Indian textile expert together with SMART Myanmar team advise on machinery investments, analyse the production systems and fabric inspection methods.
From October 11th to October 31st the German textile company ESGE conducted the second mission visit with SMART Myanmar. SMART Myanmar is a project funded by the European Union. The local partners of SMART are the Myanmar Garment Association (MGMA) and UMFCCCI. SMART implements all its activities through and with MGMA.
ESGE textile expert Mr. A. Ponraj visited several companies from October 14th to October 21st. He introduced numerous ways for production improvement in six factories, including: Hang Kei, Shweyi Zabe, Hallmark, Best and Thiri Sandar. Mr. Ponraj also guided SMART’s SCP Trainees (young Myanmar engineering graduates) during company visits and advised them how to support SMART factories in improving their production.
The collaboration between SMART Myanmar and ESGE visit was recognized as very fruitful for the companies and all other participants. Due to the production improvement, local garment companies are able to produce more efficiently. This will lead to cost and time savings that enable local companies to further streamline their production. Because of the multiplication effect in the SMART Myanmar approach, such projects create more knowledge and benefits for other local garment factories and their stakeholders, most notably shop floor workers.
The main objective of this visit was to increase the knowledge about productivity and quality improvements through machinery investment among the garment producers. Mr. Ponraj and the SMART Trainees visited the companies and analysed their production systems including sewing machinery. A main focus was pre-production reporting such as mechanical check lists and fabric-inspection methods. For example, Mr. Moe Pwint, managing director of Hallmark, was introduced to the topics and he appreciated the support given to him. In addition he presented the shop floor to the visitors for further deepening of the discussions. In the end, Mr Pwint stated that his company benefitted largely from the SMART Myanmar visit.
In the end, Mr Ponraj delivered a report to the companies with tailored recommendations to optimize their shop floor. Factories which follow these measures can reduce extra work, increase quality standards of workmanship, reduce waste and energy consumption and benefit from cleaner & safer working environments. Mr Ponraj and the SCP team also visited the factories of the SMART companies Trisea and Hang Kei for production improvement follow-ups to earlier visits and workshops.
