CoE's for Technical Textiles

Technical Textiles Industry is diverse; broad based and encompasses 12 segments depending on the characteristics, functional requirement and end use applications. Under the Scheme for Growth and Development of Technical Textiles (SGDTT), launched during 2007-08, the government has set up four Centers of Excellence (COE) to provide support to the manufacturers of the identified segments of the technical textile industry. The four identified Centers of Excellence are detailed below:

Sr. No.	Name of agencies	Area of Centre of Excellence
1.	The Bombay Textile Research Association (BTRA) & Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association (ATIRA) with BTRA as lead partner.	Geotech
2.	Synthetic & Art Silk Mills Research Association (SASMIRA) & Man-made Textile Research Association (MANTRA) & Navsari Agriculture University with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi as knowledge partner with SASMIRA as lead partner.	Agrotech
3.	Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA) & Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi with NITRA as lead partner.	Protech
4.	South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) and AC College of Technology with SITRA as lead partner.	Meditech

The Ministry of Textiles has launched Technology Mission on Technical Textiles (TMTT) with two mini- missions for a period of five years (from 2010-11 to 2014-15) with a fund outlay of Rs. 200 crore. Under TMTT four more COEs are being set up in the area of Nonwovens, Composites, Indutech and Sportech.

The Government has already designated four new Centers of Excellence (COEs) and are being established. The details of three new COEs are given below:

Sr. No.	Name of agencies	Area of Centre of Excellence
1	DKTE Society’s Textile and Engineering      Institute, Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra	Non-Wovens
2	PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu	Indutech
3	Ahmedabad Textile Industries (ATIRA), Ahmadabad, Gujarat. Research Association	Composites
4	Wool Research Association (WRA), Thane, Maharashtra	Sportech

The essential facilities at the center of excellence are as follows,

i) Facilities for testing and evaluation of products of identified segments of technical textiles with national / international accreditation and collaboration with foreign institutes / laboratories

The common testing facilities are to be set up as per International Standards like American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), British Standards (BS), German Institute for Standardization(DIN), International Organization for Standardization(ISO) & European Standards(EN) etc. for different products of segment for which they shall be developed as COE. The proposed testing facilities shall cater to the requirement of testing the final product and also the fibre, yarn, fabrics and other elements that go into final product. The testing laboratories of Centres of Excellence shall get the national accreditation by NABL and shall also get their testing labs accredited by international institutes so that their test results are accepted in the international market.

ii) Resource Centre with I.T. infrastructure

The information resource centre of Centres of Excellence shall be equipped with technical literature, reference material, books, specifications, directives and a sample bank containing samples of various products and information about manufacturing, production standards, testing procedures etc. for the products of the segment for which they shall be developed as

COE. An exclusive website for that particular segment of the technical textiles shall be developed and maintained by all COEs. These sites shall provide link to each other as well as other sites including international sites with information on technical textiles. The video conferencing facilities will also be set up in COEs for interaction / participation in workshops / seminars organized nationally and internationally.

iii) Facilities for indigenous development of prototypes

 Pilot plant facilities shall be created for development of prototypes / technology which shall be transferred to the industry after standardization and optimization of the production process. COEs shall also enlist the services of reputed foreign consultants for providing technology support for development of such products, if necessary.

iv) Facilities for training of core personnel and regular training of personnel from the technical textile industry

COE shall impart training to textile technologists, academicians, scientists etc. from TRAs, institutes and industry to develop a set of core professionals (trainers). The Education and training programme shall also cover Shop floor training (i.e. training on specific machines/technology).

v) Knowledge sharing with stake holders

Dearth of knowledge and thus, lack of acceptance of technical textile products by the end-users such as Farmers, Civil engineers, Architects, Medical practitioners, Government agencies (PWD, MMRDA etc.) is a key reason for the low demand for some of the critical technical textile products. The COEs shall conduct workshops with the personnel of allied industries for awareness and promotion of respective technical textile products. Need based Audio-visual films will be prepared on various aspects viz. technicality of potential products / application areas / installation & manufacturing process of their respective segments of technical textiles and it will be shown among users, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, etc during workshops/seminars, etc.

vi) Incubation Centre

COEs will be developed as an incubation centre for the products of their segment and will provide necessary facilities to the entrepreneurs for incubation of new ideas/technologies.

vii) Setting up of standards at par with global level

 Technical textiles are functional textiles. Therefore, stringent performance parameters have been prescribed by the international agencies. In India the standards and specifications are not available for most of the technical textile products. The COEs will provide support to the BIS in formulation of standards.