Coats eyes BD market to expand business

Coats Global Services (CGS) looks to expand its business in Bangladesh's growing readymade garment (RMG) sector, visiting top officials of the global service provider said in Dhaka.

Bangladesh, being the second largest apparel exporting country, is a lucrative destination for the global apparel buyers and related service providers as it has immense potentials to grow further with existing resources, they noted.

And the technological solutions provider, CGS, could help reduce cost and increase productivity at a time when the buyers are squeezing the prices of the apparel products, they said.

Anas Shakil, director manufacturing excellence of CGS, and David Berry, global director of sales and marketing of GSD, a subsidiary of CGS, made the observations while talking to the FE at an event in Dhaka on Tuesday.

The event titled 'Apparel Tech Up', a series of discussion events aimed to initiate networking on value of technology for the apparel and footwear manufacturing space, was held at a city hotel.

The Bangladesh event highlighted the importance of data analytics and how accurate data management could impact the apparel manufacturing.

CGS is a part of Coats, the world's leading industrial thread manufacturer, with 250 years of fashion expertise. The company operates across six continents at some 50 sites and has a sales presence in over 100 countries, including Bangladesh.

CGS last year acquired Threadsol, an Indian software solution provider that deals with the waste of fabric in garment manufacturing.

"Coats has a relationship in Bangladesh for many years. It is important to use this relationship and taking those forward since we share the same visions," Mr. Shakil said.

CSG solutions address issues related to labour, productivity and planning while material cost is another big aspect of manufacturing, he said. "With the acquiring of Threadsol, we are now offering the whole package under one umbrella."

Fabric cost is about 60-70 per cent of the total production cost and ThreadSol saves up to 10 per cent of fabric cost by estimating fabric requirements accurately and buy exactly what is needed, according to Threadsol officials.

The solutions help generate the most suitable and optimised cut plan from millions of possible combinations in just one click thus saving fabric, increase cutting room productivity and reduce wastage.

Citing an example, Mr. Shakil said that if an apparel item costs US$ 6.0 where $ 3.0 for fabric, $ 2.0 for labour and $1 for other overhead cost, the CGS solutions can effectively bringing the whole costs down.

The manufacturers cannot lower the cost without losing on margins, only getting efficiency can help lower the cost, he said, adding CGS is basically partnering with the supply chain, taking them forward that our software can solve the particular problems.

Moreover, garment costing optimisation through CGS solutions benefit through costing fact-based discussions for proper assessment of work for every style with buyers, said Mr. Berry.

Once a manufacturing unit takes the solutions, wastage comes down to less than one per cent, the officials said.

Vietnam is ahead in terms of using technological solutions in raising productivity in its garment manufacturing units, Mr Berry said, adding that, in Bangladesh, they face difficulties in connecting with the decision making people of garment factories.

IntelloCut, intelloBuy, evolve, vision, GSD enterprise and GSD quest are among the sets of complementary software solutions CSG offers to the apparel and footwear supply chain to deliver operational benefits in cost, speed and compliance, according to its officials.

The CGS has more than 150 clients in Bangladesh including Beximco, Dekko, Ananta and Epyllion.

IntelloBuy, accurate material estimation solution, saves 10 per cent material cost at buying stage reducing workload and saves millions of dollars of material costs.

IntelloCut, automated service, saves 10 per cent material at production level, minimise wastage level and maximise utilisation and IntelloTrace is an intelligent production management solution for comprehensive tracking.

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