Ashwin Chandran, chairman and managing director of Precot Meridian, speaking at the inaugural of conference on industrial textiles at PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore on Friday. | Photo Credit: M_Periasamy more-in Centres of Excellence for technical textiles in Coimbatore should look at knowledge acquisition and developing standards for products, said Ashwin Chandran, vice-chairman of Southern India Mills’ Association and chairman and managing director of Precot Meridian, here on Friday. Inaugurating a two-day conference on “Industrial Textiles - Products, Applications and Prospects”, organised by the Department of Textile Technology and Automobile Engineering of PSG College of Technology, he said Coimbatore has two Centres of Excellence - one for medical textiles and another for industrial textiles - set up with support from the Central Government. This is the right time to tap opportunities in technical textiles as the Union Government is promoting Make in India and indigenisation. Coimbatore region has several textile clusters and hence, the Centres of Excellence can easily work with the industry. The centres should look at knowledge acquisition and become experts in their respective fields. The centres should also involve marketing experts, identify the demand, and work with the textile clusters. Further, at present, there is no centralised information on standards for industrial textiles. The centres should work on testing and standards, he said. Prasad Potluri, director of Research, Northwest Composites Centre, School of Materials, University of Manchester, spoke about the need for such events. Roy Conway, Industrial Chemist, Northwest Composites Centre, School of Materials, University of Manchester, said that globally, the Indian sub-continent is important for textiles. The quality of textiles in India is better, he pointed out. L. Gopalakrishnan, Managing Trustee of PSG Institutions, said India’s technical textiles market size accounts for 4 % of the global market. The market is expected to grow 20 % year-on-year. Of this, industrial and home textiles will be substantial. G. Thilagavathi, professor and head of department of textile technology, PSG College of Technology, said the Industrial Centre of Excellence has an incubator and it has developed several products.

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