POWERLOOM UPDATE
35
THE POWER LOOM CRISIS IN BHIWANDI, PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS DR. B.BASU Textile Industry Consultant
[1]Introduction: Ever since the author has been in touch with this power loom industry for the last 37 years of his career, he finds that this largest power loom sector is always suffering due to one or another cause. Despite this, the number of power looms in Bhiwandi is gradually increasing, with an unofficial figure of 10.5 lakh. (The official figure is 6 lakh.) The Shuttle looms are approx. 10,000 (F2F) and the majority of them are Chinese flexible rapier looms. Slowly, the high-speed Flexible Rapier, Air Jet, Water Jet, and Sulzer looms are being introduced. It is found that those weavers who manufacture special value-added fabrics like furnishing cloths, decorative fabrics, technical textiles, and export quality suits and shirts are not in a bad situation. Their perspectives are different than those of a common weaver who is always whimpering, not knowing the solutions nor trying to resolve them. [2] Why do they feel so? Discussion: The common weavers, who are in the majority, face problems for the following reasons. 1. No innovative ideas, and unwillingness to pursue new product development. 2. A lack of a R&D mindset or culture. 3. There has been no effort to upgrade technology. 4. Failure to pay proper attention to loom maintenance: They do not have the conception of Man, Machine, Material, Method & Management. They concentrate on supply yarn and demand
discounts for every ailment. For them, every fabric fault that occurs is due to the supply of yarn, either warp or weft. Hence, the relationship between the raw material supplier and the weavers gets stained. 5. They will try to purchase low quality/substandard yarn and try to get the fabric dyed, which is not guaranteed, but for any fault after dyeing, they will Key Points • Number of power looms in bhiwandi is gradually increased • Common weavers, who are in majority, face problem for following several reasons - Lack of innovative ideas - Lack of research and development mindset - Non upgrading technology - Less attention on loom maintenance - Unable to produce a proper invoice and unfair practices in selling activities - Poor sales network - Yarn bank scheme is not running properly - Power consumption is another problem in bhiwandi - High labor charges, poor infrastructure and improper health services - Bad road conditions and poor Sanitization in the slum areas • Progress of bhiwandi • Mindsets of the power loom weavers is to be changed for their own benefits
put the blame on the yarn. 6. They procure yarns from more than one yarn supplier, but for any problems such as poor work or defective fabric formation, they put the blame on all the yarn suppliers. Unable to produce a proper invoice or proof, but deduct the amount paid to the yarn suppliers it becomes a tough situation for the customer service team to understand the reality, and the bitterness increases. 7. The conception of “Quality First” is missing among those common weavers who try to follow unfair practises in selling their clothes. 8. They do not attempt to train the weavers with the expectation that if they are trained, they will leave the factory and work somewhere with higher wages. However, some of them have taken advantage of ISDS (Integrated Skill Development Scheme). But it was not a successful scheme, as per the author. 9. Today, every industry requires a skilled workforce from the top to bottom. The authors have observed that the weavers put excess and unnecessary oils on looms, creating oil stains on the fabrics and wasting the machine oils. Skilled labour is not readily available, but it can be acquired with proper training. The MoT and TRA etc. must restart ISDS in a more sophisticated way, not like earlier which was a failure! A skilled workforce will improve quality, product efficiency, and reduce wastage. 10. They have a poor sales network and are dependent on traders and brokers who dominate the cloth sales price. They should form a cooperative or indi-
SEPTEMBER 2021
