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The driving force of companies is profitability. Consequently, the reasons for investment in machinery can not be the volume of the textile market. New production equipment is purchased when it is required in the mill, in order to stay competitive. The two key issues for any large investment are: (i) does the new technology fulfil the requirements of the textile markets for tomorrow and (ii) is the new technology going to be the benchmark of the future. The textile markets are fluctuating, a steady mainstream of basic demand branching out into many niches. The main drive for textile manufacturing technology come from outside. The general trends in textile machinery are discussed. Computer control is no longer a sign of superior technology, but just indicated by cost. The choice between PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) and Personal Computer based industrial controllers depends more and more on the amount of operator interface and support functions that are required. Services that are expected from a central plant monitoring and control system such as immediate indications of machine status, access on demand on the actual status, product batch identification and tracking, local storage on the machine of all recent data, support for machine set-up etc. are discussed. The main trends in staple fibre preparation are flexible blending, universal card for blended fibre as well as online fibre measurement in opening and carding. In staple fibre spinning improved productivity and yarn structures are expected. In filament spinning the trends will go back to cellulosic fibres, forward to metallocene polymers and from large spinning plants to compact spinning units. In weaving the trends goes towards total servo controlled machines, more versatile and easier to set up. Furthermore, topics such as automation for quick style change and integrated fibre fly cleaning is expected. In knitting a trend to fully fashioned garments can be seen. In finishing the focus lies on plasma treatment and the use of supercritical carbon dioxide installations.