Train garment workers to save their jobs amid automation: experts

Bangladesh should train its garment workers to improve their skills as 80 percent of them could lose jobs in the next 15 years due to automation, said fashion experts yesterday.

Job losses will take place mainly in Asian countries such as China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia, said Anjuli Gopalakrishna, a consultant of Fashion Tech and Digital Innovation in Singapore.

She said the automation would take place in the sector to meet faster lead-time and make the business sustainable as fashions are rapidly changing worldwide.

“That’s why workers must be trained so they can adapt to the changes,” she said on the sidelines of Bangladesh Fashionology Summit at International Convention City Bashundhara in Dhaka.

Global garment retailers and brands, trade analysts, leaders of trade bodies and chambers and diplomats attended the event organised by Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) in collaboration with Chittagong-based Pacific Jeans Ltd.

Gopalakrishna stated the automation would now not only change the lion’s share of workers however also create job opportunities for some, who will get work to set up and repair machines and maintain tools.

“So, a high-level education for workers is a have to so a big quantity of workers don’t lose jobs,” she said. According to the consultant, Bangladesh will have to adapt to the modern day applied sciences for higher productivity as well to earn $50 billion from garment exports by means of 2021.

“Under the standard production system, Bangladesh would not be able to gain the target,” she said.

David Birnbaum, who is called the garment guru, also echoed Gopalakrishna.

He said Bangladesh have to assume about improving the skills of the workers to be in the race of garment business in the contemporary manufacturing system.

“Higher productivity starts with the coaching of workers. The factory owners will have to assume the people are important for them,” he said. “The actual trouble in Bangladesh is that people are not appropriate valued in the garment sector.”

Birnbaum, who has been concerned in the garment quarter considering that 1966, additionally labored as a advisor for Youngone Group, a South Korean multinational garment giant.

He stated automation happened the most in the sweater factories in Bangladesh. The woven and the knitwear sectors are additionally embracing automation. Bangladesh is the largest automated sweater equipment importer worldwide, he said.

“Bangladesh desires automation as it ensures higher productivity in less time and helps preserve lead time.”

Eva Van Der Brugge, innovation manager of Fashion for Good, a Netherlands-based lookup organisation, said her organisation is presenting options in automation global so that garment items can be produced at lesser costs. two She stated she has visited some factories in Bangladesh and the factories have started out automation.

Amanda Cosco, founder of Canada-based Electric Runway, a fashiontech organisation, said there is a very bad grasp about Bangladesh in the US and Canada. “But, coming here, I ought to realize that no longer all factories are bad. They are superior in many areas.”

According to Cosco, the measurement of the smart trend enterprise global would be $130 billion via 2030 and Bangladesh ought to take education to seize greater market share in the segment.

“The world is changing rapidly, so is fashion,” said Mostafiz Uddin, founder and CEO of the BAE. He stated technology is going to disrupt the global fashion supply chain in less than a decade.

“Do we have adequate preparedness to face the future? What should be our method if we are to sustain?” he asked.