Episode Forty-Four: Kat Thiel
Kat Thiel, a Senior Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University's Manchester Fashion Institute, discusses agile collaborative robotic tooling for localized fashion manufacturing. She explains the shift from high-volume Asian automation to flexible micro-factories in the UK, focusing on end-of-arm tools for cutting and stitching that support small businesses. Thiel highlights the challenges of handling 'floppy' fabric and the environmental benefits of on-demand production, such as reduced waste and lower shipping emissions, through her work on reports like 'Reshoring UK Garment Manufacturing with Automation'.