A look at the trends in Intelligent sewing technology from CISMA2023

"Intelligent" is the main theme of CISMA, and the theme of CISMA2023, "Intelligent Sewing Technology and Digital Solutions", is a continuation of the theme of the previous two exhibitions, which is even more refined and focused. By observing this year's show, I once again felt the charm of ClSMA.

From the perspective of microscopic technology development, China's sewing machinery industry has shown three major trends: intelligent product functions, intelligent sewing unit integration of intelligent equipment and robots (manipulators), and digitization of production mode solutions.

A large number of self-innovated products on display at CISMA2023 are surprisingly intelligent, from the appearance of single-machine products to new functions and technologies.
Functional intelligence refers to the technology that sewing machines are able to detect and recognize the real-time status of the sewing products during the sewing process, and through the intelligent functions of the control system, automatically process and adjust the sewing machine's relevant sewing parameters (sewing speed, stitch length, thread tension, presser foot pressure, feeding track, etc.) and auxiliary functions (stopping the needle position, cutting thread, dialing the thread, lifting the presser foot, etc.), so as to make the sewing quality more stable.
Digital control technology is the necessary technology for equipment to realize automation and intelligence. How far cutting-edge products can go depends on how high the level of the underlying technology is. From the application point of view, CNC technology is the basis for automation, digitalization, flexibilization, informatization, integration, and networking, and is the "brain" of modern sewing equipment. Whether it is a flat package bandage, lockstitch set, special machine, or embroidery machine, wherever the need for fast, precise control of acceleration, speed, position, and torque of any sewing equipment, need to use CNC technology.

A large number of single-machine automation and intelligent technologies appeared at this year's show, mainly in the areas of automatic adjustment of stitch length, presser foot pressure, thread tension, and self-awareness of the thickness of the processed material. The product adopts a multi-motor drive, can be programmed according to user requirements, automatically completes the needle pitch switching, with automatic thread cutting, automatic presser foot lifting, automatic thread loosening, and other functions, and can realize the intelligent control of the sewing process. It is mainly embodied in the following aspects: digital adjustment of stitch length; digitalization of backstitch operation; digitalization of thread tension adjustment; and even some models have introduced digital presser foot mechanism. The digitalization of these aspects (mechanisms) has all played a great role in the improvement of sewing performance.
From the point of view of the product features of sewing equipment at CISMA2023, there is still much room for improvement in the degree of intelligence of the current machines. Need for a single machine to be able to autonomously and automatically receive instructions, receive materials, according to the process and quality requirements to identify, and judge the material, and then processing and manufacture, the output of processed finished or semi-finished products, and can identify, put forward defective finished products; at the same time, the machine is able to record the statistical production of basic information related to, for example, the speed, time, the core process parameters, the number of incoming materials, the number of finished products, the number of rejects, and so on, these This information is the basis for the MES to form management and subsequent reports.

The intelligent sewing unit displayed at the exhibition integrates mechanical, electronic control, photoelectric magnetic detection, electromagnet and hydraulic, pneumatic drive, industrial manipulator, and machine vision technology, and integrates processing procedures to realize automation and intelligence in sewing processing, improving processing quality and labor productivity, in response to the needs of downstream industries such as apparel, shoes, hats, and bags.
From CISMA2023, we see more and more intelligent robot systems applicable to multiple sewing scenarios. The intelligent sewing unit composed of intelligent sewing equipment and robots (manipulators) uses artificial intelligence AI technology to solve the problem of robots grasping and accurately transmitting garments, as well as the collaborative processing of robots and sewing machines, which achieves self-perception, self-decision-making, and self-execution. The robot's dexterous hand can grasp the clothing piece for sewing processing, mainly relying on some advanced technology and algorithm support, can have the ability to learn autonomously robot, can be like a sewing worker to deal with a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials of the fabric.

How an automated sewing robot works: the fabric is observed and analyzed using highly calibrated machine vision, which detects deformations and automatically adjusts the fabric. The robot distributes the line to perform each task, including cutting, sewing, adding sleeves, and quality checking. At each step of the process, computer vision guides the sewing. The sewing process begins with programming all the sewing data from Gerber's Accumark files, which are embedded in the robot's files when designing products using 2D or 3D models. Using this high-accuracy machine vision and real-time analytics, the robot can continuously manipulate and adjust the fabric for proper alignment. Pick and place machines are able to mimic the way a tailor moves and handles fabric. There are two ways to move the fabric, the first is with a 4-axis robotic arm that can lift and place the fabric using a vacuum fixture. The second is a 360-degree conveyor system, where the conveyor is a table with embedded spherical rollers. With each roller (or Budger Ball) moving independently at high speed, the rollers can reposition the fabric or level it as needed. The sewing method is also different. Direct sewing means that, unlike stationary sewing machines that sew by moving the fabric, sewing robots complete the sewing process by moving the needle.

In this exhibition, many backbone enterprises in the industry exhibited cloud platforms and factory intelligent management systems, using a new generation of digital control systems/data collection boxes, intelligent data calculation workstation screens, industrial applications of the Internet of Things, RFID swipe modules, sewing management system SMES, cloud platforms, intelligent sewing equipment, intelligent logistics products; building order management module, procurement management module, warehouse material management module, financial and payroll management module, personnel management module, etc., to realize automation of production process, systematization of business process and digitalization of production information.
From the development of the industry, intelligent contains a number of levels, physical intelligence, supply chain intelligence, but also involves information technology, digital factories, and digital and information processing, these aspects are indispensable to the development of the industry, so the intelligent technology also needs to be combined with solutions.

Management of intelligent solutions needs to be supported by intelligent equipment terminals, management of intelligent basic data is provided by intelligent equipment terminals, and management of intelligent commands is also implemented by intelligent equipment terminals. In the future, there will be a surge in intelligent manufacturing in the apparel industry, and the fit between apparel manufacturing and computer programming will become higher. 5G can build an all-encompassing information ecosystem centered on people and machines connecting inside and outside of factories, and ultimately enable any people and things to share information with each other at any time and any place.

When visiting digital complete solutions at the show, the solutions we saw were some of the main functional modules, in other words only the framework for smart manufacturing. It is relatively easy to build a framework, but if you really want to go deeper, you have to get into the game, and you need to study systematically and deeply and implement it practically - you need to have engineering skills and knowledge, and you need to understand the status and working conditions of production operations, and you need to understand the characteristics of raw materials/semi-finished products/finished products, and you need to understand the abnormal conditions that occur in the process of production operations, and so on. The whole intelligent manufacturing system is ultimately aimed at improving work efficiency. How to effectively strengthen the coordination and integration of the upstream and downstream industry chains with new modes such as smart manufacturing and intelligent sewing, and create a mature and efficient global sewing supply chain, industry chain and service chain has become the common goal of the majority of sewing machinery upstream and downstream enterprises and practitioners.

Throughout CISMA2023, we can see that in the field of sewing equipment, where the industry is undergoing deep changes and the market demand is increasingly changing, the ecology of the brand new development of intelligent manufacturing has gradually opened up a new era. Sewing production is realizing intelligence from point to point, from single varieties to production line integration; relying on the new operating system based on the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data analysis, to provide overall solutions and a series of value-added services of the industry development path is more clear. It can be said that CISMA2023 has pointed out the direction for the intelligentization of the sewing machine industry from point to point, from single species to production line integration.