Students of PSG College of Technology have developed a machine, which can wax polish hand loom silk saris automatically, thereby reducing the cost and labour involved in the age old manual practice.

The automated wax polishing machine is said to reduce the labour dependency of the process by almost 29 per cent and also increase the productivity three times, Ram Prasad, one of the four students, involved in the development of the machine, told reporters here today.

Normally, wax polishing costs somewhere between about Rs.60 and Rs.70 per sari and a hand loom weaver can polish 40 saris a day.

The machine was tried in a few units in Salem district. The technology, which won the Danfoss Innovator Project award, can be used to carry out wax polishing in various hand loom silk sari units across India, which was currently facing issues related to
non-availability of skilled labour, Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss India, said.

PSG students also won the ‘SCADA Water Management System’ award, which was expected to bring about energy savings of roughly 18 per cent for the institute,
once it was implemented as it reduced both labour costs and human
efforts, he said.

The students decided to experiment this technology in the college to check for its feasibility, Ravichandran said. The technology would seek to address water management issues faced
by various districts of Tamil Nadu, as the team identified alternative reliable water sources,
near the Bhavani Kooduthurai River, located nearly 100 km from the college, he said.

These two awards were among six awards given to five colleges across India, which
had submitted 65 projects, Ravichandran said.