Progressive Managers' Forum: 3/20/11

Friday, March 25, 2011

Designer’s Club

To support and promote the designers in the cluster and to built industrial linkages through the experts, A Club for Designers named as Designers club has been found .The club consists of designers from the Industry, Alumni of NIFT TEA, Final year designing students of NIFT TEA and various other fashion institutes from the cluster. The main objectives behind the formation of this club were:

• To promote local designers nationally and internationally.
• To equip the designers in the cluster with the knowledge and skill to tap international market.
• To create a platform for the designers to share their views, thoughts and knowledge.
• To create opportunities for designers.
• To help the designers in achieving competency with world class designers by helping them to improve their skill in fashion/colour forecast, new technologies and tools used for designing, freelancing opportunities etc.

The Designer’s club is proving to be a huge success in the cluster, as it is providing a great help for the aspiring and the upcoming designers of the industry. The following outcomes show the success and importance of the formation of Designer’s club.

· Formation of a club for designers with prominent designers and NIFT TEA alumni as members of the club has made the students interact with the designers through various programs, meetings etc.

· It has encouraged the students and existing designers of the cluster to stay updated with the recent trends and enhance their skills.

· Designers have been placed in various firms along with the help of F.A.

· The Community formed has been showing remarkable growth and it is named as “Fashion Invaders Tie-up” on popular demand from the club members.

· An album has been created under the club with various designs targeted to specific fashion markets.

The club has helped the designers who were scattered here and there in the cluster by bringing them under a common platform. This activity has helped the designers a lot in getting an idea to equip themselves with the knowledge and skill to tap the international market. They have got a common platform to share their common issues and constrains. This has also helped them in finding new opportunities in their career.

About

Government of India is implementing World Bank lead multi agency/ multi activity project called MSME Financing and Development Project (MSMEFDP) for development of Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in the country under the aegis of Ministry of Finance.

The project is supported by KfW Bank, Germany, Department of International Development (DFID), UK, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the nodal agency for implementing this project in 25 SME clusters across the country to develop them as “Role Models’ with strong demonstration effect. Tirupur Knitwear Cluster is one of the clusters selected for implementation of the project.

Objective of this project is (a) to strengthen growth and competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country (b) To make paradigm shift in the banking sector’s approach towards providing credit and financial service to MSMEs (c) to improve MSMEs access to market oriented financial and business development services, thereby festering MSMEs’ growth, competitiveness and employment creation.

Approach of the project is to faster the services of Business Development Service (BDS) providers in the identified areas of weakness of the MSMEs in the cluster to make them competitive.

M/s. Apex Cluster Development Services Pvt. Ltd (ACDS) is the consultancy firm appointed for the implementation of the project at grass root level in the cluster. M/s. Apex Cluster Development services Pvt. Ltd has commissioned a study to understand the issues, which are impediments for the growth of the cluster and to undertake necessary initiatives to overcome them, to make the micro, small and medium scale enterprises more competitive in the present environment. Comprehensive action plan covering from upgrading the human resources skills in the cluster to building the capacity of the cluster to diversify the products have been chalked out.

One of the important areas identified for building the competitiveness of the cluster is upgrading the human resources skills in the cluster. While separate action plans are drawn to improve the skill of work force and entrepreneurs, emphasis is given for improving the skill of the middle level managers in the cluster who are supporting the entrepreneurs and guiding the workforce to get the desired result. Although they are handling all resources in the organization they do not have formal knowledge in the management of men, materials and money. Many of them have grown in the organization with decades of industrial experience; they require formal technical knowledge to discharge their duties more efficiently.

Industry is growing complex. New technologies are being developed day by day in all areas of production and process. It is required to be adopted in the organization to be innovative.

It is also required to adopt possible tools and methods like Lean Manufacturing, SQC & OR Techniques and Industrial Engineering to improve productivity, quality, minimizing waste and cost. Middle level managers also required to get informed about the developments that are taking elsewhere in the competing countries and bench marking practices. They are also required to share their experiences among themselves to solve the problems they are facing on their day to day activities to avoid repeated occurrence of such problems.

While action plan has been drawn to build the capacity of NIFT-TEA College of Knitwear Fashion to provide practical inputs and to empower the students who are going to pass out of the college; efforts are being made to build the capacity of the middle level managers who are already working in the industry.

It has been proposed to conduct part time training programmes, short term and refresher courses depending on the need of the middle level managers. It has also been proposed to conduct seminars and workshops periodically to share the experiences among themselves and from the experts who will be visiting from other countries and from other technical institutions in the country to continuously share their knowledge to improve the capacity of the middle level managers in the cluster.

It is required to build a mechanism in the cluster which will continue to take up such efforts even after completion of the project.

Creation of KNOWLEDGE NETWORK (Named as Progressive Managers’ Forum) is an initiative to address such issues even after completion of the project. Anyone who is working in the industry in the middle level management with or without formal qualification in the relevant field; professionals working in the industry, technical support institutions; and even entrepreneurs who have their desire to upgrade their knowledge can become member of the “Net Work” by paying a nominal subscription of Rs.250 per annum.

While necessary support would be extended under the project for such initiatives initially, efforts will be taken to make its operation independent and self supportive by linking with appropriate schemes of the Government.

NIFT-TEA College of Knitwear Fashion will be nodal agency for implementing this programme. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has also been signed with them to work closely to undertake necessary initiatives to upgrade the human resource skills in the cluster.

This is an opportunity for all those middle level managers who want to upgrade their skill, share their experiences, express their views and need for areas of such support.

Anyone who is interested to become member of Knowledge Network can contact

Apex Cluster Development Services Pvt. Ltd, T-21, Topaz A Block, Prime Enclave, Avinashi Road, Tirupur- 641 602. Phone: 0421- 2470326 or through e mail; chitra@tirupurbds.com

Progressive Managers' Forum

Friday, March 25, 2011

Designer’s Club

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