Textile finishers use their specialist skills to apply finishes to textile products, taking into account work safety, environmental protection, quality and economic efficiency considerations. They are proficient in the preparation and disposal of finishing agents and in carrying out all the work involved in finishing, including setting up and adjusting plant and machinery, assessing the effects of the applied finish and rectifying faults and their causes. Raw textiles do not become usable until the appropriate finishing process has been selected and correctly applied, i.e. after they have been washed, bleached, dyed, printed, softened, waterproofed, mothproofed, given an easycare finish, etc. Specialists in the textile finishing industry work in the dressing, coating, pririting and dyeing divisions of textile production operations.
Textile finishers process technical documents and instructions, assess completed work and initiate necessary quality assurance measures. Their training enables them to assume responsibility for the tasks in their area of expertise and to work together with other operational divisions within the company. Textile finishers use the following skills acquired during their vocational training:
- identifying different textiles, yarns and surface structures according to their inherent properties and behaviour characteristics during the finishing process;
- handling process and control systems, operational data collection and evaluation systems and electronically-controlled units on plant and machinery;
- carrying out and evaluating optical measurements;
- producing formulae, making up and replenishing finishing agents;
- selecting finishing processes to achieve different surface finishes;
- setting up and adjusting textile finishing plant and machinery and their parameters in one of the production areas of dressing, coating, printing and dyeing;
- monitoring workflows and rectifying mechanical and material-related faults and their causes;
- assessing surface finish effects and initiating necessary quality assurance measures;
- collecting and evaluating technical data on machine parameters, workflows and completed work.
