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garment factory, increased by 21 percent in a seven-month period
last year as it could save around Tk 24.41 lakh per month by
adopting a productivity improvement method. The method mainly focuses
on five components -- land and building, raw materials, machinery,
workforce, and power and energy, and minimises costs in every
segment. Bangladeshi entrepreneurs spend a lot in these components,
said Aminda Atthanayake, managing director and principal consultant
of a Sri Lankan industrial consulting firm operating in Bangladesh
since 2000. The recession-hit Bangladeshi readymade garment (RMG)
entrepreneurs are increasingly opting for such methods to survive in
the crisis through proper utilisation of their existing manpower and
financial capacity. Fayzur Rahman, deputy managing director of
Tusuka Group, said he is going to adopt the method for the second
phase soon as he was benefited from the first phase. The group
exported garments worth $75 million last fiscal year with a 15
percent consecutive growth rate for the last five years, he added. He
went for the productivity improvement method of Spectrum Lanka
Technology Solution Limited ( SLTS), the Lankan consulting firm. "We
should adopt the method to tackle recession impacts, bring orders at
our factories and improve relationship between owners and workers,"
Rahman said. "It can help improve 70 percent work efficiency from
the existing 38 percent," Atthanayake said. Bangladeshi entrepreneurs
spend a significant amount for purchasing land and constructing a
mammoth building without proper planning. Atthanayake said on an
average an entrepreneur spends 40 percent extra money for the five
components for running a factory. The entrepreneurs build the
structures in such a way where they waste a significant amount for
creating unnecessary space, he said. He found that 90 percent
garment factories waste fabrics worth Tk 5 lakh to Tk 10 lakh each
per month for faulty cutting by unskilled workers. "It is possible to
reduce the cutting wastages through proper training and good layout
of structures and machinery," said Atthanayake, who completed
designing 192 garment factories in Bangladesh since 2000.
Installation of extra machinery and faulty set-up coupled with
improper sitting arrangement for unnecessary workers cost a huge
amount in an RMG plant, he said. These also lead to higher consumption
of power and energy, the expert pointed out. Atthanayake said after
signing agreements with the owners, his firm sends trainers and
experts to the factories for designing or redesigning the layouts
and training the workers. Currently 13 Lankan and 26 Bangladeshi
people are working in his company.
