WTiN's Multi-Faceted Textile Conference To Explore Industry 4.0 And Smart Innovation

Leeds, England /PRNewswire/ - The most all-encompassing event ever to explore the impact of Industry 4.0 in textiles and apparel is set to open in Amsterdam, in November, featuring a line-up of top industry and thought leaders.

Innovate Textile & Apparel is a new three-day, multi-stream business and technology conference, designed to shed light on the character and progress of digitalisation in the textile value chain, and its implications for business strategy. Keynote speakers include: Ian Cronin, of the World Economic Forum (WEF); Thomas Dawidczyk, of Lux Research; and Milli Tharakan, of Welspun Group's TILT Innovation.

Running on 6 – 8 November at the Novotel Amsterdam City and adjacent Holiday Inn Amsterdam, Innovate Textile & Apparel will also introduce product developers to the latest smart materials and will host the fourth edition of the Future Textile Awards, recognising innovation in everything from novel fibre to smart manufacturing technology.

Organised by World Textile Information Network (WTiN), the event expands on last year's successful Textile 4.0 Conference, which remains a core element, now complemented by: Textile Business Futures, a high-level conference for strategic decision-makers; and Re:Think Materials, which will focus on the application possibilities of the latest e-textiles and the 'wonder material' graphene.

The three complementary conferences, each exploring a different theme with innovation at its heart, will deliver vital insights into the most important areas of business and product strategy in textiles and apparel. Sponsors include: Archipelago; Inspectorio; Lectra; LIRICO; Lubrizol; MTIX Ltd; Oerlikon; Softwear Automation; and SPGPrints.

The Textile 4.0 Conference (Tuesday – Wednesday, 6-7 November) will explore emerging digital business models and introduce the latest application opportunities in smart factory development, including robotics, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and virtual or augmented reality. In an opening keynote presentation, Lux Research analyst Thomas Dawidczyk will trace how innovation in smart textiles is moving from the materials themselves to analysis of the data they can provide using sensor integration. The conference's first day will examine central Industry 4.0 themes, including robotics, augmented reality and harnessing 'big data'. Day 1 will conclude with a networking reception, exclusively sponsored by MLSE®. Day 2 begins with a keynote presentation from Ian Cronin, WEF's project lead for accelerating sustainable production, who also heads its efforts to advance the implementation of 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies. Further topic will range from digital printing and additive manufacturing to the emerging retail demand for full supply-chain transparency.

Re:Think Materials (Wednesday – Thursday, 7-8 November) will provide expert technical insights for product developers, including market opportunities in connected textiles; conductive fibre and yarn; textiles for energy harvesting and storage; printed textile electronics; the application possibilities of graphene; and the use of MLSE (multiplex laser surface enhancement technology) for textile finishing. Keynote speakers are: TILT Innovation's chief innovation officer, Milli Tharakan; Despina Papadopoulos, CEO and founder of Principled Design; and Anne Prahl, design and innovation consultant at Concept+Design.

Textile Business Futures (Thursday, 8 November) is an intensive one-day introduction for C-level executives and will examine digital business strategy, risk management, return on investment, leadership and culture change. Hosted by leading textile business consultants Gherzi, it will feature a second keynote introduction by WEF's Cronin, with contributions from: Gherzi partner Giuseppe Gherzi; Charles Beauduin, CEO of Van de Wiele; Dondu Unal Haktar, head of corporate project management at Hugo Boss Solutions; and Mark Jarvis, CEO of WTiN.

The winners of the 4th Future Textile Awards will be announced at a special reception on the early evening of Wednesday, 7 November.

Details of all four events can be found at https://ita.wtin.com

About WTiN
World Textile Information Network Ltd (WTiN) provides specialist insight and data-driven intelligence to businesses in the Textile & Apparel value chain, enabling them to make better decisions faster and gain competitive advantage. Its primary focus is on the high growth markets of materials innovation, industry digitalisation and technical textiles. WTiN products are subscription based, with most delivered digitally, leveraging the latest technology to maximise user discoverability. WTiN also: organises focused B2B events – including the multi-stream Innovate Textile & Apparel, held each year in Europe, the USA & Asia; delivers bespoke consulting projects; and publishes a range of journals and reports. www.wtin.com

About Archipelago Technology
Archipelago Technology works for customers in printing, coating, and high-value manufacturing. It develops technology to create printing platforms to eject viscous fluids, such as adhesives, paint, and paste. The company also enhances image quality and transform the reliability of industrial inkjet systems. http://www.archipelagotechnology.com/

About Inspectorio
Inspectorio is a leader in the inspection software industry. Its cloud-based platforms are disrupting quality inspections by increasing productivity, transparency and efficiency. Like many great solutions, Inspectorio was born from the frustration of three serial entrepreneurs, who had to deal with the slow, manual process of quality inspections – while receiving little to no visibility. Today, Inspectorio is the platform used by some of the world's most recognized names. https://www.inspectorio.com/

About Lectra
Lectra is the world leader in integrated technology solutions that automate, streamline and accelerate product design, development and manufacturing processes for industries using soft materials. Lectra develops the most advanced specialized software and cutting systems and provides associated services to a broad array of markets including fashion (apparel, accessories, footwear), automotive (car seats and interiors, airbags), furniture, as well as a wide variety of other market sectors, such as aeronautical and marine industries, wind power and personal protective equipment. https://www.lectra.com/en

About LIRICO
LIRICO Group is a newly formed collective of industry experts brought together to simplify and expedite the adoption of digital textile printing technology. The company believes the largest obstacle to the adoption of digital textile printing technology is the availability of supplier neutral expertise to identify the optimum solution for a client. Instead of relying on the development of internal knowledge and skills to oversee your investment, retain the LIRICO Group. http://liricogroup.com/

About Lubrizol
The Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is a technology-driven global business that combines complex, specialty chemicals to optimize the quality, performance and value of customers' products while reducing their environmental impact. The Digital Print Solutions team is a part of Lubrizol Performance Coatings, and consists of global experts in surface chemistry, with a thorough understanding of layer interaction between substrate, ink receptive coating, and ink. Its ink receptive coating and ink dispersant technologies enable new levels of performance, including outstanding durability and functionality for digital printing's toughest challenges for solvent-borne, water-borne and energy cured systems. https://www.lubrizol.com/

About MTIX Ltd.
MTIX Ltd. the developer and owner of the patented MLSE® (Multiplexed Laser Surface Enhancement) technology. MLSE® is the combination of multiple high energy sources, along with a unique mixture of gasses, solids and/or liquids for the purpose of directly synthesising materials on and in a specified material substrate. Each unique combination of energies and various matters is encoded into a Process Algorithm. The MLSE® platform can also be used to deliver and enhance almost any existing precursor chemistry used for finishing by having these incorporated into a Process Algorithm, capitalising on the drastic reduction of energy, water, and chemicals consumed. MTIX Ltd (a subsidiary of MTIX International (OTCBB: AVLP)) is an advanced materials and processing technology company located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK. www.mtixinternational.com

About Oerlikon
Oerlikon is a leading global technology Group providing market leading technologies and services. Oerlikon has around 15,000 employees at over 180 locations in 37 countries and sales of CHF 2 847 million in 2017. The Group is structured in three Segments: Surface Solutions; Manmade Fibers; and Drive Systems, each operating under their own well-established brands and with their own market-specific strategies. It has a long-standing presence in Asia, particularly in the emerging markets of China and India, a strong foundation in Europe and serves the most important markets in the Americas. In 2017, the Group continued to invest 4% of its annual total sales in R&D, corresponding to CHF 107 million, and filed 91 patents worldwide. www.oerlikon.com

About SoftWear Automation
SoftWear Automation is disrupting the $100 billion sewn products industry by creating autonomous sewn good worklines for Home Goods, Footwear & Apparel. The Atlanta-based machine vision and robotics startup spun out of Georgia Tech after seven years of research and development working on projects with DARPA and the WALMART Foundation. SoftWear's fully autonomous SEWBOT® allows manufacturers to SEWLOCAL™, moving their supply chains closer to the customer while creating higher quality products at a lower cost. http://softwearautomation.com/

About SPGPrints
SPGPrints is a total systems provider of inkjet and rotary screen-printing technologies for the world's textile, wallcovering, label and packaging industries. The company's digital textile printing offering is based on its ground-breaking Archer® technology, featured on the single-pass PIKE® and multi-pass JAVELIN® printing systems, together with inkjet inks, optimised for all major print head providers. These are available in acid, disperse, reactive and sublimation chemistries. SPGPrints provides solutions for every step in the rotary screen-printing workflow: machine systems, nickel rotary screens, lacquers, as well as digital and conventional imaging systems, with accompanying software. https://www.spgprints.com/

About Gherzi
Gherzi is a global management consulting and engineering company. Gherzi is the leader for strategic development and expansion of companies in the textile industry, from production to retail. Its services range from engineering of new factories to strategy consulting and corporate finance. https://www.gherzi.com/