In less than three years of operations, Singapore-based Indian technology company ThreadSol has made inroads into the readymade garments (RMG) industry, the largest industry of Bangladesh. With technological solutions like IntelloCut and IntelloBuy—which hold the promise of increasing productivity, reducing cycle time and lead time, eliminating manufacturing waste, improving product quality and ultimately improving profitability—the company has been able to gain the confidence of some of the largest apparel producers of Bangladesh. Threadsol co-founder Manasij Ganguli recently came to Bangladesh and The Independent got an opportunity to talk to this visionary young leader.
Adapting technology well
Manasij Ganguli explained that the use of technology in the Bangladesh garments industry is at a nascent stage. However, large-scale manufacturers in the country are starting to look at global technology for their business. Ganguli explained, “ThreadSol entered the Bangladesh garments market in 2014. In less than three years of operations, the largest manufacturers—including Beximco, Pacific Jeans, Dekko Group, Unifil Group, Hirdaramani’s Kenpark and Regency, Fakir Fashions, Epic Group, Urmi Group and Ananta Group have become the clients of ThreadSol’s solution for the RMG sector. We have added 20 large new manufacturers from Bangladesh in the past one year to our portfolio. I call this good progress, because this is a new technology, and understanding a news technology takes time.” “Bangladeshi manufacturers have, however, adapted this technology very well,” he said. When asked about the adaptability, he said, the advantages of adapting technology in the garments sector are very clear. “In the shirt or the pants that you produce, over 60 per cent of the cost goes into raw materials and production, so the profit margin is very thin. Now if you can reduce the cost by 7 to 8 per cent, it would increase the profits. So the message is very clear: for a businessperson, if you show him/her properly that the initiative would actually reduce the cost, then he/she has no problem accepting it.” He, however, observed that the main challenge lies in training the floor supervisors and workers. “We have to make them understand our benefits because, at the end of the day, it is they who will use it.” The co-founder of ThreadSol said, “It would have been better if a technology forum was organised in Bangladesh, where we could directly sit with the owners to make them understand the benefit of our products.”
Great potential
The high-end products require technological adaptation, he further said. Across the world, there are more than 120 RMG products, but Bangladesh produces only 21 to 22 of those products. “There are design issues and patent issues, but, most importantly, the issue of adaptability.” He said Bangladesh is the second largest RMG manufacturer of the world after China. “China has adopted technology in the RMG sector on an immense scale. China is outsourcing its low-cost segments like shirts and T-shirts, and now is manufacturing more complex segments of garments.” Ganguli observed that to meet the target of earning USD 50 billion by 2021, Bangladesh “needs to start producing those complex garments, otherwise the target would not be met”. He said Bangladesh has made considerable progress in denim. “But it still lags behind in producing more profitable products like outerwear, sportswear or expensive trousers.” “I have been travelling for about 11 months across the globe and I have seen the changes in the RMG sector from many perspectives. The Philippines used to do well in the RMG sector, but now it has lost its edge. Vietnam now has great growth, and so has Mexico. Turkey’s growth has declined, too.” Ganguli said he recently went to Uzbekistan, which has just embarked on its journey in the RMG sector. “After seeing all these countries, I can tell you that Bangladesh has the greatest potential.” Explaining the reasons, he said Bangladesh now has abundant labour. “This is a country with huge numbers of adept personnel in the RMG sector’s workforce. In the past 20 years, this skilled labour force has been built up. So now if Bangladesh now adds technology on top of it, it will leapfrog to achieve the USD 50-billion target.” By saving fabric, labour and time in an efficient and smart way, the input-output ratio in the RMG sector can be enhanced and profits maximised. With that idea, the Threadsol team designed and developed their flagship product—intelloCut—which is intelligent material planning and optimisation software. It measures, predicts and optimises material utilisation and productivity for sewn products industry (apparel, footwear, automotive, home furnishing, technical textiles, etc.). Later, Threadsol conceptualised and developed intelloBuy, an intelligent material buying prediction software. It predicts the width and shrinkage of the fabric before it comes in-house to estimate buying consumptions by tracking the past records of the vendor. ThreadSol has now developed its third product, intelloTrace, the world’s first near-field communication (NFC)-based production management system. It will help manufacturers track every inch of fabric, right from the fabric store to finishing and shipment. It has also developed support applications like intelloGreen, a smart tablet application which replaces on-floor layslips currently used in the apparel cutting floor, rendering their industry paperless and green.
