Any serious discussion about the changing technology in cotton classing must start with a review of the changing technology in textile manufacturing, as the two are highly related. An effective cotton classing system must provide quality information that is useful to the manufacturer. If the information is not needed by manufacturers, no real purpose is served by providing it to growers. So let's start with the needs of manufacturers.

Because of the ever increasing speed of manufacturing equipment and the additional stress it puts on the raw cotton fiber, manufacturers are now taking a more scientific approach in selecting individual bales of cotton in formulating their mixes. To accomplish this, fiber testing is being used extensively with a number of fiber properties being measured.

Because of the wide variety of textile goods produced, different spinning processes used, and other factors peculiar to each mill's operations, all manufacturers are not placing the same importance on a particular fiber property. However, there seems to be a consensus as to the six quality factors most important to processing efficiency and product quality. These quality factors were identified by manufacturers in response to a survey conducted by USDA's Economic Research Service in 1980. The survey was made of 40 manufacturing firms representing 50 percent of all domestic cotton utilization