INDUSTRY 4.0  IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Using R&D Experience to Support Digital Transformation

By integrating a PwC multidisciplinary team in a Productive Innovation Project, we brought the knowledge of the previous innovations successfully achieved in R&D projects for a PwC industrial client (Riopele).

It was a so-called “Productive Innovation Project” in which this textile company (Riopele) aimed to transform most of all productive lines with new and sophisticated industrial equipment to ensure the introduction of a set of innovations that would allow the manufacture of new products. As those new products must be aligned with market trends for sustainability, functionality, design, and quality, the Riopele company needed to go further than simply acquiring new equipment. So, based on the R&D results obtained successfully in prior R&D projects, the company aims to adapt its industrial process to ensure the adaptation of the critical processes of the production chain to the new types of products.
In the end, the company will also invest in implementing cyber-physical systems, advanced sensors, and information systems to communicate, process, and analyse large volumes of data in an approach to Industry 4.0.

In this context, the project involves innovation through digital transformation in adopting new production processes based on cutting-edge technology, which is highly efficient and induces productivity and flexibility for producing new products. The digital transformation of the chain of productive processes in that company to Industry 4.0 presents a high degree of innovation for the textile industry since it will deal with structured information flows through each of the four large productive areas (Spinning, Dyeing, Weaving and Finishing) to achieve a flexible and rapid industrial production.
The project has been co-financed by COMPETE 2020 and EU-ERDF funds under the Innovation Incentive System, involving an eligible investment of 8.7 million euros, which resulted in an ERDF incentive of around 3.4 million euros.