StitchWord Editorial Issue October 2014

Invest in India to Incredible India to Make in India…
And now we are foisted with another feel good, feel positive vision by Modi Sarkar, “Make in India”… I distinctly remember my association with “India Investment Center” way back in 1990 when a similar thrust was also accorded in the form of “Invest in India”… How can this push be any different when issues in those times and today are not very different; same archaic labour laws still prevail, infrastructure has not improved much, customs not remotely friendly, obtaining work visa still as stringent, and I would not like to comment on ‘Babuism’…

I think the Government should have taken some more time to address some of the above issues before launching such a great and much needed program…

 Notwithstanding, the ideology behind ‘Make in India’ is good and if it has any chance to succeed, it can only be under a strong Modi Government with a clear mandate and the PM’s bonhomie with our international allies and non allies. A beginning has already been made when on a recent visit to US, the PM announced lifelong visa for PIO’s, extended stay for all US citizens and also VISA on arrival.

 What impressed me in ‘Make in India’ programme is an equal weightage given to Apparel & Textile sector, a position of respectability among all other industry sectors.

 No doubt the Textile & Apparel industry is and has always been ideally placed to be the future growth driver for India, only the Government understood it now. The industry employs the second largest manpower after agriculture and it is also a low capital intensive industry, and uneducated youth can be made employable with just 8 days’ training…, which other industry can promise so much!

 I am of the firm opinion that many of the Indian states if nurtured rightly can more than equal Bangladesh in garment exports. We recently analyzed and compared Uttar Pradesh to Bangladesh for its employable uneducated youth and the total demographic, Government support, wages… and found that it surely has an edge over Bangladesh on paper. Whereas, Bangladesh does US $ 20 billion exports, Uttar Pradesh does only US $ 1 billion…

I suggest every textile & garment person to visit ‘makeinindia.com’ to get inspired.

 Last month was also a busy month for me, I had to chair few sessions and moderate a panel discussion on diverse topics. While I enjoyed the panel discussion, the speaker session was uninspiring… The topic announced to the audience and what the speaker presented had no connection. What purpose do these kinds of seminars serve when invitee speakers are not ready to share the hard facts about what they do and how do they do it, to achieve the set objectives… The audience comes to find solutions and not listen to a lesson from a chapter in an academic book.

I think it is the problem of the knowledge partner who gives the topic but fails to moderate the presentation in the ensuing period before the D-day…

We as a magazine are better equipped to handle such situations. What we do when an author writes an article for us is vet it and ask for changes and additions or at times even push for a change in the whole concept to ensure that what is finally presented is of true value…

StitchWord Editorial Issue September 2014

 If one broods on the trail of events that has marked evolution, one would realize that we are moving in a circle, including the garment industry… am I getting spiritual… certainly not, it is just a statement to prove my point.

From customization to mass production to mass customization and now back to customization again with the retailer coming back full circle to start offering customized clothing. Even if one looks at fashion, it keeps coming back, resurfacing with little or no variations… The best example of course is our relation with nature… we exploited nature for many years and now we are back to our roots, propagating organic and sustainable methods and materials!

Similarly, on the shopfloor too we saw the same cycle…, we started with tailoring or and now are back to exploiting the best of all three systems… and a few factories are back to working completely on Make Through system, ideally suited to handle small quantities, multi-style and intricate silhouettes.

In its more than a decade existence, StitchWorld has done many articles discussing the best and worst of all these systems… We went to the best of factories to study the various different ways of Assembly Line production and Modular manufacturing. But the real eye opener was the visit to Gandhi Nagar, in New Delhi, which presented a whole new experience on how to ‘marry’ the Make Through and Modular systems to take advantage of the best of both systems!

I strongly advocate the Make Through system and what I have seen in the last five years is that the Make Through system is continuing to work for many… of course, many improvements can be made and by combining the Make Through system with Modular manufacturing 15 to 20% productivity improvement is possible.

SW is planning to organize a workshop to help the Make Through manufacturers harness the full potential by combining the essence of Modular manufacturing and use of technology. Interested manufacturers may like to contact us directly.

Ethiopia is a great opportunity if one is looking at long term gains… not that Orissa or Bihar is bad. The country has the potential to offer the best in man, machine and Government support… today the infrastructure may be questionable, but signs are there of its improvement, not to forget that the country enjoys free trade treaties with almost all major buying countries, a huge plus for manufacturers. OPT (Outward Processing Trade) is another opportunity which can be exploited by the manufacturers from India…

StitchWord Editorial Issue August 2014

When nothing is in news, it can only mean that the order books of the exporter is full and the company management has enough in hand... without really being bothered by its immediate surrounding disruptive environment.

And it seems that the Textile Ministry has chosen the right moment to bring out its ‘Vision, Strategy and Action Plan’ for the Indian Textile and Apparel Sector… which is really nothing but a cleverly worded paper with a bureaucratic stamp.

 It fails to consider most of the core demands of the garment industry be it a common integrated textile policy or revision of the labour laws. It also fails in its understanding of why there needs to be a strategic shift from capacity building to capability building. The intricacy of a thrust for new markets v/s consolidation of established markets, creating our own niche v/s imitating the established players like China, which is now a falling giant is missing, resulting in misguided approaches to these critical issues.

I have written an open letter to the Minister in my Apparel Online editorial (August 16-31) apprising him of all the pitfalls of his Action Plan and how the bureaucrats with little knowledge of the industry are dusting old files and inking a so-called new vision plan for the industry…, this really saddens me.

But as they say…, the show must go on and we at StitchWorld try in our own small way to make a difference. This issue is a collector's issue for those who want to understand the importance and application of IE in garment manufacturing. The exhaustive article thread bares the different approaches of Method Improvement via Method Study for best results. The concept is explained through real time shop floor scenarios wherein method study has been discussed and improvements suggested for better productivity and quality.

An interesting Survey was conducted among 446 operators in 35+ factories across Delhi-NCR with Focus on Training Needs Analyses. Many interesting findings have been highlighted on present skill levels of sewing operates, growth path they would like to take and job-specific aspects they would like to improve on. To our astonishment, while the industry blames MNREGA for shortage of labour, of the workers surveyed, only 58% had heard about the schemes and only 10% actually worked under the same.

StitchWord Editorial Issue July 2014

Skill development is a very ‘in’ topic for the industry today, especially as most centres face shortage of labour… Understanding the critical need, an integrated skill development scheme was initiated by the Textile Ministry in 2010 under the National Skill Development Policy (NSDP) with the intent to skill 30 lakh persons in 5 years with much fanfare.

Sadly, the scheme failed in its objective of 100% placement. According to official data, out of 2,47,812 persons enrolled under the scheme, only 2,33,848 completed their perspective training of which only 35,859 have been placed, while another 1,97,989 people are still to be placed and the rest are not seeking employment at all... A very poor record! Perhaps this was a reason for the scheme to be put on hold in 2012, just two years after its launch and is since then pending clearance. I feel it is imperative that placements should be made mandatory in the skill development program before funds are released to ensure optimal utilization of the scheme.

While the first priority should be to restart the skill development scheme, there is need for clarity on which ministry shall be responsible for the scheme. Earlier the industry was getting funds through the Textile Ministry scheme (ISDS) and the scheme under the Ministry of Rural Development (SGSY), but now with the appointment of Sarbananda Sonowal, as Union Minister of State with Independent Charge for Skill Development, besides other portfolios like Entrepreneurship, Sports & Youth Affairs, it would seem that all skill development related initiative will now be clubbed together under one ministry… but is this the reality, no one seems to know!

When, and if the scheme is restarted, there is requirement for few more appropriate changes to be made, as on the surface many discrepancies are apparent in the scheme. For one, most of the training centres have been setup in regions that do not even have a garment manufacturing industry defeating the whole purpose of skill development as energy is wasted in convincing people to take the training! Another major flaw of the current skill development efforts is that training is primarily for operators, with little or no emphasis on other important areas of garment manufacturing like supervisor, pattern making, checking, cutting, etc. Even the methodology for training is traditional with no thought of upgrading to meet fresh needs of automation and use of attachments and folders. Industry oriented or industry supported training should be evolved – Why not extend the “Apprenticeship” culture, to say 2 to 3 years, whereby the worker is benefited by learning the skill and the industry gets a worker with less than minimum wages. This will be beneficial to both the industry and employees.

Even as we debate skill development at the operator level, which was discussed in detail in our StitchWorld May 2014 issue, it is also important to optimize role and responsibilities of IE personnel. In this issue of StitchWorld, we present a recap of articles on many of the activities of Industrial Engineering and how it can improve the process carried by us over the last decade, along with views from the industry on the conflict of responsibilities between the IE and Quality Production team, in our Tech Byte section.
A detailed review of Texprocess Americas is another interesting read… it is very obvious that the much hyped ‘Made in USA’ trend is still not a real threat, but is good for technology providers with high-end automated solutions.

StitchWord Editorial Issue June 2014

I was at Texprocess Americas, a technology fair for the US and Latin America, last month not just to see what new and different the technology manufacturers had to offer, but also get the pulse of the market from the technology suppliers. As expected, the market is growing, but slowly.

However, I was surprised at the interesting choice of words doing the round – ‘re-shoring, near-shoring, in-shoring’ and it all meant that the small beginning made by the ‘Made in US’ theme in 2010 is now rising to a crescendo, with everyone talking about it, promoting it and trying to make and deliver products facilitating the concept.

Few factors which would impact positively the trend of re-shoring and near-shoring is the consumers opinion, which is in favour of buying anything which is manufactured in America… but a factor that could negatively impact its popularity is the scattered supply chain and very little automation in the industry. Both the Government and the retail industry is making effort to support the trend and consequently generate employment… and I am sure that in times to come both these bottlenecks will get addressed.

I even met a couple of innovators targeting the US market. One of them showed me how his effort and innovation will lead to a total automated plant for sewing basic garments, while the other was working on a business model that lowers costs and removes markdowns of inventories through implementation of dyeing, printing, cutting and sewing operations in a small footprint, under one roof. Both expected to have the technologies ready by the year 2016… which is not too far away.

Evolution of technology never seizes to amaze me, among them is bonding and welding, which is increasingly being used for stitch-free application in high performance gears, tents, filters, signs, banners, geo material, awnings, inflatable products and apparel too. Realising that the traditional way of sewing is giving way to bonding and welding with growing consumer awareness and demand for stitch-free garments/products for better comfort, quality and performance, StitchWorld introduced the concept of bonding and welding way back in 2008. The journey of discovery continues and in December 2013, we did a detailed analysis of a stitch-free shirt that is now on the retail shelf.

As the awareness increases, we have been asked to take up the challenge to guide the industry on bonding and welding for value and functionality and diverse product categories. So, StitchWorld has decided to take up the topic on a regular basis to discuss and review various welding and bonding technologies and its applications. The idea is to keep the industry informed of different technology choices and the intricacies of this stitchless joining technology.

I am starting another interesting series, but that I will let you know in July… In the meanwhile this issue has the first introductory article under the heading bonding and welding. Some benchmarked companies are presented, one from Ludhiana and the other from Bangladesh… indeed the place does not matter it is the determination of the
management to do things differently

StitchWord Editorial Issue May 2014

Has technology evolution stopped in the garment manufacturing industry from the time it migrated from Europe and the US in the late 1970s…?
It’s more than 40 years and in the name of evolution only a few processes have been automated and/or IT enabled since then and many of these machines in reality are so cost-prohibitive that it becomes difficult to realize one’s own investments, maybe it’s due to the seasonal nature of apparel trade... but few exceptions are welt pocket setter and jeans pocket setter.

However, the pre-process segment has seen a revolutionary change because any mistake in this area impacts more on the international retailers of brands. Designing of fashion items, pattern making and then 3D simulated fit sessions, followed by iteration, and then marker making, all have facilitated faster in the store and thus reduced lead time, which means retailer or the brand buying closer to the season and possibility of quick design adaptations to the changing demands of the customers, which in turn leads to keeping a check on inventories and loss from mark downs and unsold inventory, turning the company into a profitable one.

Availability of cheaper automation would have been an ideal, for everyone, but we should not lose sight on skilling of workforce as an alternate to achieving our objectives. What surprises me is that at the manufacturers level even the training methodology for the operator, the key constituent for improving productivities, has not changed over the years even when so many automatic equipments are available in the market and also there is an increase in the use of attachments and folders. Neither any module has been developed for other important operations such as cutting, finishing, pressing, packing, etc. which could have facilitated productivity improvement. There is serious lack of initiative! …StitchWorld in this issue has attempted to put together many articles on the newer ways to training… I hope industry decision makers will get some inspiration and invite change… It is about time!

Other interesting reads in the issue include, the second article of the series ‘Automation in Sewing Room’, analysing how the common sewing automats work to your benefit. Pocket attaching on shirt front has been considered a critical operation and categorized as high quality zone or ‘A-zone’ within the garment.

Bangalore-based kidswear manufacturer Pradhan Mercantile (PMPL) is also in focus as Team SW in an exclusive interview with the first-generation entrepreneur Amir Pradhan, highlights its IT interventions for better management of its manufacturing operations. I am off to Texprocess Americas to bring to you the latest in technology!

StitchWord Editorial Issue April 2014

It’s election time... a time for frenzied debates, and I happen to listen to one such panel discussion wherein one of the panellists said that since manufacturing is capital intensive and the ongoing recessionary trend limited our capital resources which led to low employment generation... how does this argument stand for a Government which fails to acknowledge an industry which employs 14 million people and most of them either uneducated or just primary pass (a myth broken by a StitchWorld survey which shows that 71% are 10th pass) and who all can be put to the shop floor by training him or her for just about 8 days, speaks of the importance of the industry in a developing economy, especially where the manpower is young and abundant... In fact, Garment manufacturing is one industry which has been instrumental in the growth of all the developed economies of today and plays a very important role in the developing economies.

Over the decade long journey of StitchWorld, I have repeatedly advocated the importance of the industry for the overall economic development of the nation through the critical aspect of skill development of the lowest level of the resource chain right from the sewing skills to other 30 different types of pre-production and finishing skills. No doubt the sewing operators are larger in number, but other processes too require continuous skill enhancement and play an instrumental role in upgrading the industry. Our next issue will discuss different aspects of skill development… don’t miss the edition, which also has an analysis of the survey results carried out on 567 workers from 45 factories in Delhi-NCR, on safety, health and educational concerns.

Even as the industry debates skill development and funds are being allocated under various schemes for the same, a major concern today is the non-availability of workers across all major garmenting hubs. In the recently published AO Top 100 listing in Apparel Online, labour is among the top ranking concerns of the industry. In fact, labour shortage has been responsible for holding up expansion plans of many… the reason given for this shortage across the board is the appeasement of employable villagers through the NREGA scheme, creating a nation of free-loaders. Adding to the problem are many other parallel schemes by State Governments giving free ration, in a way discouraging people to venture out for work… And even though many of the skill development schemes are free of cost, facilitators are finding it difficult to attract rural youth.

China is a very good example of how a developing economy moves up the value chain, as workers lose interest in basic work. Today equestrian apparels, is a new chapter for the Chinese and in this issue of StitchWorld we look closer at the market and the opportunities. Also on review are the technologies from various solution providers at the recently concluded GTE.