Shorter lead times prompt Century Apparels to increase its capacity

Having a factory setup of 200 machines, Narayanganj based Century Apparels Ltd. is now building a new factory to add 400 machines. Having its own small knitting setup with six circular knitting machines and also a printing unit, the new factory is coming up adjacent to its existing unit in16,000 sq. feet area and by next year the production would start. While interacting with Team StitchWorld, the young Executive Director, Md. Aminul Islam shared the reason for expanding his capacities exponentially. “My present setup is small and the buyers are cutting down on their lead times; earlier it was 120 days, then it came down to 90 days, but now buyers want 35-40 days lead time; then there is also order increase in Bangladesh due to China dropping the basic garment manufacturing so we are looking at increasing our buyer’s base too.”

Manufacturing both the basic and value added knits like T-shirts, trousers, polo shirts and undergarments, Century prefers doing value added products more. “I have a small factory but I am doing lot of critical operations in our T-shirts at times 40 to 45 operations. We do embroidery, printing, discharge prints, paints, stones, etc. In Bangladesh, small factories do fancy products as the volumes are lesser in them. The composite factories have their own dyeing, knitting, at times spinning too so they can derive margins from all the processes but we just have sewing with us so if we just stick to basic items then we can only work on minimum margins,” reasons Aminul. The PO’s in value added garments is small, normally between 1400, 1800, 2000 to 3000 pieces. “At times we get 1500 pieces to 3000-6000 in one style; however, the PO’s in basic orders, one style, is around 30,000 pieces,” adds Aminul. With the present annual turnover of US $ 20 million, the company is looking at doubling its turnover once its new unit gets commissioned.