ILO factory improvement project successful

by Ramani Kangaraarachchi

The tremendous result driven success of previous Factory Improvement Programs (FIP) has championed the case for introducing the FIP for other industries and sectors and it is being planned by the ILO and the Employers' Federation of Ceylon (E FC).

Regional Specialist (FIP) Jayantha R.De Silva said at the third program for factory improvement in the apparel sector organised by the International Labour Organization and invited interested business sectors to link with them in this effort. The two day program was held at Hotel Galadari, Colombo last week.

He said that the ILO has taken several important steps to create awareness among the workers.

Some of them are getting workers involved in the problem solving and the decision making process. Creating dialogue at all levels as a good practice to enhance quality and productivity and reduce work place disharmony, provision of decent physical and mental environment with a fair pay and gain sharing from enhanced productivity.

Corporate Trainer Gihan Talgodapitiya speaking on the "Significance of quality in relation to global competition and local reality "said that creating awareness among the workers to understand the "Big Picture" is very important to improve the quality of Sri Lankan apparels for a sustainable growth in the highly competitive global market.

He said that Sri Lanka is only having one per cent of the global market share in the apparel industry and the future of the industry after the MFA is going to be a do or die battle. Therefore creating the right mind set in workers mind to get a perfect job done is essential.

Talgodapitiya said that workers are the back bone of a product but they do not understand the kind of their customers and, their emotional values which is one reason for defects.

He pointed out the shocking difference between doing a product "Right first time and Right second time.

Creating the right mind set for the worker to satisfy himself that he did the thing right is very important he said.

The ILO's multi supplier program aims to assist factories to adopt productive techniques to enhance competitiveness and bottom line results ,to meet national standards and the requirements of multinational brands by complying with their codes.

A key objective is to ensure that the workers benefit from decent work practices in a healthier working environment and are considered as an integral resource of the composition of a factory.

Sri Lanka was selected as the first in which a pilot project was conducted and the results were extremely successful. Representatives from EFC , Ministry of Labour and BOI also participated at the seminar.