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| Issue date:08/12/2009 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - Dec 2009 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
| by Elise Hon |
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Featured company: MAS Holdings
Sri Lanka-based MAS Holdings is a major intimate apparel manufacturer in South Asia, supplying to known retailers such as Victoria's Secret, Marks & Spencer (M&S), Nike, Speedo and Triumph, with an annual turnover of US$800 million in 2008 |
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| A design center of MAS Holdings |
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Founded by three brothers, Mahesh, Ajay and Sharad Amalean, MAS Holdings started off in 1987 in Sri Lanka being a small operation with 26 sewing machines and 60 employees. After two decades, the firm has established its presence in nine countries, and the size of its workforce is more than 44,000 employees.
According to senior executives in the company, a combination of crucial factors, "innovation, lean manufacturing and good IT solutions", has significantly contributed to MAS' energetic development.
Dian Gomes |
Being an innovator
"Our innovation offerings for our customers are numerous," said Dian Gomes, Managing Director of MAS Intimates and main board member of MAS Holdings. To name a few, the Nike Revolutionary Support bra was jointly developed with Nike. There is also the Victoria's Secret Bare Ultimate range, which is produced with silicone flocking as filling and bonding tapes.
MAS' research and innovation unit comprises experts in the fields of fashion technology, design, science, engineering and chemistry to work on both product and process improvements. It also has its own apparel designers based in New York, Hong Kong and the UK for original designs.
MAS started to invest in nanotechnology since 2008, and is working with the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology on innovative apparel applications.
On the production front, MAS has partnered up with global entities to manufacture a wide range of items, including lace with Noyon Dentelles in France, warp knits fabrics with Dogi International and fabric printing with Textprint in Spain, as well as elastics with Stretchline Global and accessories with Prym Intimates in the UK
Through a venture vehicle with Speedo International (UK) and Brandot International (USA), namely MAS Linear Aqua, MAS was involved in the production of the Speedo Fastskin swimsuits worn by athletes at the Athens Olympics 2004. It also manufactured special seamless jerseys for the Welsh Rugby team at the Rugby World Cup in 2007.
Earlier this year, Bondelast fabrics, a patented technology of Stretchline, which is a joint venture between MAS Holdings and Stretchline Global, were used to manufacture the Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit worn by athletes at the Beijing Olympics, including Michael Phelps.
Lean practices
The innovative spirit can be seen in many aspects of the company's daily operation, in particular lean manufacturing. Mr Gomes pointed out that efficient manufacturing was vital for profitability.
MAS Operating System (MOS) is a manufacturing methodology developed by MAS based on the Toyota lean manufacturing system, which is a pioneer in the aspect of lean production.
"For the textile and apparel industry, the MOS emphasizes minimization of resources used, with an objective of being responsive to customer demand at the lowest cost and shortest lead-time. Our systematic approach has empowered employees and led to a culture of continuous improvement, building quality across the business of MAS Holdings," he said.
A strong focus was given to "transactional (administrative) lean" eliminating waste in all non-production processes such as merchandising, finance, human resources, administration & IT deriving significant cost and time benefits for the company.
By focusing on providing value to the customer from beginning to end, unnecessary transportation of information and paper as well as meetings and business travels were removed. "One cannot extract the full extent of the benefits of lean manufacturing if the front-end and support services are not lean and totally aligned, as one effective system. Our journey is towards a true lean enterprise," said Mr Gomes.
Jay Keller |
In practice, effective enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an integral part of lean production in the apparel making industry. From 1998, MAS Holdings implemented in phrases an ERP system developed by SAP, a Germany-based business software solution provider, to improve business operations with more accurate information and transparency throughout the value chain. "In hindsight, this was a very important decision of MAS. Today, we are a US$800 million business, with a fully integrated system that gives us total visibility across our internal value chain, a majority of our performance indicators, and excellent control over our operations."
Jay Keller, Chief Information Officer responsible for the application of information technology in the company, said that business decisions previously based on experience and incomplete data were now based on hard facts.
"Our productivity has increased 10% on average, with the extent of improvement varying from plant to plant. The higher productivity has helped reduce our cost, per standard hour, by 10-12%, and inventory levels are reduced by about 20-30%," said Mr Gomes, adding that the company has been able to reduce overall lead time by 20-30%. This in turn allowed the customers to react faster to the market.
Socially responsible
Mr Gomes also pointed out that MAS Holdings' commitment to sustainability and ethical manufacturing has given the company an edge.
MAS Intimates Thurulie is the world's first eco-manufacturing factory for lingerie. This facility aims to be carbon neutral and produces bras for British retail giant Marks & Spencer. MAS plans to expand the scale of MAS Intimates Thurulie within 2010, with an enlarged workforce of 1,300 people, more than double of the present number.
Located in the 165-acre MAS Fabric Park in Thulhiriya, 65 km northeast of the capital city, Colombo, this eco-manufacturing facility is equipped with the biggest installation project of solar panels to-date in Sri Lanka, providing around 10% of the total electricity required for the facility, with the rest being supplied under a hydro-electric scheme.
By using extensive daylight, energy efficient lighting and LED-based task lights, low energy cooling systems (instead of air conditioning) and eco bricks that maintain a cool interior, the factory is able to save around 40% on electricity consumption compared with factories of similar scale.
Water consumption was also cut by half following the installation of modern wastewater management systems and low-flow fixtures.
Equally important is that the MAS factories comply with a local industry standard called "Garments Without Guilt (GWG)" of the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) of Sri Lanka. Over 20 MAS factories were certified as GWG facilities.
Intimate wear is a major product of MAS Holdings |
"Moreover, our programs - Women Go Beyond, which aimed at empowering women in the workplace, and Eco Go Beyond, focusing on educating the new generation about sustainability, have been endorsed by the UN Global Compact, World Bank and UNESCO as benchmark initiatives," said Mr Gomes.
The "Women Go Beyond" program was implemented at MAS apparel plants in Sri Lanka, India and Vietnam from 2003 to provide career development, health and lifestyle education, and local community development programs for MAS workers.
On industry development
Sri Lanka's apparel industry appears to be resilient to the global economic downturn. According to the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) of Sri Lanka, the county's exports of knitted fabrics, woven fabrics and made-up textile articles amounted at US$2.088 billion during the first eight months of 2009, a drop of merely 3.5% from the same period last year, whereas many of its Asian rivals registered double-digit declines in the same period of time.
"Growth may be modest at least for 2009, much depending on the state of the global economy," said Mr Gomes, commenting on the apparel industry of Sri Lanka. "Its recovery will stabilize the industry, with good prospects for growth. The future is foggy, but one factor is certain: the Sri Lankan apparel industry will survive (in times of crisis), as we have always done," he concluded.
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Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Credit goes to Adsale Industry Portal when used.
We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprint any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiries, please contact the Editorial Department. |
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