Stitch World Editorial Issue August 2018

Delhi High Court’s Rejection of Wage Hike Brings Relief to the Industry Bringing relief to hundreds of factories in Delhi, the Delhi High Court has dismissed the State Government’s move to increase minimum wages of workers and has also set aside an earlier notification by which a Minimum Wages Advisory Committee for all scheduled employments was set up, on the ground that the constitution of the Committee was flawed.

In my interaction with factory owners, I find that no one is really against the rise in minimum wages, but all are of the opinion that there has to be a balanced approach to the ‘calculation’ that safeguards the competitiveness of the factories… I completely agree with this logic.

In fact, even during our visits to Bangladesh, the same logic is put forward by the industry there… The Government, NGOs, unions and associations, all need to sit together to find the best formulae to calculate minimum wages as per cost of living and practical implications to business… After all if factories close down, whose purpose would it serve?

I was extremely satisfied to read the content of the Court proceedings, as it reflected the maturity of the decision makers and the balanced approach taken - The Court noted that though the revision of wages ‘is sorely needed’, the ‘hurried attempt’ and ‘non-application of mind – contravening principles of natural justice has unfortunately disrupted this course, yet again’ …

The proposed notification for wage increase announced in 2017 envisaged a more than 37 per cent increase in wages across the board from unskilled to semi-skilled and skilled workers in the Delhi-NCR region. Since the announcement, factories were fearing about future business, and particularly exporters who are competing on an international platform… The High Court’s decision is indeed a reason to cheer and could be the required jack to uplift the dwindling spirits of garment exporters in the region. While increasing wages are a challenge at the worker level, finding the right candidate at the managerial level is no less daunting. During placements, both the students and companies are evaluating each other. While students go by a company’s reputation, the companies are increasingly using psychometric test as a tool to measure a person's logical and analytical abilities.

Though psychometric tests support the recruitment process, sometimes it becomes difficult for companies to decide on the weightage to be given to technical ability and psychometric scores, in the selection process. In this issue, views of industry professionals on this growing topic are discussed.

This issue also carries an exclusive interaction with Ashish Kansal, Executive Director, SMPP Pvt. Ltd., that unravels features which make the newly procured Indian Army jackets unique. On the other hand, Dr. Prabir Jana, Professor, NIFT, Delhi explores the operation breakdown of exactly the same shirt in two different factories. The logic is simple…, when the product remains standard, why is the process so different?

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Stitch World Editorial July Issue 2018

Saving cost is one of the biggest agendas for every garment exporter today… Every company is looking at how to reduce its running cost and save enough so that the bottom line is healthier.

While some companies are working within the factory to squeeze out an extra penny, others are exploring new destinations that are cost-effective. All said and done…, a solution has to be found!

When the ‘cost’ bug hit the industry many years ago, we saw factories being shifted from established hubs to interiors outside the city limits. While many Delhi based companies opened factories in Manesar, the fate of most of them is a sad story today…, only a few found success like Sarita Handa; others have either rented out the premises or are operating at below optimal levels.

The biggest reasons that exporters quote when questioned about the failure, is difficulty in getting trained manpower and the travelling woes of the middle management leading to fast turnarounds.

Similarly, other hubs too saw movement to the interiors… Laguna went to Kanakapura on the outskirts of Bangalore, while GO GO International travelled to Holenarsipur, Hassan, again on the outskirts. How fruitful these moves have been, is debatable and open to interpretation.

Armed with past experiences, companies are now therefore more keen to travel to Tier-2 cities, being backed by State Government support. Here, besides the initiatives being offered, which are quite attractive, there are facilities like airports, schools, hospitals, etc, which a company needs to set up a people-oriented industry like garments.

I have been saying for long that moving to outskirts is not a very viable option because the ecosystem for conducive business is not available. Rather the smaller cities like Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar are much better options.

The number of investments that we are seeing in these cities from companies like Shahi, Matrix, Pearl, Orient Craft, Texport, Arvind, Madura Garments, Page Apparel, Kishore Exports, Shakti Wear, Meenakshi Ltd., JP Sports Apparel to name a few, is impressive. I am sure once these factories set the trend and prove successful, many more investments can be expected.

While in India, we are still struggling to save cost mostly from workers’ wages, the West is looking at high technology to get manufacturing back without the pressure of wages!

Exhibitors at Texprocess Americas this year echoed the future of apparel industry with the theme ‘Digital Apparel Microfactory’: A manufacturing set-up where various different technologies are combined together to fill customers’ orders in quantities as low as one. It can be started in even a small room and has become the strength for manufacturers based in USA. This issue of StitchWorld highlights this trendsetting concept and how the companies are embracing it.

Exploring new product categories apart from apparel has always been StitchWorld’s interest. This time, our team visited HH Interior’s factory and explored the quality and manufacturing aspects of car seat covers. A must read…

Continuing with our Poll section, read interesting views from industry experts on the topic ‘Will mass manufacturing return to the USA?’

Stitch World Editorial Issue December 2017

'The industry is on a ventilator' – that's the general sentiment in the industry today… Many factors have influenced the way the industry is today, which started with demonetization that reduced the money in hand, then GST which led to money being blocked and thereafter came the final hammer, the withdrawal of duty drawback...

Not to forget the ongoing struggle of continuous squeeze on prices by the buyers, higher inflation and dwindling order quantities.

‘What to do?’ is a common question which is the starting point of any discussion that one has today, irrespective of whether one is attending a marriage or any other function (this being the auspicious time of the year when social gatherings are aplenty!). The discussion invariably drifts towards the topic of ‘survival’.

Only recently I was with a Bangladeshi delegation of 22 sweater exporters in Japan, Osaka and they also have the same issue of sustenance. Since the country is majorly doing basic products in volume, the problem of plummeting prices is impacting them even more.

I was cornered to tell them what's happening in India, and to know how the companies there are addressing the 'survival' issue. Though I shared my understanding about India to them, what I observed is that they all have a plan in place to counter the problem…that is to increase the capacity using automation and to build operational efficiencies.

I would say that this is the best strategy to mitigate slowdown by becoming the indispensable and thus the preferred suppliers. I believe that collectively the industry has enough depth, but unlike China, they need to learn to say NO.

In these difficult times, when saving every cent counts, automation is supporting the industry in its goal to save on cost. This issue carries an exploration of the journey of automation and discusses how it has become ‘important’ and ‘affordable’, from being considered ‘unviable’ and ‘expensive’.

Moving beyond the traditional mindset, the Indian Government has recently taken away the responsibility of the procurement of 48 items for the Indian Army from the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and given it to the private sector. Seen as a major opportunity for the sewn industry, inside is the complete picture of the expectations of the Indian Army from the local Indian manufacturers.

Celebrating success is important and IMA s.p.a., a pioneer in cutting solutions, recently completed its 40 years’ of establishment with a stupendous event in Bergamo, Italy. This issue carries a snapshot of the event and the launch of ‘TYPHOON 70’ cutter during the occasion.

Stitch World Editorial Issue November 2017

CISMA – the technology fair that takes place in Shanghai, China – is not what it used to be. In the last two editions, it has changed its character from being a technology fair for basic machines to matching international standards of automation and moving towards industry 4.0 and showing signs of integrating robotics..., probably reflecting the signs of maturity in the Chinese garment manufacturing industry that is now demanding automation and moving towards robotics all because of the increase in wages and infrastructure cost...

Observing the shift, I also found that while some of the technology is being developed recently, some are decade old technologies making reappearance. All this is becoming possible today due to the increasing affordability of those technologies to cater to the demand for high productive machines.

Auto Bobbin Changer (ABC) – developed in 1995, but phased out from commercial machines due to exorbitant cost, is now making a reappearance; 3mm thread by UBT – developed in 1993, but phased out from commercial machines (probably cost of labour was cheaper to trim after sewing) is making a come back due to wage increase; Real time data from sewing machine – developed in 2003 by Efka has reappeared as cost of networking and data flow is becoming negligible. The CAM (computerized cutter), which came to India in 1997 (installed by Sewa International) with Rs. one crore investment, is still costing the same, but after two decades, the CAM now has multiple and better features… making it affordable.

In this editorial, I am just giving a glimpse of ‘affordable’ technology. Watch out for the next issue, wherein I will give my readers an ‘affordable article’ as food for thought!

In this issue, we have covered technologies displayed at CISMA and have also highlighted the ten top sewing features added to the machines in the recent past. Further, two garment exporters from Tirupur have been interviewed and their manufacturing best practices are highlighted. The common thread between the two is that both have imbibed the lean solution as the core driver for their growth.