AO_BD_APR_15.pdf - Apparel Resources

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8 Apparel Online Bangladesh | APRIL 2015

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vol. 3 Issue 12

CONTENTSapril 2015

16Gazi Mahbubul Alam, Director, Mahmud Group

20A H Aslam, Managing Director, Crony Group

64Rodney J. Reed, Managing Director, Reed Consulting

MahMud Group: BuildinG SuStainaBle deniM operationS on the Foundation oF product developMent and autoMation

cover story16

crony Group deFininG proFitaBility in knit coMpoSite BuSineSS

exporter insight20

BanGladeSh deniM expo ready For BiGGer Second edition Giant textileS ltd (Gtl) GoeS For WSt proGraM With lidl oF GerMany

bangladesh canvas22

eSprit eMerGeS aMonGSt leaderS in SuStainaBility

sustainability26

dtG 2015: hiGhliGhtinG the GroWinG FocuS oF the induStry on BuildinG ‘value-added’ BackWard linkaGeS

business exchange28

ie in apparel ManuFacturinG – ii operator ratinGreed conSultinG: the BuSineSS caSe For SuStainaBility

tech management58

MenSWear theMeS: Fall 2015

trends 201566

it is very heartening to hear people speak so highly of Bangladesh as a manufacturing base and as our association with the country is deepening with each passing year, we feel proud when at global forums buyers mention Bangladesh almost in the same breath as china as an important sourcing destination with much to offer.

But what bothers me is the general perception among raw material suppliers – whether yarn or fabric – that getting payment from Bangladeshi companies is a major problem. My team was at the intertextile in Shanghai recently and was concerned by the feedback from the suppliers who expressed their wish to work with the country, but are scared to even start exploring options!

the general explanation was simple…, the banking system in the country needs to change and be controlled by a more authoritative governing body to ensure not only adherence to lcs but also timely and fair payments. the logic was that since most banks were owned by industry and the Government had little say in their functioning, payments could be manipulated… one supplier went to the extent of declaring that all successful suppliers have lawyers based in dhaka to ensure payments.

it is sad that the misdeed of a few forms the general perception about the country… it is time to seriously look into the matter and get the act together so that those interested to work with the country can have hassle-free access, presenting greater variety and also offering competitive prices to the manufacturers. this will support the industry’s efforts on moving up the value chain.

in the meanwhile, with the political situation improving, buyers have tentatively started visiting the country again, though with a more cautious approach. now it is up to the industry, and of course the Government, to build the confidence and not let internal unrest spoil the image of the country… as we have seen pakistan suffer due to the inability of the Government to crackdown on the troublemakers.

in this issue, we take pleasure in highlighting the growth strategy of the Mahmud Group which is building sustainable denim operations on the foundation of product development and automation. a market leader in value-added denims, Mahmud is expanding and increasing its volumes but without compromising on its core competence... read how this group is always ahead of competition by keeping a firm finger on the pulse of the market, be it value addition or Green production.

this issue also carries a detailed fair review of the recently concluded dtG, throwing light on some of the attention-grabbing technologies and products on display. among the interesting articles is an interview with reed consulting, in our tech Management segment which is steering its cleaner production program in over 50 factories in the country. its passionate founder, rodney reed, a British expat, had set foot in Bangladesh 10 years ago and has stayed on, giving consultancy for cleaner production, social responsibility, chemical management, occupational safety and health, safe factories and world class management skills.

Deepak MohindraEditor-in-Chief

E D I T O R I A L

treeL e a d i n g D i s c u s s i o n s

m ndiGarment sector's losses are mounting day-by-day due to the ongoing political unrest in the country. Buyers prefer not to come to Bangladesh and are asking the garment exporters either to meet them in Hong Kong or India which is an additional cost in this lean period.

Is there any dip in order placement or do you anticipate less orders this season? Is there any labour shortage or late deliveries due to political unrest? How much loss in revenue you think you will incur in the current financial year?

The approval procedures due to this have become more cumbersome and time consuming. Earlier when buyers used to come, they used to sit with our technical team, discuss the issues and immediately sort out the bottlenecks. The smaller buyers are coming but not the bigger ones. Many of my industry friends also shared with me that they too are facing similar problem and their senior merchandising team had to go to Hong Kong to meet the buyers.

They also shared that many are also facing problems in shipping their goods though they have the goods ready, as the truckers are not willing to take the goods. So far we have not faced any delay in shipment as we plan in such a way that we are 15 days ahead of our schedule and in a few cases the buyers have extended their deadlines by a week or ten days but in terms of orders, even we are suffering; we do not have enough orders to plan for the whole year.

The Government should take very strong stand to cease political unrest otherwise the country would definitely witness dip in the business. Many factories are lying idle as the orders are not coming in and are shifting to countries like Vietnam and Cambodia.

Akhilesh Kumar Singh, Branch Manager, Francis Wacziarg Agencies Pvt. Ltd.

The Bangladesh RMG sector still has very high growth potential because Bangladesh prices are still very competitive compared to other countries in the world. But unfortunately due to the present

M. A. Mannan, Managing

Director, Meek Sweater Ltd.

Your question is very pertinent in the current state of affairs. Worldwide every garmenting hub is striving hard to grow their presence in the world market, but we as a nation are going backward due to this ongoing political problem. We are worried for future orders as buyers are sceptical if we can ever execute their orders in the present scenario. We are now dreading that if this situation prevails for another two months the buyers might reduce orders or divert their orders to other countries.

Many buyers are insisting that we travel to their countries with our samples which are an additional cost on CM and surely they would

not increase even a cent, as a result turnover of our company will be less than last year. How is our RMG sector going to survive...? As it is, we are already working on very thin margins and the additional cost on travelling will result in many exporters running their factories in losses? If there are no orders or fewer orders, still we have to pay the wages to our workers and the running cost of infrastructure, but the question is for how long can we run in losses?

Ajay Agal, CEO, Basic Apparels Ltd. & Merchantex Co. (BD) Ltd.

Yes, it is true that buyers are hesitating to come to Bangladesh since the past four-five months; we have to travel and show our samples to them. Normally they call us to Germany, Hong Kong or Bangkok which means additional cost for us.

mindtree

Ajay Agal

“The approval procedures due to this have become more cumbersome and time consuming. Earlier when buyers used to come, they used to sit with our technical team, discuss the issues and immediately sort out the bottlenecks.”

M. A. Mannan

“We as a nation are going backward due to this ongoing political problem. We are worried for future orders as buyers are sceptical if we can ever execute their orders in the present scenario.”

APRIL 2015 | Apparel Online Bangladesh 15

political unrest, the RMG sector’s growth is not consistent. Buyers are scared to come to Bangladesh due to blockades and protests. We have lost 4 buying meetings in one month and also lost uS $ 500,000 worth of orders. Our buyers are calling us to meet them in other countries for next season orders, which is added expense for us. A few of our volume buyers have already placed orders to countries like India, Cambodia and Vietnam.

According to latest reports, the RMG sector has incurred losses worth BDT 22,000 crore in 35 days due to cancellation of orders, air freight, order delay discount, extra transportation cost, planning disruption and vandalism in the wake of non-stop political unrest. Even we got 20% less orders than our target in the current season and I am sure RMG sector as a whole too has 20% dip in its order booking for the whole season. So it’s going to impact not only the business growth but also it would result in job losses.

Blockades and strikes have made global buyers worried and they are looking for safe destinations. According to forecast, the country has to export goods worth BDT 8,000 crore per month in order to reach up to the export target of uS $ 27 billion by this year which seems to be impossible now due to the political unrest.

Zakir Hossain, GM-Merchandising & Marketing, Eurotex Knitwear Ltd.

The country is seeing rise in cost of production and the RMG sector is losing its competitiveness which will impact our future business. Also a number of small and medium level entrepreneurs would be forced to shut their shop as they have been facing threat of discount, cancellation of orders and deferred payment from buyers.

Additionally, the RMG sector is incurring huge losses as it has been forced to increase working hours and make air shipments to keep deadlines. During the recent general strikes the production fell by 30-50 per cent and the cost of production went up by 30-40 per cent. Though the garments sector remains out of the purview of general strike but the transportation of garments does get impacted; so it is very difficult to maintain timelines which is impacting business flow.

We get orders from buyers for our competitive price and efficient shipment. But the recent political unrest has lowered our price competiveness and also efficiency in shipment. I personally lost a sweater program for uK (Brand – Pierre Cardin) due to this violence as my customer is very sceptical on the deliveries, making us lose around uS $ 200K of revenue.

Most of the buyers from Eu and uS are slashing their orders from Bangladesh because they do not want to see any interruption in their supply chain. Sadly due to violence, the daily productivity has been reduced by 20-25 per cent and we may miss several deadlines for shipment. So, definitely we will get fewer orders this session and as per my assumption it will cause at least uS $1000K loss in revenue in current financial year for our company.

Piyush Vyas, COO, BD Designs Pvt. Ltd.

I see Bangladesh coming out stronger in these difficult times. In fact, it is time for the garmenting industry to capitalize on their strength. Nothing has ever stopped the industry from growing as the entrepreneurs are very optimistic in their approach and they try to resolve the issues most of the time at their end. Even the workers and the middle management don’t make these strikes and bandhs as an excuse to sit at home; all the more they support the company by being present and delivering their tasks. It’s a temporary phase and it will pass by, and if there has been some dip in orders then “mark my words” this industry would make up for it as they don’t get deterred by any crisis.

Bangladesh imports a lot of fabric and accessories from China, Hong Kong and other countries. What are the difficulties at ground level in importing of fabric and trims. What can be a viable and possible solution of the same…?

Have you ever tried to find a solution of this issue? Share your experience with us.

Q u e s t i o n

Be a part of our latest discussions...Post your comments on www.apparelresources.com

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Akhilesh Kumar Singh

“According to latest reports, the RMG sector has incurred losses worth BDT 22,000 crore in 35 days due to cancellation of orders, air freight, order delay discount, extra transportation cost, planning disruption and vandalism in the wake of non-stop political unrest.”

Zakir Hossain

“The recent political unrest has lowered our price competiveness and also efficiency in shipment. I personally lost a sweater program for brand Pierre Cardin due to this violence as my customer is very sceptical on the deliveries, making us lose around US $ 200K of revenue.”

Piyush Vyas

“It is time for the garmenting industry to capitalize on their strength. Nothing has ever stopped the industry from growing as the entrepreneurs are very optimistic in their approach and they try to resolve the issues most of the time at their end.”

long before the prime Minister of Bangladesh declared that value-added products are the key for

the apparel industry to achieve the uS $ 50 billion export target, Mahmud Group had created a niche in the value-added segment, manufacturing yarns, fabric and jeans with lycra content. “90% of the fabrics manufactured and 30% of the jeans manufactured by us are certified by lycra for content, a niche we have focused on since our inception,” asserts Gazi alam. this focus of the company requires strong backward linkages as stretch yarns and fabrics cannot be stored for a long period of time in the warehouse, otherwise they lose their stretchability. this is also the reason why yarns with lycra content are not procured from china, and other denim fabric manufacturers in the country prefer buying it from local mills, which has made Mahmud Group a preferred supplier of stretch yarns in Bangladesh. “due to our niche in stretch denim fabrics, we have automatically created a niche in manufacturing denim jeans for girls and women. on an average, 70% of all our production is for females and 30% of all the denim jeans produced by us has lycra content,” shares Gazi.

Working with stretch fabric is a challenge and requires experienced workers while

Vertically integrated apparel manufacturers generally focus on producing basic products with high volumes, and many believe that it is not possible to do value-added products in such a setup, profitably. An exception to this model is Mahmud Group, a completely vertically integrated denim jeans manufacturer with in-house spinning, weaving, sewing and washing. In just 9 years of existence, Mahmud has established its niche in manufacturing denim jeans for the European market with an annual turnover of US $ 120 million, producing 2.5 million metres of fabric and 9,00,000 denim bottoms per month. In an exclusive interaction with Apparel Online, Gazi Mahbubul Alam, Director, Mahmud Group highlights the niche of the company in a booming but competitive market; he also shares his future plans.

ExPANSIoNS IN fUll-SWING foR MAKING 1,00,000 BoTToMS PER DAy AloNG WITH A GREEN fACToRy

MAHMUD GRoUP

BUIlDING SUSTAINABlE DENIM oPERATIoNS oN THE foUNDATIoN of PRoDUCT DEvEloPMENT AND AUToMATIoN

“I want my employees to understand the economic impact we are having on the European economy. We might just be exporting US $ 9 million per month, but that is being retailed at 5 times more, an impact of US $ 45 million per month. The contribution is small, but significant. Similarly, if Bangladesh is exporting US $ 25 billion, the impact in the global markets is that of US $ 100 billion.” – Gazi Mahbubul Alam, Director, Mahmud Group

coverstory

sewing, as even a slight degree of pull while sewing can alter the size and fitting of the end product. “For handling stretch fabric in sewing, automation from vibemac has helped us a lot as the operations are being done without any stress or stretch in the garments. the feed-off-the-arm machine from the company has got double rollers for pulling the fabric evenly while sewing,” explains Gazi. Since similar tension control is required in the cutting and spreading of the fabrics, an automatic cutter from kuris and four spreaders have been installed by the company. Mahmud Group would be adding another cutter from kuris shortly.

the success of Mahmud Group with stretch fabrics and jeans is endorsed by the support of the Swedish buyer h&M, who has been buying 50% of the company’s fabric output and 30% of the company’s denim jeans output.“We recently got the gold supplier certification from h&M which means that we will get business commitment for three years from h&M with an assured 20% increase in capacity year after year,” elaborates Gazi. the company has now set its eye on the platinum rating, the highest vendor rating, in which the biggest advantage is the assurance of business even in the lean periods. “the market has improved a lot and apparel

manufacturers have made their factories safe and compliant, so it is easier for buyers to make long-term commitments. like in our case, most of the buyers first give us the po and then discuss the price points, which means business is there for sure you just have to finalize the price. due to this practice the price war has minimized in the country as every company has created its niche in some way or the other, which has been realized by the buyers and the orders have been placed accordingly,” points out Gazi. as a company, Mahmud does not give more than 35% to 40% of its sewing capacity to any one buyer, which helps in balancing unpredictability in the market and even the buyers have similar capacity allocation plans as no one wants to put all eggs in one basket.

Mahmud Group attributes its product development capabilities to its vertically integrated setup. “value addition in denim jeans is all about washing and not that every fabric can be washed to get desired results. hence with our control over fabric manufacturing, we can give a better wash or finish by giving special attention at the weaving and processing stages,” reasons Gazi. he adds that having fabric strength is a definite edge. “For making red denim jeans, we make greige denim fabric without any colour, make denim

bottoms out of it and then garment dye it for the red colour, and this eliminates the process of bleaching; hence saving time while giving the fabric better colour depth and quality. Similarly, if the denim jean has a lighter shade of indigo denim, we use indigo accordingly in the dyeing stages,” elaborates Gazi.

vertical integration also empowers the company to work on just-in-time inventories, avoiding wastages such as purchasing 5%

Due to its ability to produce stretch yarns, Mahmud Group has become a preferred supplier for making stretch denim fabrics

With 200 looms already running at full capacity, Mahmud Group has plans of adding another 90 looms

The upcoming Green Factory — Mahmud Fashions Ltd.

coverstory

Some Key Highlights...

· LED lighting· Highly efficient and energy saving automatic sewing machines· less energy consumption due to structure/elevation technology· Sandwich glass panels for outside heat resistance· Water saving washing machines for laundry· European ETP with a capacity of 6000 cubic metres per day· Water reservoir with a capacity of 12,000 cubic metres· Saving 30% water in different production processes· Rain water harvesting

Going beyond automation in sewing, Mahmud Group to focus on production tracking and trainingWhile the apparel manufacturers of the country have started investing in automation for reducing the manpower requirement and improving productivity of existing workforce very recently, Mahmud Jeans (sewing unit of Mahmud Group), has been using automated solutions for cutting, sewing and washing for a long time. having four spreaders and an automatic cutter in its cutting department, Mahmud Jeans has almost every sewing automat from the italian denim jeans sewing specialist vibemac. From back pocket decoration, back pocket attaching, loop setting, pocket mouth hemming, feed-off-the-arm, waistband attaching,

to 10% extra fabric. “our target is to use at least 30% of our own fabric for manufacturing our denim jeans. right now we are producing 9,00,000 jeans per month which we intend to increase to 30,00,000 jeans per month and which will require approx. 5 million yards of fabric per month,” shares Gazi. With these ambitious plans Mahmud Group is looking to touch the uS $ 300 million mark in the coming two years and expansions are already under way.

Going Green...the expansions would be executed in the existing facility and in an upcoming Green facility with centralized laundry and additional sewing capacity. in fabric, 90 looms from picanol and rope dyeing will be added in the existing unit – an addition of 1.5 million yards of fabric per month to the existing output of 2.5 million per month from the existing 200 looms. after completion of expansion in the existing fabric facility, Mahmud will be producing 4 million yards per month or 48 million yards per annum. also under construction is a 6-storey warehouse in the fabric unit, for which the company has already applied for a Green certification. “Since it is a warehouse, it will have no electricity supply as per the compliance norms and all the lights would be battery powered. electricity would be there only to operate the cargo lift for which solar panels would be installed on the roof of the warehouse.the warehouse would also have a vertical garden on the outside walls,” shares Gazi.

in the sewing, Mahmud Group plans to produce 1,00,000 denim jeans per day, which would be more than three times of its present daily output of 30,000 denim jeans per day. in the upcoming Green facility, sewing capacity of 40,000 denim jeans per day will be added while in the existing sewing facility, an additional capacity of 30,000 denim jeans per day will be added, taking the capacity of the existing unit to 60,000 jeans

per day. presently, the washing department is at the ground floor of the existing sewing facility from where it will be shifted to the Green facility and developed as a centralized washing department with a capacity of 1,00,000 bottoms per day. the cutting from the top floor of the same facility would be shifted at the ground floor and developed as a centralized cutting department. “the expansions will happen in three phases. the first phase will be completed in coming 9 months, in which the Green factory will be ready and sewing capacity of 40,000 pieces per day will be added. then after a year, i will expand the capacity of the existing facility by another 30,000 pieces,” shares Gazi.

the most remarkable feat of the upcoming Green factory would

coverstory

With the addition of rope dyeing facilities, Mahmud Group is looking at penetrating the American market, and is targeting vf Corporation for starters. The Group is already producing low ounce shirting fabric for vf, but with the rope dyeing facilities, they would be able to cater to their portfolio of denim bottoms.

Mahmud Group is the 1st company to install an automatic cutter from Kuris while one more cutter from Kuris is in the pipeline

Producing 9,00,000 bottoms per day, Mahmud Group has around 2,500 sewing machines

The key to value addition in denim jeans lies in washing, and Mahmud Group has equal competence in dry and wet processing

bottom hemming to J-stitch, Mahmud Jeans has it all, diminished the use of helpers in the sewing lines. the sewing lines have 52 sewing machines, with part preparation and final assembly as a part of the single line; only the back pocket decoration and back pocket attaching machines have been kept outside as a separate line, on every floor. 12 such lines are present on each of the 4 floors of Mahmud Jeans. “We are in the process of installing an infrared tracking system in our sewing facilities for tracking every bundle and finished garment. the tracking would be right from the cutting to the washing. this would help in getting an idea about our actual efficiencies for further improvement,” shares Gazi, throwing light on his next focus area.

Working on an average operator efficiency between 51% and 56%, which is significantly higher than the nationwide efficiency of 41% to 46%, Mahmud Group has targeted to achieve the mark of 70% operator efficiency. “the tracking system would

employee engagement for retention. the company has created a welfare fund from where they can take loans as per their requirement. if a loan has been taken for some medical treatment, there is no need to pay back the same. the welfare fund is managed by the workers along with one representative from the management and the funds are provided by the company.

help in achieving the goal, but the biggest help would be skill development and training,” believes Gazi. the company has been sending its middle management to attend various training programs at Bureau veritas to sensitize them on the importance of conducive environment for operators to perform.

as far as the workers are concerned, the focus is on

be the centralized washing with a capacity of 1,00,000 bottoms per day as it is difficult to go for a Green certification with an in-house washing because of the waste discharge from the department. “For reducing the discharge from the washing department, we will install ozone washing machines from tonello with ecoFree, which guarantee 50% to 80% less water consumption compared to conventional machines. this reduces the pressure on the water purification system and the overall washing time.tonello claims to account for savings of euro 100,000 per year in terms of water, power, chemicals, dye stuff and steam,” elaborates Gazi and claims that due to such interventions, the Green factory will consume 35% less water once fully operational,

compared to non-Green denim jeans factories of similar size.the total investment done by Mahmud Group for achieving 1,00,000 bottoms per day output with a Green factory is Bdt 500 crores (uS $ 64 million), from which the company has taken a loan from the BGMea Green fund at a subsidized interest rate.

the Green facility is being developed with the consultancy of edS Global, which has done 140+ Green building projects in india, and Mahmud Group’s Green facility is their first Green project in the country. “We are using special windows in our factory which will reduce the load on the hvac system and the window glass is coated on both sides to minimize heat exchange with the outside environment,” avers Gazi.

Similarly, only led lights will be installed in the facility due to which the electricity consumption would be reduced. even the boiler in the new factory is sustainable as it will utilize waste fabric and other such waste like poly bags and cartons generated in the factory, as fuel. on the recommendation of h&M, Mahmud Group will install one of the largest etp plants of Bangladesh in the Green facility, from an italian company. “initially, we would have to absorb the financial impact of going Green, but in the longer run we would incur significantly lower operating overheads. Moreover, it is about being a responsible apparel manufacturer and sooner or later everyone has to take steps in this direction,” concludes Gazi.

Mahmud Group is amongst the biggest users of Vibemac sewing automats in Bangladesh

Mahmud Group is doing a lot of organic and recycled fabrics, made of recycled yarns sourced from India and China. The company is also a member of Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and is using African cotton as a part of CmiA (Cotton made in Africa).

Denim has transformed as a product completely and now people are wearing denim jeans to office and even to parties. Even suits are being made of denim fabrics mixed with Tencel as formal wear garment, and Mahmud Group is also working with such fabrics, blended with Tencel and polyester.

Mahmud Group has also started developments for lindex and is supplying fabric to Mango and Zara. The company is hopeful that by next year, these brands would also start sourcing denim jeans and a trial order from Mango is already underway.

coverstory

“I’m proud to say that we have hired no expats in our company. It’s all about training your people, and we have focused on honing the problem-solving skills of managers due to which the subordinates do not run to their seniors for tackling work-related issues.”

Crony Group defining profitability in knit composite business

catering to buyers such as Mango, Metro, h&M, adler, celio, okaidi,

tom tailor, promod, Jennifer to name a few, crony Group treats each buyer equally and does not accept orders worth more than uS $ 18 million or less than uS $ 8 million from any one of them. even though most companies allot 90% capacity to one buyer, crony believes in giving only a maximum of 20% of its capacity to a single buyer to cushion business in case of any fluctuation and as of now h&M has been given two sewing floors – Metro Group one sewing floor and okaidi one sewing floor; efforts are made to allocate the same floor to a buyer every time. taking a cautious approach, crony Group checks its turnover with the buyers and out of all the buyers, whichever is not doing well, is asked to increase the FoB or capacity; else a new buyer is added in its place.

although profit is the primary objective behind working with a company, crony Group also stops working with buyers/brands due to reasons such as the absence of long-term planning, production forecasts

and slow approval processes. “value addition in terms of embroidery, printing and washing is also critical for the sustenance of business with a brand. in 2014, we pegged the lowest FoB at uS $ 2.6 and it was the responsibility of the merchandiser to find a buyer or brand which can give FoB greater than this. Similarly for 2015, our lowest FoB will be uS $ 2.7 and every cent’s increase in the FoB is supplemented with in-house capabilities for washing, embroidery and printing,” elaborates aslam. crony Group has a washing capacity of 20,000 pieces per day, 8 embroidery machines from tajima and carousel printing machine from M&r.

the next focus area of crony Group is on effective management and efficiency improvement within the organization. But before improvement comes monitoring, for which key performance indicators (kpis) have been defined by aslam, who monitors them closely on a weekly basis. “We monitor the manufacturing and merchandising separately. Manufacturing is monitored on a weekly basis and i visit

As of today, Bangladesh has the biggest economies of scales for producing knits, compared to any other product category produced in the country, yet manufacturers still complain of lower than average margins in exporting knit apparels because of the plunging FOB prices paid by the buyers. This does not seem to be the case with Crony Group, a US $ 100 million turnover knit composite company with in-house capacities for yarn dyeing, knitting, sewing, and washing, which has the self-belief to discontinue business with buyers if the profitability is not working out. The dynamic and hands-on Managing Director of the company, A H Aslam (Sunny), in an exclusive interaction with Apparel Online shares what gives the company the confidence to work on their own terms.

A H Aslam, Managing Director, Crony Group

Focus on Human Resource Management

exporter insight

Abanti Colour Tex Ltd. (a unit of Crony Group) received 3 awards of Social and Environmental Excellence (SEE): Platinum Award for Grievance Handling; Gold Award for Innovative Initiative; and Gold Award for Inclusive Skill Development from GIZ and the Bangladesh Government.

our unit every Saturday, to attend a two-hour meeting with 85 personnel from the ie, production, quality and financial departments. a presentation is given to me by every department on kpis such as cut-to-ship ratio, helper ratio; target vs achieved productivity and quality rejection rate. due to the presence of all departments, the information presented to me is precise and accurate,” explains aslam. the merchandising department is monitored on a daily basis by aslam, and a two-hour meeting is held with the merchandising team to keep taps on the progress in production orders, approval status, raw material sourcing status, demands of buyers and conformance to the pre-defined time and action calendar.

unlike most of the apparel manufacturers, aslam does not complain about the acumen, capabilities and performance of the country’s middle management. “i’m proud to say that we have hired no expats in our company. it’s all about training your people and we have focused on honing the problem-solving skills of managers due to which the subordinates do not run to their seniors for tackling work-related issues so i can focus on more productive things,” avers aslam. even for

the aspects of efficiency and productivity improvement, crony Group does not rely on expats though the company did hire a team of 6 Sri lankans for training its people, who are now looking after the same in the company. “We have also focused on the communication skills of our managers due to which in 2014 we did zero air shipment or discounts, even in times of political turmoil and hartals,” he says proudly.

Similar feats have been achieved at the sewing floors with just 20 helpers per 100 sewing machines and the average operator efficiency of 65%, way higher than the national average of 45%. “Five years ago, we used to give 10% salary as incentive to operators for exceeding 50% efficiency mark but now we have revised the same to 75% efficiency, after the 70% wage hike. and out of our 75 sewing lines, around 20 are already working at 75% efficiency,” shares aslam. another recent achievement has been the development of two zero defect sewing lines as in 2014 crony Group recorded an astounding rejection rate of just 0.2%. at the foundation of all such achievements, lies the company’s low migration rate of 3%, a resultant of its focus on employee engagement and welfare activities. “as a part of company’s calorie

distribution program, we give 15 eggs, 10 packets of chocolate milk and 2 kg of Milk vita supplement, to each operator every month. last year we spent a total of Bdt 25,000,000 (uS $ 321,000) to the calorie distribution program in our company,” boasts aslam. crony Group also helps operators financially for their children’s higher secondary education and even supports the people who want to complete their schooling. “at the middle management level, company-sponsored holiday packages are given based on their performance,” he adds.

With 2,000 sewing machines and 120 knitting machines, crony Group has plans to establish a leed certified Green factory, and the company is targeting platinum certification for the same. named as crony apparels, the new unit will have 800 sewing machines. “presently we are undertaking expansions in our knitting and fabric processing units adding 20 tonnes of fabric knitting and processing capacity, which will satisfy the demand of our sewing expansions to be completed by 2016,” concludes aslam. investment in 100 automatic knitting machines from Stoll is a two-year old investment for the crony Group, which is positive to touch the mark of uS $ 120 million in 2015.

Crony Group claims to have spent BDT 25 million on the Calorie Distribution Program… A H Aslam is seen distributing eggs to his workers

With just 20 helpers per 100 sewing machines, Crony Group has achieved average operator efficiency of 65%

exporter insight

Bringing the best denim fabrics from Bangladesh and other major denim

players across the globe under one roof, denim expo which mesmerized the rMG sector in november 2014 with its quality exhibitors and visitation, is geared for its second edition next month with renowned denim mills, laundries, finishers – the entire denim supply chain. the previous expo in november was a great success,

drawing more than 2,500 visitors, with entrance restricted to fashion and textiles professionals. “the Bangladesh denim expo is a hub for the denim industry in the region. Bangladesh being the second largest supplier of denim goods to europe, and the third largest to the uSa, the expo projects our passion for denim. By pulling together at this professional event, we can lift up standards in Bangladesh and upgrade the

The first edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo which took place in November 2014 was a roaring success and attracted more than 2,500 visitors across the globe

international perception of our apparel industry,” says Mostafiz Uddin, Founder of the Bangladesh Denim Expo.

the idea behind the expo is not only to show the global and local buyers the growing strength of denim fabric manufacturers of the country, but also give them choice of fabric and finishing from the best mills of the world. according to Mostafiz, the event is an opportunity for international fashion professionals to visit dhaka and experience the quality, scales and value-added products available in the country. exhibitors have been selected for their professionalism, creativity and integrity. Some of the prominent participants at the upcoming show are absolute denim from thailand, raymond uco from india, a&e from the uSa, and Garmon from italy along with leading Bangladesh mills including amber Group and manufacturer-laundries such as denim expert.

the expo also features a trend seminar from leading forecaster WGSn, a dedicated trend Zone and an invitation-only fashion show. among the vips invited are commerce Minister tofail ahmed, ambassador of the kingdom of the netherlands Gerben de Jong and Md. atiqul islam, president of BGMea.

“denim expo is a non-profit enterprise. the show’s aim is not only to grow the denim trade in Bangladesh, but also to encourage better business practises and to uplift the living standards of Bangladeshi people,” shares Mostafiz according to whom the surplus funds from the show will be channelled into a seed fund for a denim university in the country to train workers and promote knowledge about the jeans business.

Bangladesh Denim Expo Ready for Bigger Second Edition May 11 & 12, 2015, Hotel Radisson Blu, Dhaka

The idea behind the expo is not only to show the global and local buyers the growing strength of denim fabric manufacturers of the country but also give them choice of fabric and finishing from the best mills of the world.

bangladeshsnipsMoonstar fashion to set up RMG factory in Mongla EPZ

Moonstar Fashion will set up a readymade garment (rMG) factory in Mongla export processing Zone (epZ). as per the agreement signed between BepZa and Moonstar, the latter will invest uS $ 20.2 million to set up the rMG factory. the new factory will have an annual capacity to produce 30.66 million pieces of underwear, 7.55 million pieces of boxer shorts, 15.1 million pieces of intimate garments and 11.33 million pieces of swimming and activewear. once operational, the rMG factory will create employment opportunity for 2,832 Bangladeshi nationals. the agreement was signed by Sayed nurul islam, member (investment promotion) of BepZa and SM amzad hossain, Managing director of Moonstar Fashion, in the presence of several other dignitaries at Bexpa complex.

IPo subscription of Tosrifa Industries soon

the initial public offering (ipo) subscription of tosrifa industries, a flagship of northern tosrifa Group, will begin soon to raise a fund worth above tk. 638.72 million from the public. ipo subscription of the 100% export-oriented garment manufacturer will begin on March 24 and remain open till March 31, 2015 for resident Bangladeshi and it will be continued till april 9, 2015 for non-resident Bangladeshi (nrB). the company is set to float above 24.56 million ordinary shares worth tk. 10 each for tk. 26, with tk. 16 as premium.

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Mostafiz Uddin, Founder, Bangladesh Denim Expo

Inaugurated recently, Giant Textiles Limited (GTL), the latest and largest venture of Giant Group is a state-of-the-art environment-friendly energy saving, fully vertically integrated composite knit unit with a daily capacity of 25 tonnes of fabrics. GTL has been implemented with a vision to cater the world’s top class buyers for knitted garments along with a strong commitment to keep the environment clean and safe for generations to come.

Giant Textiles Ltd (GTL) goes for WST Program with Lidl of Germany

in pursuit of that commitment, Gtl chose and installed machines

from europe which are energy-efficient, require less water and help in saving the environment. the machines installed include the i-Master, the latest model from world’s best thies dyeing machine from Germany which is internationally acclaimed and certified as an environment-friendly dyeing machine. the liquor ratio is 1:4 in this particular machine against 1:10 that most of the other machines used in Bangladesh have. Gtl is fully equipped with an etp solution in order to make sure that water released after dyeing are properly treated. the full biological etp solution from italy has a capacity of 100 cubic metres per hour which means it can treat water used for a close to 30 tonnes of fabrics per day. Gtl has also taken the initiative to recycle the slush and convert it to organic fertilizer.

“as part of this endeavour, we have taken up a new project called Water Saving technology (WSt) together with lidl Stiftung co. one of our esteemed buyers from Germany. the main purpose of this WSt project is to reduce the use of water in the dyeing process significantly to save water, energy and environment, as textile industries are generally consuming huge quantity of fresh water every day; thus we save water for our next generation,” shares an upbeat S. M. Majedur Rahim Director, Giant Group when talking about the project with Apparel Online.

Johannes Schmid, CEO, Lidl Stiftung & Co and Markus Reinken, Buying Director, Lidl visited Giant Textiles unit to oversee the WST (Water saving Technology) Program initiated jointly by Giant Group and Lidl. Dr. Wolfram Engel, CEO & President of Green Project W.S.T Ltd was also with the visiting team. S.M. Majedur Rahim, Director of Giant Group is seen receiving them at helipad

Besides this WSt program, Gtl is also a participating member industry in pact (partnership agreement on cleaner textiles) program initiated by international Finance corporation (iFc) and world’s largest apparel retailer Zara-inditex of Spain. pact program is also moving forward fast and we are committed to it. “By taking all these initiatives, Gtl is all set to implement our core vision which is to be the best company in clothing industry by satisfying our customers in a distinctly superior manner, providing quality products with highest price-to-value ratio, reaching company financial goals and developing our two most valuable resources, people and environment,” concludes Majedur.

the Chief Executive Officer, Johannes Schmid and Buying Director Markus Reiken of Lidl came to Bangladesh for a day trip recently only to oversee the progress of the WSt program initiated jointly by Giant & lidl. “Dr Wolfram Engel, CEO & President of Green Project WST was also with the visiting team,” informs Majedur, who along with Faruque Hassan, the Managing Director of Giant Group, received them at Gtl helipad and took them around the whole factory, especially showing the different stages of the ongoing process under WSt. “Schmid highly appreciated the progress we have made so far and our commitment for transforming industrial polluted water into clean water for better world, he assured their continuous support for the WSt project,” adds Majedur.

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bangladeshsnipsNeed for a direct shipping line between Karachi and Chittagong

SM tanveer, chairman of aptMa has said that there is an urgent need for a direct shipping line between karachi and chittagong, Bangladesh, in order to improve bilateral trade even further. in a meeting with Bangladesh high commissioner Sohrab hussain, tanveer mentioned that pakistan’s total exports to Bangladesh stood at uS $ 710 million in 2013-14, out of which uS $ 709 million were textile exports. he added, “export of raw material from Bangladesh plays a vital role in the garment industry, requiring more cooperation through better trade relations. the level of bilateral trade can be improved through better knowledge-sharing, exchange of institutional-level information and adopting measures to enhance technical knowledge to take comparative advantage.”

Help line for Bangladesh RMG workers

to help the garment factory workers make and resolve grievances relating to workplace safety rights, a telephone help line has been launched with the support of the international labour organisation and the norwegian Government. the help line – 0800 44 55 000 – will be run by the department of inspection for Factories and establishments (diFe). calls received on this number will be logged and forwarded to either diFe, the fire service and civil defence department or the directorate of labour to deal with.

AO: For Esprit, what does sustainability imply?Lary Brown: For us, sustainability implies being a fair partner for our suppliers, a responsible employer for our staff, a helpful supporter for our communities, and a considerate preserver of nature. We strive to conduct our business in an ethical way that exceeds our legal expectations, reduces our impact on the environment, and provide a high quality of life for our consumers and employees. it is a continuous journey in which we work every day to make a difference.

AO: What are the important social and environmental initiatives that Esprit is currently undertaking at its manufacturing destinations?Lary Brown: Social and environmental commitment is part of esprit’s dna. When doug and Susie tompkins founded esprit in 1968, they had the groundbreaking vision to create a fashion brand that is mindful of both people and nature. today, we still live and act in this spirit. We have been a member of the Business Social compliance initiative (BSci) since 2005, and in 2013, we signed up as a Global Buyer partner with the Better Work initiative. esprit is active in the Better Work’s programmes in Bangladesh, cambodia, indonesia and vietnam.

in april 2013, esprit was among the first companies to join the accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. Signing this accord complements our efforts to bring about sustainable and effective improvements in building safety in

Bangladesh, and underpins the work to assure fair and safe workplaces that esprit has been undertaking for a number of years.

With hazardous chemicals becoming a matter of grave concern, esprit joined a number of other large textile companies to form the Zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020 (Zdhc), in november 2012. the members of the Zdhc have pooled their knowledge and resources to find ways to make textile production cleaner through elimination of toxic chemicals, particularly with regard to water pollution resulting from dyeing of fabrics. We are currently focusing on our environmental work within the Zdhc, since we feel that this effort, which involves many of the largest companies of the global textile industry, has the mass and momentum to bring about the lasting and positive improvement in the environmental impact of our industry within a relatively short time.

underlining the importance of a clean environment in december 2012, we also made a commitment to work with our supply chain partners to eliminate potentially hazardous chemicals in the manufacturing of our products as a part of Greenpeace’s detox campaign. this commitment was renewed and updated in december 2014.

also, esprit is a Founding circle Member of the Sustainable apparel coalition, and we are currently preparing to pilot the use of the higg index in 20 suppliers’ factories in several countries. Given the high level of technical expertise of indian and Bangladeshi producers, we expect to engage them in our work on the higg’s index and Zero discharge soon. esprit is

International fashion brand Esprit, which is mindful of both people and nature, is increasingly upping its sustainability quotient by undertaking new environmental and social responsibilities while creating high-quality fashion, and also making sure that its production processes respect the environment and the people involved. Recently, the company partnered with animal rights organization, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), to introduce PETA approved vegan hang-tags to mark Esprit’s vegan shoe and apparel style. In an exclusive interview with Apparel Online, Lary Brown, Vice President - Head of Global Sourcing Compliance, Esprit, discusses the sustainability measures that the company is undertaking, and why sustainability is at the core of its operationsExcerpts from the interview...

Esprit EmErgEs AmOngst lEAdErs in sustAinAbility

Lary Brown, Vice President - Head of Global Sourcing Compliance, Esprit

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EmphAsizEs On EnvirOnmEnt And pEOplE

also currently in preparation of some smaller projects in india, which we will share once they are in place.

AO: Any challenges that you faced in implementing these sustainable programmes? Lary Brown: the greatest challenge in implementing programmes in social and environmental sustainability is to recognize that although esprit is a large brand, but as a proportion of the total global apparel industry, we are actually quite small. Being a small part of this larger gamut means that we can only bring about systemic changes in collaboration with other stakeholders, including governments, non-governmental organizations, labour unions, consumer groups, our business partners and other brands. Bringing together diverse participants with differing agendas and getting them to align in pursuit of common goals take time and require huge amounts of dialogues and negotiations. however, it is the only real way forward. esprit recognizes that we must do what we can in the areas where we have the power to make a change.

AO: Does Esprit incorporate customers’ inputs and suggestions to make its products more ethically relevant? Lary Brown: customer feedback is very important to us since it allows us to understand what is really important to the people who wear our clothes... for example, we recently developed a hang-tag for our vegan shoes in cooperation with peta – the animal welfare organization – in response to indications from customers that some of them value, knowing which of our products is strictly vegan to make buying decisions quicker.

AO: Future directions that Esprit will embark upon to advance its vision of environment and social sustainability? Lary Brown: the new BSci code of conduct and related changes to the way that the BSci members approach social compliance, promise to improve significantly the impact of BSci members on working conditions in their supply chains. esprit sits in the BSci Steering committee, and is very active in promoting these changes. the other area where we expect to expend significant efforts in the near future is to assure that our products are manufactured in the most responsible way possible; we are working to decrease the water, electricity and chemical products usage and to use more sustainable raw materials, among others.

We strongly believe that whatever you take, you have to give back. it is our ongoing goal to pay respect to people, nature and future generations. Besides engagement across the supply chains and volunteers, esprit’s head office employees across various departments have founded an internal group called ‘esprit cares’, which is targeting local charity initiatives and community services that serve both social and environmental purposes; similar ‘esprit cares’ teams are also in foundation across other esprit market offices.

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lEvI'S SAvES 1 BIllIoN lITRES of WATER; RElEASES ENvIRoNMENTAl IMPACT STUDylevi's Strauss & co, the californian blue jeans pioneer, has recently released an update on its environmental impact study from the year 2007. the study, essentially levi’s new product lifecycle assessment (lca), examined the impact of levi’s products from production to consumer usage on environment. the study shows that of the nearly 3,800 litres of water used throughout the lifetime of a pair of jeans, cotton cultivation (68 per cent) and consumer use (23 per cent) continue to have the most significant impact on water consumption. the report further highlights that consumer care is also responsible for the most significant energy use and

climate impact, representing 37 per cent of the 33.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide emitted during the lifecycle of a jean.

curtailing the impact of cotton consumption in the supply chain, levi’s has partnered with Better cotton initiative

(Bci) to train farmers to grow cotton using 23 per cent less water. the company plans to continue working with its global suppliers with the goal of sourcing approximately 75 per cent Better cotton by 2020, up from 6 per cent today. While the previous research has prompted levi’s to launch initiatives for encouraging consumers to adopt care methods that use less energy and water, the release of the report coincided with the announcement by the company declaring savings of a billion litres of water since 2011 through its Water<less™ process. the process reduces the water used in finishing processes by up to 96 per cent. By 2020, levi’s aims to make 80 per cent of its products using Water<lesstM techniques, up from nearly 25 per cent today.

over 900 exhibitors from 32 countries, 30,000 visitors and uS $ 200 million worth of onsite order bookings, are

some of the key facts that define the success of the 2015 edition of dhaka international textile and Garment Machinery exhibition (dtG).When the pM defined uS $ 50 billion target for the apparel export industry to be achieved by 2021, it was also a call to the mushrooming textile manufacturing sector of the country, which is catering majorly to the apparel exporters to expand. “the local textile mills currently satisfy around 85% of the fabric consumption needs of knit factories and 40% of the same for woven garment factories. over one-third of the uS $ 16 billion worth of fabrics and yarns currently used by the apparel sector are still imported. hence improving backward linkages can both reduce foreign exchange pressures and boost productivity rates of apparel factories,” said Tapan Chowdhury, President, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) at the inauguration ceremony of the dtG fair, which was also marked by the

presence of abul Maal abdul Muhith, Mp and Finance Minister. Most of the participants were satisfied with the response of the exposition and 95% of the exhibitors showed interests in participating at dtG 2016.

the exhibitors of the dtG fair were catering to the needs of yarn, fabric (production and processing) and sweater manufacturers. the showcase of technologies for spinning, weaving and knitting was complete with the presence of companies such as reiter, lMW, picanol, a.t.e. to name a few, all looking at increasing their share in the surging textile industry with 9 million spindles currently running in 400 spinning mills. reiter, the market leader in this segment, is being given tough competition by laskmi Machine Works from india because the latter claims to have spinning machines with equivalent built quality and performance at much lower prices.

the technology providers urged the spinning mills to increase the average spindle speed, as it presents a win-win situation since the manufacturers will be able to increase their output from the same equipment while the technology providers will be able to provide high performance equipment required for higher spindle speeds. “due to the lower spindle speeds in the country, chinese technology providers have found success in Bangladesh, unlike india where the

DTG 2015 HIGHlIGHTING THE GRoWING foCUS of THE INDUSTRy oN BUIlDING ‘vAlUE-ADDED' BACKWARD lINKAGES

The local textile mills currently satisfy around 85% of the fabric consumption needs of knit factories and 40% of the same for woven garment factories. Over one-third of the US $ 16 billion worth of fabrics and yarns currently used by the apparel sector are still imported.

Team Groz-Beckert (Standing in front, L to R) – Parmeet Singh Khurana; Klaus Hacker; Sanjeev Sharma; Hubert Volk; Rifat Raihan. (Behind the counter) Shafiq from F.F. Trading Corporation (one of the dealers of Groz-Beckert in Bangladesh) with Heiko Bauer

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spindle speeds are much higher,” points out Vikas Sharan, Vice President, A.T.E. Enterprises. highlighting other reasons responsible for lower spindle speeds, C. Arunachalam, GM – Exports, Lakshmi Machine Works states, “there is a grave absence of skilled manpower in the country for managing spinning units, which is equally necessary for maintaining high spindle speeds.” another concern was the absence of allotment of gas connections to new textile units for some time now, due to which technology providers have to majorly depend on consumables for spinning equipment, for revenue generation.

unlike the looms segment, undoubtedly dominated by toyota and picanol, the segment of circular knitting machines is again undergoing segmentation with the top 100 apparel manufacturers investing in machines from companies such as Santoni, Mayer & cie, Fukuhara, terrot, etc. and the rest continuing to invest in circular knitting machines from china, which have been a favourable option of the country for a long time. the shifting interest in better technology is backed by the increasing focus of the apparel manufacturers on quality consistency, lower consumption of spare parts and higher output, aspects that are defined by the ‘make’ of parts such as sinker and needle used in the machines. having recognized the same, Fukuhara is today among

the market leaders with more than 1,000 circular knitting machines installed in the country because the critical parts of the circular knitting machines are manufactured in Japan and only the yarn feeders are sourced from Germany-based Memminger iro. “Bangladesh is our largest market and we are competing with european circular knitting machines in terms quality and output,” says Akihiro Konishi, Manager of West Asia Section, Fukuhara.

Similar is the case with Santoni that has already registered success with its range of circular knitting machines and is now penetrating the market with its range of seamless knitting machines. “We have already done our first installation in urmi Group and there are 6 more projects in the pipeline,” shares Gianpiero Valsecchi, Area Sales Manager, Santoni, who believes that seamless knitwear is the next growth area for Bangladesh as the product category is moving out of china.

the showcase of technology providers for manufacturing sweaters was highlighted by the presence of companies such as Shima Seiki, cixing, Stoll, Guosheng, etc. and each one of them confirmed the strong growth in demand for flat knitting machines, a trend that has been prevalent for the past 3 years. “We sold a total of 5,000 flat knitting machines in the last 4

years, and have started the year 2015 on a positive note by having sold 700 machines in the month of January only,” shares Zalal Uddin Tuhin, Managing Director, Cixing Bangladesh Ltd. But success has only been achieved by companies which have focused on training and skill development of knitting operators. on the same lines, the Japanese pioneer Shima Seiki has installed a movie clip in some of its flat knitting machines, which details maintenance procedures like needle change and machine oiling. “this video if played on the production floor will ensure that operators are skilled enough to take on the roles of technicians as well. it will ensure that they don’t have to call the boss, the technician or the programmer and hence reduce downtime as well,” avers Tadanori Ueno, General Manager – Bangladesh Liaison, Shima Seiki.

With most of the company’s touting Bangladesh as their second biggest market, companies such as Stoll are confident that the country will become its biggest market in the times to come.“When i became responsible for the Bangladesh market 7 years back, the country was nowhere on Stoll’s global map but now it is 2nd to china and i see it becoming the biggest market in the coming years,” concludes Thomas Hoffman, Area Sales Manager, Stoll, summing up the sentiments of most of the exhibitors at the show.

Santoni has already registered success with its range of circular knitting machines and is now penetrating the market with its range of seamless knitting machines with the first installation in Urmi Group and 6 more projects in the pipeline.

Tadanori Ueno, General Manager – Bangladesh Liaison, Shima Seiki (2nd from left) with Badsha Mia, Owner of Badsha Group (Pioneer Knitwear) (3rd from left)

Fukuhara is today among the market leaders with more than 1,000 circular knitting machines installed in the country because the critical parts of the circular knitting machines are manufactured in Japan.

Shamim Masudul Haque, Asst. General Manager – Apparel Division, Aamra Resources (centre) in discussion with Aruna Muthumuni, CEO, SQ Group (2nd from right)

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EASTMAN TECHNoCRAfTS – A complete denim jeans manufacturing solution provider

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(L to R) – Rudy Muntasser, Sales Manager, Brongo; Matteo A. Urbini from Soko Chimica; Manik Chowdhury, MD, Eastman Technocrafts; and Beatrice Brongo, Finance Manager, Brongo

in a market with solution provider having a complete

‘one-stop shop’ product portfolio, veterans such as eastman technocraft have gone a step ahead and created a technology portfolio for catering to all the needs of a denim jeans manufacturers – starting from the cutting & spreading machines from Morgan tecnica, sewing automats from Sipami, washing and garment dyeing machines from Brongo, and dry processing machines from Mactec and Jeanologia. “denim jeans as a product has consistently grown in Bangladesh and we are helping the industry move up the value chain by providing a hand-picked set of technologies for the product,” avers Manik Chowdhury, Managing Director, Eastman Technocrafts.

participating at the dtG fair, eastman’s booth showcased sewing automats from Sipami, which as claimed can reduce 50% of the manpower in a denim jeans unit producing 5,000 jeans per 10 hours.

another high-end technology offered by eastman is that of Jeanologia, for laser finishing, ozone processing and washing. the machines from Jeanologia are utilized majorly for giving a washed and vintage look to the denim jeans, while maintaining their soft hand feel. “We have already installed 130 laser dry processing machines from Jeanologia in Bangladesh because there is just no competition to this technology. at the dtG, we sold 2 laser machines and one ozone machine to armana Group,”

shares Manik. companies such as armana have 13 machines from Jeanologia, pacific Jeans has 22 laser machines from Jeanologia, Standard Group has more than 7 such machines, hameem Group has 12 such machines, regency has 7 machine, tusuka Group has 11 machines and opex Group has 8 machines. “although we have 7 technicians dedicated for Jeanologia and the company has its own office in dhaka, the machines can be repaired from Spain through remote diagnostics,” adds Manik and asserts that none of the 130 machines installed in Bangladesh are non-operational.

in value additions, maximum demand is for garment dyeing, for which eastman technocraft has washing machines from italian pioneer, Brongo. “the difference lies in the motion in which garments are moving inside the washing machines – in a regular washing machine, the garments go to the top and then fall towards the bottom in a circular motion, which causes damage at the hemlines of the garment, but in case of compartmental dyeing machines, the garments move in a semi-circular path, i.e. they do not fall from the top,” explains Beatrice Brongo, Finance Manager, Brongo. the machines from Brongo are suitable for dyeing knits and denim jeans with lycra content. “a proof of our machine’s competence is the Japanese buyer uniqlo recommending garment dyeing machines from Brongo to its vendors like noble hurricane Group, which bought machines from Brongo based on the recommendation of uniqlo,” she adds. the recent modifications done in Brongo machine have significantly reduced the water consumption.

“A proof of our machine’s competence is the Japanese buyer Uniqlo recommending garment dyeing machines from Brongo to its vendors like Noble Hurricane Group, which bought machines from Brongo based on the recommendation of Uniqlo.” – Beatrice Brongo

vIBEMAC helping Bangladesh in moving up the value chain with suitable automation

leading the automated sewing solutions for denim was seasoned

industry veteran and italian giant vibemac, exuding with an air of confidence at the show. Enrico Guerreschi, Sales Director, Vibemac while interacting with Team Apparel Online at dtG says, “the industry will bounce back in no time,” referring to the ongoing political impasse. vibemac has created a niche for its solutions in the Bangladeshi market with installations in factories like pacific Jeans, universal Jeans, opex Group, ha-Meem Group, Mahmud Jeans, kenpark, regency and ananta denim.

displaying immense confidence in jeans manufacturing capabilities of the country, enrico sees the Bangladeshi industry getting better with the product in terms of sewing and washing with every season. “one of our customers, pacific, is working on 14 ounce selvedge denim imported from Japan. this is premium of the premium. it does not get better than this and it is made in Bangladesh,” asserts enrico. present in the country since 1997, enrico shares that a gamut of performance-oriented machines and a reliable network of spare parts supply have kept the italian company going from strength to strength in Bangladesh. “at the same

time we are training our technicians at our italy headquarters every year. it has ensured that our customers are happy and buying more of our machines,” he concludes.

the vibemac booth attracted many visitors for its 4650ev9r automatic belt loop setter promising better efficiency and quality than its earlier versions. the latest machine is now equipped with a completely new 7 inch coloured touch screen panel, which the company claims is the most user-friendly computer panel. the new cpu with newly developed software by vibemac assures a much better software management, a better seam quality, easier adjustments and patterns, more precision, more customizable and more fashion options. also equipped with a new presser foot providing extra pressure and less flexure, and a lower barycentre, the sewing automat is a mile ahead of competition. the new loop alignment system avoids loop mispositioning on the waistband, especially for the folded tail loops. vibemac has many more key machines for jeans in its portfolio such as the v800aS serging machine, v300 waistband attaching machine, 1010v4 dcS automatic back pocket decoration machine, 2516v4 automatic back pocket setter and 3022Bhe bottom hemming unit.

Founded in 1984, ZSk from Germany has created a niche for itself in a highly competitive

market. having already established a stronghold in pakistani ethnic wear market and indian home furnishing sector, the company has now entered Bangladeshi market with the technology agent terrot Bangladesh, which is also the sole agent of terrot knitting machines. appreciating the importance that Bangladeshi market puts on quality, Frank Giessmann, Sales Director Asia, ZSK Stickmaschinen GmbH says, “the Bangladeshi industry is not bothered about cheap embroidery machines, because they are aware of the poor quality they produce. this market reveres quality and thinks in long term.”

exhibiting at dtG-2015, the company had a versatile line-up sample prepared on two different

embroidery heads – W-head and k-head. Both are special heads with only one needle. the k-head is a special embroidery head for chain and chenille embroidery. an automatic colour changer for 6 different thread colours helps to introduce even more varieties and flexibility. it has 4 single motors allowing the individual variation of the needle, presser foot and the way the thread is fixed on the material. the W-head is a special embroidery head, which is able to embroider a vast number of special threads, ribbons, and cord at lower costs with continuous high quality. all special embroidery machines can be equipped with sequin devices. the W-head makes application of special threads possible. the special thread is fixed next to the head on a roll which can freely move with the head. depending on the mode, the thread can be moved in different directions.

Frank Giessmann, Sales Director Asia, ZSK Stickmaschinen GmbH

Team Vibemac (L to R) – Farhadur Rahman Jewel, Country Manager; Kevin Reddy, Production Engineer; Enrico Guerreschi, Sales Director; and Gherasim Silvian, Senior Technician

ZSK certain of success in the quality-conscious Bangladesh market

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Shima Seiki, the recognized comprehensive flat knitting

technology solution provider was present at dtG with pacific associates, its channel partner for Bangladesh. the company’s agenda at the fair was synonymous with its reputation of offering technologies and interventions that have time and again guided the future of the knitting industry. one such point of emphasis was skilling the knitting industry operators. although Bangladeshi apparel manufacturing industry enjoys unquestionable lead on the global scale, high man-to-machine ratios continue to be the country’s achilles’ heel. “While it is possible for one operator to control 10 machines, the figure is as low as 2 in a large number of Bangladeshi factories. this mainly stems from the fact that skilled labour is still a rarity in the country,” points out Tadanori Ueno, General Manager – Bangladesh Liaison, Shima Seiki.

Shima Seiki provides training modules for machine technicians, and names like pioneer Sweaters have already benefited from the program. the company’s next step in this direction is a movie clip, scheduled for a mid-March launch, which details maintenance procedures like needle change and machine oiling. “this video if played on the production floor will ensure that operators are skilled enough to take on the roles of technicians as well. it will ensure that they don’t have to call the boss, the technician or the programmer and hence reduce downtime as well,” avers tadanori. Shima Seiki machines have control panel in Bengali, which the company claims is more accurate in its translation compared to other machine manufacturers. unfazed by the ongoing tense national situations tadanori is confident of the country’s recovery and is looking at maintaining the growth registered in the previous year. “Bangladesh continues to be our second most important business destination,” he further emphasizes.

Shima Seiki showcased its wide range of machines for fine and heavy gauge applications. a part of this was the nSeS122cS computerized flat knitting

machine with coarse gauge capability and videos for machine maintenance. the “cS” in the name stands for “compound-Sinker” formulated from Shima Seiki technologies of compound needles and spring-type sinker system. compound needles ensure short stroke and patented spring-type sinker system, greatly increasing pattern variety. the machine’s r2carriaGe ensures that less space is required for the carriage to make returns on the knitting bed, allowing more area for the carriage to run at full speed yielding significant productivity increases. Further racking for loop transfer is performed by both front and rear beds simultaneously in two directions, reducing total racking movement by half resulting in compact machine size, better racking control and knit capability.

outfitted with digital Stitch control System (dScS), nSeS122cS continuously adjusts yarn feed and tension for loop consistency (tolerance +/- 1%) guaranteeing quality control and consistency among different batches and repeat orders. alongside this machine, live demonstrations were also held on SdS®-one apex3, a specialized hardware/software system from Shima Seiki.

Katsuhiro Ogawa, Deputy General Manager, Joint Sales Division, Shima Seiki (2nd from left) and Tadanori Ueno, General Manager – Bangladesh Liaison, Shima Seiki (4th from left) with Zakaria Wahid, Managing Director, Al Amin Garment (extreme right)

SHIMA SEIKI lays emphasis on developing skilled workforce; unveils solutions for heavy knits Shima Seiki’s

next step in the direction of training is a movie clip, scheduled for a mid-March launch, which details maintenance procedures like needle change and machine oiling. This video if played on the production floor will ensure that operators are skilled enough to take on the roles of technicians as well.

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With about 7 decades of experience in supporting,

servicing and upgrading the textile and apparel industry in india, makes a.t.e. not only the most experienced and preferred, but also the largest and most organized solution provider to the textile, non-woven, carpet and apparel industry. present in Bangladesh for more than 22 years, a.t.e. formally

established a.t.e. technologies Bangladesh pvt. ltd. in 2005 with local sales force, technicians and managers. “Strong local presence in Bangladesh was necessary to gain the trust of the industry and be able to take bigger projects,” says Vikas Sharan, Vice President – Knitting, Synthetics, Non-Woven & Carpets, A.T.E.

Enterprises, whose presence at the dtG fair highlights the optimism and dedication of the company’s top management towards Bangladesh market. a.t.e.’s product portfolio for the Bangladesh market includes Zinser (speed frames), elgi electric (overhead travelling cleaners and yarn conditioning system), tayu (circular knitting machines), teraspin (spindles, drafting systems and other spares) and MaG (lab equipment) to mention a few. “Bangladesh textile industry runs its equipment at comfortable speeds, which explains the influx of chinese equipment here based on price performance,” explains vikas. Such speeds have also required a.t.e. to strategize their business in consumables and spare parts such as top rollers, spindles, etc. from teraspin. the machines and parts that we offer in Bangladesh are all suitable for higher speeds, which makes us ‘preferred’ suppliers here,” opines vikas.

at the recently concluded dtG fair, a.t.e. exhibited the ty-S30-oW122 circular knitting open-width machine from tayu, which received much appreciation for its structure, design and speed from Bangladesh customers and even got a good number of

bookings. Working on a range of fabrics like plain jersey, pique fabrics, all four track designs and elastane fabric, this machine also provides an option for three thread conversions. it has a fairly compact open-width frame with lesser operating height. “tayu has been one of the recent additions to our rich product portfolio in Bangladesh. We are also promoting at selling Zimmer, a digital printing solution provider, to the Bangladesh market because value addition and faster turnover is picking up in the country,” shares vikas.

circular knitting machines from tayu and yarn conditioning system, overhead travelling cleaners for speed frames, ring frames and auto-coners, and bobbin transport systems from elgi electric are some of the bestselling products of a.t.e. in Bangladesh, apart from spares, pumps and processing equipment and accessories. “2015 and beyond would be better if only new spinning projects come up, which would require allotment of new gas connections for cost-effectiveness, because presently, the market is very saturated and we have to approach the existing spinning and processing units, who only require balancing machinery, apart from the consumable parts,” concludes vikas.

A.T.E. confident of supporting Bangladesh with its wide range of textile equipments, spares and consumables

“Bangladesh textile industry runs its equipment at comfortable speeds, which explains the influx of Chinese equipments here based on price performance. The machines and parts that we offer in Bangladesh are all suitable for higher speeds, which makes us ‘preferred’ suppliers here.” – Vikas Sharan

Team A.T.E. after successful conclusion of the DTG fair in the presence of Vikas Sharan, Vice President – Knitting, Synthetics, Non-Wovens & Carpets, A.T.E. (4th from right)

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Since the advent of computerization in the flat

knitting industry of Bangladesh, the country has become the hotspot for flat knitting machines provider from all over the world, with majority of them being from china, the biggest manufacturer and exporter of flat knit industries. While most of the chinese flat knitting technology providers have the

factory in Bangladesh are of a bigger scale when compared to china, because they are all catering to the export market,” shared Grant Fong, Director & General Manager, Ningbo Cixing. participating at the dtG fair, cixing showcased its diverse range of computerized flat knitting machines and the top-end model hp2-52c jacquard machine highlighted the

CIxING continues the success story with its intelligent knitting machines

of the output, spare parts, competent technicians and trained operators,” adds tuhin. the price of the knitting machines is reasonable and the company claims that its quality is comparable to German and Japanese competitors. the price of spare parts of the computerized flat knitting machines from cixing is 1/15th of that of the competition, and for training technicians and operators, cixing Bangladesh has established a 30,000 sq. ft. training centre in dhaka, which has already trained 100 technicians for servicing the industry.

minimal level of technology required for knitting the kind of sweaters being sourced from Bangladesh and offer such machines at a very reasonable price, only a handful of chinese companies have found success in Bangladesh. among these companies is cixing, which has been selling on an average 5,000 computerized flat knitting machines in Bangladesh annually. “although Bangladesh is the 2nd largest market for our computerized flat knitting machines after china, but the

showcase. part of cx2 series, the cx2-45c guarantees 20% higher productivity due to a small carriage design, which enables faster movement of the carriage across the needle bed.

the chinese company has been able to find success in the competitive market of Bangladesh because of the efforts of Zalal Uddin Tuhin, Managing Director, Cixing Bangladesh Ltd. “We have focused on four aspects which define the preferences of a customer, i.e. price, quality

Moreover, all cixing machines come with one year warranty. “We have sold a total of 5,000 machines in the last 4 years and began the year 2015 on a positive note by selling 700 machines in the month of January alone,” concludes tuhin. despite regular installation, cixing found success with korean foreign investor apparel manufacturers in Bangladesh with installation in haesong korea and kuliarchar Sweater, hesong corporation, etc.

The price of spare parts of the computerized flat knitting machines from Cixing are 1/15th of that of the competition, and for training technicians and operators, Cixing Bangladesh has established a 30,000 sq. ft. training centre in Dhaka, which has already trained 100 technicians for servicing the industry.

Zalal Uddin Tuhin, Managing Director, Cixing Bangladesh with Grant Fong, Director & General Manager, Ningbo Cixing

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With apparel exports worth uS $ 25 billion and a global ranking

of 2nd in apparel exports, Bangladesh has become a honey pot for technology providers from all over the world. the competition has become even tougher as the apparel manufacturers are now open to all kinds of automation for reducing manpower and savings fabric, the most expensive raw material. Gerber is able to leverage the apparel manufacturers its knowledge in cutting to optimising fabric use. Working with

elaborates Bill Ramsey, Regional Sales & General Manager – South West Asia, Gerber Technology. the american cutting room solution pioneer Gerber was showcasing for the first time its latest paragon cutter and xls 50 spreader at the dtG fair with its agent prime asia.

Bangladesh as a potential market for Gerber ranks on top and second only in terms of the market size and number of machines installed. “We attribute our success to prime asia as they have been a very self-sufficient organization, which has time and again invested on training programs, demonstrations and seminars for the industry, and we have supported them by providing the necessary knowledge,” shares Bill. Gerber has also supported prime asia by training its 12 technicians dedicated to servicing Gerber products in Bangladesh.

from the pattern and marker making software solutions – the longer the marker, the better the efficiency. now we have also developed the easy plan, which is an additional module, part of the marker making software and requires no additional payment,” elaborate Bill. Bangladesh is yet to embrace the automatic cutters in their cutting rooms. “Spreading has always been a critical job as fabric needs to be relaxed before cutting for tension control. But in case of cutting, such issues have been dealt with, but at the cost of low cutting output and longer working hours. But i feel as and when the people realize such losses they will go for automatic cutters and some of them have already understood the same,” opines Bill.

installation at Shore to Shore textiles and Standard Group have been some of the recent installations of Gerber in Bangladesh, and the cutter and spreader showcased at the fair are owned by Standard Group. “the presence of the paragon cutting system at the dtG fair highlights the potential of the market,” avers Bill. Gerber’s new paragon cutting platform enables manufacturers to realize a higher return on investment by producing more parts in less time. the paragon’s user interface, called the keri™ is simple enough for any operator to use efficiently and accurately from the start. the cutter’s sensing technologies constantly monitor operation and can automatically adjust and provide wizard-based feedback to operators to improve throughput and quality. and, with patent pending ever Sharp™ technology, customers can replace knife sharpening stones in seconds and get up to three times more usable life than traditional stones. paragon’s high-efficiency design reduces energy costs by up to 20 per cent. the two versions of paragon are available, the lx which cuts up to 2.75 cm of vacuum compressed material, and the vx which cuts up to 7.2 cm of compressed material. “in terms of technology, we respect the competition and are realistic about it, but are proud to say that we are way ahead of them,” concludes Bill.

prime asia for close to 20 years now, Gerber has been present in Bangladesh through agents and claims to have acquired a modest market share in the country. “We have realized that it is difficult to be profitable and successful in a new country without the involvement of skilled locals. it’s about thinking globally, acting locally,”

Besides automating cutting room operations for reducing manpower requirement and increasing the cutting output, fabric savings through precise cutting, accurate cutting and marker making is also a top priority for the industry as Bangladesh is still dependent on cMt business for profitability. “the fabric savings start

GERBER complementing its technologies with training and knowledge sharing initiatives

(L to R) Bill Ramsey, Regional Sales & General Manager – South West Asia, Gerber Technology and Asib Reza, Managing Director, Prime Asia Group with a colleague from Gerber Shanghai

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COrriGENDUM This is to inform that in the March issue of AOB, the Gemsy advertisement published on page 35 inadvertently had the wrong name and address of Bangladesh office. The error is regretted.

Please note the correct address as under:Gemsy Bangladesh Service and Training Center, Add: House#4, Road #5, Sector#6, Uttara, Dhaka Tel:+8801799797122, +8801799797123 E-sales003e@gemsy.com, sales007e@gemsy.com

IMA displays the Formula Evo cutting and spreading solutions

Mirella Sardini, Managing Director, IMA Group with Stefano Bordogna, Managing Director, MACPI South Asia

reinforcing its position as pioneering cutting room

solutions provider, iMa was present at the dtG fair with its agent pacific associates. With products characterized by high precision and use of latest electronics, the iMa and Macpi booth garnered high footfalls. Stressing on the uSp of its cutting and spreading solutions, Stefano Bordogna, Managing Director, MACPI South Asia remarks, “our

machines can be programmed to millimetres and not just centimetres. it is the fabric savings which are pivotal to the utility of our machines because in a place like Bangladesh where labour costs are rock bottom anyway, fabric savings will be of actual significance.” Following recent installations at suit manufacturer east West Group, Stefano is positive about registering a 20 per cent growth in the coming year. “We have done 3 installations of a similar size. the interest

is mainly rooted in the fact that the suiting’s fabric, being expensive, guarantees quicker rois,” adds Mirella Sardini, Managing Director, IMA Group. With 40 cutters and 70 spreaders installated across the country, the italian pioneer attributes the success of its solutions to a dedicated team that ensures complete post-implementation training and after-sales support.

the cutting machine ForMula evo pluS 919 displayed at the fair comes equipped with a knife assembly capable of cutting lays of heights ranging from single ply to 7 cm (compressed). the cutting machine’s features include flexible configurations for the optimization of the cutting process, a compact design, fast, noiseless and precise human Machine interface for real time data feedback, digital controls and energy saving.

also exhibited at the booth was phoenix 890, a spreader developed in partnership with Mitsubishi. the spreader is a modular system, fully interchangeable depending on the demands and challenges of the market. the spreader provides complete

flexibility in terms of spreading modes that range from one way to zigzag (with and without movable clamps alongside the option of cut ends). alongside auto-stop motions in case of power cuts and roll end, the spreader can automatically align the edges, carry out diagnosis and produce fabric usage reports. the machine can be programmed directly on the touch screen for lay length, spreading method and working profiles.

established in 1919, Santoni started as a socks knitting machines manufacturer and has

now grown to fulfil 97% of the global demand of seamless knitting machines for manufacturing innerwear, sportswear, beachwear, outerwear and medical textiles. present in Bangladesh since 2006, the company has continued to receive orders for its circular knitting machines even in tough times and has been able to break through the Bangladeshi market with seamless machines, with its maiden installation at urmi Group and 6 other projects in pipeline. “Seamless knitwear is the next growth area for Bangladesh as the product category has started moving out of china,” opines Gianpiero Valsecchi, Area Sales Manager, Santoni and points at the rising receptiveness of industry toward adopting advanced knitting machines.

With installation in the companies such as akh Group, Metro Group, knit concern and Group reedisha, Santoni is looking at scaling new heights the seamless knitting. “We train our customers at our italy head office in yarn selection, machine maintenance and design and development of seamless products,” shares Gianpiero.

exhibited at the dtG fair, the Mec-Mor variatex cMp machine can make a sweater in four minutes and is equipped with features such as stitch structures using various types of yarn and can do single and double jersey, jacquards, plated effects, pockets and four-colour stripes with speed reaching up to 25 rpM. the machine has open variable panel (variatex technology) for production of garments of weft knitting. the variable width of panel allows setting number of working needles for required product which in turn enables one single machine to produce all sizes without any wastage.

SANToNI registers confidence in growing seamless knits industry

Gianpiero Valsecchi, Area Sales Manager, Santoni

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SMART TECHNoloGy exhibits ahead of the curve solutions for denim jeans

of denim jeans manufacturing from automation in sewing to value addition in terms of washing,” says Suvashish Paul, CEO, Smart Technology.

tonello proudly claims to have installed some of its most advanced and high-end washing solutions in Bangladesh in some companies, such as pacific Jeans, tusuka Group and M&J Group. “although priced highest amongst our competitors, our machines give the fastest roi due to lowest defect ratio and features such as monitoring and altering wash recipes through our headquarters in italy to get the perfect wash.

relatively new in the business of making available apparel

manufacturing solutions and technologies to the apparel industry, Smart technology has precisely created its product portfolio for denim jeans manufacturers, with technologies from companies such as vibemac, tonello, triveneta, eastman and nearchimica. this niche of the company was displayed at the recently concluded dtG fair with technology showcase of vibemac and tonello. “We have looked at covering all the aspects

through the same system, we can also fix the machine from italy itself,” asserts Denis Chiarello, Area Sales Manager, Tonello. With Smart technology, tonello has developed a team of 5 local technicians for after-sales support and service, and another specialized technician is being trained for using the machine.

Showcased at the dtG fair, the tonello G1 lW-lW1 washing machine is suitable for replicating wash procedures during sampling stage. equipped with a B&r processor, the very

latest of its generation and an lcd tFt touch screen, tonello’s software works to optimize the machine’s functions and enables the programming of a larger number of automatic programmes. there are two models in the range – lW and lW1. the lW1 is equipped with basket that has a smaller diameter, thus significantly reducing the minimum load while maintaining the liquor ratio. outfitted with a pre-extractor, the G1 range is rina tested and aciMit certified. Further, this range of washing machines comes with stainless steel structure and scratch resistant tempered glass. “our washing machines for knits are more successful in Bangladesh than the same for denim jeans,” adds denis.

also present at the booth were representatives from Smart’s italian principal triveneta Grandi impianti, whose advanced dryers are sold in combination with the washing machines from tonello. the italian pioneer specializes in loading and unloading technology for washing machines and dryers, through which a 200 kg wash load can be loaded in just 2/3 minutes. Bangladesh accounts for at least 55% of the total export sales of triveneta dryer, making it the biggest market for the company.

“the automation in loading and unloading the dyers makes the process faster and almost strainfree for the operator. Moreover, with the time saved due to automated loading and unloading, companies can run their washing and drying machines for 2-3 more cycles within 8 hours, increasing the daily output phenomenally,” explains Silvia Marcon, Area Sales Manager, Triveneta. the dryer can also be equipped with rotating counter-door for stone wash treatment, a high precision humidity controller, infrared probe touch screen with tele-assistance from italy. triveneta has special dryers for knits, socks and seamless knitwear. these dryers reduce the overall cycle time and wastages.

Team Smart Technology (L to R) – Silvia Marcon, Area Sales Manager, Triveneta Grandi Impianti; Suvashis Paul Shimul, CEO, Smart Technology; Andrea Rossetti, Owner, Triveneta Grandi Impianti; and Denis Chiarello, Area Sales Manager, Tonello

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BUllMER registers fresh success with its range of automatic cutters

cutting room solution providers from all over the

world have found success with their spreaders in Bangladesh but only a handful of them have been able to replicate the same with its automatic cutters. among this small group resides the German cutting room solutions provider bullmer with 8 decades of experience in developing cutting room solutions and some of the automatic cutters from the

company have been running successfully for 30 years now. “the competition has only affected the market of the spreaders as people reply on German automation when going for automatic cutters. 2015 would be a good year for us, as now the apparel manufacturers will start investing in automatic cutting machines as the industry has realized that a cutter promises uncompromised quality, high cutting output and fabric savings up to 5%,”

Reinhard Koehler, Area Manager, bullmer GmbH (3rd from left) presents the ‘Best Dealer’ award to M. A. Saleque, Managing Director, Uni Asia Associates (2nd from left) in the presence of Gazi Mohiuddin Ahmed, Managing Director, Wisteria Textiles (extreme left)

avers Reinhard Koehler, Area Manager, bullmer GmbH. With a clientele of companies such as epic Group, pal Mal Group, Wisteria textiles and epyllion Group, bullmer recently installed an automatic cutter in the suit manufacturing facility of univogue Garments. bullmer also attributes the recent success to its agent uni asia associates, which has 4 technicians dedicated to the servicing of machines from bullmer.

the capabilities of cutting machines from bullmer were lauded by Gazi Mohiuddin Ahmed, Managing Director, Wisteria Textiles, who has been using a cutter from the company for the past 5 years, for cutting knit fabrics. “Since fabrics accounts for 70% of a garment’s cost, i always wanted to have an efficient and productive cutting department. For this, we installed a cutter from bullmer and till now the machine has not broken down for even once, enabling us to get the return on investment in less than two years,” avers Gazi. Wisteria has not yet used the knife-drive brought with the cutting machines and is also hesitant towards buying an annual maintenance contract from bullmer. “due to the cutter performance we have been able to lower garment rejections as patterns are now cut with at most precision and we only order

3% extra fabric, unlike the 10% extra fabric we used to order before installing the cutter,” shares Gazi. the low downtime of the machine can be attributed to the remote diagnostic facility of bullmer, under which cutting machines can be repaired by technicians sitting in Germany. “the patented knife-drive system of the cutting machine from bullmer is replaceable and can be changed very quickly in case of breakdown which reduces the machine downtime greatly. no other company has such a feature in its cutter,” adds M. A. Saleque, Managing Director, Uni Asia Associates. consumables and spare parts required most often by the machines have been stocked in good quantities by uni asia associates.

chittagong-based univogue Garments selected cutters from bullmer after in-depth analyses of all the available brands in the market. “Majority of the investments are targeted at cutting room automation, wherein people are not only installing cutters and spreaders but also looking at optimising the efficiencies and output of the department by cut order management and planning, which we are able to provide as a part of our services,” concludes Saleque, who has precariously selected the top technology suppliers as his principals.

“We have been using the automatic cutting machines from bullmer for the past 5 years and the machine has never broken down even once. it has also helped us in saving fabric and increasing the cutting room efficiency, enabling us to get a good rOi.”– Gazi Mohiuddin Ahmed

“The patented knife-drive system of the cutting machine from bullmer is replaceable and can be changed very quickly in case of breakdown which reduces the machine downtime greatly. No other company has such a feature in its cutter.” – M. A. Saleque

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the discovery of the world’s first unit production system

back in 1967 by eton Systems changed the way apparel manufacturers’ deal with Wip, space utilization, material flow and other such factors critical to the efficiency and output of their factories. now with the Bangladeshi apparel manufacturers pushing hard for efficiency and productivity improvement for increasing output instead of putting up another factory, the time could not have been more right for eton to participate at the dtG fair. “the recent wage hikes have pushed the people to focus

to make the manufacturers understand the advantages of an overhead material handling system along with the competitive edge of eton as a solution provider. “Generally an increase of 25% in efficiency and for some products up to 50% can be seen with the usage of the eton systems,” adds Fredrik Andersson, Key Accounts Manager, Eton Systems AB. to maintain the quality of installations and trainings in Bangladesh both the installations and trainings are supervised by people from Sweden and other european countries. the characteristic

on aspects of space utilization and productivity improvement,” shares Mikael Haag, CEO, Eton Systems AB. the Swedish company has been present in Bangladesh for the past 4 years through their agent prime asia and has done successful installations in rk industries. “i see very bright prospects for eton in Bangladesh and the manufacturers are way ahead of the price game,” he adds.

to further expand its market share in the country, eton will organize information and knowledge-sharing seminars with prime asia in dhaka,

red chain, adjustable both vertically and laterally, cater for an ergonomic posture for the operators, who can choose to sit or stand up while working and set the chain at a comfortable distance. in addition, there are three eton Systems radio frequency readers on each station, automatically correcting the order of the product carriers, as well as providing information of products leaving stations in buffer. this feature provides against over-loading. Several electrical motors guarantee maximum uptime. the system will keep going even if one motor shuts down.

as the quality expectation from Bangladesh is increasing among the buyers, more and more fabric manufacturers

are investing in technologies to ensure consistency in quality. Such focus on quality of fabrics has helped the american pioneer navis tubetex garner a clientele of more than 350 fabric manufacturers with companies such as dBl Group and knit concern. “Bangladesh is a major market for our machines and we have found majority of the success with our tubular compactors,” shares Gary Morris, Sales Director – Asia Pacific, Navis TubeTex. another reason for the strong presence of the company in Bangladesh is that the country majorly manufactures cotton fabrics, wherein lies the expertise of navis tubetex. “the reason why our tubular compactor pak nit ii e3 has found success in Bangladesh is because an open width fabric finishing project is 50% more expensive than tubular finishing projects as the former requires stenters,” elaborates Gary Morris. navis tubetex has started 2015 on a positive note and has installed two tubular compactors to Bangladesh.

although fabric compactors are the backbone of the american pioneer’s product portfolio, navis tubetex has expanded its reach to machines for both open width and tubular fabric processing and finishing applications like shrinkage control, water extraction, fabric drying, bleaching, mercerizing and heat recovery. the navis tubetex tM-100 compactor controls shrinkage in 100% viscose to less than 4-5% at a speed of 30 metres per minute and other difficult fabrics to less than 3% to better control shrinkage and weights over any other compaction technology. developed on the basis of extensive engineering and research in terms of new materials and manufacturing techniques the 2500 mm (100 inch) wide machine brings quicker style changeovers and higher quality while reducing running cost. the machine produces fabrics with a softer hand, superior shrinkage control, width control, and yield control. optional width control and stitch control devices are also available for further ease of operation.

Gary Morris, Sales Director – Asia Pacific, Navis TubeTex EToN offering the industry new ways to be productive and efficient

NAvIS TUBETEx exhibits open width knit fabric finisher TM-100

Mikael Haag, CEO, Eton Systems AB and Fredrik Andersson, Key Accounts Manager, Eton Systems

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at a time, when innovation is the need of the hour, to stay in the business, the apparel manufacturers

in Bangladesh are looking towards digital printing technologies as the next focus area. realising the same, austria-based aeoon technologies showcased its garment and textile digital printing machine, at the booth of its agent rh corporation. “the deterrent towards going for digital printing machines is the price of these machines but with the kind of technology we are offering, the roi would be certainly faster because this machine prints on both fabric and individual garment panels,” avers Angelo Schiestl, Managing Director, Aeoon Technologies.

Bangladesh has been introduced to digital printing only a few years ago and hence the country is still learning about the machines, technology and inks. “the basic idea of bringing the machine to the fair was to showcase the capabilities of the machine and make people understand the same. the machine displayed this time would only be

up for sales in 2016,” adds angelo. Since digital printing requires good knowledge and training before operating the machine, aeoon has assigned 4 technicians only for the same purposes. “in 2015 we will focus on establishing a spare parts store, consultancy team and training local technicians, and our agent would be very instrumental in helping us do the same,” shares angelo.

the machine exhibited in dtG fair was the aeoon kyo 12, which uses pigmented and water-based inks. promising an output of 800 t-shirts per hour in case of light colours and 400 t-shirts per hour in case of dark colours, the printer uses kyocera kJ4B piezoelectric drop on demand print heads. using up to 12 inkjet print heads with 2558 nozzles, the printer can achieve a resolution of 2400 dpi. Warranty of one year is offered on all machines of aeoon, except for kyocera print heads, whose warranty is provided by kyocera only.

AEooN TECHNoloGIES brings innovative digital printing technology to Bangladesh

Angelo Schiestl, Managing Director, Aeoon Technologies with Md. Khejmat Ali, Manager – Technical & Marketing RH. Corporation

HEBBECKER pioneers remote diagnostics in screen printing machines

hebbecker began its journey of screen printing,

flocking and curing solutions in 1999 from the German city of Stuttgart. in attendance at the dtG 2015 with its Bangladeshi agent uni asia associates, hebbecker marked its presence at the show with its versatronic alpha-line-combi, a 20 station screen printing carousel. the variants of the machines are available in 6 to 20 stations and can print in a maximum of 18 colours. every station is equipped with servo motor-driven four cylinder power squeegee system and the pressure settings of every station can be set individually to achieve the highest degree of precision while printing. hebbecker’s printing solutions have also pioneered remote diagnostics for printing machines. “We recognize the importance of timely repairs and part replacements. keeping the same in mind, we have incorporated in our machines sensors that are monitored from hebbecker’s professionals sitting in Germany. if any technical glitches arise they can be rectified solely by programming,” adds Klaus Wagner, CEO, Hebbecker. at the same time, mechanical spare parts

are available with uni asia associates in Bangladesh, who have been trained by the German principal for installation and technical assistance post-sale.

While most intermediate dryers need a lot of energy because in short time they have to achieve a high temperature, which also damages the textile, with hebbecker radiators, the absorption and/or the reflection of the ir jets is in relation to different colours and hence is more neutral. thus, these ir emitters are harmless and are not harsh on the textile unlike short-wave emitters; hence the textile will not be damaged. this cannot be achieved with short-wave emitters which have too high temperatures in connection with a too long drying time.

having already established a niche in regions like egypt, South africa, india and iran, hebbecker is now looking at nourishing Bangladesh as a hub for printing. “printing in Bangladesh is very popular as printed garments, even in the form of sportswear, is gaining popularity overseas. We are in fact working with nike on developing a print as well. on the other hand there are printed shirts in european markets selling at euro 70-80,” shares klaus.

M. A. Saleque, Managing Director, Uni Asia Associates with Klaus Wagner, CEO, Hebbecker

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only a handful of people in the apparel industry

would know Flavio cattini, who is the inventor of the first spreading machine in the world with electrical parts under the brand caron in carpi, Modena (italy) in 1961. in 1981 caron s.n.c. closed its operations and F.k. arna s.r.l. was born to continue with the production of advanced spreading machine and in 1987 F.k. Systema s.r.l. was established with the objective of solving problems specific to garment design. the company launched the first cad system and the first pen plotter to draw markers for the cutting machines. in 2007, F.k.

arna s.r.l. and F.k. Systema s.r.l joined together under the brand Fkgroup s.r.l. in the same year, following huge investment, new software based on SQl, new spreading machine and new cutting machines were launched.

as of now, the company is owned by Flavio cattini and Sergio Gori (ex-pilot of italian force and neto), who joined the company in 2007 and Fkgroup has now transformed into a total cutting room and product development solution provider. “We are still manufacturing in italy and have not outsourced or shifted our production to china, but our machines are still reasonable in price than that of other european and american companies. this was made possible by the millions of euros we invested in completely redesigning the machines in partnership with SieMenS GerMany. hence all the components in our machines have been made by SieMenS GerMany,” avers Sergio Gori,

Commercial Managing Director and Co-owner, FKgroup. due to such interventions, the automated cutting machines from Fk have achieved a blade vibration of around 6000 rpM and cutting speed of 110 metres per minute, much higher than the industry average of 50 to 80 metres per minute. all these factors attract many buyers for Fkgroup from all across the world, with china being its biggest market globally, followed by peru, argentina and Mexico to name a few.

to represent its solutions in the Bangladesh market, Fkgroup has partnered with Wintex resources limited. “We have 16

due to this the annual carbon emission of the cutters is 12 tonnes less than that of any other cutter. “We have a certification from World health organisation (Who) certifying our cutters for their low carbon emissions and zero sound levels, hence suitable for the health of operators,” adds Sergio Gori.

With such interventions, Fk has found success in the country with a true and capable partner Wintex with installations in companies such as esquire Group, hameem Group, purbani Group, epic Group, aman Group, osman Group, kdS Group, azim Group, al-Muslim Group and so on. “presently,

years of experience in cutting room automation and our employees have on an average 8-10 years of experience in the same field. another policy of ours is that, irrespective of whether a company buys SieMenS spare parts from any part of the world or from the local market, they would still be supported by us because Fk/Wintex doesn’t want to turn ‘good service’ into a ‘profit centre’, service is our main strength,” asserts Md. Faruk Hossen Sarker, CEO, Wintex Resources Limited.

the electrical consumption of Fk cutters is only 5.9 kW (eco-power technology), which is almost five times less than what is consumed by other cutters.

hameem is our biggest customer with 22 machines including auto loaders, spreaders and cutters, while few more machines are in the pipeline. in the future, we plan to install at least 15 to 20 cutting machines along with respective spreaders in the Bangladeshi market within two years. especially for the ‘Green’ factories, Fk is the only & best solution,” shares Md. Faruk hossen Sarker. Wintex is open to exchanging old, worn-out and non-functional cutters, spreaders and plotters from apparel manufacturers, in return offering a big discount on Fk’s range of respective machines.

fKGRoUP optimistic of growth in Bangladesh with its fast and sustainable cutting room solutions in partnership with Wintex resources

Sergio Gori, Commercial Managing Director and Co-owner, FKgroup with Md. Faruk Hossen Sarker, CEO, Wintex Resources Limited

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techneWs

G.PRO introduces Robotic Lean Mover System in Bangladesh

introduced for the first time at the recently concluded

aaMa-tex fair in Singapore, the robotic lean Mover material handling system from G.pro is one of the most recent path-breaking solutions for the apparel manufacturing industry. Showcased for the first time at the Garmentech fair, the material handling system received a tremendous response from the industry because of its simplicity, flexibility, ease of use and its power to improve productivity and quality in apparel production. the tracks can be

configured into any shape and length according to production method and space availability. “the lean Mover system is unique because each and every hanger has its own motor and therefore can move independently of other movers on the track. the movers are not driven by any conveyor belt or chain, unlike all existing conveyor-based hanger systems in the market,” explained Jordan Tang, Chairman, G.PRO, who has nearly two decades of experience in the apparel manufacturing industry of South asia.

Tonello launches multi-colour laser technology

Jeans manufacturers can now make use of

tonello’s multi-colour laser technology solutions to colour denims. Zaitex S.p.a, an italy based wholesale distribution and marketer of chemicals and allied products, and tonello S.r.l, an italy based textile washing solutions provider, have come together to exploit tonello’s kit Batik and laser Blaze technology to develop multi-colour laser. Multi-colour laser is the result of an investigation combining a special resin by Zaitex with tonello sustainable technologies. the resin is evenly applied onto the garments through kit Batik, a special

technology, ensuring a good penetration and the less waste possible of the product used, which is then permanently imprinted on the fabric through a special setting of tonello laser. Subsequently, colour and contrast effects can be created on any kind of fabric as with a printer and, by taking advantage of the various functionalities of kit Batik, which is used in this case to apply the resin onto the garment, is a special technology installable on any tonello washing and dyeing machine.

the cutting room is the first area where apparel

manufacturers undertake automation, process optimisation and manpower reduction. this is because the department handles fabric, which is the most expensive raw material in apparel manufacturing. But the focus has been limited to spreading of fabric, and almost every company in the country has invested in automatic spreading equipment, and continues to do so.

taiwan Spreading centre enterprises, owners of tSM brand of cutting and spreading equipment, is one such company which is seeing a lot of demand for its spreading equipment. “Bangladesh has partly automated the cutting room of their factories by installing spreaders, but the cutting is still manual. But in the future, when quantities will rise along with wages, companies would have to go for automatic cutting machines as well. Moreover, with automatic cutting, fabric wastage would be less as there would be more precision cutting,” observed Dirk Huang, Sales Representative, TSM. the taiwanese company has been present in Bangladesh for almost a decade and has been working with Glory trade – its sole agent in the country. established in

1987, Glory trade has offices in the country’s four important garmenting hubs of the country, namely dhaka, chittagong, narayanganj and Manikchhari.

according to dirk, spreaders are being brought mostly for handling knit fabrics as they require precise tension control for accurate spreading. “With the help of the tension control device in our spreaders, tension control has become very easy as the device indicates the fabric tension, which can accordingly be adjusted manually,” he explained. although tSM has spreaders for all kinds of fabrics, its na-600Fn spreader is the most popular in the country. Features such as automatic edge alignment, dual

material feeding system and adjustable tension controller make the machine stand out in the competition. tSM also makes fabric relaxing equipment, especially for knits. But with competition mounting in the country, building quality machines has to be complemented with robust after-sales service. “We have nearly 50 technicians for after-sales service and technical support. Moreover, technicians from taiwan keep visiting Bangladesh for training the local technicians,” shared a k azad Monzu, Managing Director, Glory Trade. the company has recently done some installations at habitus Fashion, liz Fashion and Standard Group.

TSM continues to register success with its range of spreading equipment

(L to R) A K Azad Monzu, Managing Director, Glory Trade; Shahadat Hossan, Managing Director, Fortis Garments and his German partner, with Dirk Huang, Sales Representative, TSM

through its software, the lean Mover offers all the advantages of real time data in terms of line balancing, piece rate calculation, quality issues, total output and operator-wise performance. the system also makes available SMS and mobile application-based alerts. according to the company, its advantages are 30% improvement in operator’s productivity, lower unit production costs, minimal material handling time, lower Wip, and shorter throughput time.

it is important to understand “how we work” before discussing the concept and methodology of rating...

it can be easily observed that different people take different time in completing the same task using same equipment, also the same set of people perform some particular task very well and fast but they don’t do so well with other tasks. here, the ability of individuals and the attitude while working are key performance deciding factors and are within control of individuals.

as far as apparel manufacturing in particular is concerned, factors like ability and attitude of the worker may be improved through skill development training; however, there are some external factors such as quality of the material used (fabric, thread, interlining, buttons, zippers, etc.), condition of machine and equipment, and the working conditions (work place arrangement, light, noise, vibrations, temperature, etc.) which also affect the performance of operators. these external influences are beyond the control of the operator and while discussing an individual operator’s performance, such factors are taken as constant.

Rating considering that the external factors are constant, speed and method used to complete a task affect the output of an operator. While the speed (efforts, tempo, pace are synonymous to speed and may be inter-changeable) is regulated by the limbs movement when performing the task, method in the manner in which the task is done and standardization of method is a prerequisite. the process of rating/comparing the performance of an operator against a normal or standard performance is called rating and the numerical value (expressed as percentage) is called the rating value of the operator.

as the evaluation of normal or standard performance is judgmental and very subjective, rating is one of the most controversial areas of industrial engineering. although to judge performance, different parameters are identified like speed, rhythm, effort, consistency, concentration, heartbeat, oxygen consumption and dexterity; each parameter is eventually evaluated as per the judgment of the person evaluating. an ie can develop such

assessment skills only with a good and long experience.

all rating systems are actually subjectively evaluating several objective parameters!

Standard performance – to effectively rate people, it is important to set benchmarks for comparisons. the standard performance (or benchmark) may be speed expected of a qualified person working without incentive or at a regular day-work pace, using a standardized method. Generally for demonstration purposes, speed while dealing 52 cards in 0.5 min., or walking at 3 miles per hour (100 ft. in 0.38 min.), or filling the standard pin-board with 30 pins using the 2-handed method in 0.41 min. is considered as normal pace, and performance is denoted as 100 on the standard rating.

Why rating is required in apparel manufacturinga number of reasons may be cited affirming the need of rating in apparel manufacturing. First and foremost need of rating is for skill levelling, as different operators possessing

Every individual is unique and poses different capabilities and capacities, which consequently results in different performance levels; so it is the responsibility of the organization to identify rational ways to clearly differentiate among ‘excellent’, ‘good’ and ‘not so good’ operators, so that every individual operator is paid what he/she deserves unrest and dissatisfaction.

under the same conditions an operator may perform uniformly, but the questions that need answers are: why does the same operator perform differently in different working conditions? How will one decide the different classes of operators? What will be the mode and mechanism of comparison? With whom one operator will be compared or what will be the reference benchmark or standard? And finally..., who will decide the benchmark?

Though rating is one such tool which is used for such comparisons, it is also one of the most controversial areas in Industrial Engineering, as the nature of rating is subjective which makes it open ended. Since many years there have been attempts to minimize or eliminate the subjectivity in the rating process and make it clear and objective, but a definite solution to this dilemma is the need of the time.

Manoj Tiwari, Associate Professor, NIFT Jodhpur and Dr. Prabir Jana, Professor, NIFT Delhi discuss the concept of rating, various popular mechanisms and practices used to rate the operators in apparel manufacturing, and attempt to give answers to the questions raised above.

IE in Apparel Manufacturing – II operator Rating

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varying skills perform different kinds of task, which vary in complexity of the operation and efforts required. there has to be a rational way of judging the good and not so good operators for standardization of wages also. uneven distribution of wages may cause unrest among good operators and they may feel disheartened for not being compensated for ‘extra effort’. also, uneven wage payments are not good for an organization and may affect badly on labour retention, as well as the reputation of the organization.

Secondly, rating is required for the standardization of work in order to set the production targets. effective and efficient utilization of available resources is one of the prime responsibilities of any ie and he/she must ensure the optimum utilization of resources.

thirdly, rating is required for training on skill development for allocation of the right skilled person to a specific task in order to achieve the targets. also, it helps in motivating the trainee operators to achieve excellence.

Rating systemsOn what basis one should be rated or what should be the factors one should consider as base for rating, is a big question mark on the whole concept of rating. Is only speed or pace of work sufficient to rate an operator or should other factors such as skill and effort of the operator, working conditions, consistency, etc. also be considered? The aim is to make rating more inclusive and measurable by controlling the subjectivity.

There have been several systems used with varying degree of accuracy for rating the operator.

1. Speed or pace or performance rating – this system of rating is based on the single factor – operator speed, which is the reason why this system is also called speed rating system. the rating observer compares the speed of the operator’s movements to the

standard speed. the rating factor is expressed in percentage and standard performance is equal to 100%.

2. Skill and effort rating, as developed by Charles E. Bedaux in 1916 – the unit of measurement is “B”, which has two components: one is skill and efforts, and the other is fatigue. an operator working at a normal pace is expected to produce 60 Bs per hour, which is considered as standard performance, whereas the average incentive pace would be around 70 to 85 Bs per hour.

3. Levelling rating system developed by Lowry, Maynard and Stegemerten at Westinghouse (during mid-1920s) and also called LMS (following the first letters of developers’ names) – this system is based on four factors – Skill, effort, conditions and consistency – defined in the table of Westinghouse rating factors (refer table 1). these factors are further divided into 6 classes from one extreme to the other (like in case of skill, it is from super skill to poor skill). Further, skill and effort classes have two levels with numerical values assigned and the operator is evaluated by following the table and the observed time is normalized by applying the sum of these rating factors.

assuming that the observed time is 43 seconds and by following the table 1, rating of the operator is as below:

Good Skill, c1 = +0.06 excellent efforts, B2 = +0.08 average conditions, d = 0.00 Good consistency, c = +0.01

-------------------------------------------------------- Sum = +0.15 --------------------------------------------------------

This means the operator rating is 115% and the normal time of operation will be 49.45 seconds (43 x 1.15 = 49.45)

4. Objective rating developed by Dr. Marvin E. Mundel, a management consultant – as the first step in this rating system, operator speed is rated against the standard

pace irrespective of the job difficulty. later, allowance is added depending on the job difficulty considering the amount of body used, foot movements, eye-hand coordination, weight moved or lifted, handling requirements and bimanualness (requirement of simultaneous movement of both hands).the six difficulty factors, which are evaluated are:

1. Body members used

2. use of foot pedals

3. Simultaneous use of hands

4. eye-hand coordination

5. handling of materials

6. Weight of resistance

5. Synthetic rating – in this system of rating predetermined motion and time standards (pMtS) are used as standards. the time observations are taken using time Study and then the performance index or rating factor is calculated, which is the ratio of predetermined value of the operation and the time value observed.

6. Physiological ways of rating – When we work, we consume additional oxygen, and changes in

Many a times on the shop floor, production personnel don’t accept the targets set by iE and question the Time Study. The key reason cited is validity of rating done by the iE, which affects the standard time of an operation. in such a scenario, experienced iE should show them the video or live demonstration of the best method used for the particular operation and highlight the deviations in method applied by the operator.

Table 1. Westinghouse rating factors

Skill Effort

+0.15 A1 Super Skill

+0.13 A1Excessive

+0.13 A2 +0.12 A2

+0.11 B1Excellent

+0.10 B1Excellent

+0.08 B2 +0.08 B2

+0.06 C1Good

+0.05 C1Good

+0.03 C2 +0.02 C2

0.00 D Average 0.00 D Average

-0.05 E1Fair

-0.04 E1Fair

-0.10 E2 -0.08 E2

-0.16 F1Poor

-0.12 F1Poor

-0.22 F2 -0.17 F2

Condition Consistency

+0.06 A Ideal +0.04 A Perfect

+0.04 B Excellent +0.03 B Excellent

+0.02 C Good +0.01 C Good

0.00 D Average 0.00 D Average

-0.03 E Fair -0.02 E Fair

-0.07 F Poor -0.04 F Poor

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in the performance rating plan, dexterity is divided into three attributes (see table 2), and similar to levelling, this requires the analyst to exercise good judgment, but it is presumed to be more objective.

the second category, effectiveness, is divided into four attributes, (refer table 3).

the third category, physical applications, is divided into two attributes and has interesting features (refer table 4). the first is the maximum value that can be assigned to ‘‘work pace”, i.e. +0.6; and the second is 100% attention required for a rating of 100%.

a maximum limit of 138% is placed on all employees under this system. the performance rating plan reflects the theoretical “range of human capacity”. the rating range is –0.38 or 62% to 138%, which is a 1 to 2.25 ratio, the standard range in normal humans according to david Wechasler in the book Range of Human Capacity.

8. Portnoff rating system – the fundamental premises of the portnoff impartial rating system is based on the assumption that for each manufacturing organization and particular job classification, there will be a predetermined deviation range, as the sewing operation is manual, and therefore, performance of any operator is bound to have a deviation whatever minimum it may be.

arbitrarily, selecting a 30% element deviation by operator from minimum to be accepted as 100% performance in a particular factory, a time Study of an operation involving seven elements for each of which ten readings were recorded, was done. the list below shows the time one of the elements (ten readings) reads, respectively 0.21 - 0.25 - 0.23 - 0.24 - 0.23 - 0.21 - 0.22 - 0.22 - 0.25 and 0.23. the deviation from minimum in this particular example from the elements shows the difference between a high reading of 0.25 minutes and the minimum time of 0.21 minutes which figures to 0.04 minutes. the calculation of 0.04 minutes divided by 0.21 minutes gives the maximum deviation from the minimum percentages to equal 19%. as up to 30%, deviation is accepted as 100% performance in this factory; the operator with only 19% deviation will be higher rated than 100%. and the calculation is 30%-19% = 11%. So

heartbeats are observed. using this linear correlation between heart rate and oxygen consumption in the physiological system of rating, heartbeats and oxygen consumption are measured for the normal operator working at standard pace. depending on the nature of work (such as light, medium or heavy duty work) heartbeats and oxygen consumption by the same operator may change, and a performance index is calculated by comparing these values to the values of the operator working at a standard pace.

7. Performance rating plan – This rating system was also developed in Westinghouse Corporation during 1949 as an alternative to levelling rating system. this system attempts to evaluate the speed of an operator’s motions as well as the operator’s dexterity and the effectiveness of motions employed to perform the task. the three major classifications are: dexterity; effectiveness; and physical application (refer tables 2, 3 and 4).

the operator is 11% higher than 100%, giving a rating of 111%.

Recommended approach to make rating more rational and acceptablehowever, rating is quite subjective in nature and there is no clear-cut guidelines available; still to minimize the controversies rating should be done with utmost care and it should be simple, concise and keyed to the well established benchmarks. in order to make rating more rational, a 4-step approach is recommended as shown in Figure 1 below:

Figure 1. recommended approach for rating in apparel manufacturing

Step-1

Set the own standard for operations, as following others’ standards may not be suitable due to various factors such as nature of work, machine & tools conditions, materials used, working conditions’ etc. this should be done with consensus and should be unbiased.

Step-2

Devise the standard method for each operation. This should be developed scientifically and must clearly show the normal speed of doing the work by a qualified operator.

Step-3

Work measurement and videography of the qualified operator while following the normal method at normal speed for a specific operation.

Step-4

Comparison of the motions using videoshoot of qualified operator to the other operators performing the specific operation to get the rating.

Establishing the standards and incentivesresearches reveal that the time taken by the best operator in performing a particular operation is approximately half (0.5 or 50%) to the time taken by the slowest operator when performing the same operation. however, a majority of the operators take almost same time using the same method and this time falls between the smallest and the longest time taken by the fastest and the slowest operator respectively, basically due to other factors such as machine, material and working conditions, which are kept constant for the operators.

the concept is best understood taking the case of front pocket attachment to a formal shirt. assuming that the operation is done manually using single needle lockstitch machine, shirt panels are pre-marked and pocket is ready after creasing using iron.

Table 2. Dexterity

Attribute Below Expected Above

Ability to use equipment and assemble parts

-0.4 -0.02 0.00 +0.3 +0.6

Certainly of movements

-0.4 -0.02 0.00 +0.3 +0.6

Co-ordination and rhythm

-0.02 0.00 — +0.2

Table 3. Effectiveness

Ability to get and place tools and materials eliminating search and select

-0.4 -0.02 0.00 +0.3 +0.6

Ability to eliminate, combine shorten motions

-0.08 -0.04 0.00 +0.3 +0.6

Ability to use both hands with ease

-0.08 -0.04 0.00 +0.3 +0.6

Confining efforts to necessary work

-0.08 -0.04 0.00 — —

Table 4. Physical application

Work pace -0.08 -0.04 0.00 +0.3 +0.6

Attentive-ness

-0.04 -0.02 0.00 — —

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Table 5. A brief comparison of various rating systems

rating system Key considerations Advantages Limitations

Performance or Speed rating

Speed Simple and easy to understand and execute

Only one factor (speed) is considered in rating

Skill and Efforts rating

Skill, efforts and fatigue Operator fatigue factor is taken care

Only 2 factors are considered

Levelling rating Skill, efforts, condition and consistency

More inclusive in nature Complex due to involvement of many numerical values

Objective rating Consideration of body parts movement while rating

More inclusive in nature specially for manual operations

Complex in nature as speed and body parts movement are considered in silos

Synthetic rating PMTS Reduced subjectivity Knowledge of PMTS is required

Physiological rating Heartbeats and oxygen consumption while working

More objective in nature compared to other systems

Complex and prone to errors as electronic equipment needs to attach with body of the operator while observation

Performance rating Dexterity, Effectiveness and Physical Application

More objective in nature Complex due to involvement of many numerical values

Portnoff rating Consistency Easy to understand and implement

Only one factor deviation is considered

in total 30 operators were observed and for each operator measurement observations were taken 10 times. the distribution of average time taken in performing the pocket attach operation by different operators is shown in table 6.

analyzing the data collected in the above operation (refer table 3, Summary distribution of time observed and chart 1: operators – time distribution while pocket attach) it is found that the fastest operator is working at more than double the pace of the slowest one. however, majority of the operators (70%) are taking time between 1.05 minutes to 1.55 minutes.

the question that arises is, “How to set the production target and it should be set with respect to what?” of course, the production targets can’t be set as per the slowest one, as it will be lowering the standards and under-utilization of resources which will result into financial losses. Setting up

targets with reference to the fastest one may lead to planning failure as majority of the operators will not be able to achieve the targets.

Following the Step 1 to 4 of Figure 1, once the standard method is agreed and the time standard for normal speed following the standard method is set (the same can be treated as normal or 100% performance), rating can be done and so the incentives. it is recommended that the targets should be a “bit tough one but achievable”, doing so will encourage operators achieving the targets and may lead for productivity improvement.

it is also observed that average incentive pace is generally kept 25% above the normal performance, with a range of +/- 15%. For example if the standard pace is at 1.10 minutes (for the distribution shown for pocket attach in table 3 and chart 1), average incentive should be set at 0.825 minutes (25% above normal). Further, the operator getting the average incentive should be taking +/- 17% from 0.825 minutes that is 0.68 minutes to 0.96 minutes. the operators falling in this group are expected to earn incentives between 12.25% and 37.75%, while the operators who are taking time between normal standard time (1.1 min.) to 0.96 minutes are expected to get incentive of 12.25%.

Rating scalesthere are several rating scales, the most common of which are 4 types, as shown in Figure 2 that are used for rating the operators.

Such scales are used for comparing the observed rate to the standard rate of working and able to provide a numerical value of comparison. the major difference is in the units of measurements, like we measure length in centimetres and inches on a same scale. as far as rating is concerned all are more. the only difference is, one shows rating in percentage and other shows it in points.

Scale A – 100% equals normal performance – average incentives falls in the range of 115 to 145, while group average will be 130% rating. Maximum expected performance is up to 200. this is the most popular scale used for rating.

Scale B – 60 points equals normal performance – average incentive pace falls in the range of 70 to 85 points. Maximum expected performance is 100 to 120.

Scale C – 125% equals incentive performance – it’s same like Scale a, but the comparison is done from average incentive pace (125%) not with the normal performance.

Scale D – 100% equals incentive performance – 80% equals to the normal performance and incentive performance is kept 25% above the normal performance.

Table 6. Summary distribution of time observed in pocket attaching

Avg. time taken in pocket attaching (min.)

Frequency of operators

% distribution

> = 1.75 1 3.33%

1.55 - 1.75 1 3.33%

1.05 - 1.55 21 70.00%

0.85 - 1.05 6 20.00%

< = 0.85 1 3.33%

Total 30 100.00%

Minimum time value (min.) 0.85

Maximum time value (min.) 1.80

Average value (min.) 1.32

Modal value (min.) 1.10

Median value (min.) 1.32

(Courtesy: Motion and Time Study Design and Measurement of Work, by Ralph M. Barnes)

Figure 2. rating scales

, C, a

0Normal 100%

Scale A

0Normal

60 Points

Scale B

Incentive 100%

Scale D

0Incentive

Scale C

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issue with rating is subjectivity as the ‘rate’ at which a person is working is assessed by the person measuring them and is, even with training via ‘rating clinics’, entirely subjective in nature.

RT: complex nature of rating, and high level of concentration required, makes it difficult to be applied, and hence it’s not commonly used in apparel manufacturing.

KA: lack of adhering to BSi prescribed rating clinics caused estimation errors; this affects the self-confidence of the analyst and also affects the rating applications.

Q: Do you think popularisation of PMTS (GSD, PRO-SMV, SEWEASY and the likes) will eventually make other rating system redundant and only ‘synthetic’ rating will exist?PT: pMtS are not rating systems. GSd is a predictive, analytical system that focuses on method rather than time.

RT: i truly believe that synthetic systems will be the answer to the establishment of standard times. this is the most accurate and consistent system to establish accurate standards in my belief.

KA: rating techniques were developed over decades and will remain useful till the robots take over within next two to three decades. in the meantime we need rating to verify the accuracy of pMtS systems.

Q: In Indian garment industry, the common way of grading operators is on a scale – A, B, C, where higher grade means ‘multi-skilled’ and not the higher grade referred to the operator who is skilled in one operation. This grading is often confused with rating. Operator rating is not understood by majority of the companies in true sense, do you agree? Is such grading system available in other Asian countries also? PC: i see no value in the commonly used grading of operators based upon multi-skilling. payment to the operators should be based on what they are doing now and not for what they have done in the past. Many a times, an operator who is highly skilled and efficient on one operation

does not get recognition (as he is not multi-skilled). it encourages operators to pressure supervisors into training/allocating them to new operations. ideally multi-skilling should be based on operational needs and not on the desire of the operator to gain extra grade/salary.

Grading operators as a, B, c etc. are used in a formal payment system and encourages elitism among operators and for them to attempt to use their status as ‘a grade’ to extract extra salary. Many so-called ‘a grade’ operators are not swift and have often worked for the company for many years thereby attaining this status based on service and not ability. rather it should be based on the capability of individual, one might have done many operations in the past but capability as present is what matters most. yes, operator loyalty should be rewarded and this can be addressed separately in the payment system. Many companies in other parts of the world grade operations based on complexity/skill required/affect on finished look of garment.

Grading of the operation should be done rather than grading of the operator. But obviously, the manager knows his operators better and will allocate work accordingly, especially if he is using an up-to-date skills matrix in the production planning.

PT: i have seen a, B, c grading being applied to skill level on one operation and applied to multi-skill operators also. it may depend upon how the individual company wants to organize and remunerate its operatives.

RT: i don’t believe that ‘grading’ has anything to do with the establishment of standard times. i agree that the majority of companies have no idea of the rating systems, and i also don’t believe it is necessary for them to know this since it has all been replaced by synthetics. i think that Sri lanka had some companies used the rating system earlier but have no real proof of this.

KA: ie ignorance caused by the global buying organizations is one of the root causes of globalized ‘garment industry ill’. Major buyers world over are taking immediate corrective measures in response to this.

A reality check was done on application of rating in apparel manufacturing across the globe, wherein a number of questions were asked to some of the veterans of the field. Below are excerpts of the responses from PAUL COLLyEr (PC), an international garment industry consultant with over 40 years experience in production management; PAUL TiMSON (PT), MD, GSD Corporate Limited; rOGEr THOMAS (rT) MD, Methods Apparel Consultancy; and KEErTHi ABE (KA) MD, Sew Easy, Sri Lanka discussing various aspects of rating based on their vast experience and knowledge.

Q: Have you ever used rating? if yes, which rating system?PC: during my entire duration in the garment industry i have only seen performance rating used. in the garment industry i have only seen BSi 0-100 rating while using 60-80 scale rating is common practice in footwear industry. though it’s easy to switchover from one scale to another, the garment industry is conservative in this area.

PT: yes, i have applied rating using BSi 0-100 & 75-100, taylor 100-133 and MtM 0-120.

RT: yes, i have used rating and tried to make it simpler and easy to practise. rating of each element makes the system very cumbersome while rating only a few elements makes the system easier to use. Sophisticated companies which had highly skilled ie in their factories, use predominately 60/80 or 100/133 scales.

KA : yes, i have used rating and practiced rating using videos and applied rating at garment factories. i have used BSi rating in order to complete time Study, MtM & iMS training.

Q: Why rating is not commonly used in garment factory?PC: extra complexity of rating systems such as Westinghouse, hummel and others does not appeal to the harassed ie who is under pressure to set SMvs for incentive purposes. also it depends on the degree of accuracy required in relatively short runs; it is not like setting values for a long running product.

PT: the reasons may be complexity and difficulty in differentiating ‘pace’, ‘speed’, and ‘rhythm’ of operator. the biggest

ExPErTS SPEAK

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REED CoNSUlTING: The Business Case for Sustainability

AO: What are the areas wherein an average Bangladeshi textile manufacturing unit can make remarkable savings?

Rodney Reed: the cost of water through monitoring and plugging air leaks, steam leaks and water leaks! it is the first step in our cleaner production program as well. only after maintenance and vigilance on the factory floor have been aced, one can move to the next stage of extracting more energy from the same gas coming to the factory with more efficient generators and boilers. today, an average Bangladeshi textile manufacturing unit is wasting 5-7 tonnes of steam per day and that is a lot of water and energy being wasted, waiting to be saved.

it is important to note that there is already the beginning of the idea of water footprint in north america and europe, countries that start earlier will reap the advantage.

AO: How receptive is the industry… Are they still doing it because of buyer’s stipulations or are they willingly coming forward?

RR: the cause of energy and water conservation is a win-win situation. the company can win in terms of profitability by minimizing waste and the environment can win in terms of being cleaner. Managing directors of several textile businesses are beginning to see that. it is not only about climate change, global warming and pollution; it is also about savings that the factory can make.

AO: Your methodology endorses personnel involvement; especially maintenance department… How do you go about doing that?

RR: i often say to factory managers that the person who can save most of your energy and water is your own

Today, Reed Consulting is steering its Cleaner Production Program in more than 50 factories in the country and at its helm is its passionate Managing Director, rodney J. reed. A British expat, he had set foot in Bangladesh 10 years ago and has stayed on to consult on cleaner production, social responsibility, chemical management, occupational safety and health, safe factories and world class management skills. Back when CSR, profit sharing and philanthropy were often used interchangeably, Reed Consulting deconstructed the concept of CSR. Consequently, 4-and-a-half years ago the company fragmented into two teams, namely soft skills for HR and management effectiveness-related projects and the engineering team with mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and textile chemicals process engineers. In an exclusive interview with Apparel Online, Rodney shares his vision for the sustainable future of the Bangladesh apparel and textile industry.

Rodney J. Reed, Managing Director, Reed Consulting

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production worker. it is about making them understand that they are the ‘gatekeepers’ and the ‘guardians’ of river quality. once that is communicated, it gets them thinking that it is their purpose to help Bangladesh clean rivers and not simply add a few chemicals to the etp water before it leaves the site. it is about communicating that kind of ambition and belief. the idea is not policing or monitoring by ‘third party’ but internalizing self-supervision.

AO: Share with us the hurdles that you have faced during the course of implementation at various factories.

RR: We have faced some resistance in terms of the data we need. it is either viewed as a distraction for production or the factories end up producing data for the consultants rather than for themselves. however, when they see that it is for them, they share it. Further, dye heads and the production managers do not see it in their best of interests to cooperate because if the efficiencies increase,

fundamentally they will have to work harder for the same money. But this can be resolved by incentivizing the performance.

AO: What course do you predict for alternate sources of energy in Bangladesh?

RR: honestly, i don’t believe there is enough gas under the ground to sustain the country’s demands going forward and solar energy is not a suitable option either. a typical dyeing factory uses so much energy that solar panels might make a 5% contribution. however, renewable sources of energy are important and Bangladesh holds immense potential for hydropower. i am surprised that there are no turbines on the river.

AO: Accord and Alliance have not been able to find more than 2% defaulters. Despite that there is a lot of hue and cry in the market that Bangladesh is not safe. Your views…

RR: our best factories can compete with the best of the factories

worldwide and accord and alliance will raise the standard of the good factories to very good, and very good to excellent. the tier below that however is not going to get the same attention. and the buyers are now recognizing the need to inspect that tier, i.e. the sub-contracting units they are aware of. While spectators choose to fight tooth and nail on the issue of buyers’ complete responsibility when it comes to ensuring compliance, i disagree. it is the responsibility of Government, and owners and managers too.

AO: What keeps you going in the business?

RR: our mission statement is enabling business to be socially responsible, sustainable and profitable. if we were simply selling a consultancy service, we would still be effective in engineering but we have that kind of emotion and that kind of belief in change which keeps us going. We are effective because we believe in what we do.

Fall 2015

As the menswear shows for Fall/Winter 2015 come to a close in London, Milan and Paris, there are several trends that have caught the eye of trend analysts at FFT. As always, the menswear shows offered an insight into what we’ll all be clamouring after, come Autumn/Winter 2015. We have broadly categorized them into five themes which are the most promising product trends for the coming season for exporters and buyers. While designers focused on outerwear as the main separate to innovate on, the military-look continued its reign. Skinny-fit legwear was replaced with wider ones; denim was the most popular fabric including shearling and 1970s theme for the general mood of the season.

This is an insight into the key themes, product trends, fabrics, prints and colours which were backed by the biggest designers that will prove to be commercially viable in the long-run.

Statement outerwear was the centre of attention at the Fall/Winter ’15 menswear shows as designers presented luxurious fur versions that were seen at MSGM, Dunhill, Lanvin;

black leather ones that bordered on the gothic theme; puffed up and sleek quilted silhouettes at Christopher Shannon, Alexander McQueen, Paul Smith; technical rainwear coats and the parka. Parkas were the most popular last year too because of the ease in adaptability and casual style, which is why a lot of designers experimented by adding fur to them. Capes have now become an eminent part of outerwear as they were visible on the runways of Sacai, Christopher Lemaire and Valentino. The most popular fur was sheepskin and outlandish colours proved popular; close attention was paid to the detail elements like pockets, zips, drawstrings, toggles and patched leather.

Menswear Themes

Outerwear in

Military-look, Wider Pants, Denim and 70s Inspiration Rock the Ramps

Denim was one of the biggest themes for womenswear this Spring/Summer as it revolutionized luxury, and passed over from casual to eveningwear with fabric mixing and

embellishments. Consequently, it saw an overhaul of the workwear fabric for menswear too. Designers like Christopher Raeburn, Dior Homme and Bottega Veneta incorporated all-over looks with denim on denim, looser more relaxed jeans, denim paired with shearling coats and worn in a single shade of indigo. While all kinds of washes were present on the runway, deep blue stood out the most. Denim being a versatile fabric, it can be experimented on formalwear and outerwear garments. This theme will take over the sports luxe trend as denim will replace jogging bottoms and sweaters.

This season has marked the official end of the Dandy Boy who wears skinny jeans and has a put-together look as there was a major shift towards the relaxed silhouettes. The

Teddy Boy look embraced wide legwear and relaxed tailoring with a hint of the 50s decade that suggests sartorial elegance. The models wore double-breasted suits with high-waisted trousers that were airy. The palette incorporated shades of cobalt, grey, navy and stone shades on trouser turn-ups, Prince of Wales checks and slouchy pants at Paul Smith, Dries Van Noten, Dior and Prada, to name a few. While the 1970s theme and Military-look satisfy the casualwear category, Teddy Boy is Fall 2015’s opportunity to bank on the eveningwear and workwear segments.

Teddy Boy

Denim Age

The military trend has been going strong for a year now for menswear and womenswear, and it continues to do so this fall too. The most sought-after separate was the bomber

jacket which either came with an aviation twist or in a camouflage print. The military trend was spotted on the Fall ’15 runways of Calvin Klein, Coach and 3.1 Philip Lim; they either bent towards the 40s or the 90s with streetwear and propelled roll neck tops, parkas, army issue plain tank tops, sweaters and an entire palette of green and khaki shades. Since contrast panelling using patch pockets and plain-coloured cable knit sweaters have been working well for brands for the last four menswear seasons, they now have a strong theme to align these trends with.

Interestingly, the men’s and women’s apparel industries are moving in coordination. The 1970s influence was not only backed up by the entire womenswear industry but also the

menswear. For Fall 2015, fashion capitals gave ample options to pick from disco glamour and Woodstock Bohemia. In addition to velvet which was worked into slim-fit suits, shaggy furs and rock 'n' roll knits were key fabric's too that were seen at Gucci, John Varvatos, Etro, Saint Laurent and Topman Designs and many more. Rightly so, the palette matched the era and shades of browns, mustards, maroons and oranges were the dominant shades that were used on separates and styling. As for prints, plaids and paisley prints were played on formal suits and shirts.

1970s Decade

Military Man

AO_BD_APR_15.pdf - Apparel Resources

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