FW
Monarch, a leading supplier of high-end circular knitting machines, and BMSvision have entered into an agreement for the development, marketing, installation and service of a state-of-the-art Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for the circular knitting industry. The system, based on the BMSvision KnitMaster architecture, is marketed as MMS – Monarch Monitoring System.
The system automatically collects all production data and sends it to the MMS server for real-time analysis and reporting by using the LAN interface board of the Monarch machine. It has developed an additional interface with the LGL feeders on the machine providing real-time information of yarn tension and yarn consumption in the MMS monitoring application. Older machines or machines from any other brand are connected by means of one of BMSvision touch screen-based data collection terminals.
MMS is available in three versions: MMS Basic for machine monitoring; MMS Plus, which includes also a complete scheduling software module; MMS Advanced as the full option MES system. With this co-operation, Monarch wants to support its customers in their path to digital, paperless production and offer them customised solutions for better utilisation of its machines, as well as for increasing its overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
A research team at Australian Science Agency CSIRO is launching a type of cotton with properties similar to synthetic materials. The team first delved into factors that determined the length, strength and thickness of cotton fibres. This was done by growing a range of different cotton plants, some with long, thin fibres and others with short, woolly fibers.
The motivating force behind their work is the microfiber pollution caused by the washing of synthetic materials like polyester and nylon. These are not biodegradable and so can have a serious impact on waterways. The team is harnessing latest tools in synthetic biology to develop next generation cotton fibres. Synthetics may be cheaper to produce and require less ironing but people prefer natural fibres as these don’t crease much or can be stretched. As per CSIRO statistics, synthetics comprised around 77 per cent of global fiber market in 2015.
"Pakistan has consistently got low rankings on Global Competitiveness Index. It ranked 115 out of 137 economies for 2017-18, compared with India (40), Iran (69), Sri Lanka (65), and Bangladesh (99). Pakistan needs to amplify exports competitiveness just the same way as East Asian economies, such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, successfully implemented export-led growth strategies. As per World Bank data, Chinese exports went up from $62.09 billion in 1990 to $2,097 billion in 2016, an average annual growth of 15.32 per cent. During the same period, the Chinese economy grew an average 9.63 per cent. Indian exports went up from $17.96 billion in 1990 to $264.40 billion in 2016 up by 11.82 per cent a year while Indian economy grew on average 6.59 per cent (World Bank data)."
Pakistan has consistently got low rankings on Global Competitiveness Index. It ranked 115 out of 137 economies for 2017-18, compared with India (40), Iran (69), Sri Lanka (65), and Bangladesh (99). Pakistan needs to amplify exports competitiveness just the same way as East Asian economies, such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, successfully implemented export-led growth strategies. As per World Bank data, Chinese exports went up from $62.09 billion in 1990 to $2,097 billion in 2016, an average annual growth of 15.32 per cent. During the same period, the Chinese economy grew an average 9.63 per cent. Indian exports went up from $17.96 billion in 1990 to $264.40 billion in 2016 up by 11.82 per cent a year while Indian economy grew on average 6.59 per cent (World Bank data). Between 1990-91 and 2016-17, Pakistan’s exports went up from $5.61 billion to $20.43 billion. Thus, in both these countries, high economic growth was reinforced by robust export growth. On the contrary, the Pakistani economy grew on average 4.5 per cent. During the 1990s, GDP grew 4.6 per cent a year. During the 2000s, the average economic growth marginally went up to 4.7 per cent. Between 2010-11 and 2016-17, economic growth decelerated to 4.3 per cent, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey data.
The figure clearly shows Pakistan’s export-to-GDP ratio has come down from 15.53 per cent in 1990 to 9.13 per
cent in 2016. As per World Bank data, during the 1990s, Pakistan’s average export-to-GDP ratio was 16.4 per cent, which fell to 14.35 per cent during the 2000s. Since 2010, the average export-to-GDP ratio has come down to 12.16 per cent. Pakistan’s current export-to-GDP ratio of 9.13 per cent is among the lowest in the region: Iran (22.40 per cent), China (19.64 per cent), India (19.17 per cent), Sri Lanka (21.44 per cent) and Bangladesh (16.64 per cent).
Implications on the country
Experts say, higher productivity means not only producing more output from the given resources but also producing products, which better satisfy customer needs. Export-led growth process must include decreasing dependence on traditional exports and increasing dependence on value-added manufactures, particularly those which have a high growth potential in international market. Having said that without improvement in productivity exports will find it difficult to successfully compete in foreign markets both in terms of price and quality. If the production function in exporting enterprises is not better than that in the enterprises producing for the domestic market, the export sector cannot serve as a catalyst for development.
Pakistan Economic Survey highlighted in 1989-90, the percentage share of primary products, semi manufactures, and manufactures in total exports was 20, 24, and 56 respectively. By the end of 2016-17, export composition had changed as follows: primary products 15 per cent, semi manufactures 12 per cent and manufactures 73 per cent. Although the share of the manufactured goods in total export basket has considerably gone up, the export of manufactured products is heavily dominated by commodity-based manufactures. In 2016-17, the share of textiles and clothing (T&C) in total export of manufactures was 67.21 per cent, followed by 3.94 per cent share of the leather sector.
Pakistan’s share in global textiles and clothing exports is only 1.83 per cent. On the other hand, the engineering sector, which accounts for nearly 60 per cent of global trade, accounts for merely 1.17 per cent of Pakistan’s total exports. The share of engineering products in total exports of China and India is 47 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.
Replacing handlooms with state-of-the art machinery will help the country gain significance globally. More than that, it’s the presence of entrepreneurship, which would aid in professional management, labour training, diffusion of decision-making within the enterprise, risk taking by venturing into new areas, or at least, experimenting with product design, and a total commitment to quality.
In five years , all of Arvind’s textile production will be outsourced and the focus will be on garments. Garmenting will be done in phases, from 10 per cent garment manufacture as of now it will go up to 30 or 40 per cent. The aim is to emerge as a major apparel brand across price points. Arvind intends to employ at least 5000 to 8000 women each in facilities in Jharkhand and Gujarat to produce apparel.
The new facilities in Ethiopia would focus on garmenting and offer duty-free access to European markets. This value addition will help Arvind become a one-stop shop. Running concurrent is Arvind’s desire to shift from cotton to manmade fiber, which is cheaper, more functional and dominant in the sportswear and athleisure segments that are the fastest growing in the garment industry.
From traditional textile businesses, Arvind will move to being a technology company led by intellectual property rights, designs and strategic relations with customers. The ROCE is expected to grow from the current ten per cent to 18 per cent by financial year 2022-23. A pruning of the brand portfolio is likely. Arvind retails some 20 foreign brands in India.
The US is the world's largest home textile market. The US market is projected to grow at CAGR of three per cent by 2020. The country’s import of home textiles and made-ups grew at a robust 7.7 per cent during January-May 2018. Import of made-ups and home textiles of manmade fibers grew 10 per cent. Cotton made-ups and home textile imports grew 1.6 per cent. Europe is the second largest home textile market. India is the third largest home textiles market in the Asia Pacific region, projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.2 per cent by 2020.
This market includes bed linen, towels, curtains, blankets, upholstery, kitchen linen, and rugs and carpets. In the global home textile market, bed linen has a 45 per cent share while bath linen constitutes 20 per cent. Other segments such as floor coverings, furnishings, table and kitchen linen make up 35 per cent of the home textile market. The bed linen and bedspreads segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.4 per cent by 2020.
Asia Pacific, accounting for 44 per cent of the market, remains the most dominant producer and consumer of home textiles. Here, China is the largest manufacturer and consumer of home textiles.
The economies of Southeast Asia can boost their collective gross domestic product if existing inequities between genders is eliminated. Gender inequality in Cambodia prevails at the workplace and in society. The country is building a global textile industry on the back of Cambodian women working sewing machines on the garment factory floor. However, they are often overworked and underpaid, and rarely ever promoted to supervisory positions.
One in three Cambodian women working in the industry has suffered sexual harassment on the factory floor. Employers do not pay their female workers correctly for maternity leave and some do not allow paid time off for breastfeeding as required by law.
In Vietnam, women constitute the majority of the jobless, making up over 57 per cent of untrained, unemployed adults. Of 12,300 online job advertisements, one-fifth included gender requirements, of which 70 per cent preferred male candidates. Men are most often targeted for highly professional or technical jobs or jobs requiring much travelling, while women are expected to perform office and clerical jobs.
Southeast Asian women contribute 36.4 per cent of the combined regional GDP. However, this percentage fails to capture the very significant economic value that women create through unpaid care work in the home such as looking after children and the elderly, shopping, cooking, and cleaning.
Italy is a major apparels importer globally but India holds a miniscule share in these imports. Apparel is the largest category with a share of 46 per cent in India’s textile and apparel exports to Italy. This is followed by cotton textiles and manmade textiles having a share of 20 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.
Apparel is the largest imported category by Italy, making up 61 per cent of total textile and apparel imports. This is followed by manmade textiles with a share of 17 per cent. The top 10 suppliers account for 71 per cent of textile and apparel imports by Italy. China and Hong Kong are the largest suppliers accounting for 21 per cent share, followed by Germany with eight per cent and Spain and France seven per cent each.
In recent years, China, the largest supplier for Italy, has seen a sustained rise in its wages, opening up opportunities for India to increase its share in Italy’s apparel imports. Apart from this, manmade textiles category offers huge potential for India to increase its market share in Italy. It can increase its export competitiveness by investing in manmade fiber-based textile manufacturing processes, thereby increasing its market base.
Bangladesh is yet to sign a free trade agreement. Possibly, the country is feeling some sort of complacency because of its considerable achievement in global trade over the years. But the truth is many countries at a similar level of economic development are now much ahead of it in global trade. The way economies across the world are realigning themselves may make things difficult for Bangladesh in coming days.
Asean is an example. The 10-nation Asean countries signed free trade agreement among themselves long ago but they did not stop there. Asean countries, which include most of the South Asian countries, except Korea and Japan, decided to sign the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) agreement with China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia. The RCEP, if signed, will represent half of the world's population and one-third of global gross domestic product.
Vietnam, starting much later than Bangladesh, has signed dozens of FTAs with its trade partners. In trade volume, it has caught up Bangladesh long ago and is now moving far ahead. Thailand is an example. Its economy is booming because it is globally linked with other economies. From tourism alone, Thailand earned 58 billion dollars in 2017, which is almost twice the size of Bangladesh's total exports.
With the rupee plummeting to new lows every day, Indian exporters have something to cheer about. Especially for auto component players, the going has been good, with marquee vendors expressing happiness on the back of the shining dollar bringing cheer to exporters.
Businesses that are transacted in dollars (the IT, apparel, leather or textile sectors) would have made a substantial gain of seven to eight per cent. Those raising funds from the Indian market can rest assured as investments typically pour in with a one-year timeline.
Venture funds are doled out keeping in mind the longer haul. The rupee is not an exception considering that almost every currency has been hit by global macroeconomic conditions. Those who have just raised funds, especially in dollars or about to close a fund, are in the positive sphere. Venture capital money is drawn over time and the exchange rate matters only at the time of withdrawal. Those who have drawn down their tranche of capital in the last two to three months would be gaining six to seven per cent only due to exchange rate fluctuations. The current slide augurs well for those intending to raise money from the domestic market. However, despite gains, the moot point is having a stable currency should be the way forward.
Chinese factories are moving assembly lines abroad to skirt higher customs taxes on their exports to the United States and elsewhere.
They are shifting production to countries such as Vietnam, Serbia and Mexico. This is true particularly of China's bike industry.
Supply chains have already begun relocating out of China in recent years as its rising labor and environmental protection costs have made the country less attractive.
Tariffs are adding fuel to the fire.
China-US trade frictions are accelerating the trend of the global value chain changing shape. The shifting abroad of labor-intensive assembly could bring unemployment problems.
Moves abroad spurred on by tariff risks include a garment maker going to Myanmar, a mattress company opening a plant in Thailand and an electronic motor producer acquiring a Mexico-based factory.
Building a factory abroad allows indirect growth by evading international trade barriers. A country like Vietnam has no anti-dumping tax and labor costs are lower there as well.
It is not only Chinese factories that are shifting out. Foreign firms are moving supply chains away from China - toy company Hasbro, camera maker Olympus, shoe brands Deckers and Steve Madden, among many others.
China's growing e-bike industry faces duties not only from the US but also the European Union.
