With most of the apparel companies focusing on implementation of systems and SOPs to function efficiently as an organization, very few are concentrating on next area of growth once the necessary systems are in place and the organization can be put on an ‘auto-pilot’ mode. Some clues can be derived from the operations of Ananta Garments, a two-decade-old apparel manufacturing company, working on the principles of industrial engineering for nearly a decade, focusing on diversification as its growth engine. In an exclusive interaction Amin Khan, Chairman and Inam Khan, Managing Director, Ananta Garments highlight the company’s focus on simplified reporting systems, employee engagement and diversification over expansion.
The journey of ananta garments can be defined as a continuous upward movement in the value chain. the company started in 1992 with non-denim bottoms, moved on to denim bottoms in 1996 with gap, ventured into woven kidswear in 2001 and established a leather goods manufacturing facility in 2012. in apparels, 60% of the company’s output is of kidswear and the rest is denim bottoms, where the company claims that it adds the maximum value through its washing facilities. the company’s recent investments have been in leather goods and not apparels. “Diversification without adding any further value to a business is not good for a company and we saw more scope for value addition in the segment of leather goods,” reasons amin khan.
Manufacturing wallets and purses majorly for the Japanese market, ananta leather collections is setup in an area of 10,000 square metres, producing 10,000 bags per month. “leather was one product in which a whole lot more value addition can be achieved with local resources. but we are going slow and looking at first creating a strong hold in the market. once that is done we may grow very fast and even have plans for setting up crust leather finishing operations as there are plenty of tanneries in bangladesh,” explains inam khan, who is a marine engineer by qualification. for ensuring success in the new venture, the company has appointed sohail askar to lead the production team at ananta leather collections. sohail was the first MD of picard bangladesh, the biggest exporter of leather bags and purses from the country.
With a turnover of us $ 100 million, ananta group operates three apparel factories having 4,200 sewing machines and a washing unit, which altogether produce more than 1.4 million apparels per month. but it is not the scales to which the company attributes its success in the competitive business of apparel exports. “We were among the first companies to work on the principles of industrial engineering (Work study) way back from 2003, and within one year we were able to streamline a lot of the production procedures. later, we hired professionals from sri lanka to take the same forward and one of the gentlemen we hired at that point is now an Executive Director of the company,” shares inam khan. Due to the focus on work study, the company claims to have minimized the style changeover time to zero and calculated an actual cM cost for every style based on the sMv value and order quantities. such advantages have been carried forward to the merchandising department also, where the merchandisers are provided with complete capacity allocation plans for the next 6 months, based on which further orders can be booked. Due to the improved planning, the company claims to have offered no discounts and air shipments to its customers. “after years of work study, we have been able to achieve an average factory efficiency of 52%, which is significantly higher than the national factory average of 42%,” shares inam khan, who feels that factories do not reveal the actual efficiencies because it is hard to maintain efficiencies which are above 50% and to cross the mark of 70% efficiency is a big thing.
Innovative Reporting Systems
Every business owner of a diversified company has defined some key performance indicators (kpis) and systems for efficiently and profitably running his organization. same is the case with amin khan and inam khan, who review 20 to 30 different reports daily, but the manner in which these reports are made and monitored is quite unique. the company uses instant messaging mobile application, in which groups of different departments have been created, whose members are head of the department, other managerial-level members of the department, industrial engineers, merchandisers and hoD of other necessary departments. “We have made very simple and abbreviated formats so the reports fit the limits of the smartphone; it is easy to understand and can be reviewed on the go. since the information is posted in an open forum, the accuracy of the information is ensured. though this information will also be received via e-mails, we prefer instant messaging as it is less cumbersome and more important – action is taken immediately when needed, other than waiting for the day when the e-mailed report will be read,” explains amin khan, who is an architect by qualification.
Taking the ‘smartphone reporting system’ forward, ananta garments is actually working towards the general development of its middle management by making them more internet savvy and increasing their iQ levels. “We are training people to effectively use internet search engines and related software, for which there is an it department in every factory. this it team undertakes the training because not everyone is exposed to the internet. Due to these initiatives the general iQ level of the people is improving very fast and now they can find solutions to simple problems on their own. another advantage of this is the development of English language and they are being taught ways to convey their thoughts in the shortest possible form,” avers amin khan, who foresees that in the coming two years, the role of smartphones will increase at the workplace. the company is even giving loans to its employees for purchasing smartphones.
Employee Engagement Activities
Having realized the importance of employee retention for the success of all its initiatives and systems, ananta group has taken an array of initiatives focused on employee engagement. an employee welfare department has been setup, which serves as a nodal point for all such activities. a major part of the company’s employee engagement initiatives is the blood donation campaign, under which the company has set up a blood bank and even has its own transport for supplying blood to any hospital in Dhaka. “blood can be given to any relative of an employee, and one only needs to contact the welfare officer. i myself have given blood 13 times and our production director has given blood 43 times,” informs inam khan. to keep a check on harassment and abuse in the organization, complaint boxes have been installed everywhere in the factories, which are checked by the welfare department and are necessary for maintaining a conducive environment for female workers. “the famous singer atiq used to be a pressman in our company, before he won the bangladesh idol competition and we supported his endeavours. Even now he comes to perform at our cultural events and helps in breaking barriers between the management and the operators,” shares amin khan. the company, awarded as the ‘best csR practicing company’ in 2008, out of 5,000 companies applying for the honour, claims to have a labour turnover of just 6% to 8% in a total strength of 15,000 people mainly due to such initiatives, as the workers who leave for money comeback to ananta garments due to the missing employee engagement activities in other companies.
