How the SMART SCP team is engaging with locally owned garment factory “929”
An entrepreneurial woman, Ms. Mya Mya Thin launched a garment factory, “929”, two years ago when she realized there should be a good business opportunity available due to the country’s opening up. Her dream: To export products to Europe and the United States through direct contracts with brands and retailers. She recently requested assistance from the SMART Myanmar SCP team to help her factory enhance its productivity and improve their social compliance practices.
The SMART Myanmar project was requested by Ms. Mya Mya Thin to visit their factory and advise on improvements in production efficiency and working conditions for their approximately 65 workers. As is common in Myanmar’s garment sector, 95% of her workforce is women.
SMART Myanmar has been training a local team of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Technical Assistants in relevant issues and topics for over 2 years. As such, the SCP Technical Assistants who visited “929” on June 22nd to assess the current condition are adequately prepared to begin offering expert advice on productivity and social compliance improvements. They have decided to follow-up their visit to the factory by providing a custom-made “Production Improvement Catalogue” and “5S Catalogue” for the factory as a first step to improve shop floor management and efficiency.
What does a factory assessment include? Well, a factory assessment includes studying the process of every single step taken in the production flow from the fabric store room to the finishing department, evaluating maintenance procedures, inspecting the finished garments, etc. Detailed photos of various processes and conditions are also taken during the assessment in order to be able to produce a before and after catalogue, which can be used later by our SCP team to advise the factory in further improvements.
SMART Myanmar supports 929 to become competitive and profitable by increasing production efficiency and to increasing social standards – a requirement for supplying to the EU market. Ms. Mya Mya Thin wants her factory to have direct business relationships with European brands, but to reach that level her factory needs 1) to improve their productivity and social compliance, 2) to specialize and 3) to increase the size of her factory in order to produce at higher volumes.
One of the SCP technical assistants, Ms Min Mon Myat said, “929 is a relatively new and smaller production compared to other exporting factories that we work with but the management is open and willing to work on our suggestions to further improvements.”
The garment sector is a fast growing industry in Myanmar with immense international competition and narrow profit margins for contract manufacturers like 929. Brands & retailers demand high quality products, quick lead times and decent social compliance standards. Local businesses are constrained by the lack of credit & loan facilities available in Myanmar, and as such must make operate on more limited financial investments. To compete effectively they need to do many things at once, but first and foremost is improving workplace conditions and productivity.
