Date:04/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/04/stories/2009010454670500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Textile units urged to focus on quality

Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE: Competitiveness in quality and cost is an important factor that will enable any textile unit to sustain in the current slowdown, according to chairman of the Southern India Mills’ Association K. V. Srinivasan.

At a programme on “Building Competitiveness through Quality” organised by the Textiles Committee here recently, Mr. Srinivasan said the global textile sector was undergoing an unprecedented recession and this had serious impact on the Indian textile industry. In Tamil Nadu, the sector was further threatened by the power shortage, which was expected to continue for another three years.

The stimulus package announced by the Union Government was a welcome move as it would reduce the liquidity crunch to some extent. But, the measures were inadequate to revive the industry and were minimal compared to various incentives announced by the competing countries, such as China and Pakistan. In a situation where it was difficult to get even enquiries from buyers, the units had to focus on quality and cost.

M.M. Chockalingam, Chief General Manager of National Textile Corporation here, said in order to build competitiveness through quality, it was important to introduce total quality management system. Such a system would review the current quality practices and help take up more efforts to meet the required quality standards.

The system should focus on committed quality improvement in all operations, identify markets for quality products and set out a quality improvement policy.

He said the cost of production should be brought down by the textile units even while maintaining quality. The success of quality depended on the commitment of the management and the employees. Now, buyers demand complete compliance on the quality front. Even before placing an order, international buyers demanded reports of third party assessment. Some even ask for in-house testing laboratories. Thus, quality was developed as a strategic success potential that could ensure the existence of the unit in the future too, he said.