Projects for the Garment Industry at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation -IPA-, Stuttgart.

Since the economic situation is forcing the clothing industry to consider the possibilities of improving competitiveness, an increasing number of companies are no longer excluding automation from their production out of hand. In order to accelerate the automation, which is planned and which is certainly also necessary, it is absolutely essential that co-ordinated efforts are made to guarantee the efficiency of the equipment used and the development of practical automation components. Assistance in answering the question of what is to be developed and when, may be provided on the basis of experience in other branches of industry which have already undergone similar development. A local determination of clothing production is carried out in the following, then conclusions drawn, from a comparision with developments in other branches of industry, which regard to sensible research and development activities, current and future projects at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineer ing and Automation are explained, then a forecast of further development provided.