Computer integrated manufacture within the knitted garment/textile industry

A comprehensive background to the development and current state of progress of the CIMTEX initiative is given. CIMTEX is a project which was established in 1989 to help the UK knitwear industry become more competitive. Its emphasis is on computer integrated manufacture in clothing but the application is to both small to medium sized enterprises (SME) as well as the larger organisations who are perceived to employ high technology solutions to production problems. The authors outline the background of the clothing sector which is experiencing an international crisis. This is followed by the background to the CIMTEX project, its value and its perceived deliverables to the UK industry at project conception. The structure of the project research groups, the need for both operator centred and automated solutions to production problems and the research objectives and current state of progress are also discussed