European textile and clothing manufacturers are facing tough world-wide competition from producers of knitwear from low-wage countries. This very traditional industry has had to adapt rapidly in recent years to diverse demands from a variety of types of customers. Production process management is a very new concept within the integrated pipeline of textile production, but it may now be the only means of stopping the rapid decline of the European textile industry.

The aim of this project was to develop new process management software and hardware for textile production. The new system collects and analyses the necessary information for production and quality control, including availability of machines and materials, capacity and logistics and then generates production orders allowing faster response to customer demands.

Partners say throughput times for each processing stage have been significantly shortened. Using this system, European textile companies can now bring new products to the market faster than competitors from abroad and can plan their production based on a better and more reliable knowledge of the market needs.