In the textile industry more and more emphasis is being placed on quality, cost, labor reduction due to availability, and the effect of imports.

There is no way all these areas can be addressed unless we have a better way to accurately test with reliability the quality of fibers received as well as the results of the yarns produced with these fibers.

From a cotton standpoint, we realize that the parameters or needs vary from one manufacturing plant to another because of the final product to be produced as well as the many different types of machines involved in manufacturing, dyeing, and finishing.

High volume instrument (HVI) testing is growing fast and much work is being done with the near infrared analyzer (NIR).

The high volume instrument (HVI) does an acceptable job in testing cotton fibers for trash, elongation, strength, color, fiber length, and fineness. However, fiber maturity testing is not available at this time.

The near infrared analyzer has been used to measure maturity, heat history, and blend ratios. More work is needed to be able to fully rely on some of the test results.

Because of the many different types of cotton grown and also the characteristics needed because of the many different machine s operating in the plants, it is very imperative that we have available testing equipment to give us the information needed to test cotton so that the fiber best suited for our needs can be recognized.