The Mumbai Unit of the Textile Association (India) organized a one-day seminar on “Innovation in Weaving” at Vapi on April 28. It was attended by nearly 250 delegates.
After the welcome address by Mr. V.C. Gupte, Chairman, TAI Mumbai Unit, Mr. C. Bose, its President, in his address, outlined the different activities of the unit for the benefit of the entire textile industry.
Mr. Haresh B. Parekh, Convener & Jt. Hon. Gen. Secretary, TAI, outlining the seminar proceedings, said the textile industry is the second largest sector, next only to agriculture, providing the highest employment in the country. Though of late the industry has been hit by the general economic slowdown, the Central and Gujarat Governments have announced various subsidy schemes for the development of the industry. The textile units should take full advantage of the schemes by forming clusters to come out of the economic slowdown.
Mr. Prakash Shah, Chairman & Managing Director, Prashant Group of Industries, in his keynote address, said that preparatory process is as important as weaving. Therefore, machinery design and development on commercial scale plays a key role in the growth of the sector.
He also dem
onstrated the various machinery developments registered by the Prashant Group in terms of weaving preparatory processes.
Mr. S.S. Aich, CEO, Alok Textile Industries Ltd., in his special address, stressed the importance of process and quality control in a weaving mill and also outlined the steps taken to increase productivity and production targets in the management of mills. As one of the leading mills in the country, Alok Textile Industries pursued a special strategy to achieve high quality and productivity.
Mr. Narayan Thakkar, Managing Director, Rukshmani Syntex Pvt. Ltd., emphasised the importance of human resource development as a key factor for the growth of an enterprise.
The Mumbai Unit of TAI set a precedent by felicitating the textile professionals for their outstanding contribution for the industry development. At the seminar, it felicitated Mr. G. Banerjee, Director, Shree Ram Textile Mills Ltd., with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the textile industry and conferred the Corporate Excellence Award on the Prashant Group of Industries.
Dr. Chandan Chatterjee, Director, Center for Entrepreneurs Development of the Government of Gujarat, who was the chief guest at the seminar, observed that the textile industry has its prominent place in the Indian economy as it provides large employment and earns huge export earnings. Both the Central and State Governments are taking a series of steps to deal with the various challenges faced by the industry.
Altogether there were seven technical papers presented at the seminar. They were:
- “Weaving Solutions for Rapier Weaving Machines”, by Mr. Rais Inamdar, General Manager, Bakubhai Ambalal.
- “Latest Innovations in Fabric Forming”, by Mr. Navin Agrawal, General Manager – Fabric
- “Solar Energy has turned cheaper”, by Mr. Bhupesh Trivedi, CEO, REECODE Energy Solutions
- “Ecological Denim Manufacturing”, by Mr. J.B. Purohit, Sr. Manager – PL Sizing, and Mr. K. Suresh, Manager, Clariant Chemicals (India) Ltd.
- “Recent Developments of Synthetic Sizes for Spun Yarns and Size Recovery”, by Mr. Sanjay Gajul, Marketing Manager – Technical, S.A. Pharmachem (Pvt.) Ltd.
- “Ecological solutions for any fabric”, by Mr. Tapas Nandi, President & Country Head, ITEMA Weaving (India) Pvt. Ltd.
- “Innovative HR Practices”, by Mr. Vilas Gharat, Managing Director, Gharat & Associates.
The final session began with a panel discussion, moderated by Mr. Sharad Tandon, CEO, Standon Consulting. The panel comprised Dr. G.S. Nadiger, BTRA Research Advisor, and speakers who presented their papers at the seminar. There was good interaction between the participants and the panel members who answered the several points raised by them.
Mr. Arun K. Narkar, Jt. Hon. Secretary, TAI Mumbai Unit, proposed a vote of the thanks.
The seminar, which was attended by over 250 participants, proved a major success.