The textile and clothing industry in the United States is growing again-英语听力

[00:00.000]From VOA Learning English, [00:01.900]this is the Technology Report. [00:05.680]The textile and clothing industry in the United States [00:10.360]is growing again after many years of decline. [00:14.640]Many of the factories are competing against factories [00:19.960]that pay low wages in countries like China. [00:24.190]VOA visited the southern state of North Carolina. [00:29.220]The textile industry there was once [00:33.250]one of the most important businesses in the state. [00:37.430]It has reinvented itself using technology [00:41.410]and employing fewer people than before. [00:46.390]Robots do most of the work [00:49.140]at the National Spinning Company factory [00:52.070]in Burlington, North Carolina. [00:54.560]The factory dyes more than 110,000 kilograms of yarn [01:00.530]every week in many different colors. [01:04.410]The yarn is sent to clothing and furniture makers [01:08.990]both in the U.S. and around the world. [01:13.770]Michael Hankensen is one of only two workers [01:17.600]who take care of the dye producing machines. [01:21.580]"As you see, most of this is extremely heavy, [01:24.370]cumbersome, and trying to move it around [01:27.060]in the order that these robots do it, [01:28.700]it would take an army of men [01:32.030]to accomplish what these robots do," said Hankensen. [01:35.270]Technology is helping the company [01:38.010]compete with factories in other countries [01:40.990]that pay workers only a few dollars a day. [01:44.670]The National Spinning Company factory pays [01:48.510]its 100 employees between $10 and $20 an hour. [01:54.880]Ed Atkins manages the factory. [01:59.010]He says it is important for the company to limit labor costs, [02:05.080]but he says, it must also make high quality products, [02:10.660]and he says, the company must provide good customer service [02:16.480]to compete in the international market place. [02:20.330]"We've diversified ourselves, looked for markets [02:22.860]that depended on the quick response [02:25.700]that you can provide from American-made products, [02:28.040]little niche markets. [02:30.230]I mean we don't try to compete [02:31.820]in the generic cotton business or anything like that, [02:34.760]because it's not where our strengths are," said Atkins. [02:37.050]Deborah Wince-Smith is the president of the Council on Competitiveness, [02:42.770]she says the textile industry must continue to develop technology. [02:49.790]"Companies and enterprises are really bringing [02:52.330]their core activities to where they have a skilled workforce, [02:55.410]where they have innovation talent [02:57.500]and where they're actually able [02:59.440]to develop the next generation of innovation [03:01.880]that drives manufacturing," said Wince-Smith. [03:03.820]The textile industry has built 23 factories [03:08.200]in the last three years, [03:10.340]it has also increased its exports by 30 percent. [03:15.370]To the surprise of many, [03:18.400]the American textile industry is showing new signs of life. [03:23.680]And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.