Cotton Spinning Industry Research Articles

Recycling the sediment of cotton spinning effluent for rigid polyurethane foams

Sediment from the effluent of cotton spinning industry was valorized as the renewable bio-based polyols substitute for the rigid polyurethane (RPUFs), targeting to generate the economic and environmental benefits. Before reaction with the isocyanate, the sediment was functionalized by hydroxymethylation, in order to increase the density of the active hydroxyl groups for higher reactivity. The structural characterization results of the functionalized sediment indicated the material exhibited narrow molecular weight distribution, high hydroxyl groups content, and highly aromatic skeleton, which can be qualified as the renewable polyols for the RPUFs. In the crosslinking process, the effect of the polyols substitute rate of the sediments on the physio-chemical properties and the thermo-resistant performances of the resulting RPUFs was investigated. Specifically, in the group with 30 wt% of polyols substitution, the received foam exhibited comprehensive superiorities in compressive strength (0.58 MPa), apparent density (58 kg m−3), and thermo-conductivity (0.032 W m−1 K−1). Attractively, the RPUFs also exhibited good flame retardancy. The burning time can be extended by 30 % compared to the control group that without the sediment's substitution. Moreover, the RPUF also possessed good degradability, allowing for harmless recycling. The current work provided a potential route for the valorization of the hazardous waste effluent from the cotton spinning industry.

Cotton GinTrash Feeding Amid Feed Scarcity in Sheep and Factors Driving Inclusion in the Yarn Spinning Industrial Cluster of Tamil Nadu, India

Cotton gin trash (CGT) is composed of fibre residues, leaves, dust particles, soil, and other materials derived during the ginning and yarn-spinning process in processing industries. In the cotton-spinning industrial clusters, farmers are using CGT as one of the alternative roughage feeds for their sheep, mainly during forage shortages in the summer months. Baseline information on farmers using gin and the factors driving them to choose CGT as a roughage source needs to be identified for future planning regarding the usage of CGT in sheep feeding. Considering the above facts, the present study was undertaken to assess the socio-personal characteristics and managemental practices associated with farmers using cotton gin in the feeding of sheep; also, it was conducted to identify the factors driving the choice of the CGT as the primary source of roughage in the cotton-spinning industry cluster of Tamil Nadu, India. For this, a survey among 80 sheep farmers was carried out using a pre-tested interview schedule. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logit regression. The results indicated that the majority of male, aged, and large-land farmers were involved in practicing CGT feeding during the summer and also indicated the non-availability of green fodder during the same period of time. The coarse type of CGT is preferred over the fine type of CGT trash in that area due to quality perception and price. The replacement level of CGT as roughage ranged from 33 to 75% of the total roughage requirement per day. About 88% of farmers were highly satisfied with the results of using CGT and they also expressed that the presence of foreign particles and dust was the major problem with using CGT. The choice of CGT as primary roughage among sheep farmers was primarily influenced by selective farming contexts, namely, landholding, access to labour, and the feeding practices of other livestock with cotton gin. Furthermore, research needs to be focused on improving the quality of CGT in the future as it is being utilised largely by sheep farmers.

Designing wartime economic controls: Productivity and firm dynamics in the Japanese cotton spinning industry, 1937–9

AbstractIn 1937, the Japanese government accelerated the expansion of its military expenditure and began to impose controls on the economy to maintain the balance of international payments. The controls were developed through trial and error. The cotton spinning industry was one of the industries most deeply affected by these controls. Initially, the government simply reduced the allocation of foreign exchange for raw cotton imports. However, because this measure prevented the export of cotton products, especially to countries outside the yen bloc, a new scheme of control, the ‘export–import link system’, was adopted from the second half of 1938. This scheme was intentionally designed to give firms incentives to export to non‐yen bloc countries and to incorporate elements of market mechanisms into the system of economic controls. Analysing firm‐level data, we find that under the link system, firms with higher labour productivity (LP) tended to grow faster, as occurs under a market economy. This relationship was not observed during the early stage of the controls. This difference is reflected in the pattern of change in aggregate LP. Under the export–import link system, the positive reallocation effect was substantial, similar to a market economy, whereas it was almost zero under the early controls. These findings indicate that the design of controls matters for the performance of controlled economies.

Hybrid Neuro-Genetic Machine Learning Models for the Engineering of Ring-spun Cotton Yarns

ABSTRACT Yarn engineering is a long-standing problem for the cotton spinning industry as the functional relationship between fiber and yarn properties is quite complex. The objective of this research is to develop a hybrid machine learning-based prescriptive yarn engineering system that can foretell the properties of cotton fiber for achieving desired yarn properties. Artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic algorithm (GA) were used to develop the predictive model for cotton yarn properties and optimization of cotton fiber properties, respectively. Two separate ANN models were developed for predicting yarn tenacity and yarn unevenness. The functional relationships approximated by the ANN models were used to formulate the fitness function for GA. The validation of the ANN-GA system demonstrated good accuracy as cotton fiber strength, length and length uniformity were predicted with very good accuracy (mean error < 5%). The developed machine learning system can supplant the intuition-based decision making in textile spinning industry and pave the way for yarn engineering.

Product Innovation, Product Diversification, and Firm Growth: Evidence from Japan’s Early Industrialization

We explore how firms grow by adding products. We leverage detailed data from Japan’s cotton spinning industry at the turn of the last century to do so. This setting allows us to fully characterize the type of differentiation (vertical or horizontal) of new product introductions as well as whether the product is within or outside of the firm’s prior technological capabilities. We find that trying to introduce innovative products beyond the firm’s previous technologically feasible set, even if such trials fail, is a key to firm growth. Indeed, it mostly facilitates growth through the firm’s later success in horizontal product diversification. In long-term outcomes, the right tail of the firm size distribution becomes dominated by firms that first moved into technologically challenging products and then later applied their newly acquired technical competence to horizontal expansion of their product portfolios. Two mechanisms through which this knowledge transfer occurs are greater production system flexibility and higher product appeal to downstream buyers. (JEL D22, L11,L67, N65, N85, O31, O33)

In-Depth Analysis and Defect Reduction for Ethiopian Cotton Spinning Industry Based on TQM Approach

Competition is truly global. Higher product quality is required for a company to become more competitive both locally and in international markets. Any textile company basically competes on its reputation for quality, reliability, and capability of processes and costs of quality and delivery. Currently, most of textile industries in Ethiopia are suffering from quality-related problems due to high process variations. These problems include poor performance of manufacturing products in the export market, insufficient qualitative raw material supply, customer dissatisfaction, low productivity, and poor utilization of the resources. These problems led to the manufacturing of low-quality products with a high cost, and because of this, most of the Ethiopian textile companies in the country are not competitive and profitable. The main objective of this study is to examine the existing traditional models of quality and to introduce an improved and emerged quality measuring system based on a methodological approach by using six sigma total quality management tools and analyzed by STATA 14.0 software. The analytical findings show that the application of total quality management (TQM) programs, tools, and techniques has been expanded beyond the traditional quality concepts and has improved the acceptable quality level of the product by 57.96% with a low cost.

Influence of Cotton Fiber Properties on the Microstructural Characteristics of Mercerized Fibers by Regression Analysis

This study is conducted on a raw material imported from several countries for the purpose of promoting the development of the world’s cotton spinning industry. If the time for selecting the raw material as well as the quality of the cotton spinning is improved, then time and money will be saved and the spinning industry will be improved. For this study, different cotton fibers were selected from different ecological regions. The cotton fibers were processed using the mercerization process, and then they were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform IR (FTIR) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM). High-volume instrument study was conducted to evaluate the physical properties of cotton fibers, including short fiber content, tensile strength, elongation at break, Micronaire value, and upper half mean length. In addition a change in fiber strength, the degree of crystallinity, and degree of orientation of cotton fibers before and after mercerization was also examined. SEM results show that the surface of cotton fibers became smooth and shiny after the treatment. FTIR and XRD revealed that the chemical composition did not change, but the degree of crystallinity decreased and the degree of orientation of alkalized cotton fibers increased after mercerization. In the second phase of this study, a correlation analysis was made between the physical properties of cotton fibers and the microstructural properties of alkalized cotton samples. This analysis revealed that the breaking strength of cotton fibers is strongly negatively correlated with the crystallinity of cotton fibers. The higher the tensile strength, the lower the crystallinity of cotton fibers, which leads to better mechanical properties of the end product. The degree of the orientation of cotton fibers is highly correlated with a tensile strength of cotton fibers. Xinjiang-Cn, BG-Au, and BG-Tu samples exhibited relatively better physical properties. BG-Au, BG-Tu, and Pakistan samples have higher values of tensile strength and lower values of yellowness; moreover, the raw material from these samples can be preferred according to correlation analysis. Correlation analysis between physical properties reveals that the tensile strength of cotton fibers is positively correlated with the Micronaire value; however, the correlation is not strong because of the lower value of the correlation coefficient as 0.4809.

Product Innovation, Product Diversification, and Firm Growth: Evidence from Japan's Early Industrialization

We explore how firms grow by adding products. In contrast to most earlier work on the topic, our conceptual and empirical framework allows for separate treatment of product innovation (vertical differentiation) and diversification (horizontal differentiation). The market context is JapanA­s cotton spinning industry at the turn of the last century. We find that introducing innovative products outside of the previously feasible set involves removing the A¬supply-side constraintA® by investing in new types of machines and technologies. This process involves a high degree of uncertainty, however, so firms that take steps in this direction tend to first introduce innovative products on experimental basis. We show that conducting such experiments is a key to firm growth. It not only provides opportunities to capture the market in high-end vertically differentiated products when successful, but also facilitates horizontal differentiation of the firmA­s products within its previous technical capabilities. In long-term outcomes over 20 years, the right tail of the firm size distribution becomes dominated by firms that were able to expand in both directions: moving first into technologically challenging vertically differentiated products, and then later applying their newly acquired high-end technical competence to horizontal expansion of their product portfolios.

Product Innovation, Product Diversification, and Firm Growth: Evidence from Japan's Early Industrialization

We explore how firms grow by adding products. In contrast to most earlier work on the topic, our conceptual and empirical framework allows for separate treatment of product innovation (vertical differentiation) and diversification (horizontal differentiation). The market context is Japan’s cotton spinning industry at the turn of the last century. We find that introducing innovative products outside of the previously feasible set involves removing the “supply-side constraint” by investing in new types of machines and technologies. This process involves a high degree of uncertainty, however, so firms that take steps in this direction tend to first introduce innovative products on experimental basis. We show that conducting such experiments is a key to firm growth. It not only provides opportunities to capture the market in high-end vertically differentiated products when successful, but also facilitates horizontal differentiation of the firm’s products within its previous technical capabilities. In long-term outcomes over 20 years, the right tail of the firm size distribution becomes dominated by firms that were able to expand in both directions: moving first into technologically challenging vertically differentiated products, and then later applying their newly acquired high-end technical competence to horizontal expansion of their product portfolios.

Centers of gravity: The effect of stable shared leadership in top management teams on firm growth and industry evolution

AbstractResearch SummaryWe study the processes of firm growth in the evolution of the Japanese cotton spinning industry during 1883–1914 by integrating strategy and historical approaches and utilizing rich quantitative firm‐level data and detailed business histories. The resultant conceptual model highlights growth outcomes of path dependencies as firms evolve across periods of single versus shared leadership, establish stability in shared leadership, or experience repeated discord‐induced top management team (TMT) leader departures. While most firms do not experience smooth transitions to stable shared TMT leadership, a focus on value creation, in conjunction with talent recruitment and promotion, enabled some firms to achieve stable shared leadership despite discord‐induced departures, engage in long‐term expansion, and emerge as “centers of gravity” for output and talent in the industry.Managerial SummaryWe demonstrate stable shared leadership is at root of firms who emerge as centers of gravity in an industry and account for the lion's share of output. Stable shared leadership enables growth strategies such as talent recruitment, product diversification, downstream integration, and acquisitions. Stable shared leadership, however, is extremely difficult to maintain. Most firms experience discord‐induced departures in TMTs due to politics and power struggles. Firms that deviate from this norm to become industry leaders achieve stable shared leadership by adhering to fundamental principles related to long‐term value creation as opposed to short‐term gain, adoption of merit‐based promotion systems in defiance of stereotypes, sharing of power within TMT leadership to enable efficient division of labor, and honorable resolution of conflicts and ethical breaches.

Intra-Asian Competition and Collaboration against the West: The N.Y.K. Bombay Line, Tata &amp; Sons, and Indian Cotton at the End of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract The traditional and orthodox interpretation of the British Raj (colonial rule in India) characterizes it in terms of the economic exploitation of India. However, recent historical studies have focused on the revival or development of the Indian cotton industry at the turn of the twentieth century. This article pays special attention to the rapid development of the Indian cotton-spinning industry as an export industry for the Chinese market and its implications for intra-Asian competition.

Centers of Gravity: The Effect of Shared Leadership and Stability in Top Management Teams on Firm Growth and Industry Evolution

We study the processes of firm growth in the evolution of the Japanese cotton spinning industry in the late 19th-early 20th century, the first episode of successful industrialization outside of Western Europe and the United Sates. By integrating strategy and historical approaches and utilizing rich quantitative firm-level data and detailed business histories, we examine the effect of top management teams’ (TMT) shared and stable leadership in the emergence of “centers of gravity” for output and talent in the industry. Shared and stable TMT leadership enabled long term expansion, innovative product choices, and the accumulation of talent and physical assets. Additionally, a focus on value creation, in conjunction with talent recruitment and promotion enabled TMTs to weather discord related disruptions.

Development of a meta-model for the determination of technological value of cotton fiber using design of experiments and the TOPSIS method

ABSTRACTTo meet the requirements of the cotton spinning industry and achieve the best quality of ring-spun yarn, it becomes an imperative task to determine the technological values of cotton fibers. The availability of High Volume Instrument (HIV) data now makes it possible to evaluate the quality of cotton fiber with respect to some of its major physical properties. The fiber quality index (FQI), the spinning consistency index (SCI), and the multiplicative analytic hierarchy process (MAHP) are some of the popular approaches adopted by the spinning industry personnel to determine the quality values of cotton fibers. In this paper, while integrating the design of experiments (DoE) and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), a regression meta-model is developed for determining the technological value of cotton fiber with respect to the TOPSIS score. This model identifies the statistically significant fiber properties and their interactions affecting the estimated TOPSIS score while fitting a polynomial to the experimental data in multiple linear regression analysis. It is observed that the uniformity index has no importance in quality value evaluation of the cotton fiber, although its interactions with other properties are statistically significant. A validation analysis shows an excellent degree of congruence of this meta-model with the existing models for cotton fiber quality determination.

Endogeneity in panel stochastic frontier models: an application to the Japanese cotton spinning industry

ABSTRACTWe present a panel stochastic frontier model that handles the endogeneity problem. This model can treat the endogeneity of both frontier and inefficiency variables. We apply our method to examine the technical efficiency of Japanese cotton spinning industry. Our results indicate that market concentration is endogenous, and when its endogeneity is properly handled, it has a larger negative impact on the technical efficiency of cotton spinning plants. We find that the exogenous model substantially overestimates efficiency in concentrated markets.

一九二〇年代における日本綿糸紡績業の展開 : 「中間景気」の分析を展開として

一九二〇年代における日本綿糸紡績業の展開 : 「中間景気」の分析を展開として

PARALLELS AND CONTRASTS IN GENDERED HISTORIES OF INDUSTRIAL LABOUR IN BURSA AND BOMBAY 1850–1910

AbstractTextile manufacturing in India and the Ottoman Empire transformed fundamentally in the nineteenth century, when mass-produced goods imported from Europe permeated local markets. Faced with increasing competition from abroad, local producers changed their techniques, materials, designs, and target customers. At the same time, processing industries emerged in places with intense mercantile activity, introducing new meanings, relations, and patterns of work. This article investigates the role played by gender in the shaping of labour markets and class politics in two export-oriented industries that developed simultaneously: the silk-reeling industry in Bursa and the cotton-spinning industry in Bombay. It shows that the secondary economic value attributed to women's work, combined with rural connections of workers, brought down wages and subsidized capitalist profits in both sectors. Within the emerging industrial workforce, ideas about appropriate roles for women and men provided the vocabulary and constituted boundaries of class politics. Bringing gender into the debate of industrial development and class, the article reveals parallels and contrasts in two non-European settings that are rarely compared in the existing historiographies.

History and nanoeconomics in strategy and industry evolution research: Lessons from the Meiji‐Era Japanese cotton spinning industry

This paper uses nanoeconomics and historical methodology to advance strategic management research, focusing on the coevolution of firms and industry. We demonstrate the power of these methods through a study of Meiji Era Japanese cotton spinning industry from its state‐supported founding through its development into a sustained, globally competitive presence. We shed light on the role of superior human and organizational capabilities of industry leaders. In particular, we demonstrate that these helped the industry leaders to overcome deep, systematic structural factors to make a few firms highly productive and able to move the entire industry into high growth and to respond to and thrive in dynamic environments on the world stage. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Acquisitions, Productivity, and Profitability: Evidence from the Japanese Cotton Spinning Industry

We explore how changes in ownership affect the productivity and profitability of producers. Using detailed data from the Japanese cotton spinning industry at the turn of the last century, we find that acquired firms' production facilities were not on average less physically productive than the plants of the acquiring firms before acquisition. They were much less profitable, however, due to higher inventory levels and lower capacity utilization—differences that reflected problems in managing the uncertainties of demand. After acquisitions, less profitable acquired plants saw drops in inventories and gains in capacity utilization that raised both their productivity and profitability levels. (JEL D24, G32, G34, L11, L25, L66, N65)

Knowledge diffusion and industry growth: the case of Japan’s early cotton spinning industry

The diffusion of technological knowledge is key to industry growth. But not all knowledge is created equal. I use a nanoeconomic approach to examine knowledge diffusion-based growth in the Meiji-era Japanese cotton spinning industry, which enjoyed remarkable success after a decade of initial failure. By tracing sources of technological knowledge to individual engineers, I find that successful technology diffusion required the right kind of human capital embodying and transmitting knowledge, and a competitive environment that rewarded talent while weeding out incompetence

Spinning Tales about Japanese Cotton Spinning: Saxonhouse (1974) and Lessons from New Data

We revisit the story of technology adoption and diffusion in Japan's Meiji-era cotton spinning industry, the study of which was pioneered by Gary Saxonhouse (1974). Using a novel data set and modern methodology, we argue that both the ease with which the best technology diffused and the role of “slavish imitation” in this process may have been overstated. We find an important role played by market competition, including asset reallocation. Our analyses provide richer insights into the complex phenomena of technology diffusion, innovation, and economic growth.