ITAMMA celebrates 75th anniversary

It all started in 1988 when BK Mehta, Past-President, Indian Textile Accessories And Machinery Manufacture Association (ITAMMA), categorically suggested that ITAMMA should take up activities which will make its members and the organisation very strong in terms of system, technology and R&D. Considering his passion for R&D, as the members of Managing Committee of ITAMMA on his 70th birthday in 1988 established ?BK Mehta Endowment Fund? in appreciation of his yeomen and meritorious services to the association; who was the president of the association in the year 1953, 1962, 1966, 1978 and also as a trustee for four decades. This fund was further strengthened financially from time to time for various activities in the field of technology.

Thereafter, ITAMMA didn?t look back and set up its roadmap of organising programmes on 5S, lean, design clinics, common facilitation centres, and so on. After achieving a very good response from members and further to acknowledge their efforts and help them to know their status in the field of technology, ITAMMA from 2011 onwards went on introducing awards like ?Patent?, ?Make in India? and recently ?Operational Excellence Award?. Further, to disseminate the success stories of its members in this field and to encourage those who are lagging behind, ITAMMA released ?ITAMMA VOICE? magazine during the ITAMMA Award function on January 31, 2018 at M.C. Ghia Hall, Mumbai. The theme of the magazine was on operational excellence.

Further, to give a tribute to its visionary, late BK Mehta, popularly known as ?Balkrishnabhai? in the textile industry, a special film was displayed during the award function to create an enthusiasm and encouragement among the award winners for recording more innovations in future.

Hansaben Mehta, wife of BK Mehta, was also felicitated for her continuous support and contribution to ITAMMA; who further strengthened the financial status of ?BK Mehta Endowment Fund? by adding an amount of Rs 25 lakh. In her speech, she mentioned, ?The activities of ITAMMA are spreading throughout the textile engineering industry and may pave way for Indian textile engineering industry to become a hub for spares and accessories for the world, as India may also become a leading supplier of textile machinery to the developing world.?

Award winner	Category
Samruddhi Engineering, Ahmedabad	Top Rank Award for the category of Micro & Small Enterprises (2016-17)
Supertex Industries, Mumbai	Highest Export Excellence Award for Accessory Sector (2016-17)
Lakshmi Ring Travellers, Coimbatore	Export Excellence Award for Spinning Accessory Sector ? Large Scale Manufacturers (2016-17)
Maksteel Wire Healds, Vadodara	Export Excellence Award for Weaving Accessory Sector ? Large Scale Manufacturers (2016-17)
Precision Rubber Industries, Mumbai	Export Excellence Award for Spinning Accessory Sector ? MSMEs (2016-17)
Century Inks Pvt Ltd, Mumbai	Export Excellence Award for Processing Accessory Sector ? MSMEs (2016-17)
Samruddhi Engineering, Ahmedabad	ITAMMA Operational Excellence Award (2016-17)
Millwright Engineering, Coimbatore	Appreciation Certificate for Operational Excellence (2016-17)

The event started by lighting the lamp in a very traditional way followed by a prayer which was followed by a welcome speech by Kaizar Z Mahuwala, President, ITAMMA, who brought back the yesterday?s memories of the association and informed the important role of the founder-members of ITAMMA in creating the vision, which is being systematically followed through cluster development activities like 5S, lean, kaizen, design clinics and common facilitation centres pan India.

Mahuwala mentioned that apart from being the oldest and largest engineering association in the world, the continual development of ITAMMA members in technology is helping them to sustain its status in the world. Mahuwala informed that ITAMMA is celebrating its 75th year and accordingly he invited Hansaben Mehta to launch 75th year logo. After the launching ceremony of logo, release of ?ITAMMA VOICE? took place in the hands of Mehta.

The function was further taken forward with a programme of farewell dinner to Mayank J Roy, Past President of ITAMMA, who addressed the audience with his thanking speech to all those who guided and encouraged him for organising various fruitful activities during his tenure as President in the year 2015-16. Thereafter the award function started where the ITAMMA members bagged the awards in respective categories.

Further to disseminate the success stories of the award winners and also to encourage the others to be the part of the award competition in future, a technical brochure was released, which covers the views of Mahuwala, and the guidelines of Kirti Rathod, Chairman, Award Sub-Committee in the formation of this special award along with the success stories of the award winners. Through ITAMMA Export Excellence Awards, members are encouraged to enhance their exports of machines and accessories. These awards are being instituted by the association in 2010 under the JG Roy Endowment Fund formed in the name of Jayantilal Roy, a trustee of the Association and also the president in 1979.

Pilloo C Aga, Director, Goldseal Saar Gummi India Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, delivered the speech, while Jugal Kishore Pansari, Second VP, ITAMMA, delivered vote of thanks. Other winners include Rahul Gupta, Wholetime Director, Wellknown Polyesters Limited receiving the Fourth Best Overall Export Performance Award for 2016-17; Ashutosh Sharma, Vice President, Yarn Export Marketing, RSWM, receiving the Third Best Overall Export Performance Award for 2016-17; Sanjay Kumar Verma, President and Global Sales Head, Birla Cellulose, Grasim Industries, receiving the Second Best Overall Export Performance Award for 2016-17; and Mukund Kothari, Head of Exports, Polyester Sector, Reliance Industries, receiving the Best Overall Export Performance Award for 2016-17.

TT, a potential sector Chairman SRTEPC

During the award function, welcome address was given by Narain Aggarwal, Chairman, SRTEPC. During his speech, Aggarwal, said, ?On export front, current financial year has been better than the previous year for us. Exports during April-November 2017-18 were $3,553 million in value terms against $3,309 million during the corresponding period of previous year, witnessing a growth of 7.37 per cent. The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India has set an ambitious export target of $7.53 billion for the current Financial Year for us. The export target is envisaged by about 20 per cent growth in 2017-18 from the exports achieved during 2016-17. So far, during April?November 2011, about 50 per cent of the export target has been achieved. However, the prevailing uncertainties and challenges in the indirect taxation under the GST regime, I am bit worried as to how the export target would be achieved. No doubt that in spite of various current odds and challenges, the member-companies of the Council have been working very hard and constantly to cover an extra mile in exports. I am optimistic that all of their efforts would yield desired results.?

He added, ?During 2016-17, we could achieve an export turnover of $5.85 billion against $5.79 billion in the previous year, registering a moderate growth of 1.5 per cent. Exports of fibre, yarn and made-ups shown have shown growth of 8.49 per cent, 7.91 per cent and 3.27 per cent respectively, whereas exports of fabrics declined by 7.59 per cent last year.?

Chairman added, ?Technical textiles is a sunrise sector and has a bright future. The Government has also been giving consistent support to this industry which has resulted in the unprecedented growth of TT.?