Sewability Integrated Environment (SIE) for intelligent garment manufacture

A Sewability Integrated Environment SIE has been devised for intelligent textile and garment manufacture which can mimic the way that subjective decisions are made and implemented in the manufacture of apparel. It consists of three main systems; the Sewability Prediction System which can predict material problems and advise correction of properties prior to manufacture, the Intelligent Sewing System that can automatically set the optimum sewing parameters of the sewing machinery and the Safeguard Quality System to ensure high quality and consistency. These systems are integrated to form an on-line intelligent environment which is capable of self-learning (automatic updating). Two different paradigms are being implemented; seam pucker as it is mostly found in woven fabrics and sewing damage found in densely knitted fabrics. Mechatronic systems have been designed and developed to enable on-line, automatic measurement of fabric properties such as tensile, bending, thickness and compression as well as stitching quality, all interconnected with each other. The operation of the SIE is robust and requires no special operational skill. The relevant industries have identified improvements from implementing such a system in production efficiency, flexibility of manufacture, quality and design enhancements of their products.