VDMA members to focus on automation and digitalisation at Techtextil 2024

VDMA member companies are ready to support the transformation of the textile industry.

Techtextil, taking place end of April in Frankfurt, will see a strong participation of VDMA member companies. More than 50 members will be presenting smart technologies for technical textiles in various application areas, seven of them at the VDMA group stand. A focus of the exhibitors will be on automation and digitalisation.

VDMA member companies are ready to support the transformation of the textile industry. This means the offer of innovative, highly efficient and resource saving production technologies and the provision of cutting-edge machines and equipment for recycling. In both cases, digitalisation is a means to improve both efficiency of the process and quality of the products. Automation and digital tools are also an answer to the increasing shortage of qualified personnel. With the help of digital systems, textile producers can optimise and automate their production processes and thus achieve a high level of process reliability and transparency. Automation and digitalisation of textile machines have already been developed and offered to market maturity.

Digitisation will only work in close cooperation between machinery builders and textile producers. In this respect, VDMA has organised a panel discussion that will take place at the VDMA group stand (12.0, C55) on April 24, 2:30 – 4 pm. The topic of the event is “Product passport – impact on the industry”. The regulatory process for the digital product passport for textiles continues to gather pace. As things stand, clothing manufacturers in all European countries are expected to require a Digital Product Passport (DPP) from mid-2027.

To discuss the impact of the digital product passport on textile machinery manufacturing and the apparel industry, VDMA has invited industry representatives and will welcome Andreas Schneider from Global Textile Scheme (GTS), who played a key role in the development of the DPP in the current CIRPASS project, launched by the EU Commission.

The VDMA group stand will also be a platform for junior engineers. On April 25, 4 – 5 pm the Chairman of VDMA’s young talent foundation (Walter Reiners Foundation), Peter D Dornier, will award six young engineers with the Foundation’s promotion and sustainability prizes. The prizes will be awarded in the categories bachelor’s thesis and diploma/master’s degree.

VDMA is looking forward to welcoming numerous visitors to the events.