Sewbot is a fully automated sewing workline built to scale sewn goods manufacturing. © Softwear Automation

Softwear Automation, an Atlanta, GA, based machine vision and robotics start-up, has announced Sewbots-as-a-Service, a rental lease service to allow manufacturers, brands, and retailers to source and manufacture in the US at a lower cost than outsourcing and with greater predictability and quality.

“From 1994 to 2005, the United States lost more than 900,000 textile and apparel jobs to offshoring,” the company explains. “Fast-forward to 2018. The pendulum is swinging back, and textiles are returning as lean, highly automated, environmentally conscious production facilities.”

“Within the last six years, there have been significant announcements by foreign-owned textile companies investing in the United States, with site selection choices clustered in the Southeast including the first Chinese owned Cut Make Trim factory in Arkansas.”

“Despite this industry reversal, the seamstresses are not returning. While the knowledge can be shared to upskill workers, people don’t have the desire to work in a traditional textiles factory.”

To solve this and accelerate the growth of US based textile manufacturing, Softwear Automation is introducing Sewbots-as-a-Service, which creates immediate ROI benefits while enabling scale across retailer, brand, and manufacturer.

“While we understand the benefits of Made in America, the focus of this programme is to offer US textiles manufacturing more control, greater margin, faster turn times and less inventory,” the company explains.

The new product is focused on bringing scale to basic sewn good production within the country of destination (a local supply chain). This focus allows manufacturers to move current seamstresses to premium products while creating a more reactive, reliable and sustainable textile ecosystem, the company says.

Sewbot is a fully automated sewing workline built to scale sewn goods manufacturing. The next generation Lowry Sewbot is built to produce numerous types of sewn products in different industries and supports both local and global supply chains. It has been commercially deployed in the automated production of rugs, bath mats, automotive products, medical products, pillows, towels and more.

www.softwearautomation.com

Further information

Automated Sewbot to make 800,000 adidas T-shirts daily