Key RMG players shift to automated systems

Operators handle a state-of-the-art fabric cutter at a garment factory in Gazipur. Leading readymade garment manufacturers are now shifting to automated production systems from the traditional ones to be more competitive in global apparel business.Photo: Amran HossainRefayet Ullah Mirdha

Leading readymade garment (RMG) manufacturers are shifting to automated production systems from the traditional ones to be more competitive in global apparel business, said industry insiders.

They said adoption of fresh technology in the apparel industry is paying dividends to owners, as it helps improve management, quality and delivery systems.

The industry operators have also brought about changes in cutting, knitting, dyeing, finishing and packaging through the application of these new technologies.

RMG workers previously cut fabric manually, or the cutting machine's speed was time-consuming. But now it is possible to cut fabric many times faster with the auto cutter machine.

Similarly, in the case of quality control, the automated machinery in a very short while can check whether any needle or any other metal tool is mistakenly embedded in the packaged clothes, according to the workers.

The new technology helps finish dyeing of several hundred yards of fabric in a few hours, says a dyeing factory owner.

Viyellatex Group is the country's first garments factory that has implemented the expensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution from SAP Germany, said Group Chairman KM Rezaul Hasanat.

Some multinationals and other local business houses now adopt the ERP solution, but in the garments sector Viyellatex Group is using it, Hasanat pointed out.

"Viyellatex Group is one of the leading factories worldwide which is using ERP from SAP. The group implemented the ERP in its Gazipur based factory in December last year at a cost of $2million," Hasanat added.

"I save time and wastage in my factory in almost all the sections. I can know the on-time production by one click alone," the Viyellatex boss said.

Talking to The Daily Star, Shahadat Hossain Kiron, managing director of Dekko Group, one of the leading apparel makers, said he plans to install the SAP software to bring efficiency at all levels.

He said currently almost all modern factories are setting aside their traditional methods and adopting automated systems. "Efficiency in cutting, knitting, dyeing and finishing has been attained because of the application of these technologies," Kiron said.

Ghulam Faruque, chairman of SQ Group, a leading sweater maker, said he hired a Bangladeshi born British specialist for his group to develop ERP aiming to ensure better management and production systems.

"I hope SQ Group would be able to implement ERP in next six months," he said.

Faruque said Bangladeshi manufacturers mainly use sophisticated European and Japanese technologies in their production units.

He said since manufacturers are now shifting to lean systems, they prefer these technologies to enhance efficiency.

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association data say Bangladesh imported capital machinery and other technologies worth Tk232.768 crore for the textile sector during July-April period of the current fiscal year.

reefat@thedailystar.net