Management Training at Orient Craft 7D Unit

I joined Orient Craft on 16th June, 2014. To remind you all, I was selected through campus placement in NIFT Delhi.
Today we went to the 7D Unit of Orient Craft. The main focus for today was Safety & Compliance policy. We came to know about needle detection parameters of the company. They are very conscious about this matter due to sensitivity of the issue. If buyer find that there is a needle in any garment then they will reject whole order and vendor have to bear loss of 8 to 14 million rupees. Kids wear are being checked repetitively to ascertain that there is no sharp object in garment. The needle size plays an important role when it comes to stitching the particular type of fabric. For instance, DB x 9 is being used for light weight fabric like chiffon, velvet etc. DB x 12 or 14 for medium weight like shirt fabric and DB x 16 or 18 for heavy wight fabric like Denim, woolen.The technicians, mechanics and Quality Analyst sign the compliance form to make sure that there is no discrepancy in whole needle issue.There are other issue like button pulling test. The rabbit ears shape like thread should come out which is minute compliance but still important one.

Then Second half Production planning control group came and gave us brief info. about the PPC procedure. The central PPC is run by the 7D Unit Gurgaon. The marketing division is headed by 80P Unit.

Then working of Logistics department was conducted later. Logistics department move along the style from the beginning itself. After the order from the buyer the average fabric consumption is calculated. So based on this information merchant or sourcing department procures the fabric. It is a longest time which generally takes 45 days with dyeing or printing. The fabric can be sourced from all around the world but Indian government encourages the local purchase as they give 10% rebate on this which is very profitable for vendors like Shahi, Orient Craft. If the vendors import fabric or trims from foreign country then they are liable to pay import tax. With this import there is decrease in Indian monetary value as money which foreign country bank will receive will be Indian Rupees. Thus there will be account deficit.

Then Production Cutting Date is decided. The cut parts is sent in bundles to production floor for stitching. Then there is finishing, packaging and dispatch. This whole process can take 60-90 days depending on the order quantity.

Norms and Standards relevant to Forest Work Wear

The forestry industry offers many challenges to the worker.  Injuries are common – bruises, sprains and strains, cuts, lacerations and fractures are among the most common of injuries in the forestry industry. Accidents can occur such as branches falling and accidents involving forestry equipment and machinery. Chain saws can be hazardous to work around, and the cold weather that is often a working condition for forestry can be a hazard if you do not have safety equipment. All Safety Gear has the line of safety equipment that is need to have the best possible protection.

The clothing complies with the essential health and safety according to EU regulation 89/686. It should be noted on the right measure a fact, that no product can't guarantee 100% protection against injuries and accidents in consistent compliance with the manufacturer's instructions, however, eliminates the risk to the minimum possible limit, while it is necessary to comply with applicable safety and health protection at work.

The base standard norm of personal protective equipment providing protection against risks arising from the use of chainsaw is norm EN 381, which imposes requirements on different parts of protective clothing as follows:

EN 381-5

Personal protective equipment for users of hand chainsaw- requirements for leg protectors. This section specifies equipment for leg protectors for users of handheld chainsaws. It specifies the types A, B and C. The difference between the types is by area coverage- protective fabers. The protective faber is a special kind of fabric, which can clog the cutting mechanism chainsaw hand and blocked the movement of the chain. This norm defines three different design classes of protective equipment for legs, according to the degree of the protection that is been applied: 

a)  Front protection

      b) Front and lateral protection

      c) Total Protection

In principle, Design A and B are destined to be used in normal work of professional foresters previously well trained and informed about the field.

Design C are destined to be used by novice person who don’t usually work with chainsaw, or in exceptional situations.

Personal protective Equipment (PPE) for hand-held chainsaw users shall be in according to the European law EN 381 and shall have a logo that shows EN 381 and a chainsaw. It is to be noted that in many countries like Italy, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden etc. wear personal protective equipment is mandatory for professional foresters. The norm is divided into plus shares, each of which has been dedicated to a part of the body.

·         EN 381-1:1994   : Personal Protective Equipment for hand-held chainsaw

·         EN 381-5:2001   : Personal Protective Equipment to protect legs

·         EN 381-7:2001   : Requirements relating to chainsaw protective gloves

·         EN 381-9: 1999   : Requirements relating to chainsaw protective leggings

·         EN 381-11: 2004 : Requirements relating to upper body

The law prescribes also 4 classes corresponding to the chainsaw speed with which have been performed tests. All classes are not used necessarily for each part of the norm.

·         Class 0 : 16 m/s

·         Class 1 : 20 m/s

·         Class 2 : 24 m/s

·         Class 3 : 28 m/s

EN (V) 342

Personal Protection against cold

This standard specifies requirements for personal protective equipment when carrying out the work in the cold at a temperature lower than -5 ° C. Its label, the following parameters:

·         Measured thermal insulation of the underwear

·         Air permeability (3 levels)

·         Water vapour permeability (3 layers)

EN 471

Personal protective clothing with high visibility.

There are three classes of protective clothing with high visibility.

They are divided according to these parameters:

X: Visible surface of the material and forming a reflective clothing (3 degrees).

Y: Visible quality material (2 layers)

To indicate the reflective material used two classes. It also uses the combined use of material- reflective and visible together.

	Class 1	Class 2	Class 3
Background material (fluorescent)	0-14 m2	0-50 m2	0-80 m2
Reflective Material (bands)	0-10 m2	0-13 m2	0-20 m2
The combination of the two materials	0-20 m2	-	-

EN (V) 343

Personal protective clothing to rain and bad weather.

This European Standard norm specifies requirements for protective clothing in the rain, wind and the temperatures lower than -5 ° C.

Garments are labelled on the basis of two parameters:

X: Waterproof – waterproof (3 degrees)

Y: Permeability (3 levels)

X: Waterproof expressed in mm water column

	Class 1	Class 2	Class 3
Before handling	>800 mm	-	-
Before handling and suturing	>800 mm	>800 mm	>1300 mm
After each manipulation	-	>800 mm	>1300 mm
Manipulation: Washing, tumble drying, scraping, poured with oil, fuel, drawing

Y: Permeability

	Class 1	Class 2	Class 3
Resistance to water vapour	Ret>150	20	Ret_20

*Ret: Resistance value (unit m² Pa/W)

EN 510

Personal protective clothing for use where there is risk of entanglement with moving parts.

EN 340

General standards for clothes

Work Wear Sector in India

The work wear market in India is seen as an attractive option as order sizes are usually large, competition is not very high and the margins are good. The increasingly large base of MNC manufacturing hubs in the country has also buoyed the work wear segment. 

The uniform business would also provide a substantial hedge for India’s top garment suppliers reeling under the impact of a slowdown.Companies are becoming more careful and conscious about their corporate images now and even the smallest of companies want uniforms. From security service agencies to coal mining, the work wear have become indispensable. The largest demand is from industries that are involved in manufacturing sectors and hire a lot of workers on a contract basis. Even sectors like hospitality and retail are giving good demand.

Unfortunately, in India this is a highly unorganised market, with most of the work wear manufacturers located in north and east. For example Superhouse group in Kanpur and Amrit Export in Kolkata are major industry in this sector.

However, with the advent of work wear giant like Cintas and Lindstrom the scenario of the work wear market is changing.  Cintas has over the years diversified into other business areas like first-aid products and fire protection equipment. The company operates over 400 facilities in US and Canada and employs more than 34,000 people.

Since the work wear concept is still new in India, so the foreign work wear company is just keeping the simple business strategy. They are adding the modules to increase capacity rather than building a huge manufacturing unit and retail unit. Before entering the Indian market Lindstrom carried out a market survey in 2007, it assumed that multinationals would be its big customers, but their assumption was proved wrong. Today 70% of the market comprises is local Indian companies.

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) have brought the abrupt change in the Industry and market growth in India. There is solid entelechy for the job opportunities and money flow. This can be regarded as a true bliss as the industry hub area will grow rapidly. The other side of coin triggers for the sagacious look for the whole pseudo development. Thus it exemplifies the random situation. So certain standard and norms should be followed. The 3 things should be kept into notion: Identification, branding and uniformity.

The work wear market is a large market: between one quarter and one half of all European employees wear workwear. In 2001, the European workwear market was worth $3.59 billion, th equivalent of 306.2 million pieces. The market is expected to grow by 2.5 per cent yearly to $4.27 billion in 2008( Sanne van der Wal & Bart Slob).

There are roughly three kinds of work wear: 

(1)   Corporate Work wear- Used for official representative purpose. The ordinary fabrics is used with more emphasis on design and colours.

(2) Ordinary Work Wear- Overalls shirts and trousers in ordinary fabrics like poly-cotton.

(3)    Technical Work Wear- Made of special fabric or specially treated common fabric to protect workers. For example Fire Fighter wear, Forest wear. 

Visit to Industry

Safety Garment division of Superhouse

The Superhouse Garment division is located in Unnao 30 km from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. It is big industrial hub mainly comprises of leather industries.

The reason we went to the this industry is because it deals with work wear garment. In India we have very few industry which specialized in work wear sector and it is one of them. Although majority of the order comes from foreign countries like Kenya, USA, Canada, European nations etc. This is because in India work wear garment is not popular yet. This I observed last month itself when I went to Dhanbad Coal mines where there is no such uniformity and standardization in work wear dresses,although helmet,torch and boots are compulsory there. But when it comes to garments there is no such specification. In the Forestry region of Bandipur national park, there was simple Khaki uniform which is quite a mundane in government services.

About the Superhouse:

 It was established in 1975 by Mr. Mukhtarul Amin. The prime focus area is leather but recently garment division specially in safety wear is growing popular now days. In 1986, the company became public. Here are few highlights of company:

* Safety footwear leather export from India started

* First to make special Din Leather with German collaboration

* Started making uppers for exports to UK and Europe

* First to make safety footwear and started export

The company has incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary in United Kingdom in the name of Superhouse (U.K) Ltd. in march '98 having its registered office in London, which is primarily engaged in the marketing and distribution of leather and leather products. The group also has two more foreign subsidiaries in U.S.A and U.A.E. The Superhouse group acquired Briggs Industrial Footwear Limited, a U.K based company incorporated in 1944. One more company Linea de seguridad sl in Spain was acquired in August 2012.

The turnover of Superhouse Group is more than USD 150 million for the financial year ending as on 31st March 2013 which is quite phenomenal. There are several prestigious brand which has tie up with Superhouse group like Allen Cooper, Himalayan, Panacea etc. Double Duty is abrand owned by Superhouse Ltd. for marketing safety footwear and garments mainly to Gulf countries and European countries. Double Duty is the only brand in export market under which they produce safety shoes with Direct Injection PU, Goodyear welted and Direct vulcanizing process meeting to all International safety norms.

BCCL and Dhanbad

Dhanbad is a city in the state of Jharkhand.It is an epicentre for mining. Over the centuries this small district has attracted the mining industries.It has largest mine in India. Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, BCCL, ECL and IISCO(Indian Iron and Steel Company) are some of the companies having coal
mines in the district.

BCCL sub centre in Bansjora

Mining activities in Jharia Coalfield (JCF) started more than 100 years back and it has been extensively exploited. Unscientific exploitation of coal resources in the past resulted in large scale degradation of the coalfield which has manifested in haphazard infrastructure development, depletion of green belt and overall ecological and environmental imbalances. Land, air, water and soil had been severely affected. On account of multi-seam regime of the coalfield the reclamation process has become a challenge.


BCCL is a Public Sector Undertaking engaged in mining of coal and allied activities. It occupies an important place in as much as it produces bulk of the coking coal mined in the country. BCCL meets almost 50% of the total prime coking coal requirement of the integrated steel sector. BCCL was incorporated in January, 1972 to operate coking coal mines operating in the Jharia & Raniganj spread over 305 sq. km. Coalfields, taken over by the Govt. of India on 16th Oct,1971 to ensure planned development of the scarce coking coal resources in the country.

The head quarter of BCCL is in Koyla Nagar, Dhanbad. There are total 78 Coal mines under them in which 39 are underground 19 are open cast coal mines and 20 are mixed coal mine. There are 6 coking coal washers, 2 non-coking coal washers.

Statistics:

13.64% growth in overall productivity.
Rs. 10176.62 Crore turn over, ever highest since inception with 18.56% growth
Rs. 1498.80 Crore profit during 2012-13
31.21 million ton coal production, highest since inception with 3.34% growth
33.04 million ton offtake, highest since inception with 9.56% growth

Coal Mining Activities

1) Project Phases and Activities planning:

First of all planning is done by a team members comprising of 5-7 members. With the help of pre-determined data provided by geology department they sort out the required information and act according to them. In order to clarify the further information they visit the site for the conformity.

Site evaluation Tools

2) Site Evaluation
Pre-mining evaluation activities and requirements that may result in impacts. A number of test and surveys must be conducted to make sure the project is technically feasible, economically viable and environmentally sound. These activities include mapping, drilling and geophysical exploration.


3) Construction and Operation

Construction for underground mining in Bansjora

Open Mining with new robotic equipment

Coal mine operations activities and requirements that may result in impacts. Activities during the construction and mining phase include either surface or underground mining in addition to any facility (e.g., shaft construction) and coal transport system (e.g., access roads, rail lines, pipelines, conveyor systems) construction.

4) Decommissioning/ Site Reclamation

Decommissioning of a coal mine would include removal of structures, conveyor systems, and rail lines, if used, and the filling in of the mine area. Reclamation of the mine site and access roads, including re-contouring and re-vegetation,would mitigate some impacts,such as soil erosion,habitat fragmentation and visual impacts.

Danger with fire:

There are total 70 mining site which is under fire. The first fire took place in Jharia mine during 1916. Till now 10 mining site have been extinguished. The impact of fire can be very devastating a fine quality coal get burnt. Also it affects the rail line and road networks. It can also ruin the live stocks.

BCCL with the help of Indian Railway and Jharkhand government have launched the master plan for dealing with fire, subsidence and rehabilitation in the lease hold of BCCL. This was started as demonstration project with 5125 houses built. The Jharkhand government will provide the land for constructing the houses with basic amenities. 60,000 houses still to be built now. Till then 2500 families have settled. This is the world's biggest rehabilitation project.

Safety is a paramount importance in mining area. Due to capricious nature of job, a rescue station have been established. The rescue squad comprises of the well trained people whose job is the safety of miners and to facilitate them all medical assistance along with minimizing the accidental effect.


Coal Bed Methane Project working process

Machine used for Methane recovery

It is rightly said that prevention is better than cure. So in this case as well. If the main root problem is eliminated then all the adversaries like mine-fire can be prevented. The root problem is methane gas or CH4. BCCL have initiated the Coal Bed Methane project for the same. At few vulnerable mining site this coal bed have been set up. There are 3 advantages of this, methane is flammable gas which react easily with fire so once it is removed then there will be no chance of underground blast in mining. Second methane is a green house gas which seriously hamper the environment, so this Coal Bed methane make sure that the methane gas does not escape to atmosphere. Third is that, methane can be utilized for commercial purpose through the channelized tubular projector connected to coal bed. This is widely used as power generator. This is the perfect example of win-win situation.

CSR Responsibility of BCCL:

BCCL have built thousand of houses, flats for the employees and localities. The hospital and health care centre have been opened with the involvement of state government.  There are total 14 mobile medical van run by BCCL which focuses on the deep rural area. Project Mitwa is one of live example general awareness about AIDS in rural area.

BCCL have opened around 90 schools and provides financial aid to then in the state. The water filter have been established for drinking purpose in various residential area by them. The farming is possible in all the season due to the philanthropy of BCCL. Over 2000 hectare land is irrigated. BCCL have funded 12 crore INR for this project.

BCCL have turned Lahbeda village into one of the principal village. The village have been well planned with proper sewage facilities, solar light, parks, school, hospital etc.

BCCL have also worked on women empowerment. This program is run by wife of BCCL employees. Sewing centre is established to provide scope of self-employment and career development.

Environment Sector:

Mining area turned to nature bliss

There is a general perception that mining is one of the most hazardous activity which severely hamper the environment. Keeping this in mind with the help of Dehradun research project, BCCL have greatly worked on the ecological restoration. The used up mining area in which no further mining can be done have been planted with many trees. Eco-park, snake park have been also land marked to attract the tourist in the region. This is big revolution in terms of ecological balance. What human have taken from the mother nature, it is diligently returned to her.

Bandipur National Park

Hilarious and sarcastic retarding truth!

Last week I went to the Bandipur National Park. It is situated 80 kilometres away from Mysore in Karnataka, lies on the outskirts of Mysore-Ooty highway. Are covered around 874 sq.km and it plays an important part in climate in Western Ghats region. We arrived Bandipur at 5 o' clock morning. It was shivering morning and only hopes to dodge the chillness was the fire.

Bandipur is known for the tiger reserve. There are very few tiger in the regions left around 150. The area is well flourished with the flora and fauna. Have to say it was so abysmal feeling in morning. Soon, after 3 hours weather was getting lighter with every ray of sunlight. We waited outside the Director's office. In the mean time we roamed around the park, captured few moments and wished it never ends. They charge you Rs 300 for Safari ride and for the foreigners Rs 1000. One thing I would like to make clear about National Park and Wild Life Sanctuary, people really get confused as they think the purpose for both of them is same i.e. to protect the endangered species.The Wild life Santuary is a abode for all kinds of wild animals. There is no defined boundary in the sanctuary so anyone can enter. Whereas National Park mainly focuses on the endangered species, it has defined boundary and people need special permission for roaming in the jungle.

There are several important activities which takes place like patrolling, making Fire-Line, Fire watch Guard, Jungle Safari, Elephant Ride etc. The Forest range officers give more priority in monitoring tiger movement so for that they have fixed around 45 anti-poaching cameras. The 4-5 members do surveillance daily. There are around 600 workers working in that around 325 have the permanent job.

The main focal point of visiting there was to observe the dress and uniforms of the forest range workers. It was simple Khaki uniform which is quite a mundane in the Indian government service. They are given a walkie-talkie and torch. The Rifle and sharp knife is provided for the protection as they have to go deep in the jungle.

The prime enemy is poachers who kills the tiger for their skin. But now days its very rare to find tiger. The jungle also has important ornament which attracts the smugglers which is Santalum album V or Sandal Wood. So, it is still a prime concern. The workers have to work late night and poor visibility can inhibit them in their work. So, the scothlite fabric can be used for the garment for good visibility.

The walkie-takie placement is also important because it is used frequently. The placement should be kept firm around waist area , when not in use as they have to free their hand.. The officers have come with jugaad. They tuck the wireless on the side of the belt. But here I feel that there should be a firm band nearby the waist region in ergonomically viable way. There should be a big flap around the ankle region so that it doesn't get pricked by the thorns. Of course, garment shall thy be reversible. A round zipper can be placed on the knee region so that workers can take out whenever they feel uncomfortable in hot and humid weather or when they crossing the water-ways with barefoot. Albeit the snake is not so big problem and there haven't been any severe incident of the snake bite in last two decades but still the dreadful image of venom shatter their mind. The most vulnerable area is ankle so the ankle guard can be placed in the region. This can psychologically enhance the confidence in the minds of workers or at least it assuage the vulnerability of snake bite.

 

A Day in Kannavam Forest

29th January, 2014, the day we spent in Kannavam Forest. It is around 60 kilometres away from NIFT Kannur. Preferred mode of transport is bus. First we met Forest Range Officer Mr. Premraja. We explained about our Graduation Project, for application of Reversible Garment for workers of Forestry department. I have say he was very enthusiastic and supportive. He told us about various activities in  Kannavam Forest. He showed his benedict gesture by assisting on staff person Mr. Sunil Kumar for forest trip. He was fluent in both Malayalam and Hindi language.

About Forest:

Kannavam Forest is a part of Kannur district in Kerala. It comes under Nidumpoyil section.The lush green forest, located on the foothills of the Western Ghats was established in the year 2000. The main objective is to restore the ecology in the region. So apart from the already existing trees, thousands of trees have been planted over the years. There are about 7500 species of plants and trees in the jungle. Most of seeds are purchased locally. Some of the common trees are:

1) Tectona grandis (TEAK)
2) Terminalia paniculate
3) Terminalia tomantosa
4) Terminalia bellarica
5) Bitex altissima

The forest is spread in the area of 8398 hectares( 83.98 sq. km). The periphery boundary is 68 Kilometres. There are numerous activities like Plantation operation, Fire-line dissemination, logging, felling trees, loading, dragging etc. The tools generally used by workers are knifes, shovel, axe, chainsaw etc.

The Demographic:




The Working

Khurchias Tribes are the major communities residing near forest. They work in the forest with holistic manner with common motto "to preserve the Forest". They were basically called hunting tribe. They have rich culture and heritage. The Kurchias as a class were loyal to Pazhassi Raja, the first guerrilla fighter of Kerala to take up arms against the British. Kurchias are known for their traditional hunting skills and primitive subsistence farming. They tilled forest hill slopes by the technique of slash and burn cultivation.



Lavish house of Kurchia Tribe family

There is one unique thing about Kurchias tribes which totally differentiate them from rest of tribal people of India, the standard of living. I was flabbergasted to see their house built with concrete and furnished with paints. They are elite class among the tribal.

Climate:

January to May is the summer time with average temperature 28-35 degree Celsius. Sometime it reaches to 40 degree Celsius, especially during month of march. June to September is the monsoon period, with heavy rain. October to December is moderate climate. Plantation is done during the month of August and September.

Forest department:

The workers are temporary. On an average around 10,000 workers work in the region. The payment is done on the daily basis. Rs 400 per day for unskilled workers and Rs. 600 per day for skilled workers. There is shortage of workers due to not unavailability but to unwillingness.. The standard of living is high and the communities are rich enough. Annual expenditure of Kovannam Forestry department is Rs 50-60 lackhs per  annum and revenue generated is around Rs 5 to 10 crores.

Tool

There is no such work wear for the forestry workers. Albeit the patrolling staff has simple khaki uniforms. The Fire-Line activities is quite common during the month of January. Here 5.2 m wide boundary is ubiquitously disseminated in the forest area. This is done by marking and then slashing and burning the leaves, woods etc. This serves the purpose in 2 ways. First it differentiate the private land to the government property and second is to prevent any unwanted trespassing.

Of all the trees Teak wood is most important because of the commercial reasons. The timber of teak is useful for manufacturing plywood. The Matti tree is a softwood which is use in manufacturing match sticks.

There was dormitories near the range office. The forest awareness and environment protection camp is held by High school kids and college occasion. The nature camp is also held for students.

The disposal in jungle

The department is also active in various other activities. The Forest sanitation is challenging job in which the forest department with the holistic help of tribal community dispose all the kind of waste especially non- biodegradable like plastic, bottles etc. With the rise in population this has been creating major problem.

Western Ghats is starts from Gujarat to Kanniyakumari, Tamil Nadu.The Madhav Gadgil committee stated that Western Ghats is a major part forestry region which must be protected. With slight modification of Kasturi committee the government become more concerned in order to preserve the integrity of the Western Ghats, as it determines the climatic change in India. The livelihood of 30 crores people depends on it both directly and indirectly. So, the unwanted intrusion which could harm the forest should be eliminated otherwise it could annihilate the eco system.

The Fire Watches is built on each place to check the potential forest fire. Generally, it can occur naturally with the friction of the dry wood, but since the climate is moderate so there is less chances of any forest fire. There is still the chance of fire by any other way like by human being. So, without taking any chance, the forest department want to make sure that it doesn't happen. There have been any case recorded officially of forest fire.

Hefty Adventure:

There was one big issue which is going quite prevalent now days in the region. The Maoist invasion. They have been creating some disturbances in the region by trafficking, smuggling, robbery of government goods, kidnapping etc. So, patrolling team always patrol with the guard carrying guns. One of the official even warned us about Maoist group. I was really bumped up with that caveat. We brave soldier took our chance and carried on this uncanny adventure.

Overall it was awesome experience for me. I really appreciate the commitment of the forestry department for their great work.I learned a lot learned some tricky scientific name of the tree and real life lesson of life. It has been 3 and a half year in Kerala and I didn't learned Malayalam much, saw a lady near from Balia, Uttar Pradesh. I was really astonished to find a woman coming all over the place leaving her family at tender age of 19 and settling in remote forest area. Hats off to the lady. She now has family with 4 kids here. She spoke Malayalam, Bhojpuri and I was immersed in the cocktail of the 2 different culture. This is new India it's changing for good.