Kemenperin to Assist Textile Industry in Adopting and Optimizing the Use of Technology

JAKARTA – To help boost the competitiveness of the country’s manufacturing sector, the Industry Ministry (Kementerian Perindustrian/Kemenperin) is continuing efforts to push technological adaptation measures at industries. 

Going forward, the manufacturing industry is expected to continue contributing positively to Indonesia’s economic growth. 

The Kemenperin’s Head of Standardization and Industry Service Policies Doddy Rahadi explained underlined that the industry’s implementation and use of new technologies is very important for their growth. Such implementations are also being pushed on the textiles and clothing industry. 

To weather the Covid-19 pandemic, the textile industry must prioritize the production of clothing for medical and sanitary use. This is due to the increasing public demand towards antibacterial and antiviral articles of clothing.  

Doddy explained that one of the Kemenperin’s efforts to help the industry with the demand is by developing a melt spinning laboratory at their textiles center in Bandung (BBT). Such a facility would be able to be used by local textile producers that are currently developing their own special-use yarn intended for medical purposes. 

“The development of the material will help the growth and competitiveness of the textile industry and local textile products as a whole,” Doddy said in a written statement on Friday (2/12).

‘Melt spinning’ technology enables producers to design and create special-use yarn. The technology itself is implemented within the yarn’s fibers. Fibers embedded with melt spinning technology are able to produce functional, more durable textiles compared to ones produced using chemicals. 

“We are preparing the melt spinning technology to help out the industry. We invite textile producers to make use of this technology, so that they are able to find materials that fit their products,” Doddy added. 

The implementation of melt spinning is also an effort to help the industry substitute raw material imports. 

Adding to that, the Kemenperin’s Director for the Textiles, Leather and Footwear Industries Elis Masitoh added that he appreciates any efforts to accelerate the implementation of melt spinning in the industry. 

“Our hope for the [Kemenperin’s] Bandung textiles center is that it can provide innovations for the textile industry, which enables them to further develop their products,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the Head of the Bandung BBT Wibowo Dwi Hartoto commented that the center is also prepared to help by performing standardization tests for functional-use textile products and assist producers in testing their products. The center is currently working together with the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to establish a medical facemask testing laboratory as well. 

The types of tests that can be performed at the laboratory include bacteria filtration efficiency (BFE) tests, particle filtration efficiency (PFE) tests, breathing resistance tests, synthetic blood penetration tests (or splash resistance), differential pressure tests and flammability tests. 

“This facility is established to help answer the challenges that textile producers face in creating quality and durable products, as demanded by the public during the pandemic,” he explained. 

Dwi added that the BBT Bandung’s facemask testing laboratory functions under the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), which have also been adopted by the National Standardization Body into new SNI (National Indonesian Standard) categories such as the SNI EN 149:2001+A1:2009 (N95 masks standard) and the SNI EN 14683:2019+AC:2019 (medical masks standard). There is also the SNI 8488:2018 standard (for medical masks) and the SNI 8914:2020 for cloth-based masks. 

“Through the facemask testing facility at BBT Bandung, the government is trying to ensure that Indonesian-made masks will be made according to WHO standards,” he said. 

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