VDMA Members Offered Smart Technologies for Technical Textiles at Techtextil
Techtextil, took place 23-26 April in Frankfurt, hosted strong participation of VDMA member companies. More than 50 members presented smart technologies for technical textiles in various application areas, seven of them at the VDMA group stand. A focus of the exhibitors were on automation and digitalisation.
VDMA member companies are ready to support the transformation of the textile industry. This means the offer of innovative, highly efficient and resource saving production technologies and the provision of cutting-edge machines and equipment for recycling. In both cases, digitalisation is a means to improve both efficiency of the process and quality of the products. Automation and digital tools are also an answer to the increasing shortage of qualified personnel. With the help of digital systems, textile producers can optimise and automate their production processes and thus achieve a high level of process reliability and transparency. Automation and digitalisation of textile machines have already been developed and offered to market maturity.
European Countries are Expected to Require a Digital Product Passport from 2027
Digitisation will only work in close cooperation between machinery builders and textile producers. In this respect, VDMA has organised a panel discussion that took place at the VDMA group stand (12.0, C55). The topic of the event is “Product passport – impact on the industry”. The regulatory process for the digital product passport for textiles continues to gather pace. As things stand, clothing manufacturers in all European countries are expected to require a Digital Product Passport (DPP) from mid-2027.
To discuss the impact of the digital product passport on textile machinery manufacturing and the apparel industry, VDMA has invited industry representatives and welcomed Mr. Andreas Schneider from Global Textile Scheme (GTS), who played a key role in the development of the DPP in the current CIRPASS project, launched by the EU Commission.
The VDMA group stand also was a platform for junior engineers. Chairman of VDMA’s young talent foundation (Walter Reiners Foundation), Peter D. Dornier, awarded six young engineers with the Foundation’s promotion and sustainability prizes. The prizes awarded in the categories bachelor’s thesis and diploma/master’s degree.