Branding Bangladesh: time to go for an integrated policy

[MEGH]

In order to achieve perfect garment costing, one must know about all the activities including purchase of fabrics, sewing, packing, transport, overheads, etc and also about their costs, procedures, advantages and risk factors, advocates C Vigneswaran.
The Indian textile and apparel industry is very large and diverse, employing 35 million people and accounting for 27 per cent of the country's exports. The apparel industry plays a pivotal role as a key driver of the national economy and has grown to be the most significant contributor to the country's economy over nearly three decades of its existence. However, during last 10 years, the industry's actions, government policies as well as market events have begun to converge, providing several growth opportunities for the sector domestically as well as in the global market.
As the MFA quota-regime ended, India presented many opportunities for buyers, suppliers and investors to collaborate with its textile industry, and to profit from the partnership. While the industry recorded a remarkable growth in a protected market environment, it faces a series of challenges that have come to the fore in the post-quota situation, notably in areas such as:
   Price competitiveness.
   Faster lead times.
   High raw material base.
   Full service offering.
   Access to market. "A Cost is the value of economic resources used as a result of producing or doing the things costed".
Garments costing
There are two types of garments, namely woven and knitted garments. Shirt, trouser, sarees, bed spreads, blankets, towels and made ups are woven. T-shirts, sweaters, undergarments, pyjamas and socks are knits.
Costing is the deciding factor for fixing of prices and the important thing to follow in all stages like purchase, production, marketing, sales, etc. Also update knowledge about everything related to garments, is essential to make perfect costing.
Costing includes all the activities like purchase of fabrics and accessories, processing and finishing of fabrics, sewing and packing of garments, transport and conveyance, shipping, over heads, banking charges and commissions, etc.
We must be aware that there are always fluctuations in the costs of raw materials and accessories, charges of knitting, processing, finishing, sewing and packing, charges of transport and conveyance. The method of making costing will vary from style to style. As there are many different styles in garments. Hence let us take men's basic T-shirt style as example which is in regular in use.
To find out the costing of a garment, the following things should things be calcuated:
   Fabric consumption.
   Gross weight of other components of garment.
   Fabric cost per kg.
   Fabric cost per garment.
   Other charges (print, embroidery, etc).
   Cost of trims (labels, tags, badges, twill tapes, buttons, bows, etc).
   CMT charges.
   Cost of accessories (hangers, inner boards, polybags, cartons, etc).
   Cost of a garment.
   Price of a garment.
Fabric consumption
The garments manufactured in many sizes to fit for everybody. Generally they are in sizes Small (S), Medium (M), Large (L), Extra large (XL) and Double Extra Large (XXL). The quantity ratio or assortment can be any one of the following approximate ratio.
S: M: L: XL: XXL - 1:2:2:2:1
S: M: L: XL: XXL - 1:2:1:2:1
S: M: L: XL: XXL - 1:2:3:2:2
As the price is the same for all these sizes of garments, the author have taken the centre size large(L) for average calculation. Generally, the quantity of L size will be higher or equal to the quantity of each of other sizes.
Men's Basic T-shirt
Description: Men's Basic T-shirt-short sleeves- 100% Cotton 140 GSM Single jersey - 1 x 1 ribs at neck - solid dyed - light, medium and dark colours in equal ratio.
Sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL Ratio: 1: 2: 2: 2: 1
Export carton: 7 ply -120 GSM virgin corrugated - sea worthy. Cartons are to be strapped with 2 nylon straps.
Measurements in cm: (Finished garment)
Size: L
Chest - 60 cm
Length - 78 cm
Sleeve length - 24 cm
Neck rib width - 3 cm Hem - 3 cm
Patterns are generally made with the seam allowance and cutting allowance. Generally, 12 cm is added with the total of body length and sleeve length.
That is,
Fabric consumption =(Body length + Sleeve length + allowance) * (Chest + allowance) * 2 * GSM
                                                                                             10000
 = (70 + 24 + 12) * (60 + 3) * 2 * 140
                           10000
= 187 grams
Body & Sleeves : 187 grams
Neck rib : 10 grams (approximately)
Gross weight : 197 grams Therefore, the fabric consumption per garment is 197 grams.
Gross weight & net weight

The above weight is the gross weight of fabric. It means the weight of the fabric bits cut in tubular form without taking shapes is called gross weight. This is the consumed fabric for the particular garment. Hence costing is to be made as per this gross weight. The weight of the cut pieces after taking the shape according to the pattern is called net weight of fabric.
Fabric cost per kg (in Rs) (all charges approximately)
Cost of fabric per kg is calculated and given in
Particulars   Light colours   Medium colours   Dark colours
34's combed yarn   Rs.135.00    Rs.135.00    Rs.135.00
Knitting charge    Rs.8.00    Rs.8.00    Rs.8.00
Dyeing charge    Rs.35.00    Rs.45.00    Rs.55.00
Compacting charge    Rs.6.00    Rs.6.00    Rs.6.00
Fabric wastage @ 5%    Rs.9.20    Rs.9.70    Rs.10.70
Fabric cost per kg    Rs.193.20    Rs.203.70    Rs.224.70
Fabric consumption per garment    197 gms    197 gms    197 gms
Fabric cost per garment    Rs.38.06    Rs.40.13    Rs.44.27
 
Cost of trims
The accessories which are attached to the garments are called Trims.
Now the author have taken Men's Basic T-shirts, as example. Let us see what are the trims required for this style.
Labels: Woven main label (2.5 cm width x 7 cm length): Rs 0.35
Polyester printed wash care label: Single colour print: Rs 0.10
Hang tag: Rs 0.40
So the total cost of trims is Rs 0.85 per garment.

Cost of accessories:
Polybags: Normal - Rs 0.30 per garment
Master Polybag: Rs 2 per master polybags to contain 8 garments - Rs 0.25 per garment.
Export carton: Normal: Rs 40 per carton to contain 48 garments - Rs 0.80 per garment.
So the total cost of accessories is Rs 1.35 per garment.
 
Garment costing
Now we at last have to take the step to find out the freight charges for the Men's Basic T-shirt. Price of garment estimation is given in Table 2.
Table 2: The freight charges for the Men's Basic T-shirt. Price of garment estimation is given
Particulars   Light colours   Medium colours   Dark colours
34's combed yarn   Rs.135.00    Rs.135.00    Rs.135.00
Fabric cost per garment    Rs.38.06    Rs.40.13    Rs.44.27
Cost of Trims    Rs.0.85    Rs.0.85    Rs.0.85
CMT Charges    Rs.11.00    Rs.11.00    Rs.11.00
Cost of accessories    Rs.1.35    Rs.1.35    Rs.1.35
Rejection of garments (commonly 3%)    Rs.1.50    Rs.1.50    Rs.1.50
Cost of Garment    Rs.52.76    Rs.54.83    Rs.58.97
Local Transport    Rs.1.00     Rs.1.00    Rs.1.00
Profit@15% appro.    Rs.7.90    Rs.8.20    Rs.8.90
Commission/ pc     Rs.2.00    Rs.2.00    Rs.2.00
Price of Garment    Rs.63.66    Rs.66.03    Rs.70.87

Shipping charges
For men's basic T-shirt, the delivery terms in the buyer enquiry as 'FOB'. So sea freight charges is not added. But the local transport with the cost of garment has to be added. Finally, we have to convert the Indian rupee value to USD or Euro.

Source:
Note: For detailed version of this article please refer the print version of The Indian Textile Journal May 2009 issue.
C Vigneswaran.
Lecturer, Daprtment of Textile of Fashion Technology,
PSG College of Technology,
Coimbatore 641 004.

[MEGH]

Suppose, you receive a yarn dyed t-shirt order from buyer. Details as below

Style: 100% cotton, Single jersey, 160 gsm yarn dyed round neck t-shirt.
Color:  Beige/Navy (only one combo)
Quantity: 10,000 pcs (in four sizes, S, M, L & XL)
Stripe: Beige 7 cm & Navy 1.5 cm (Total 8.5 cm)
 


Body length: 73 cm
Sleeve length: 19.5 cm
½ Chest: 52 cm

Consumption: 2.78 kgs/dozen (considering total wastage 18%) you may use this for pricing. Normally the wastage of yarn dyed garments depends on styling. 
Normal wastage for yarn dyed:
Dyeing (yarn) wastage: 6%
Knitting wastage: 3%
Wash wastage: 5%
So, you should need 116 kgs yarn to produce 100 kgs fabric

But be careful, during the bulk yarn booking you should booked the yarn based on the consumption you got by using pattern & marka. Some time I saw buyer asked for match the body stripe with sleeve then the cutting wastage become more than 5%.

We know the body length is 73 cm
Where, beige color stripe is 7 cm
And Navy color stripe is 1.5 cm
Then total length of one repetition is 8.5 cm
So, we need total (73/8.5) = 8.58824 repletion to complete a body (but here we will count 9 repetition for cutting & sewing wastage.)

So, total sum of Navy stripe will be (1.5 cm X 8.58824) = 12.8824 cm
And total sum of Beige color stripe will be (7 cm X 8.58824) = 60.1177 cm
So, 12.8824 cm + 60.1177 cm = 73 cm (total body length)

Now we just calculate the percentage of each color in a body

Navy color percentage in the body will be

= (12.8824 ÷ 73) %
= 17.65 %

= (60.1177÷73) %
= 82.35 %

= 17.65 + 82.35

= 100 %

So, now if the consumption is 2.78 kg

Then

Navy color will be = 0.49067 kg ( 2.78 kg X 17.65% )
And Beige color will be = 2.28933 kg ( 2.78 kg X 82.35% )

In this above way you can booked the yarn

Hope everything is clear to all.

[MEGH]

A bottleneck in a process occurs when input comes in faster than the next step can use it to create output. The term compares assets (information, materials, products, man-hours) with water. When water is poured out of a bottle, it has to pass through the bottle's neck, or opening. The wider the bottle's neck, the more water (input/assets) you can pour out. The smaller, or narrower, the bottle's neck, the less you can pour out – and you end up with a back-up, or "bottleneck."
There are two main types of bottlenecks:
1.   Short-term bottlenecks – These are caused by temporary problems. A good example is when key team members become ill or go on vacation. No one else is qualified to take over their projects, which causes a backlog in their work until they return.
2.   Long-term bottlenecks – These occur all the time. An example would be when a company's month-end reporting process is delayed every month, because one person has to complete a series of time-consuming tasks – and he can't even start until he has the final month-end figures.
Identifying and fixing bottlenecks is highly important. They can cause a lot of problems in terms of lost revenue, dissatisfied customers, wasted time, poor-quality products or services, and high stress in team members.
How to Identify Bottlenecks
Identifying bottlenecks in manufacturing is usually pretty easy. On an assembly line, you see when products pile up at a certain point. In business processes, however, they can be harder to find.
Start with yourself. Is there a routine or situation that regularly causes stress in your day? These frustrations can actually be a significant indicator that a bottleneck exists somewhere.
For example, imagine that you're responsible for reviewing a report that another team member creates each week. Once you're done, you give it to another team member, who has to post the report on your company's intranet. Due to your workload, however, the report often sits on your desk for hours – so the next person down the line sometimes has to stay later at the end of the day to post it on time. This causes a lot of stress for you as well as your colleague. In this scenario, you're the bottleneck.
Here are some other signs of bottlenecks:
•   Long wait times – For example, your work is delayed because you're waiting for a product, a report, or more information. Or materials spend time waiting between steps of a business or manufacturing process.
•   Backlogged work – There's too much work piled up at one end, and not enough at the other end.
•   High stress levels.
Two tools are useful in helping you identify bottlenecks:
1. Flow Charts:
Use a flow chart to help you identify where bottlenecks are occurring. Flow charts break down a system by detailing every step in the process in an easy-to-follow diagrammatic flow. Once you map out a process, it's much easier to see where there might be a problem. Sit down and identify each step that your process needs to function well.
For example, in the trucking scenario we mentioned earlier, a flow chart might look like this:
•   Step 1 – Goods are manufactured at the factory.
•   Step 2 – Goods are loaded onto the truck.
•   Step 3 – The warehouse is notified about the truck's arrival time.
•   Step 4 – The warehouse schedules a forklift for the expected arrival time.
•   Step 5 – The truck arrives at the warehouse, and unloading starts.
In this case, the delay occurred because Steps 3 and 4 were missing, and this led to a long wait between Steps 2 and 5. Creating the flow chart before investigating the problem would have helped you quickly see where your process broke down.

[Arif Ahsan]

"Brand is not just a logo. there must be concerted efforts from public and private sectors to articulate a proper branding strategy"-according to the recommendations of the two day international conference on positioning Bangladesh: Branding for Business at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on December 7, 2012.


In marketing we recognize brand for a particular product or services. But if we think about a nation's branding then it should be the macro and micro level development in all areas of an economy. Development of the economy automatically creates brand image in the foreign market. To create the brand image of Bangladesh we have to take few steps. In this conference there were few recommendations:

1. The country should fully exploit the young, dynamic, hard working and entrepreneurial labour force, which is seen as the biggest resource to take the economy to the desired destination.
2. Investment in branding must focus on long term benefits.
3. Bangladesh should focus on IT and IT enabled services. Policies should be auspicious to encourage this competitive sector.
4. Crop insurance should be introduced to save farmers in grey days.

So, we have to think, plan, implement for long term sustainability of our economy that will help us to create brand image in the other side of the world. If we fail to do so we will not be able to compete and stay behind like an unknown brand.

Arif Ahsan
Lecturer
Dept. of Business Administration
Faculty of Business & Economics

[fernaz]

true...... Exercise should be must for every person.......

[fernaz]

Which fruits contain vitamin D?

[riaduzzaman]

Dear Ma'am,
Thank you very much for introducing such an innovative and time-needed 'society' at DIU. I strongly believe this will bring professionalism and real court adaptability to our lovely law students. I think it is time to modify our advertisement at DIU website(for law) to attract more brilliant pupils specially focusing “Daffodil Moot Court Society”. Also we can post the picture of our moot court room. 

Yours faithfully
Md.Riaduzzaman

[rumman]

It is naturally found mainly in fish oils, fatty fish, and to a lesser extent in beef liver, cheese, egg yolks, and certain mushrooms. Cod Liver Oil, Fortified Cereals, Oysters, Caviar (Black and Red), Fortified Soy Products (Tofu and Soy Milk), Salami, Ham, and Sausages, Fortified Dairy Products Vitamin D is also naturally made by your body when you expose your skin to the sun, and thus, is called the sun-shine vitamin. In addition, vitamin D is widely added to many foods such as milk and orange juice, and can also simply be consumed as a supplement.

[sazirul]

Relay, I was looking for something like that for my website.
Thanks for sharing.

[Farhana Helal Mehtab]

Thank you dear Md. Khairul Bashar,  Riaduzzaman & shahida sultana shimu for your positive comments. We have some good plans for Daffodil Moot Court Society..... please keep me & our work in your prayer.

Warm regards,
Ma'am

[zr.rajib8]

We are happy to listen that the "Moot Court Society" as an organization of Law Department is being approved.
Special thanks  to the Honorable "Head" of the "Department of Law"  for making this society possible & real. As a student of the Department of Law, I feel proud to have such "Moot Court Society".
All the best...........

[asraful]

Thanks god for achievement our Daffodial moot court society and specially thanks my honorable head ma'am who established this society.

[Farhana Helal Mehtab]

Thank you all for the wishes & prayer. This is the first semester in DIU Law when we've started "Moot Court & Debating" class in a practical way; this is a 3 credit compulsory course . Basically this class consists of batch 4,5,6. Some of the students' last semester! I'm going to miss them in class. And hope including the students of Moot Court & Debating class, all the bright students of Law dept will work together for “Daffodil Moot Court Society” . Dear students, at the same time I'll suggest you to be the member of Daffodil International Debating Club (DIUDC). I always say a law student should be a good debater. Prove yourself!

Special thanks for using the forum.....to my dear colleague & younger brother Riaduzzaman, fhss dean's coordination officer  Md. Khairul Bashar (who helped me with the application just at the day of dean's meeting) my loving students Asraful, Rajb & Shimu.
All the best.

Ma'am

[tanzina_diu]

Hope, people will be cautious reading this information

[saratasneem]

We can remember the eye-catching product "Muslin". The history tells us that  this particular product introduced the Indian sub continent to the rest of the world(particularly Europe) . Tourists were used to visit the continent & purchase muslin. When the tourists went back to home, they were asked about the pros and cons of the item.  Gradually businessmen from Europe became interested to  come here to make an arrangement of trade. After the arrival of businessmen particularly from England what was happened, all of us know very clearly. I think the absence of integrated policy was one of the prime reasons of British exploitation.

                          Now-a-days, for branding any country economic development is a precondition. I agree with the above mentioned suggestions. But I want to add something. The following tips can be followed:

                                                     1. Recurring strikes should be stopped.

                                                     2. Product quality should be improved(for some products).

                                                     3. Be honest in business.

                                                     4. Private  sector should be prioritized.