Confederation of Indian Industry (Tirupur District Council) is all set to roll out an innovative scheme to improve manufacturing competitiveness of the predominant small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Tirupur garment industry through cluster-based approach.
ObjectiveThe objective would be achieved by bringing together a certain number of units in clusters, maximum to be 10 to 12 units in a cluster, and they collectively seek expertise to improve the operational efficiency and implement lean manufacturing practices for cutting the overall expenditure.
“Manufacturing competitiveness will automatically improve once the units are able to minimise the wastages both in terms of materials and human resources.
“This can be done only by making an audit of the present production practices followed in the respective units and then make alterations accordingly to implement the lean manufacturing techniques,” M. Veluswamy, vice-chairman of CII (Tirupur District Council), told The Hindu .
To begin with, the CII (Tirupur District Council) would help the units coming under the clusters to get technical assistance through the Chandigarh-based CII-Avantha Centre for Competitiveness for SMEs for initial assessment of existing weakness in the areas of energy efficiency, cost management, employee involvement and manufacturing excellence.
SharingOn why cluster-based approach for improving manufacturing competitiveness, the CII (Tirupur district council) technical advisor S. Dhananjayan pointed out that the units then could collectively share the expenditure incurred for bringing the technical experts here.
More importantly, the owners of the units within the cluster could share knowledge of some of the successful manufacturing practices in their respective firms.
Integrated inventory management and common branding, both vital ingredients for competitiveness enhancement, too was expected to happen once the units function under the cluster umbrella.
