Textile Technology Center at Gaston College — a well-kept secret few have heard of — is a non-profit entity focused on technical support for the textile industry.
By Jim Kaufmann, Contributing Editor
most dictionaries define evolution as “the change in characteristics of a species over several generations.” Change the word species to organization in that definition and it describes how the Textile Technology Center (TTC) at Gaston College, Belmont, N.C., has managed to service the textile industry for 77 years and is still going strong. Originally established as the North Carolina Vocational Textile School, the organization began offering classes in 1943, roughly midway through the southern U.S. textile industry’s boom years. Fueled by increasing demand for textiles throughout the World War II and Korean war eras, then later to clothe baby boomers through the 60s and 70s, the industry expanded. And so did the vocational school as it trained and educated people in textiles to support that burgeoning growth.
New technology developments led to more diverse applications for textiles beyond clothing and bedding, and further industry expansion enhanced TTC’s offerings. Then came the transitional years of the 1980s and 1990s when drastic shifts occurred in the industry — a result of breaking up several larger textile companies by venture capitalists as well as moving a high percentage of textile production to low cost producers in the Far East. The introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and persistent downsizing of the U.S. textile industry that continued into the 2000s led most people to conclude that the industry was dead. Yet, to borrow a famous quote, “reports of the textile industry’s death were greatly exaggerated.”
Enter present day, and: “Though many still think of the U.S. textile industry as being dead, we see it much differently,” said Sam Buff, TTC director. “We’ve managed to evolve with the highs and lows of the textile industry over the years. In the early years, TTC was a little standalone community college teaching textiles and adding additional programs and services along the way. Then the industry started moving off-shore, NAFTA was created and business in this region changed drastically because textiles were no longer prominent.”
Buff noted that from 1999 until 2005, TTC spent time trying to figure out what it could do and where it might create value. “During the lean years, we still did some training, but also started assisting companies to succeed within the changing textiles environment by offering outsourced R&D and testing services. In 2005, we were absorbed into Gaston College and rebranded as the Textile Technology Center.”
As part of Gaston College, TTC is strictly a non-profit entity with four primary areas of technical support including sample production, product testing, problem solving and customized training. “Our prices are reasonable because we are non-profit and not driven by any type of share-holder expectations,” Buff said. “Roughly 70 percent of our income is generated by sales, while the remainder comes largely from the state.”
TTC的客户包括从企业家到跨国公司的所有内容，目前拥有来自全球的大约600名活跃客户。项目来自35个不同的国家和国家，包括德国，巴西，澳大利亚，以色列，葡萄牙，洪都拉斯和墨西哥。
“We’ve pretty much come full circle with the increased demand for improved textile education and training as the industry comes back and continues to diversify into more exotic areas,” Buff offered. “We do sense a change in the industry with reshoring. People are investing in textiles in the United States again and TTC is benefiting from that. There are many diverse pockets of not just fashion inspired textiles, but also industrial, performance and technical textiles that continue to evolve creating so much more to this industry than just those old perceptions. Textiles have evolved and expanded and continue to do so and we need to continue evolving and adapting quickly as well to meet the industry’s needs before someone else does.”
在过去的几年中，Buff和TTC重新评估了其优势，劣势和能力，以更清楚地定义了今天的TTC - 一家纺织品产品和过程开发需求的一站式商店。企业，企业家和其他人现在使用TTC作为研发（R＆D）资源来帮助降低内部发展成本。结果，TTC客户不必投资能力完全有能力的测试实验室，研发设备，设施，或者（更重要的是 - 经营这些领域所需的人才）。
It’s Really About The People
“真正的关键是人们，我们在这里当然有一些好人，” Buff喊道。“我们的白发，小孩和贝特韦斯人都很好地混合在一起。很高兴看到他们的不同观点如何共同努力，以互相帮助并解决手头的问题。我们的老年人喜欢帮助，指导和教育年轻的人。而且这并不总是一边 - 年轻的人也倾向于为手头的问题带来新的视角，这通常会导致老年人以不同的眼光停止并重新考虑事物。”
优秀的员工是浅黄色最大的担忧之一hen it comes to TTC’s and possibly the textile industry’s future sustainability. “Talent that understands textiles and soft goods is really difficult to find,” Buff lamented. “It’s tough to replace someone with 45 years of experience! You can teach new people to run a machine, but it takes years to teach them how to make fabric. It’s hard to beat that high level of experience that only comes from years of knowing what or where to make an adjustment, how to compensate for material variations or when the machine just happens to be having a bad day.
As experienced people reach retirement age, the smaller pool of talent to draw from is impacting the industry negatively, according to Buff. “I truly think the textile industry has done a poor job at developing people and that’s hurting us now,” he noted. “Look around, there used to be several textile schools feeding the industry, and now NC State might be the last one in the United States to offer a true textile curriculum. Because of this, TTC is striving to become a talent incubator by helping industry to hire people out of high school or elsewhere and then providing them with unique opportunities to work with our experienced staff who can mentor and pass along industry knowledge.”
TTC的大部分员工都来自纺织业，并且在整个纤维，纱线和面料制造领域以及与不同的相关行业中仍然保持着牢固的联系。这些员工的联系有助于TTC增加其资源清单，包括人员，技术和有关如何完成事情的一般知识。“我们确实认识很多人，” Buff悲伤。“这个行业有时会感觉很大，而且分散了，但有时它可能很小且亲密。我们进行大量的网络，采购，维修和将人们聚在一起。对我们来说，这全都是为了帮助这个行业中的每个人取得成功。我们一直在努力让更多的人看到纺织业的机会和可能性，以帮助我们建立联系和资源，从而帮助我们的客户。”
While Gaston College does not have a specific textile curriculum to draw from, TTC maintains connections with other textile universities and related institutions in the area. “We’re a good team player!” Buff emphasized. “We do work with other universities where we can. We’re in constant contact with the Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC) in Hickory, N.C., as well NC State in Raleigh, N.C. Also, there’s companies in the area like Southeast Nonwovens (SENW) and of course many others throughout the industry.”
Buff said TTC looks at the nature of the project along with the resources and technology it requires and then shares its customers either leading the charge or by assisting as appropriate. “MSC has better knitting capabilities, SENW has nonwovens covered, NCSU has its textiles curriculum and all their resources and we are strong in fiber, yarn and weaving — so there’s a good mix of talent and technologies to work with,” Buff noted.
访问技术有助于
TTC的目标是成为该行业的好地方，并且它使得易于合作的一切努力。它不要求在任何知识产权中担任职位。Buff说：“我们希望帮助您开发产品，希望您下次再回来。”“大多数！”
自2012年以来，Buff一直担任TTC担任导演。TTC做研发，但更像是小R和一个大D。根据Buff的说法。Buff说：“我认为研究是了解您的想法的所有知识的过程，基本上可以理解您所能做到的一切，无论它有多大或小的想法。”“这是一所研究大学可能比我们更好的地方。另一方面，发展主要是要实现商业化。您的想法在纸上看起来很棒，现在呢？TTC擅长将想法带入商业化。”
TTC将采用这个想法并将其推进其处理区域，以确定是否可以运行。Buff说，该中心在整个过程中对客户保持诚实，因为如果该想法不会在其处理设备上运行，则制造商可能对产品不感兴趣。Buff报道：“他们想知道您的产品可以运行，可以处理并在商业上可行。”“我们让你达到这一点。”
TTC’s labs include fiber extrusion, yarn development, fabric formation — including weaving and knitting — and dyeing and finishing. It also has well-equipped physical testing and analytical labs to assess and validate products each step of the way. “We try to start with the fiber technology because that drives everything else downstream,” Buff said. “The black magic and pixy dust found in fiber and yarn technology these days is where much of the real value originates and we’ve been working to upgrade these areas at TTC to be more in line with industry technologies. We’ve also found the industry is realizing this value and is willing to invest in TTC, which helps them, and our customers, in the long run.”
Current upgrades include new Murata Vortex spinning technology with additional upgrades planned in the near future. The upgrades also will help TTC with product scalability, which has on occasion been a challenge.
“Sometimes customers come in with literally a handful of fiber and ask us if we can make a fabric out of it?” Buff said. “The answer is usually yes, by the way. Then we have the ‘tweeners’ who want to produce, test and validate a concept which we can certainly help with. But occasionally, there are clients who we just cannot accommodate because the sample size was too big for us, even though it was too small for them to produce in-house. We’re hoping that the planned equipment upgrade efforts will position TTC better to assist with these types of projects.”
TTC将继续发展
虽然TTC是“行业来娱乐的好地方”，但它计划继续发展并适应纺织行业的需求。Buff表示：“我们现在的挑战的一部分是，随着纺织品继续扩展到其他领域，我们应该追求哪些领域。”“我们正在研究复合材料，医疗，回收和可再生技术和其他领域。纺织技术只有各种未开发的机会，我们需要准备支持未来的一切。”
Buff also pointed out that the textile industry still has an image problem that TTC is fighting to overcome. “We need to keep attracting and developing strong minds to merge the old and new as new technologies and applications keep pushing us forward,” Buff said. “We attend tradeshows and conferences where we can conduct demonstrations, speak or even create complete programs on textiles. Gaston College has also recently hired a new marketing person who we plan to work with to get TTC more visibility.”
Throughout its 77 years of existence, TTC has adapted to a fickle industry’s needs and there’s every indication that it will continue to do so. Not bad for a “well-kept secret few have ever heard of.”
march/April 2020
