (from +0.43 to +0.61). By analysing the aforementioned reports, it can be deduced that smart technologies are proliferating in importance up and down the textile & apparel supply chain, with retail attempting to stay ahead of the curve.
Analysis
Despite traditional industries hesitant to adopt Industry 4.0 processes, many players in the textile & apparel industry have noted the need for innovation in the supply chain over the last year. Consequently, as we conclude the first quarter of 2021, digitalisation technologies continue to receive strong economic interest despite the lagging stories on R&D and implementation.
Regardless, in manufacturing, sustainability, transparency and new production models like on-demand additive manufacturing continue to be a focus of R&D efforts to meet ethical consumer demand and build a (hopefully) pandemic-resistant supply chain. Meanwhile, reports of retail acquisitions of technology companies show the consumer-facing end of the textile & apparel industry is now strongly impacted by the wave of Industry 4.0 on the supply chain, and with retail brands holding much influence, it could be predicted that more traditional players downstream will in turn be quick to follow in its footsteps.
WHAT IS DISCOVERY CONTENT?
Discovery is our umbrella product name for a collection of features that use machine learning and natural language processing to help our customers discover more content throughout WTiN.com. Using the features you can uncover new trends and analysis and draw links between content that may not be immediately obvious. Every piece of content published by WTiN or aggregated by our systems is passed through natural language processes; the result is a rich metadata set that can be aggregated across sectors, themes, topics, companies and more. Core to Discovery is the ability to deep-dive into specific companies - look out for links and company logos to use this feature.
Sentiment is an expression used to describe whether an article (or collection of articles) presents an impression that is positive, negative or neutral about the company or other subject described. Click here to open the discovery panel for this article and deep-dive into its content and learn more about the overall capabilities of Discovery (including more details on sentiment analysis) here.
