‘Countries like India, Vietnam, Morocco even Pakistan was beating Bangladeshi factories in taking orders and even pricing’
Country’s Ready-Made Garments industry was at a crossroads where it could face catastrophic consequence if certain policies and innovations were not adopted on the government level as well as the factory level, said speakers at a roundtable on Monday. The discussion was titled ‘A round table discussion on opportunities and challenges of innovation in the traditional RMG business model,’ organized by Merchant Bay at Banani Club. Jashim, MD of Anam Garments Ltd, pointed out countries like India, Vietnam, Morocco even Pakistan was beating Bangladeshi factories in taking orders and even pricing. The country was experiencing fall in RMG export recently. If the problems were not identified and solved immediately then many factories would be closed in near future, he said. Speakers pointed out unplanned factory expansion, unavailability of skilled employee, efficiency loss and less interest in adopting technological solutions for the current dismal scenario. Mr. Ehsan Haq, director of Knittex industries ltd said, “Over the time we have failed to brand ‘Made in Bangladesh’. Typically, factories of our country engage into a war to bid the lowest price. Doing so they sometime offer unimaginable price to buyers just to get the order in order to survive. This low pricing gave an impression to the market that in Bangladesh making cost is less.” “Factories often does it just to earn the operation cost because unplanned expansion raised the factory operation cost so high that now the factory cannot afford to refuse unrealistic low prices”- he added. Imran Ahmed Sabid, director of Intramex Group echoes Ehasan. He said, “When we invest more than we get, this compels us for a price war.” To discuss the possible solutions, the panel emphasized on the efficient operation of the factory to reduce the operation cost and maximize production. On this note, Mr Aqib Jafri Sharif, project coordinator of Northern Toshrifa Group said, “Data driven smart management system can be adopted. It will help to identify the inefficient parts of the factory and take action accordingly.” A K M Akif, director of Sans Packaging said, “We need to have strong unity within us to bring innovation which will be sustainable and we have go for effective branding to.”
