29th Meeting of the Task Force on CSITC
Sunday, 1 December 2018
Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
The Task Force on Commercial Standardization of Instrument Testing of Cotton (CSITC) conducted its 29th meeting on Sunday 1st December 2018 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire during the 77th Plenary Meeting of the ICAC.
Members Present:
Andrew MacDonald (CSITC Task Force Chair) ABRAPA – National Brazilian Cotton Association
(Brazil)
Axel Drieling – Faserinstitut Bremen
Peter Wakefield – Wakefield Inspection Services
Iwona Frydrych – Technical University of Lodz
Jean-Paul Gourlot – Cirad Persyst, Ltc
Fatih Dogan – AKIB Ari-Tarim
Mohamed Negm – Cotton Research Institute
Suzan Hussini Sanad – Cotton Research Institute
Observers:
Terry Townsend – Cotton Analytics
Jerzy Kotwas – Gdynia Cotton Association
Robert Wakefield – Wakefield Inspection Services
Temyaki Hayashi – JCTA
Bruno Bachelier – CIRAD
Greg Holt = USDA-ARS
Alli Rani Padmanasan – CCI-India
Steven Chen – Tah Tong Textile Co. Ltd.
Avita Mascarenhas – CJ ICM FZCO
Secretariat:
Kai Hughes – ICAC
Yana Pomerants – ICAC
Mike McCue – ICAC
Approval of the Minutes 28th Meeting in Bremen, Germany 2018
The Task Force approved the minutes from 28th Meeting in Bremen, Germany in March 2018.
Adoption of the Agenda
Agenda for the 29th Meeting of the Task Force on CSITC was adopted.
Update on latest Round Trial Results and Comparisons.
Mr Axel Drieling gave a presentation titled ‘CSITC Task Force Contributions’. He reported on the status of the CSITC participation in the current year. Participation dropped slightly in 2018.
Mr Drieling explained the ‘Evaluation of Combined Properties’. The deviation between the laboratories, which is directly related to the Evaluation of Combined Properties, has been steadily going down from 0.5 in 2007 to a current figure of 0.35-0.40 which represented the best results the program had ever had. The variation in results between laboratories had also been going down especially in Micronaire, Strength, Length, Colour Rd, and Colour +b. Trash count was one of the new parameters that had been evaluated. Variation of the trash count results between laboratories had also decreased from 50% to 30% between 2012 and 2018. Mr Drieling noted that it was still a large deviation but noted that it was a step in the right direction. Trash Area variation had gone down from 33% to 25%. Mr Drieling said that he thought that it was a good idea to include trash measurements in these trials. There had also been a big improvement in the Maturity variation. In case of the Short Fibre Index (SFI) variation, there had not been as much improvement, but still down from 15% to 10% from 2012 to 2014. From 2014 on, no improvement can be seen anymore.
Mr Terry Townsend asked a question regarding the Trash Area measurements asking what the differences were between measuring trash area with the instrument compared to hand classing. The Task Force was informed that for leaf, the manual classing, was related to HVI trash area, as there is a table converting trash area to leaf grade.
Dr Iwona Frydrych asked what the benefit of participation in the CSITC Round Trials was. Mr Peter Wakefield responded that some of WIS labs had been participating in the CSITC Round Trials and some hadn’t. Also, some WIS labs were accredited by ICA Bremen and that the ones that were both participating in the CSITC Round Trials and were accredited by ICA Bremen had obtained more business.
James Knowlton gave a presentation on other parameters that were measured in the Round Trials. He reported that when measuring trash area there had been an improvement from 2015 to 2018 since the average deviation had been decreasing. He also presented the ten best performing laboratories in this parameter. In terms of the trash particle count, there had also been improvement in the average deviation from 2015 to 2018. In the Short Fibre Index (SFI), there hadn’t been an improvement and the average deviation had slightly increased from previous years. Mr Knowlton noted that in previous years, there was some improvement noticed when calibration cotton was introduced.
Mr Knowlton reported how the trash area measurements compared between different instruments and that it was found that the HVI machines performed better in this parameter than other instruments. ART and Spectrum instruments performed at the lowest level. Similarly, in the trash particle count, HVI instruments performed better compared to other instruments and ART and Spectrum were at the lowest level. In the Short Fibre Index (SFI), however, ART instruments performed better than others, including HVI.
The CHAIR thanked James Knowlton for his presentation.
Review cost of the program and consider increases in price for samples and update of program to increase participation of laboratories, Uster’s collaboration.
Mr Kai Hughes gave an update on the collaboration between CSITC and Uster. Under the agreement, Uster had agreed to pay for CSITC Round Trials for two years when a new Uster HVI instrument was purchased by a laboratory. In addition, Uster would pay for CSITC Round Trials for one year for any existing Uster HVI machine in India. Mr Hughes added that in order to secure this agreement, ICAC had paid former CEO of Uster, Mr Hossein Ghorashi close to $20,000 for his consulting services. In order to cover these additional costs incurred, it was suggested to raise the price per CSITC sample from $260 per sample to $275 per sample. It was calculated that in three years, ICAC would be able to reclaim the money that it had spent assuming the current level of participants in the Round Trial. After some discussion, the increase in the price per sample to $275 was approved by the Task Force.
The Task Force then discussed the different kinds of laboratories that use CSITC Round Trials. Mr Drieling reported that out of 127 laboratories, 55 were production/classing/cotton association laboratories, 17 were control laboratories, 8 were instrument manufacturers, 10 were spinning/processing, 12 were research and the others were not identified.
The Task Force was informed that the ICAC Secretariat had created a promotional brochure of CSITC Round Trials for spinners. It had been planned that the brochures would be distributed during the plenary meeting and at any other opportunity for promotion of the CSITC. Also, it was decided that the flier would be given to ITMF to be distributed. Additionally, another flyer would be created for cotton producers and a further flyer addressing heads of the laboratories. The CHAIR commented that the brochure was done very nicely and suggested adding the full name of CSITC – Commercial Standardisation of Instrument Testing of Cotton on the front page of the brochure.
It was discussed that since Uster would start this program of sponsoring CSITC Round Trials, there was hope that Premier machine would follow suit.
Mr Jean Paul Gourlot gave an update on the stickiness measurement. He reported that there had been two Round Trials on stickiness measurements per year with 35 to 40 participating instruments. The cost of the Round Trial test on stickiness was 18,000 Euros and funding for the stickiness tests had been provided by CIRAD, Faserinstitut Bremen and ICA Bremen/BBB. He noted that at this point there was no definitive answer which testing method should be recommended for stickiness. Mr Gourlot mentioned that after the following test in January 2019, there would be a subsequent report produced by the 31st of January. The objective of the stickiness testing had been to choose one or two most reliable measurement methods by the next meeting of the CSITC Task Force in Bremen in 2020.
Reports from Technical Centres and Regions
There were no reports from technical centres and regions.
Administrative matters
The next meeting of the Task Force on CSITC would take place in December 2019 in Brisbane, Australia during the ICAC Plenary meeting. The exact date and time would be announced at a later time.
Any other business.
There being no other business the CHAIR ended the meeting.
Presentations
Mr. Axel Drieling – CSITC Task Force Contributions
James Knowlton – CSITC RT Evaluation for Trash Area