Business Model Scenarios for Digital Textile Microfactories

Abstract

In several industries the concept of Microfactories has been developed and their potentials are still subject of research and development. Also in the Textile and Clothing Industry this concept of a digitally networked end-to-end digital design and production process finds its first realizations in different applications. Such a Digital Textile Microfactory can cover a complete value creating chain comprising all design and production steps from the customer to the ready-made product. It relies on virtual models of the process steps involved, as well as of the materials, the products, and the customers. The digital backbone allows for speed, efficiency, high quality, and deep consumer interaction leading to a great innovation potential in a wide area of applications and Business Models. They range from B2B types, where they can support and speed up the prototyping phase of product development (sampling) up to B2C settings for the innovative production of individualized products, including reordering as well as event-driven production and locally centred production. But in spite of the potential benefits of a Digital Textile Microfactory, there are still just a few realizations seen in the industry due to investment risks and uncertainty with regards to new Business Models. The goal of this paper is to explore Business Model scenarios for a Digital Textile Microfactory that uses digital textile printing as a core process. We first describe the economic characteristics of the Textile and Clothing Industry, and then the digital technology and process underlying such a Digital Textile Microfactory. Based on this description, we then explore different B2B and B2C application scenarios – developed in previous European and German research projects – and settings for related Business Models.