Stylish and Profitable: St. Petersburg Researchers Develop Software to Automate Garment Production
Researchers at St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design have developed software that will make it much easier for garment factories and small businesses to bring new products into production. The software will help them avoid the expense of costly licenses for industrial digital solutions, as well as the staff training needed to use those systems.
As university representatives explained, when a new product is prepared for production, the software automatically calculates labor requirements, production-line capacity, and processing costs. It eliminates the need for specialists to spend hours entering data and running calculations in spreadsheets. Ultimately, that could make producing attractive, high-quality clothing more profitable. The software has already been patented.
No Operator Input Required
The software is expected to be in high demand. Before a new product can go into production at a light-industry facility, specialists typically have to calculate several different metrics. At small and midsize businesses, these calculations are still usually done by hand or in spreadsheets. That takes up valuable staff time and can lead to errors, which in turn can cause production downtime and financial losses. The new software developed by researchers in St. Petersburg takes a different approach: it creates a unified digital workspace where reference and regulatory data provide the foundation for all calculations.
According to the developers, users can select a production organization model, either sequential assortment-based or cyclical. The software then uses information about the workforce, product range, and production batches to automatically calculate key metrics, including production-line capacity, output, and processing costs. A major advantage is that even production engineers without specialized computer training can use it.
The software developed at St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design will help sewing workshops and small manufacturers spend less time on production planning, avoid errors caused by manual calculations, and prevent losses from production downtime when problems arise. It could also be used to teach students how to design production flows.
Innovation Drives Growth
Russia's light-industry sector has strong growth prospects. According to a forecast by the Ministry of Economic Development, production across the sector is expected to increase by more than 20% in 2027 compared with 2023. Textile manufacturing alone is projected to grow by 21.7%. Experts say the industry's development will depend on expanding the domestic raw-material base, upgrading equipment, finding new suppliers and technologies, and, above all, adopting digital tools for design and modeling. These tools can improve product quality, boost productivity, and cut costs.
The software developed by the St. Petersburg researchers could put digital tools within reach of garment manufacturers that cannot afford expensive industrial software and employee training. It could be especially valuable to small production facilities with limited budgets for IT infrastructure and automation.
Software Built for a Specific Industrial Sector
Experts say automation can speed up fabric cutting, pattern printing, and quality control while significantly reducing defects and the financial losses they cause. If the new software is successfully implemented, it could take over routine tasks now handled by production engineers. Managers, in turn, would be able to assess and use production capacity more quickly and calculate product costs more efficiently.
For Russian industry, the software could become a practical tool for improving efficiency and competitiveness. For the IT sector, it could also provide an incentive to develop software tailored to specific industrial segments rather than relying on expensive, all-purpose platforms. The program currently handles the specific needs of Russia's garment industry. With adaptation to international manufacturing standards, however, it could eventually become an export product for the global market.
