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Textile Mill Products

Nature of the Industry  |  Working Conditions  |  Employment  |  Occupations in the Industry
Training and Advancement  |  Job Outlook  |  Earnings

Significant Points

• About 3 out of 5 jobs are in three States—North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
• Production workers account for more than 3 out of 5 jobs.
• Employment is expected to decline, due to technological advances and an open trading environment.
• Average earnings are low.

Nature of the Industry

A textile mill takes natural and synthetic fibers, such as cotton and polyester, and blends them to create yarn and fabric used in the production of finished products like clothing and upholstered furniture. A few products—sheets, towels, and hosiery, for example—are ready for the retail market when they leave the textile mill. Although a large share of textile products is used in the production of apparel, nontraditional uses, such as in highway construction and the manufacture of fire resistant housing panels, are growing rapidly.

Textile mills are classified by type of product or process. The major processes of textile production include yarn spinning, weaving, knitting, and tufting. Some textiles are “nonwoven” and are produced by fusing fibers with heat or bonding fibers by using a type of glue. Two or more of these processes often can be found in the same facility. For example, one mill may spin yarn and also weave it into fabric.

Weaving, finishing, yarn, and thread mills employed more than half of all workers in the industry. Workers in weaving mills use looms to transform yarns into cloth, a process that has been known for centuries. Looms weave or interlace two yarns, so they cross each other at right angles to form fabric. Although modern looms are complex, automated machinery, the principle remains the same as in ancient times.

Yarns are strands of fibers in a form ready for weaving, knitting, or otherwise intertwining to form a textile fabric. They form the basis for most textile production and commonly are made of cotton, wool, or synthetic fiber. Yarns also can be made of thin strips of plastic, paper, or metal. To produce spun yarn, natural fibers, such as cotton and wool, must first be processed to remove impurities and give products the desired texture and durability, as well as other characteristics. After this initial cleaning stage, the fibers are spun into yarn.

Knitting is another method of transforming yarn into fabric. Knitting interlocks a series of loops of one or more yarns to form familiar goods, such as sweaters. However, unlike the knitting done with hand-held needles, knitting in the textile industry is performed on automated machines. Many consumer items, such as socks, panty hose, and underwear, are produced from knitted fabric. Knitting mills account for one-fourth of employment in the industry.

Tufting, used by carpeting and rug mills, is a process by which a cluster of soft yarns is drawn through a backing fabric. These yarns project from the backing’s surface in the form of cut yarns or loops to form the familiar texture of many carpets and rugs. Tufting mills employ about 12 percent of textile workers.

Finally, nonwoven textile products are produced by fusing fibers or bonding fibers with a cementing medium or heat. A familiar example of a nonwoven fabric is felt. This segment of the industry is among the fastest growing, because of the medical and sanitary uses for its products.

Regardless of the process used, mills in the textile industry are rapidly modernizing, as new investments in automation and information technology have been made necessary by growing domestic and international competition. Firms also have responded to competition by developing new products and services. For example, some manufacturers are producing textiles developed from fibers made from recycled materials. These innovations have had a wide effect across the industry. Advanced machinery is boosting productivity levels in textiles, costing some workers their jobs, while fundamentally changing the nature of work for others. New technology also has led to broad and increasingly technical training for workers throughout the industry.

The emphasis in the industry continues to shift from mass production to flexible manufacturing, as textile mills aim to supply customized markets. Firms are concentrating on systems that allow small quantities to be produced with minimum leadtime. This flexibility brings consumer goods to retailers significantly faster than before. Information technology allows the retail industry to rapidly assess its needs and communicate them back through the apparel manufacturer to textile firms.

Working Conditions

Working conditions vary greatly. Production workers, including front-line managers and supervisors, spend most of their shift on or near the production floor. Some factories are noisy and can have airborne fibers and odors; but most modern textile facilities are relatively clean, well lit, and ventilated. 

In 1999, work-related injuries and illnesses in the textile mill products industry averaged 6.4 per 100 full-time workers, compared with 9.2 percent for all manufacturing and 6.3 percent for the entire private sector. This record has been achieved in part by requiring, when appropriate, the use of protective shoes, clothing, facemasks, and earplugs. Also, new machinery is designed with additional protection, such as noise shields. Still, many workers in production occupations must stand for long periods while bending over machinery, and noise and dust still are a problem in some plants. Some workers are occasionally exposed to the fumes and odors of coolants and lubricants used in machines. Quality control inspectors may endure some stress on the job because of tensions resulting when they inspect for problems. 

Because many mills run 24 hours a day, production workers may work evenings and weekends. Many operators work on rotating schedules, which can cause sleep disorders and other stress from constant changes in work hours. Production workers in textile mills averaged 4.3 overtime hours per week in 2000. Overtime is common for these workers during periods of peak production. Managerial and administrative support personnel typically work a 5-day, 40-hour week in an office setting, although some of these employees also may significant overtime. 

Employment

Most of the 529,000 wage and salary workers employed in textile mills in 2000 were found in southeastern States. North Carolina accounted for about 27 percent of textile jobs. South Carolina and Georgia combined to provide employment for another 32 percent of the workers in this industry. The remaining jobs primarily were found in other areas of the South, California, and the Northeast. 

Most textile production is concentrated in large mills. In fact, establishments employing more than 250 persons accounted for almost 60 percent of all textile workers (chart). 

Occupations in the Industry

The textile industry offers employment opportunities in a variety of occupations, but production occupations accounted for almost 65 percent of all jobs. Some of these production occupations are unique to the industry. (See table 1.) Additional opportunities also exist in material-moving, administrative support, maintenance, repair, management, and professional occupations. The industry also employs a small number of workers in service and sales occupations.

Many workers enter the textile industry as machine setters and operators, the largest occupational group in the industry. They are responsible for setting each machine and monitoring its operation. Usually, operators work with one type of less complex machine, but they can advance to jobs operating more sophisticated machinery or several machines simultaneously. They often specialize in a particular type of machine. For example, experienced operators may work with machinery that processes raw cotton, spins fibers into thread, or weaves fabric. Additionally, they must diagnose problems when the machinery stops and restart it as soon as possible, to reduce costly machine idle time. Traditionally, operators tended a small number of machines; however, as production processes have become more automated, the number of machines each operator monitors has increased. Team assemblers perform all of the assembly tasks assigned to their teams, rotating through the different tasks, rather than specializing in a single task. They also may decide how the work is to be assigned and how different tasks are to be performed. 

Skilled production occupations also include inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers, who use precision measuring instruments and complex testing equipment to detect product defects, wear, or deviations from specifications. Among installation, maintenance, and repair occupations, industrial machinery mechanics account for about 3 percent of industry employment. 

Plant workers who do not operate or maintain equipment mostly perform a variety of other material-moving tasks. Some drive industrial trucks or tractors to move materials around the plant, load and unload trucks and railroad cars, or package products and materials by hand. 

Engineers and engineering technicians, although a vital part of the textile industry, account for less than 1 percent of employment in the industry. Some engineers are textile engineers, who specialize in the design of textile machinery, the study of fibers, and textile production. The industry also employs other types of engineers, particularly industrial and mechanical engineers.

Training & Advancement

Extensive on-the-job training has become an integral part of working in today’s textile mills. This training may be provided by experienced workers at the firm or by outside contractors and vendors. Technical training is designed to help workers understand complex, automated machinery, recognize problems, and restart machinery when the problem is solved. Installation, maintenance, and repair workers, such as industrial machinery mechanics, also require extensive training, often through a combination of classroom and apprenticeship programs. Training may help experienced workers advance to supervisory positions.

Increasingly, training is offered to enable people to work well in a team-oriented environment. Many firms have established training centers or hosted seminars that encourage employee self-direction and responsibility and the development of interpersonal skills. Because of the emphasis on teamwork and the small number of management levels in modern textile mills, firms place a premium on workers who show initiative and communicate effectively.

Engineering applicants generally need a bachelor’s or advanced degree in a field of engineering or production management. Degrees in mechanical or industrial engineering are common, but concentrations in textile-specific areas of engineering are especially useful. For example, many applicants take classes in textile engineering, textile technology, textile materials, and design. These specialized programs usually are found in engineering and design schools in the South and Northeast. As in other industries, a technical degree with an advanced degree in business can lead to opportunities in management.
 

Table 1. Employment of wage and salary workers in textile mill products by occupation, 2000 and projected change, 2000-10 (Employment in thousands)
Occupation	Employment, 2000		Percent change, 2000-10
	Number	Percent
All occupations	528	100.0	-5.4
Management, business, and financial occupations	27	5.2	-4.8
General and operations managers	5	1.0	-6.8
Industrial production managers	5	0.9	-9.2
Professional and related occupations	11	2.1	-1.2
Engineers and engineering technicians	4	0.7	-9.8
Service occupations	6	1.1	-5.1
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners	4	0.8	-2.8
Sales and related occupations	6	1.1	-4.3
Office and administrative support occupations	43	8.2	-9.7
Customer service representatives	4	0.7	0.3
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	5	0.9	-3.7
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	7	1.4	-10.0
Stock clerks and order fillers	4	0.8	-2.0
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	40	7.6	-7.8
Industrial machinery mechanics	14	2.6	-3.7
Maintenance and repair workers, general	13	2.4	-12.4
Maintenance workers, machinery	6	1.0	-12.2
Production occupations	341	64.6	-4.4
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers	20	3.7	-12.0
Team assemblers	7	1.3	-8.6
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	15	2.9	18.4
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	7	1.3	-3.8
Sewing machine operators	27	5.0	-12.4
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	27	5.1	-3.1
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	8	1.6	-11.6
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	11.3	-2.1
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	73	13.8	-4.4
All other textile, apparel, and furnishings workers	32	6.0	6.1
Helpers--Production workers	10	1.9	-11.8
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	20	3.8	-22.2
All other production workers	6	1.2	-8.5
Transportation and material moving occupations	50	9.6	-8.6
Industrial truck and tractor operators	10	1.8	-7.0
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	15	2.9	-11.0
Machine feeders and offbearers	8	1.6	-19.7
Packers and packagers, hand	11	2.1	-1.1
NOTE: May not add to totals due to omission of occupations with small employment.

Job Outlook

Wage and salary employment in the textile mill products industry is expected to decline by about 5 percent through 2010, compared with an increase of 16 percent for all industries combined. Employment decreases will result from increasing worker productivity, international trade, and the decline of the textile industry’s primary buyer—the American apparel industry. Despite the expected overall employment decline, some occupations within the industry—such as extruding machine operators—will show some growth because these occupations are not highly automated. Nevertheless, most job openings will arise as experienced workers transfer to other industries, retire, or leave the workforce for other reasons. 

Textiles manufacturing has evolved into a high-tech industry, keeping pace with scientific advancements in chemistry, engineering, and materials science. In order to remain competitive, industry professionals and research organizations continue to look for ways to produce goods of high quality while increasing productivity. For example, biotechnology research is expected to lead to new sources of fibers and improved varieties of existing fibers, and continuing improvements in machinery will allow faster production. These technologies and engineering advancements, along with the application of computers to various processes in textile production, will be implemented at a growing rate in coming years, as textile mills merge to consolidate capital and make their operations as efficient as possible. As this happens, demand for textile machine operators and material handlers will continue to dcline. 

Jobs also will be affected by the relatively open trading environment, resulting from ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing of the World Trade Organization. These agreements will open additional markets to textiles made in the United States, but they will also expose U.S. textile producers to increasing competition from abroad. Some segments of the textile industry, like industrial fabrics, carpets, and specialty yarns, are highly automated, innovative, and competitive on a global scale, so they will be able to expand exports as a result of more open trade. Other sectors, such as fabric for apparel, will be negatively impacted, as a number of textile and apparel manufacturers relocate production to other countries. On balance, textile mills are likely to lose employment as a result of this open trade because of its effect on the American apparel industry. The expected increase in apparel imports and the decline in apparel production will adversely affect demand for domestically produced textiles.  

Earnings

Source: Career Guide to Industries, Bureau of Labor Statistics

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