TEXTILE VALUE CHAIN took an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW of Rashmi Thakur, Assistant Professor, NIFT, Mumbai.
Dr. Rashmi Thakur, has been a faculty member at NIFT since September 2014. She is an academician and a researcher with a Doctorate in Textile Technology from IIT Delhi in the area of – Elecret Fibrous Filter and comes with an experience of over 11 years in academics. She specialises in product development in the area of High performance Textiles, Smart wearables, process optimisation and relevant statistical analysis. She has recently fallen for honing herself with skills related to Machine learning, and IoT to come up with Smart Products & Processes. Dr. Rashmi is also part of the research team at NIFT for developing I4.0 based solutions for Textile and Apparel manufacturers. She has co-authored several peer reviewed publications and presented several papers in National and International conferences. She has been invited to various forums as an expert in the field of Technical Textiles. She has travelled for International exposure in the area of E-textile manufacturing set-up and research labs. Presently, she is Chief Operating Officer for Smart Wearable Systems Incubator, under NIFT Foundation for Design Innovation which aims at incubating business ideas in the field of textile based Smart Wearable.
Tell us about your educational qualifications. What motivated you to complete your studies till PhD? And why did you choose this stream?
I have spent the initial 22 years of my life in the region of Western Odisha popular as an Industrial belt, rich in mineral resources and further under the strong influence of my Dad- my role model who is a Mechanical Engineer. This was sufficient enough to be motivated for opting an Engineering career. I am an Engineering Graduate of 2002-2006. After the 9/11 attack in 2001, demand for Computer Science dipped all time low (I believe) and if not CS my next choice was any other core engineering stream. I actually wanted to take up Mechanical (copying my Dad) but then dad felt an under 40 kg weighing tiny little girl might not be tough enough to handle tough materials but something light and flexible as Textiles. 10 minutes before my turn to select a Mechanical Engg. seat , during counselling, at a Govt. engineering college of Odisha, I myself got convinced enough to choose Textiles over Mechanical. This is how Textile Engineering happened. Almost after 1.5 years of teaching career, after my M.Tech., I was sure to be pursuing it further with an addition of a Research component in it. I was clear to pursue it full-time and only in the field of Technical Textiles as it was a new upcoming area of interdisciplinary research. At that point (2010) not many other IITs were exploring it, hence IITD was the target and I got a chance. That was it…
As a part of being an academician, research is an integral part. How do you develop a research temperament or what motivates you to carry out research in your labs?
4 years of Doctoral study and residential stay atIITD campus is one of the major factors which has helped me develop SciTech research temperament. Further, being involved in discussions related to allied research topics taken up by fellow researchers during my PhD also inculcated a habit of not being working in silo but connecting with all for intellectual discussions which enlightens mind and helps you keep your research horizon wider. Lately, I have realised NIFT gives you sufficient flexibility, if you deliver and prove your worth in research. You need to be self-motivated, and I look forward to steering it further and more. Presently, I have fallen for carrying research which is Industry-relevant. and develop solutions for industrial problems. When I discuss these primary research findings during classroom teaching, I observe the sparkling eyes of my students, I see them getting engrossed while I narrate. I try picking up examples of research which I have undertaken or guided, rather than narrating others’ to them. I have found them getting motivated and have received tangible outputs in terms of students’ deliverance. But, I can’t be repeating the same chapters of my Research story every year, so I need to keep adding new chapters to them…. For that I need to continue Research. That’s how I stay motivated…
- Would you like to share some interesting incidents/ instances that happened with you while working as a consultant to different industries or while teaching a batch of students…
There are many such, but I will share the recent one. I have been handling a subject related to Smart Textiles with the Knitwear Design student at NIFT Mumbai since 2021. Initially, I was sceptical about keeping these creative minds engaged and soul motivated with such a technical subject. But after my first batch of students, two of them approached me for their final year design collection (DC) to add some elements from this subject. One of them took up my suggestion and included it in her DC. She received accolades for her DC and made sure to display her DC to me during the Graduation Show. We are still in touch and she keeps updating me for any success coming her way. We teachers cherish and consider these instances as our work rewards.
How do you teach/ inform your students about the latest developments in the industry and make them ready for working in the industry?
Anything new which I come across, I make it a point to share with the students. If the batch is more receptive & motivated, I email them contents for them to read and later discuss in class. If not I convert it to assignments, so that they have double fold motivation- Marks and chance to explore something new. This way they learn and sometimes explore over and beyond.
How do you think the pandemic has affected the education system? Tell us both the pros and cons
I don’t see any con, rather pros as both teacher and students evolved during this process. Subjects, which had theoretical inputs, could be handled through case study discussion and break out rooms over online meeting platforms. Even for practical ones it could be managed. Students being at home and sharing videos of their work or screen recording of their coding process for subjects like Data Analytics and IoT, was a different experience for me and them. I agree a few subjects requiring different machine and material handling experience suffered for the batches who were house arrested during lockdown. But, I believe in the era of MOOCS and other platforms the course may be developed as AR/VR enabled. There are such courses offered by few Universities already. But yes still a long way to go and we should not wait for another Pandemic to hit, but start working out on it by developing Modules for subjects with virtual experience.
How do you think can textile engineers work in the area of textile designing?
Designing is often misunderstood and comprehended as a sense of paying attention to aesthetics, visual appeal, and physiological comfort. Designing is also about paying attention to functionality of the product. For example, for designing an N95 respirator to filter out viruses of size range 0.01-0.03 micrometre, an engineer can work on modelling, simulating the structure and predicting the performance of this filter media before it is developed. They can help in working out the process parameters to achieve the required structural properties. e.g fibre type, average fibre diameter, basis weight, pore size distribution, process of fabric conversion, etc. This is ALSO DESIGNING…. where knowledge of Textile Engineering, Fluid Dynamics and Simulation will be required.
As an academician, do you think interdisciplinary studies help students who have studied textile and apparel?
YES! A big YES! I always give the reference of Ex-Director of IIT Delhi, Shri Ramgopal’s ideology, and can’t agree more with him that we can’t confine developing our knowledge in “I” format, it should be “T” format. In Depth knowledge in one area (represented by vertical line of “T”) and overall understanding of complementing disciplines (represented by horizontal line of “T”).
What are some novel applications of e-textiles? (For ex: smart clothing, textile based sensors for medical purposes etc).
E-textile is gradually penetrating the Smart Wearables market owing to its ability to offer flexible, lightweight and next to skin solutions. The health care and wellness sector has many E-textile based products coming up which have textile sensors in it for capturing body vitals and other matrices. The next level of E-textiles would be the self powered Smart wearables where they will be used as energy harvesters. They could be piezoelectric based or Tribooelectic based. I have written a few brief articles for Apparel Resources on this and readers can refer for further awareness.
How can the technical textiles and Nonwovens segment be developed in India? Tell us about some state of the art innovations that have been developed in India.
The Ministry of Textiles is extending support through several schemes to develop the infrastructure and strengthen the complete supply chain related to the Technical Textiles Sector since long, through the National Technical Textile Mission. And in Technical Textiles, Nonwovens have a major role to contribute for its product. Indian nonwoven manufacturers have plenty of needlepunch, spunbond, and spunlace lines. However, prior to COVID little importance was realised for the need to develop the Meltblown nonwovens segment. In 2010, I had to import meltblown samples from a research Lab in the USA for my PhD study, as none of the facilities in India had a Meltblown line. They did offer me an SMS/ SM structure (Meltblown reinforced on Spunbond but not Meltblown alone). The scarcity of the Meltblown (MB) line still exists. Establishing this facility requires huge capital and a long ROI time. However, any product created out of a Meltblown media is always of high value owing to its crucial role in separation and purification functions. I got to know during COVID few companies have set-up MB lines, however I can not comment on the quality aspect. The MB line requires very stringent process parameters owing to variability in the media which otherwise is observed in the fabric. I hope the Indian Nonwoven Industry pivots their production to these high value/ crucial sectors.
What advice would you give to startups that are based/working on textile technology?
Textile Technology is quite varied in itself, so I can not elaborate it in a few lines. However, I would not miss conveying it, they should be aware of numerous schemes, funds, grants, specially designed and launched by the Government of India not only by the Ministry of Textiles but also by other Ministries like, Ministry of Agriculture; Commerce and Industry; MSME; Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises; Labour and Employment; etc. They should be aware of it and attempt applying for it after paying due diligence to their eligibility and relevance for the funding .
Secondly, they need to be open to collaborating with Academic/ Research Institutes which already have established infrastructure for research and availability of knowledge and human resources through its faculty and students.
