
Apparel Resources India and BD Jobs Bangladesh conducted a two-day ‘Professional Development Workshop’ titled ‘TQM Implementation in Manufacturing and Service Industry’ on 16 & 17 January 2015 at BDBL Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The workshop gave a special impetus on implementing TQM and Best Practices in the Apparel Industry, and it was well attended by delegates from several key players in the manufacturing and service industry, namely, UTAH Group, Northern Fashion Ltd., Regatta Limited (Dhaka Liaison Office), Golden Tiger Ltd. (GTL), Kazi IT Ltd., r-pac Bangladesh, American & Efrid Bangladesh Ltd. and BRAC Bank.
Deepak Mohindra, President, Apparel Resources India, welcomed the delegates and wished them a great learning experience. He stressed on the importance of trained manpower and the critical role that skilled operators and other personnel play in strengthening and growing the export Industry. Chandrark Karekatti, Head – Projects and Training, Apparel Resources India, started the workshop by drawing attention to ‘Continuous Improvement’ – the current buzzword in the manufacturing and service industry. He presented a detailed roadmap on the various aspects of the TQM system, along with its implementation in the Apparel Manufacturing sector. The attendees participated enthusiastically in interactive games, which introduced them to concepts like Work Place Management (5-S), Visual Controls, Daily Work Management (DWM), Error Proofing, Quick Wins, Six Thinking Hats, among others. This was followed by a detailed presentation on how the various TQM tools can be applied to apparel manufacturing operations and service functions. The industry’s best practices that help transform factories into world class manufacturing facilities were also deliberated upon, and suggestions made for optimum utilization of resources (people, production processes and technology) in order to generate the best results.

The range of topics under ‘Key Advantages of Quality Systems’, included reduced people dependency, right first time, reduced non-conformance, standardization, improved process flows and systems. Karekatti also put forth the scientific methodology for target setting and tracking of overall business performance by identifying Key Result Areas (KRA) and Key Process Indicators (KPI). On the second day of the workshop, Karekatti shared his experiences in implementing quality improvement programmes across factories in India, Bangladesh and Africa. He explained various initiatives like Autonomous Maintenance, Total Productive Maintenance and tools like ‘Failure Mode Effect Analysis’ (FMEA) for controlling potential failure. An interactive session followed, during which the participants discussed the apparel industry of Bangladesh, and how it has been shaping up in the last decade, and what can drive it towards greater heights. They shared insights on how to beat the cost factor, improve quality, productivity and build a self-sustaining and process-driven system.
“I appreciate the active participation and receptiveness of the participants,” said Karekatti at the end of the session.
One of the attendees, Abdullah Mahsum of Kazi IT Ltd. shared, “It was a new concept for me and I have learned new processes and concepts through this workshop.”
The ‘Professional Development Workshop’ organized by Apparel Resources India, is part of the company’s workshop series, whose aim is to address key challenges in the Apparel Industry. The next workshop in the series titled ‘Professional Practices for Corporate Sector’ will be held in Dhaka on 20 & 21 February 2015 at BDBL.