[ti:American Textile Industry Shows New signs of Life]
[ar:June Simms]
[al:Technology Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English,
[00:01.90]this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.68]The textile and clothing industry in the United States
[00:10.36]is growing again after many years of decline.
[00:14.64]Many of the factories are competing against factories
[00:19.96]that pay low wages in countries like China.
[00:24.19]VOA visited the southern state of North Carolina.
[00:29.22]The textile industry there was once
[00:33.25]one of the most important businesses in the state.
[00:37.43]It has reinvented itself using technology
[00:41.41]and employing fewer people than before.
[00:46.39]Robots do most of the work
[00:49.14]at the National Spinning Company factory
[00:52.07]in Burlington, North Carolina.
[00:54.56]The factory dyes more than 110,000 kilograms of yarn
[01:00.53]every week in many different colors.
[01:04.41]The yarn is sent to clothing and furniture makers
[01:08.99]both in the U.S. and around the world.
[01:13.77]Michael Hankensen is one of only two workers
[01:17.60]who take care of the dye producing machines.
[01:21.58]"As you see, most of this is extremely heavy,
[01:24.37]cumbersome, and trying to move it around
[01:27.06]in the order that these robots do it,
[01:28.70]it would take an army of men
[01:32.03]to accomplish what these robots do," said Hankensen.
[01:35.27]Technology is helping the company
[01:38.01]compete with factories in other countries
[01:40.99]that pay workers only a few dollars a day.
[01:44.67]The National Spinning Company factory pays
[01:48.51]its 100 employees between $10 and $20 an hour.
[01:54.88]Ed Atkins manages the factory.
[01:59.01]He says it is important for the company to limit labor costs,
[02:05.08]but he says, it must also make high quality products,
[02:10.66]and he says, the company must provide good customer service
[02:16.48]to compete in the international market place.
[02:20.33]"We've diversified ourselves, looked for markets
[02:22.86]that depended on the quick response
[02:25.70]that you can provide from American-made products,
[02:28.04]little niche markets.
[02:30.23]I mean we don't try to compete
[02:31.82]in the generic cotton business or anything like that,
[02:34.76]because it's not where our strengths are," said Atkins.
[02:37.05]Deborah Wince-Smith is the president of the Council on Competitiveness,
[02:42.77]she says the textile industry must continue to develop technology.
[02:49.79]"Companies and enterprises are really bringing
[02:52.33]their core activities to where they have a skilled workforce,
[02:55.41]where they have innovation talent
[02:57.50]and where they're actually able
[02:59.44]to develop the next generation of innovation
[03:01.88]that drives manufacturing," said Wince-Smith.
[03:03.82]The textile industry has built 23 factories
[03:08.20]in the last three years,
[03:10.34]it has also increased its exports by 30 percent.
[03:15.37]To the surprise of many,
[03:18.40]the American textile industry is showing new signs of life.
[03:23.68]And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.
[03:30.05]Have a question or comment about this show?
[03:33.43]Email us at learningenglish@voanews.com.
[03:38.36]For more of our programs,
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[03:55.84]I'm June Simms.
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