Teaching the future

As fashion becomes faster and technology cheaper, educational institutions are tailoring their offerings to meet the needs of a new breed of CAD CAM specialists, as Belinda Smart reports.

A decade ago computer aided design or manufacturing (CAD/CAM) was a specialist skill possessed by only a few, in an industry still under the influence of the "old-fashioned" skills of creating patterns out of cardboard or paper.
How times have changed. It's not clear which came first, the technology or the speed of today's trend towards fast fashion, but what's undeniable is that the rapid turnarounds currently required in order to bring product to market in the fashion industry mean CAD CAM technology now plays a central role in most fashion companies' business.
As with all forms of technology, the increased uptake of CAD/CAM has entailed a concomitant dropping in its price over the years. Whereas ten years ago a medium sized company would have to shell out around $150,000 for state of the art technology, the cost is now a fraction of that, so there is really no reason why companies large and small cannot be across the latest technology.
By the same token, educational institutions are having to adjust their approach to teaching in order to integrate CAD CAM fully into the skills offered by their graduates.
CAD CAM is now a key skill for all fashion students whether they are considering setting up their own company or working for a large corporation, claims South Western Sydney Institute of TAFE head teacher of fashion Susan Wall.
"CAD is integrated into most of the classes we offer. The students start by honing their manual skills and then move on to CAD so that whatever we teach manually we incorporate into CAD and they are exposed to both methods."
This approach is a direct response to the market, she says.
"More and more when you read employment advertisements it's evident that the nature of jobs is changing. Our courses have to be reflective of what's going on in industry."
"Whereas it used to be a specialised field, CAD is now an integral part of business. Students are saying "I need CAD training because I need to work to tighter deadlines and be able to store the information on computer." CAD certainly makes storage simpler because it can be done according to standardised methods."
Because of the constantly changing nature of the industry, the whole approach to course design has changed, she says.
"People now want shorter courses addressing more specific skills. Fast fashion means everything changes so rapidly. We will tailor a course to last nine to 18 weeks and aim to respond to market demand fairly quickly. Educational institutions have to keep refining their offer and stay as close as possible to the market."
Adriana Dent, who lectures in fashion at Charles Darwin University in Darwin says there are no large companies in Darwin, meaning students are either setting up their own small business or moving interstate, with one graduate recently finding work as a pattern maker for high fashion designer Collette Dinnigan." Cutting edge CAD CAM skills are crucial to the employability of graduates, she says.
"Our standards have to be same level as what's available interstate."
Such anecdotal evidence points to educator's recognition of the importance of CAD CAM, a recognition validated by a recently completed industry review of the current industry training package - conducted for the most part of 2005 - which found that students were not receiving sufficient CAD CAM training.
The new scheme -- the Textile Clothing and Footwear Training Package - scheduled for endorsement mid-year and planned to roll out in time for the 2007 academic year - aims to redress that imbalance.
Coordinator, fashion studies at Victoria's Kangan Batman TAFE Mandy Penton - who is also a member of the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) reference group assessing the package - says it will contain designated units for both CAD and CAM.
It will also endeavour to give students access to a wide variety of CAD and CAM packages so that they are skill-ready and literate in most packages when they leave education.
Courses will also need to incorporate the increased flexibility of CAD CAM technology to interface with other packages including Excel, which can be used in compiling and analysing product specifications, and body scanning technology.
"The next big thing [in CAD CAM] will be the ability of the technology to understand fitting rationale - for example why the sleeve has to match armhole," she says.
This means such functions are not left to the operator but are integrated into the process, thereby enhancing accuracy and more importantly speed; and speed is certainly a buzzword in today's market.
"A major hurdle [for educators] is to put their CAD CAM courses into the true context of industry time frames and pressures and continually emphasize that to students."
Collaboration with industry is the best way of bringing education into line with industry standards and requirements, and previous projects involving leading companies such as womenswear specialist Kookai proved informative and successful, she says.
Kookai product manager Toni Stalls agrees. Kookai technicians, patternmakers and graders use CAD CAM, and increasing their speed, competency and efficiency is an ongoing endeavour, she says.
"CAD CAM has certainly improved in recent years in terms of its accessibility and user friendliness. I think its ability to interface with body morphology will play an increasingly important role in the next few years. In addition a lot of companies now use it to send patterns to China and at Kookai we certainly have the capability to do the same with our manufacturers in Fiji."
While the new package looks set to bring educators and industry closer, a wider culture of collaboration would be beneficial to the process, Penton claims.
"Many companies are time poor and are often nervous about letting out their trade secrets. We're constantly trying to convey to them that while we have no need of their trade secrets it certainly helps us devise relevant training packages if we can collaborate with them. Otherwise you end up with a situation where companies are dissatisfied because educational institutions are failing to supply adequate training, while the institutions themselves are unable to know what's required."