Investing In Technology

Identify your weak link

While interacting with the technology developers and marketers for apparel industry, one fact becomes aptly clear that India, China, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka are the main countries they have their sales hopes on. With South East Asian crisis the machinery sales have gone down in countries like Indonesia, Thailand & Malaysia. Apart from South Asia another major market is Central America and CBI countries, where garment manufacturing activities have increased in an unprecedented manner in last four years. Having said this, the industry is already experiencing aggressive sales techniques by machinery dealers in last 2-3 years. Many companies, which managed with sales agents for decades, have realized the need to have own offices for technical support. JUKI and Lectra have their own offices in India now, I was told that PFAFF also plans to set up their own office soon. In coming future one is likely to see increasing numbers of sales demonstrations and seminars / workshop organized by technology developers. Apparel buyers have also been mounting pressure on Indian manufacturers to improve the technology level of the factories. Many companies in past have taken decisions on either buying specific special purpose machines or setting up new plants with a fairly modern set of machines. In this environment it is very important that companies take right decisions while investing in technology.

Identify your weak link
The whole gamut of technological upgradation is vast and covers wide ranging areas starting from information technology, design, product development, grading & marker making, spreading cutting, sewing, finishing, material handling and utilities. It will not be possible to have meaningful discussion on each of these in this article, however the underlying principle for the decision making shall remain the same.

It is vital for a company to identify its 'weak link', which has been affecting its ability to satisfy the customer, or has the potential to do so. This weak link could be one 'process' in the total supply chain or 'a micro component' of a specific process, which is affecting the process and intern the product or service provided to the customer.

It is much easier to take a decision once the ' weak link', which many a times can also be a bottleneck point, is identified. Return on investment on these micro areas can be tremendous. As bottleneck has ability to proportionally increase or decrease the output of the total process or a plant. Investment in these well-identified areas or solution can pay back at a phenomenal rate. Having identified the area for improvement, the process of selection for technological solution is also equally important.

While you negotiate
It is seen that many companies buy machines as commodity products and the only consideration is 'price' and nothing else matters. While I do not dispute the 'full' of price factor it is equally important to see that what you buy is a solution for your problem and not simply machines. Quite often apparel manufacturers ask me about how good a specific machine or product is. The answer to such question is that every machine has a specific end use. What is best for one factory may not be useful for other factory. An article detailing the guidelines while selecting the solutions has been published in Clothesline. Here, in brief I shall try to touch upon some of the important points.

• Make sure that the machine proposed does not meet your requirement. Insist on seeing the same in working.
• Try to test the machine on your fabrics and be convinced about the ability of the machine to satisfy your needs.
• Many machines came with optional attachments and work aids, you must specify what you need. If this area is kept open you may not be able to use the machine for intended purpose.
• Understand if there are any special maintenance needs at the machine. This may involve room temperature control, electronic control panels, need to maintain spare parts, special training for your machine etc.
• Try to get the realistic estimates on production capacity of the machine. The figures printed in the brochures could be misleading.
• Training of operators is the most important part. You must insist on training of your operators who shall be running that machine. Unless this is religiously done, your results will get severely affected.
• Also make sure that the supplier has the ability to service the machines provided. There have been cases, where the maintenance stall of agents do not have sufficient training on new generation machines resulting in break down of automatic machines for even months.
• Once you are satisfied with all of above, please go ahead and use your negotiation skills to get the best price. But keep in mind that the best price without points stated above might only deliver less than 50% of possible benefits

Last but not the least, buying technology solution is probably the easiest thing to do, but to utilize the same to fullest extent is the real challenge. You must keep in mind the local conditions and work culture. Introducing new technology or new work methods is about bringing in change, and as it is said the 'management of change' is probably the most challenging task for managers.

RAJESH BHEDA,
Chairperson Garment Manufacturing Technology Department
National Institute of Fashion Technology