Study on Impact of CAD/ CAM Tools on Production of Punched Cards by Indian Silk Saree Designers for Handloom Industry

AbstractThis report an overview on the use of CAD/CAM in Indian textile industry and their impact specific to silk saree designers. Jacquard mechanism is used to create design on silk sarees by means of shed formation. The jacquard machine has been using chain of punched cards laced together in sequence in silk saree weaving, since its invention in 1801 to till date. The punched cards which carry the design of the saree has been prepared manually and controlled manually till date by Indian silk saree designers. Recently a new system has been emerged in Indian market to completely mechanize the entire process of silk weaving. The design for silk sarees can be generated using a CAD system and later design generated may be directly machined on punched cards by means of CAM and finally the entire cards be joined together in sequence using a lacing machine. These cards are then used to operate Jacquard machine. The effectiveness of this newly implemented CAD/CAM system in production of punched cards and without CAD/CAM is studied