In a bid to modernise Cambodia’s textile and garment sectors through digitalisation, the industry is introducing innovative new software in February that will help improve efficiency by improving fabric handling and cutting down repeat clothing defects by almost half – in addition to making overall gains on factory productivity.
Singapore-based fashion technology start-up Zilingo, along with Cambodia’s industry body the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), will introduce the company’s ‘proprietary production’ software in Cambodia for the first time in early February, Zilingo head of expansion and country manager for Vietnam and Cambodia, Cian O’Dowd, says. The technology will help businesses to increase efficiency by accessing real-time data in their factories, he says. It will also “improve the overall production reducing defects based on available performance reports”.
The technology has already been tried and tested successfully in other textile and garment-making hubs, including India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. “Some of our factories report a 50% decline in repeat clothing defects after deploying our quality control module – this is huge when you consider that fixing a defective garment takes 2-3x the time it takes to make the garment for the first time,” says O’Dowd. Besides, the software will improve overall production efficiency by 10-15% in partner factories, which is huge in a sector where margins are in the single digits.
Where fabric is concerned, he says, Zilingo offers a ‘cutting module’, which is controlled by a tablet, scanner and mini-printer located at the section of a plant where long rolls of fabric are cut into bundles of fabric panels. It generates a unique QR code or RFID tag which can be attached to each bundle of fabric which captures information such as order number, end customer, what garment this piece of fabric relates to, size, colour, style of garment the fabric relates to, and more. This QR code is then scanned by the factory at each milestone in production, including storage and if the piece is being printed or embroidered.
The technology shows the location of all pieces of fabric at any one time and tracks them. This helps avoid misplacing fabric or large amounts of fabric being stolen. Moreover, it tracks the time it takes for each stage of processing for each piece of fabric, helping factory management monitor production and identify delays inefficiencies in the production process.
Similarly, its ‘sewing module’, which operates via a tablet, helps tracks defects in the finished garment. A quality control manager will use a tablet when examining products after they leave the production line to spot and select defects, the type of defect and where on the garment it is appearing. “This allows us to then track defects per line, worker, type and section of garment,” says O’Dowd, who adds: “All this data is then relayed in real-time to management and production line workers via our screens.”
Obviously, this helps factories to dramatically improve efficiency with the help of real-time data. Moreover, Zilingo’s smartphone applications allow factory owners to see what’s happening real-time on their production floor from anywhere in the world.
“Our systems help factory management and production estimate if they can meet the deadlines in the initial stage itself or take action if necessary,” says O’Dowd. That apart, the system’s performance reports further augment quality manufacturing, greatly reducing numbers of faulty or defective products.
Such technology helps, amidst increasing interest from brands and manufacturers to monitor compliance for sustainability standards. So, “the adoption of Zilingo’s proprietary software is a much-needed push in the right direction for these manufacturing units,” he says.
The GMAC, says that, ahead of the launch, the association has briefed its 600-plus member companies as to how they could benefit from this new software, although neither it nor Zilingo will identify the first Cambodian companies using the system. Speakers at a Factory Software Conference held on 14 January at the Cambodian Garment Training Institute, in Phnom Penh, discussed what new opportunities are available for factories, how factories can increase revenue without hiring more workers and how automation can help increase efficiency, using Zilingo, the GMAC says.
O’Dowd adds that it has identified problems facing Cambodia’s garment and textile sector, such as work interruptions, wastages, poor working systems and workflow, and inefficient in-house logistics, which Zilingo can address as the technology is rolled-out in Cambodia.
Source: www.wtin.com