Posted November 19, 2015

 

Editor’s note: Sam Buff, director of the Gaston College Textile Technology Center, Belmont, N.C., offers his impressions of ITMA as a first-time visitor.

 

“You need to go to ITMA.”

 

Those were the words I heard during a Textile Technology Center board meeting this past summer. I had just summarized all of the activity surrounding the center over the previous six months and concluded the presentation with areas of focus moving forward. One of those areas included the list of industry events to be attended by someone on our staff, and ITMA was missing. I tend to listen very enthusiastically when board members give me direction. I quickly made arrangements to attend and started counting the days.

 

To be honest, I didn’t really know much about ITMA. I had never attended and didn’t know what benefit it would be to the center or me. A little research on the event enlightened me to what lay ahead. I was excited as  the thoughts of massive  halls filled with the latest and greatest gadgets and gizmos ran through my mind … and I’m a gadgets and gizmos kind of guy.

 

The center happened to be in the process of acquiring several new pieces of equipment and this event would provide me the opportunity to see the equipment and meet the vendors in person. To me, the convenience factor would be worth the trip.  Where else would I be able to see so many vendors all in one place at one event? Nowhere.

 

I must admit that as I entered the Fiera Milano Pavilion in Milan, I was a bit overwhelmed. I totally understood why the event lasted so long. There was no way to see it all in a few days.  Moving sidewalks and a main drag lined with food vendors ran down the center of the exhibition halls. My smartphone app clocked me at just over seven miles of walking per day. I made the most of my time and aggressively visited as many booths as possible.

 

I would not be disappointed in regards to the sheer volume of new technology. This industry is filled with innovative minds. The theme of sustainability could be seen throughout the halls.  I saw “green” everywhere and in many forms. Words and phrases such as “green,” “recyclable,” “requires less energy,” “renewable,” “sustainable solutions” and “waterless” could be seen in abundance. There was even an ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award for 2015. Sustainability was at the forefront. But, one less obvious trend jumped out at me personally. It was what I noticed with several of the “new” software improvements, regardless of whether they were built into processing or testing equipment. 

 

Over the past several years,  I‘ve picked up on a concern that I’ve heard all over the industry. Leaders worry about how they’re going to attract new talent as so many of those innovative minds mentioned earlier near retirement and exit the industry. The software, in my opinion, appears to be moving towards, becoming more and more intuitive. So, as the industry struggles to source technical staff in the younger generations, it appears that the technical machinery minds decided to try to help address this problem as best they could.

 

They have engineered their way around the problem of having lesser skilled technical staff  by designing new software that is much more advanced, intuitive and user friendly. The examples I saw firsthand did a great job in reducing the need to have highly skilled staff members by adding alarms, alerts and troubleshooting features that “coached up” the lesser experienced technical staff. Brilliant.

 

I don’t believe there is any substitute for experience but I would like to send out a sincere “thank you” to all of those companies that understand where the industry is in regards to young talent and is taking those challenges into consideration when designing their next generation of textile equipment.

 

I don’t know what the headlines will be when the final pages are written. All I can say is that I have wonderful memories of my time  in Milan. My favorite experiences were sharing roasted chestnuts with my friends, devouring the best pizza I have ever had in my life, surviving a cab ride that rivaled any rally racing event ever held, walking around Duomo at night and then there was the work-related stuff.