TAI seminar focuses on opportunities

The Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit organised One Day SemLifetime Achievement Awardinar on “Opportunities for Textile Industry in Challenging Scenario” on February 29, 2020 at Hotel fortune Park Galaxy, Vapi (Gujarat). The seminar was inaugurated by Rajnikant S Bachkaniwala, Chairman, Palod Himson Machines.

Inaugural Session

VC Gupte, Chairman, TAI, Mumbai Unit welcomed the chief guest, keynote speaker and guests of honour. He also welcomed the awardees, speakers, press, media and delegates.

Vilas Gharat, President, TAI, Mumbai Unit said that our Unit always takes keen interest in the latest developments in the textile industry and had organised seminars on important topics like weaving, fabric forming, etc. in Vapi region which were very successful. He further said that Mumbai Unit recently organised two important International Conferences on the latest topic of “Textile 4.0” which were very successful and appreciated by all.

Haresh B. Parekh, Convener of the Seminar while giving the highlights said that this seminar is organised to discuss the Opportunities for the textile industry in the challenging scenario. The Speakers and Panel Members will show the roadmap for the opportunities available in the upcoming trends of business and he was sure that the interaction in the seminar will be highly productive and beneficial.

GV Aras, Director, Textile Engineering Group, A.T.E. Enterprises delivered the Key Note Address and said that there are lot of opportunities in the textile industry but we are not able to grab them to prove ourselves in the international market. We don’t have the capacity for bulk manufacturing which can fulfil the requirements of big buyers. He also explained that due to logistics and disintegrated activities in the textile industry causing the increase in the cost of product. He also emphasised that due to Corona Virus problems in China the production capacity has been considerably reduced and hence Indian textile industry has tremendous opportunity to increase the productivity and grab the international market.

AA Bambardekar, Works Director, Raymond Limited (Textile Division Vapi) while addressing the gathering said we must adopt new technology to reduce the cost which will automatically increase our profitability. He further said that the young students should enter in to textile industry as they have innovative ideas and explained that working of his entire unit can be accessed on a mobile app developed by this new generation.

The Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit felicitated Mr. Madhubhai Mangukia, Chairman & Managing Director, Yamuna Machine Works Pvt. Ltd. with “The Lifetime Achievement Award” and Mr. Haresh Panchal, Managing Director, Rabatex Industries with “The Industrial Excellence Award” for their outstanding contribution in the field of textile industry.

Navin P Agrawal, Jt. Convener of the Seminar gave the introduction of the Chief Guest.

Rajnikant S. Bachkaniwala, Chairman, Palod Himson Machines, while giving his inaugural address, said that whenever there is a crisis there is an opportunity. The Global Corona virus problem in China has given the Indian textile industry an opportunity which we should not miss. India has the potential and the young generation now has to take up this task and plan a strategy to achieve success.

AV Mantri, Hon. Secretary, TAI, Mumbai Unit, proposed Vote of Thanks.

Technical Session

During the technical session, following papers were presented by the eminent speakers.

• Vikram Shah, Vice President, Rabatex Industries presented the paper on “Advanced Development in Preparation of Fabric Sampling”.
• Apurva Jariwala, Branch Head – Surat, Textile Engineering – Fabric Forming, A. T. E. Enterprises presented the paper on “New Developments in Warp Knitting”.
• Babasaheb V Alugade, Regional Sales Manager, Picanol India made the presentation on “Latest trend in Weaving”.
• S Ramasubramanian, Dy. General Manager, Batliboi Textile Machinery Group presented the paper on “Revolutionary Continuous Modular Overflow Washing Range Wanny by Pentek, Italy

• Badruddin Khan, Sr. Manager – Product Management Team, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX) presented the paper on “Awareness Programme on Kapas & Cotton Price Risk Management”.
• Deepak Sabarad, Sr. Sales Manager, Voltas Limited presented the paper on “Whole Garment by Shima Seiki”.
• NSK Srinivasan & Hasmukh Shah, Umta Management & Texstyles Academy made the presentation on “Smart Textiles an Opportunity for Textile Industry In Challenging Scenario”.

Panel discussions

A Panel Discussion on the topic ‘Developments in Textile Industry to meet Emerging Market Trends’ was featured as the last event of the seminar. The discussion moderated by Rajiv Ranjan, ED & CEO of Hindoostan Mills, had leaders from the textile industry on the panel who came up with some radical thoughts which could be helpful to the textile industry.

Sumit Gupta, Dy. Director, Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) talked about the importance of compliance to global standards in today’s business especially as our business grows in the field of organic textiles.

Vikas Sharan, Director – India Operations, Saurer Textile Solutions, stressed upon the importance of working towards increasing our scale and competitiveness in the field of apparel manufacturing and branding especially in the current scenario of an opportunity to increase our market share in this field. He also touched upon the importance of taking steps to increase India’s global market share in man-made fibre products, where we are lagging. He talked about the importance of logistics playing a pivotal role in catapulting India to that platform from where rapid and on-time delivery to any destination in the world could be possible.

Pratik Bachkaniwala, Director, Palod Himson Machines, spoke upon the subject as a whole concept. He said that to meet the demands of the market we not only need to focus and innovate upon the product services, supply chain, logistics, marketing, finance and distribution network but most importantly also focus on the importance of attitude building which is very critical in today’s marketplace.

RR Patil, MD & CEO, Gokak Mills, took up the point on cost effectiveness for increasing our competitiveness. Power cost being a major burden in the current scenario, companies could look at solar power, where the rates are going down everyday, as a major cost reducer.

Navin Agrawal, VP, Textile Engineering-Fabric Forming, A.T.E. Enterprises, spoke about the need to upgrade to modern machines with high productivity and automation to maintain cost and quality competitiveness. Productivity was becoming a key factor across the entire textile value chain. He also stressed upon the need for skilling workers through proper training so as to increase their efficiency to meet global standards.

The talk by the panellists was followed up with some very good questions and comments by members of the audience. Mr. Gurudas Aras talked about the importance of various associations across the industry value chain putting up a united face to the world while Mr. Rahul Bhajekar mentioned about the need of integrity in doing business today. This was followed by probing questions from the group of students and others attending the seminar on the issue of employment in the industry and other topics which was ably handled by the panel members.

The seminar was a grand success and was attended by over 225 delegates.