Growth Tips for Textile and Apparel Industry

Growth Tips for Textiles and apparel industry

1) Prevention is better than Cure

During the course of processing of fibre to yarn and yarn to fabric various dyes,chemicals auxiliaries are being used .Wherever it may be may be on the shop floor, in the dyehouse or even in lab one must remember that “Prevention is Better than Cure”.

When you perceive certain problems to occur immediately take action.For this one has to be very fast. Selection of fabrics ,quantity of dyes,chemicals etc should be very perfect to avoid all the errors during and after dyeing and printing. Also one should ensure that the fabric used for processing should be thoroughly checked before it is processed.This means that the fabric at the spinning,weaving stage should be well manufactured so that the errors which could take place in the later stages during garment manufacturing and processing could be well avoided.

Many International buyers especially from Europe have imposed quality parameters for the merchandise that they are purchasing. Stringent quality and inspection standards are implemented at the exporters end.In order to supply final products to buyers the processors have to be updated with latest techniques, machineries and chemicals.

Ecological parameters have been introduced for exports of fabrics and garments to Europe and Germany. Also awareness of the harmful effects of the chemicals used in processing and finishing led to restrictions of use of chemicals as PCP( Para Chloro Phenol),banned amines,heavy metals,formaldehyde,nickel,allergenic dyes,etc.This has led to a whole new set of control points and checks in the processing of fabrics and accessories.

2) Quality Control and Testing

The Textile Industry in world , although more and more units have recognized the importance of quality control there are still others where there is unfortunately not as much analytical quality control as one would desire to have.More things are achieved by the rule of the thumb.

A single incidence of poor quality overly influences customers so much that they tell at least ten other prospective buyers to stay away from them. Achieving perception of quality is usually impossible unless quality claim has substance.Generating high quality requires an understanding of what quality means to customers segments as well as supportive culture and a quality improvement process that will enable the organization to deliver quality products and services consistently.

It is seen that 90% Defects found in textiles,clothing are due to inadequate preparation of fabric ( cloth ) during processing i.e.before dyeing and are noticed after dyeing cycle is over or printing process is over.Production of good quality fabric requires efficient and continuous online monitoring of production process.
Off-shade dyeing often results in delayed deliveries and complaints. The buyers’ demand today is acceptance of colour variations better than Delta E 0.5 under various illuminants.The use of on-line monitors and automatic dye and chemical dispensers are now being used to get shade consistency.

Various types of labels on the garment have been introduced which are issued by associations,federations,groups,certification organizations to give protection to human health and environment.

3) Following points to be implemented in Textile and Garment Units

a) Training of work force
Train them about modern machinery and how to operate.

b) Fulfilment of commitments
One must ensure that deadlines given by clients are satisfied.

c) No delays in deliveries
It should be seen that all deliveries are meeting the deadlines so that cost of returned goods is minimized.

d) Consciousness about quality
To produce the best quality fabric and garment based on best usage of chemicals and dyes.The fabric quality should meet the GOTS requirements and various other specified certifications.

e) Discipline
Timely deliveries,punctuality in the Organisation are factors to be considered here.

f) Guidance
To give proper guidance and instructions to the assistants,subordinates ,workers,supervisors,etc.

g) No neglecting maintenance
To carry out maintenance of m/cs at least once in a month.To ensure that all the outgoing effluent is treated well so that environmental pollution is reduced.

4) Training through Institutions

If some institutions takeup imparting of training the work force and exporters realize the necessity and compel the work force to take training the overseas orders will increase. Instead of imparting training only to executives and supervisors it should be extended to the primary workforce also. Training on job should be gone equally to the lowest and highest level of management.Then only organization can progress.

5) Awareness about latest technologies

There is a lack of awareness of latest technologies in Textile industry.Only a few big players are having a state-of –art –technology machinery and the rest of others are working with conventional methods.This leads to production of qualities not matching International standards and hence fewer exports of garments and fabrics .To provide consistency products newer technologies have to be adopted.New technologies not only help in environment –friendliness but are also cost-effective.

In arena of fabric dyeing there are tremendous improvements --- technologies like E-control for dyeing cotton without salt, then Air flow for dyeing with liquor ratios 1:3.These technologies provide Right First Time dyeing alongwith minimal chemical load to the environment.

ETP( Effluent Treatment Plant) Zero discharge means Recycling water from the effluent treatment and using it back into processing without a single drop purged out to the environment. Since ETP requires high maintenance ,substantial capital investment and high operating costs this would be of great advantage.

Textile industry has to rapidly modernize.Various kinds of modern machines for printing the garment,embroidery machines etc have been innovated and can be used for manufacturing cost-effective garments.

The industry must work on economies of scale which directly affects the price-value realization.Also adequate infrastructure and adequate utilities( power and water)must be available for wet processing of fabric.Textile and chemical industries are still concerned with regard to availability of good quality water and scarcity of power.With the advent of new technologies coming in ( like Ecocontrol , moist cross linking based resin finishes and so on. ) there will be a good exposure of these technologies at the operating level, which has lot of scope for improvement in the textile and apparel industry.

6) Concentrate on Strengths

Textile industry people have to concentrate on its strengths and capitalize on it to improve share in global textile and clothing and garment business .We might have the best of technologies and experts but we must ensure that we also have adequate resources and other utilities to use these technologies and expertise to our advantage.

International market is highly sensitive and competitive and if shipments donot reach within stipulated time, there will be a lot of cancellation of orders in developing countries and substantial loss to the exporters from overseas market.There should be speedy movement of export cargo to avoid huge backlogs at the cargo complex.

To provide right quality in all aspects of an organization function with correct process being done right at the beginning so as to reduce loss in wasteful practices.
The total organizational workforce right from the lowest to the highest order equally shares responsibility and commitment for quality improvement.

In Textile units management must be quick and prompt in attending the valid and genuine problems of the supervisors.We need more matured leadership rather than unplanned supervision to meet the quality needs of the buyer.

7) Job Security

The fear of losing job should be eliminated and job security should be guranteed.The Human Resource Department should be efficient enough to provide the requisite workforce on time and retain skilled ones for longer periods of time.Daily targets without concrete plans to achieve them only leads to more of defective products.The actual goal to not just to meet the target but to achieve the desired productivity with definite quality..A target driven production system fails to achieve productivity and quality if commitments are not fulfilled. We need to emphasize more on result-oriented system and not just on the target. One must involve all the workers,supervisors ,managers alike in the qualitative improvement programmes of the organization.

Employee involvement and empowerment leads to productivity and quality improvement.

Once an industry achieves control over their business and profitability then it can go for modernization with latest technology machines like continuous processing etc.

8) Promoting people to wear more clothes

Since we are in textile industry we must see that more and more people spend on buying clothes.We ourselves must spend lavishly on clothes and be a leader so that people follow us.Properly presenting oneself with a good set of outfits also enhances the appearance of the wearer.The way people dress up in offices,corporate functions,festivals, weddings,cultural ocassions reflects their personality and the whole attitude towards their work.It requires a lot of planning as well as innovation to project oneself in the right perspective.Lot of experimentation should be done in terms of colours,fashion,accessories,designing, at the same time there should be wearing comfort,feeling a sense of happiness,softness when a dress is worn by a person. After-all “what you are is what you wear”.

Conclusion

Thus we see that for growth of Textile industry and Apparel industry and to maintain one’s position in today’s competitive world market one must strictly adhere to standard norms . To earn a fairly reasonable export earnings , and meet the buyers demands quality goods production and on-time deliveries is a key to success. And to achieve quality goods production efficient online monitoring of production processes is important. And to deliver on-time its necessary to fulfil commitments. Once an industry achieves control over their business and profitability then it can go for modernization with latest technology machines.
We might have the best of technologies and experts available but we must ensure that we also have adequate resources and other utilities to use these technologies and expertise to our advantage. And once people understand and implement the above tips our Textile and Apparel industry will grow and flourish and prosper.This will also bring additional jobs to a vast number of people.

After-all “what you are is what you wear.