The challenge before the RMG industry
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Shamim Chowdhury
THE dominant view of the experts at a recent seminar in Chittagong has been that the current global economic melt-down has provided an opportunity to the country's readymade garments (RMG) for improving its efficiency, in terms of higher productivity, for gaining access to more new markets.
The experts and panelists in the seminar said although the apparel industry flourished in Bangladesh, the real gains would continue to be limited until the industry addresses the crucial issues of low productivity, inconsistent quality and the social responsibility. As 'defect identification through inspection of garments' is a wrong strategy, they said the industry needs to go for 'Producing Right First Time Quality'. "It is important for the apparel manufacturers in Bangladesh to understand that higher proportion of right first time quality can help them increase their profitability by almost 50 per cent", said a researcher.
Productivity levels generally achieved by the apparel industry in Bangladesh have been very low compared to the global benchmark performance. The global best possible labour productivity per shift by using ideal technology conditions and methods is 41.25 shirts per sewing hour. The best reported performance in Asian is 25.87 shirts. In Bangladesh, the productivity ranged from eight to 20 shirts per sewing labour.
A researcher said that the factories which took part in the BGMEA- GTZ Competitiveness Enhancement Programme (CEP) achieved average labour productivity improvement of 33 per cent in pilot lines. A productivity improvement case study on Saville Row Limited shows the success of the top management commitment and full involvement of factory management team in the learning and implementation of the methodology learned by Saville Row during CEP implementation.
The productivity improvement initiative of BGMEA-GTZ CEP will reportedly start soon a programme for the RMG units in Chittagong. The experts in the seminar in Chittagong were upbeat about the future of the Bangladeshi RMG industry if it opts for quality and productivity management. They emphasised the need for raising efficiency throughout the organisation, waste elimination, original product development and improved production planning.
There was interest for sourcing from Bangladesh. Some of the foreign buyers already doubled their sourcing from Bangladesh between 2006 and 2009. A number of them said they are keen to redouble them sourcing of apparel products from Bangladesh by 2013.
In this context, it is important for all concerned to put a befitting emphasis on enhancing productivity, more in deeds than in words.
THE dominant view of the experts at a recent seminar in Chittagong has been that the current global economic melt-down has provided an opportunity to the country's readymade garments (RMG) for improving its efficiency, in terms of higher productivity, for gaining access to more new markets.
The experts and panelists in the seminar said although the apparel industry flourished in Bangladesh, the real gains would continue to be limited until the industry addresses the crucial issues of low productivity, inconsistent quality and the social responsibility. As 'defect identification through inspection of garments' is a wrong strategy, they said the industry needs to go for 'Producing Right First Time Quality'. "It is important for the apparel manufacturers in Bangladesh to understand that higher proportion of right first time quality can help them increase their profitability by almost 50 per cent", said a researcher.
Productivity levels generally achieved by the apparel industry in Bangladesh have been very low compared to the global benchmark performance. The global best possible labour productivity per shift by using ideal technology conditions and methods is 41.25 shirts per sewing hour. The best reported performance in Asian is 25.87 shirts. In Bangladesh, the productivity ranged from eight to 20 shirts per sewing labour.
A researcher said that the factories which took part in the BGMEA- GTZ Competitiveness Enhancement Programme (CEP) achieved average labour productivity improvement of 33 per cent in pilot lines. A productivity improvement case study on Saville Row Limited shows the success of the top management commitment and full involvement of factory management team in the learning and implementation of the methodology learned by Saville Row during CEP implementation.
The productivity improvement initiative of BGMEA-GTZ CEP will reportedly start soon a programme for the RMG units in Chittagong. The experts in the seminar in Chittagong were upbeat about the future of the Bangladeshi RMG industry if it opts for quality and productivity management. They emphasised the need for raising efficiency throughout the organisation, waste elimination, original product development and improved production planning.
There was interest for sourcing from Bangladesh. Some of the foreign buyers already doubled their sourcing from Bangladesh between 2006 and 2009. A number of them said they are keen to redouble them sourcing of apparel products from Bangladesh by 2013.
In this context, it is important for all concerned to put a befitting emphasis on enhancing productivity, more in deeds than in words.