It is a well-established fact that the global garment manufacturing business is a ‘wage game’ and the location with the lowest wages wins. Old bases, over a period of time witness wage increases, which triggers movement of price-sensitive orders towards potential emerging ‘cheaper’ hubs. The wage rise also sets into motion a maturation activity in the erstwhile hub, as it begins to strengthen its industry to develop competencies to recompense for the higher wages. In recent times Bangladesh, which saw phenomenal growth on the back of cheap labour cost, has witnessed similar activities and that too without any significant threats from emerging hubs – which indicates the proactive nature of the country’s apparel manufacturing sector. Apparel Online presents a low-down on the most recent developments in this expanse…
The sentiment that resonates with almost the entire Bangladeshi apparel manufacturing fraternity is that the industry having established its global position in the last three-decades now needs to age with grace. That means less dependency on the factors responsible for its growth so far and greater concentration on value propositions like better working systems, enhanced control over quality, shorter lead times, in-house fashion design teams, and even taking a dive into high-fashion garments. While in the past the country has relied heavily on expats for skill competency, the winds of change are surfacing. Not only the big players, but also the medium-level manufacturers are preparing themselves rigorously, paying greater attention on skill development for new avenues of growth.
Rising literacy levels supporting maturity…
Demographically, Bangladesh’s literacy rate has shot up and the factory owners report that the impact can be seen on shop floors. “Our Production Managers and Quality Controllers are graduates which make them better than the previous generation,” avers ATM Taslim Uddin Taimur, Director, Mac-Tex Industries Ltd . who is setting up a new factory in Gazipur. Mac-Tex is a Dhaka-based 400-machine factory manufacturing workwear, denim bottoms, and outerwear for French and German buyers. Taimur intends to build the new factory with a strong Industrial Engineering department and utilize work study professionals to standardise machine requirements, layouts and targets from an order-to-order basis. “This will help us map our deliveries, draw out better production plans and hence produce with better lead times,” believes Taimur.
It is palpable that now the industry has the confidence to pursue product diversification and value addition for developing an edge. Crystal Martin is another such manufacturer in the country offering order quantities as small as 500-10,000 pieces of value-added ladies tops for M&S and even activewear. The company is laying faith in grooming local talent for job. Bilal Ghauri, MD of the Lahore-based buying house Indus Apparels is also certain that Bangladesh can pursue handwork as a value addition technique. “We have hand embroidery and bead work capabilities, although scattered. Some factories have access to streamlined organizations, otherwise we have to take them to cottage industries where women and girls do it at home,” he reveals. This model was earlier popular mostly in India, but now Bangladesh is working to encash on the skill of home workers also.
Another key capability that the country is set to augment in the time to come is product development. Mitali Fashions will soon have a strong product development and fashion design arm. “In all probability, we will set up the PD department within a year or so,” informs Abdullah who is in discussions with designers from Istanbul and India for the initiative. Abdullah however is precariously maintaining the balance between expats and locals. “The Bangladeshi youth is set to make swift advances as there are institutes like BIFT run by BGMEA and Santa Maria University training the youth for the apparel industry. Although, they have just started the courses but lot of brilliant boys and girls are coming out of such institutes,” apprises Abdullah.
Mastering the Middle Management…
To enlist such initiatives, DBL Group’s Future Leader Development Programme (FLDP) is amongst the latest initiatives. “Today, after infrastructure, industry-ready professionals are the next challenge that the sector faces. We surely need more universities and institutes which can produce better business managers,” avers MA Jabbar, MD, DBL Group . Under the FLDP initiative, fresh graduates joining the company are assessed by the HR Department to determine the kind of training they will require. Once the training needs have been ascertained, the new recruits work under the direct mentorship of the senior employees of the organisation who are often expats from Sri Lanka, India, and Philippines. The recruits are not only trained in the factory but sent abroad as well. “All this is done to meticulously ensure that they can handle the business in the future,” stresses Jabbar.
Crystal Martin is a heartening exhibit of how the country’s middle management is rising up to the occasion and taking the industry to the next gear of excellence crafted by Bangladeshis. Although, currently the company employs 25 Filipinos and Sri Lankans, the syndicate is actively engulfed in skill transfer activities. The company has to its credit a quasi-lean set of operations. “Recently, we have promoted two Bangladeshis (one production technician and one production manager) as factory managers. We have taken production technician, production executives and one production manager to the middle management-level responsibilities. And soon we will be packing our bags from here,” avers Vimarsha Peiris, GM – Operations, Crystal Martin who is a Sri Lankan expat.
The experiment of skill transfer makes for an interesting case as to implement lean in a Bangladeshi factory manufacturing small order quantities of value-added ladies wear is unlike what the country is known for. “We have not spoken the lean jargon as they are big words and cannot be dropped in casually. Instead, first we have allowed them to learn the discipline and fundamentals, and then when they were fluent with the concepts in application, they were named. Since they have already learnt it, and seen the difference, there is no resistance either,” explains Vimarsha. Moreover, the transition will sustain as the company is training the locals. “As they are seeing and experiencing the benefits of these systems, the lessons will stay,” he adds. Stepping up the skill development efforts further, Crystal Martin has hired an ex-MAS employee to develop a training module for supervisors.
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