Microfactory Lab at the DITF

The DITF has had a digital multifunctional laboratory for some time. The 160 m² laboratory addresses the key megatrends of the textile industry: sustainability, digitalization and individualization of customer solutions. The "Digital Textile Micro Factory" of the DITF's Centre for Management Research is the nucleus for projects around flexible and sustainable production processes of a textile factory of the future. The laboratory was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the "Zwanzig20" funding program within the "futureTEX" project and serves to specifically strengthen the traditional textile industry in the above-mentioned strategic fields of action.

The multifunctional laboratory is a research and demonstration environment for projects, workshops and (teaching) events on the topics of Industry 4.0 and microfactories. It has an independent IT infrastructure and a highly networked and sensor-monitored interior. This provides the perfect environment for the implementation of current and future research projects in these areas.

Currently, large parts of the Digital Textile Micro Factory architecture are being deployed in the lab. This is being used to conduct research on scan-to-factory processes in nearshoring environments, digital twins of bodies and materials, human-machine interaction, automation of production processes for highly individualized textile products in small batch sizes, and many other complementary topics.

For these tasks described above, the laboratory is equipped with a wide range of powerful hardware and software. For example, digital twins of people, objects and fabrics can be created using 3D scanners, garment construction and simulation can be realized, products can be visualized in 3D, VR and AR environments, and these can then be printed, cut and sewn in networked digital workflows.

In addition, a powerful computing infrastructure is available for processing tasks in the areas of algorithms, AI and simulation.