Texprocess Americas Symposium Schedule: Everything You Need to Know
Updated: May 18, 2022
By Messe Frankfurt
This information was shared by SPESA via email April 29, 2022. More information on Texprocess Americas can be found here.
Outlined below is the Symposium schedule for Texprocess Americas. The Symposium is structured to address the most pressing issues faced by today’s sewn product industry.
Click here to see the Symposium schedule for Techtextil North America.
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM | Apparel Industry Cage Match! The Conventional Wisdom vs. Digitalization
For decades, industry visionaries (leaders without followers) have made the case that the apparel industry business model is broken. Ludicrously long product development calendars, fragmented supply chains, inaccurate forecasts, and diluted margins have all been identified as indicators that the industry is not sustainable. And yet, revenue increases every year – not only for the brands but throughout the supply chain.
In politics, it takes somebody to beat somebody. This session will start off by laying out the conventional wisdom that enterprise brands and retailers use today as well as an overview of why digitalization has failed to transform the industry – in short, why inertia eats disruption for lunch. Key digitalization leaders will then make their case. The outcome of the session will provide a more accurate strike zone for advocates of change in the fashion and textile industry (especially in the digitalization realm).
Moderated by: Michael McDonald, President, SPESA
Featuring:
Anton Wilson, President, Guidance Solutions, LTD.
Paul Magel, President, CGS
Keith Hoover, President, Black Swan Textiles
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM | The Fabric Digital Twin
The apparel industry has been investigating digitalization for over 20 years, focusing mainly on 3D garment visualization. Some see these solutions as the “Product Digital Twin” software for the apparel industry. However, all current solutions approach fabric digitization as a means to render better visualization models rather than a means to integrate with and drive production. Without a fabric model that incorporates construction, hand, performance, and manufacturing feasibility – in addition to appearance and drape – 3D apparel design software is just an expensive toy (albeit, a really cool expensive toy). Since apparel is constructed fabric (or in some cases, constructed yarn), design-to-manufacture models are needed for yarn and fabric.
This session will focus on various approaches to dealing with fabric in the industry today – at the apparel brands, textile mills, and technology providers – and even at the garment factory.
Moderated by: Keith Hoover, President, Black Swan Textiles
Featuring:
Yazan Malkosh, CEO, Switchbook
Eric Haagen, Sales Area Manager, Emtec
Genevieve Dion, Professor of Design, Director, Center for Functional Fabrics & Pennsylvania Fabric Discovery Center, Drexel University
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM | Robotics and Automation in Sewing
Can technology change the world for the better?
Robotics and automation in sewing are paving an intelligent and innovative way for the future in a world where disruption is coming from the bottom up: supply chains are fragile, customers are demanding more innovation than ever, employee skill gaps are widening and the need for more sustainable products has never been higher.
This session will explore and inform about the latest trends and technologies in vision technologies, robotics, and automated sewing, and how these technologies are enabling manufacturers to address the issues being seen in today's industry.
Moderated by: Nina-Daniela McCormack, Vice President & CFO, DAP America, Inc.
Featuring:
Joachim Schenk, Global Sales Manager, PFAFF Industrial, KSL
Frank Henderson, CEO, Henderson Sewing Machine Co.
Stephen Wiedman, Staff Engineer, SwRI
Cara Cranston, Technology Portfolio Manager, ARM
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM | The Circular Economy… Is Sustainability Real?
For industrial manufacturers, it’s not a question of whether the circular economy will change how business is done, but when?
The industrial sector accounts for about a quarter of global carbon emissions. Consumers already prefer sustainable end products. Major manufacturers who purchase manufacturing equipment have announced net-zero carbon goals and will continue to press for sustainability down their supply chains, and governments will demand stringent sustainability improvements as increasingly stark impacts of climate change force action toward concrete emissions-reduction targets. Hitting those targets will, over time, involve tracking and reducing both direct and indirect emissions, throughout supply chains in which manufacturers play a central role.
But how do companies start on an evolutionary path towards circularity? This one will start with countless evolutions, ones that will help manufacturers satisfy customers, improve sustainability, attract employees, stay compliant, and, not least, ensure profitability and growth over the long term.
Reduced costs and increased profitability
Improved plant performance and enhanced quality
Less risk and better brand reputation
Full visibility into the production lifecycle
Moderated by: Frank Henderson, President & CEO, Henderson Sewing Machine Co.
Featuring:
Yoram Burg, VP of Sales, Embodee
Lenny Marano, President of the Americas, Gerber Technology & Lectra
Lilach Aviad, VP Product & Marketing, TWINE Systems
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM | Examining Global Trade in the Apparel Supply Chain
In this session, experts in global trade from academia and industry will discuss the impact various Free Trade Agreements have had on the Fashion Industry in the U.S., accompanied by a panel discussion on the Pros & Cons of Offshore, Nearshore, and Onshore (Domestic) Sourcing.
Moderated by: Greg Vessels, GSG Distinguished Professor, The University of Georgia
Featuring:
Laura Ellen Mcandrews, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Product Development and Design, The University of Georgia
Brenna Schneider, CEO, 99Degrees Custom, Inc.
Martin DiBattista, Director, Better Team USA
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM | Supply Chain, Anxiety, & Workforce Development… Sound Familiar?
Apparel manufacturers are struggling to escape old paradigms with outdated traditional pricing models, squeezing margins from factory worker pay, poor allocation of highest human skills, archaic workspaces, inefficient supply chains, and lack of investment in innovation. New models and manufacturing solutions could help “flip the script” by looking at change as an opportunity towards increasing competitive advantage.
BUT, what happens if the workforce isn’t there to deploy the solutions that innovation could bring?
This session will look at how to simultaneously proliferate solutions alongside a workforce of new talents, new energy. While the panel will discuss how to better train, perhaps more importantly it will discuss how to attract and retain a young workforce.Because the future of work cannot be based on a workforce of the past, this unlikely cross-industry panel will explore:
Could a new "contract" with workforce have meaningful impact? What might it look like?
Do semantics matter? Does talent force mean something different that workforce?
Literal and figurative investments that inspire and engage a people
Benefits beyond traditional skills training and job placement
How work space matter
What “careers” are really being offered by our industry? What could or should it offer?
Moderated by: Jen Guarino, CEO, ISAIC
Featuring:
Tyler Hagen, Leader of Business Development + People Development teams, Kaas Tailored
Jessie Iglis, Director of Production, Kitsbow
Kelly Byrd, Corporate Culture & Coachine, Sweetwater Sound
Kamy Deljou, Founder/Owner, Deljou
Thursday, May 19, 2022
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM | The Modern Cutting Room
This session will feature presentations covering a myriad of options for tabling, spreading, and material handling devices. We will also discuss a number of advantages and disadvantages of different types of spreading machine and spreading applications, table configurations, and spreading room layouts.
After the presentations, we will have an opportunity to discuss and answer questions about spreading room challenges and solutions
Featuring:
Dan Berzack, President, Sewn Products Equipment Company
Michael Rabin, President, Morgan Tecnica America, Inc.
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM | Customers are Demanding More Innovation, and NOW
More details on this final session will be available on the Texprocess Americas website soon! In this session, experts in global trade from academia and industry will discuss the impact various Free Trade Agreements have had on the Fashion Industry in the U.S., accompanied by a panel discussion on the Pros & Cons of Offshore, Nearshore, and Onshore (Domestic) Sourcing.
Moderated by: Ketty Pillet, VP of Marketing, Americas, Lectra
Speakers coming soon!