[00:00.000]From VOA Learning English,
[00:01.900]this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.680]The textile and clothing industry in the United States
[00:10.360]is growing again after many years of decline.
[00:14.640]Many of the factories are competing against factories
[00:19.960]that pay low wages in countries like China.
[00:24.190]VOA visited the southern state of North Carolina.
[00:29.220]The textile industry there was once
[00:33.250]one of the most important businesses in the state.
[00:37.430]It has reinvented itself using technology
[00:41.410]and employing fewer people than before.
[00:46.390]Robots do most of the work
[00:49.140]at the National Spinning Company factory
[00:52.070]in Burlington, North Carolina.
[00:54.560]The factory dyes more than 110,000 kilograms of yarn
[01:00.530]every week in many different colors.
[01:04.410]The yarn is sent to clothing and furniture makers
[01:08.990]both in the U.S. and around the world.
[01:13.770]Michael Hankensen is one of only two workers
[01:17.600]who take care of the dye producing machines.
[01:21.580]"As you see, most of this is extremely heavy,
[01:24.370]cumbersome, and trying to move it around
[01:27.060]in the order that these robots do it,
[01:28.700]it would take an army of men
[01:32.030]to accomplish what these robots do," said Hankensen.
[01:35.270]Technology is helping the company
[01:38.010]compete with factories in other countries
[01:40.990]that pay workers only a few dollars a day.
[01:44.670]The National Spinning Company factory pays
[01:48.510]its 100 employees between $10 and $20 an hour.
[01:54.880]Ed Atkins manages the factory.
[01:59.010]He says it is important for the company to limit labor costs,
[02:05.080]but he says, it must also make high quality products,
[02:10.660]and he says, the company must provide good customer service
[02:16.480]to compete in the international market place.
[02:20.330]"We've diversified ourselves, looked for markets
[02:22.860]that depended on the quick response
[02:25.700]that you can provide from American-made products,
[02:28.040]little niche markets.
[02:30.230]I mean we don't try to compete
[02:31.820]in the generic cotton business or anything like that,
[02:34.760]because it's not where our strengths are," said Atkins.
[02:37.050]Deborah Wince-Smith is the president of the Council on Competitiveness,
[02:42.770]she says the textile industry must continue to develop technology.
[02:49.790]"Companies and enterprises are really bringing
[02:52.330]their core activities to where they have a skilled workforce,
[02:55.410]where they have innovation talent
[02:57.500]and where they're actually able
[02:59.440]to develop the next generation of innovation
[03:01.880]that drives manufacturing," said Wince-Smith.
[03:03.820]The textile industry has built 23 factories
[03:08.200]in the last three years,
[03:10.340]it has also increased its exports by 30 percent.
[03:15.370]To the surprise of many,
[03:18.400]the American textile industry is showing new signs of life.
[03:23.680]And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.