OGTC Conference
ICAHT – 2014
10th International Conference on Apparel & Home Textiles
19th & 20th September 2014
India Habitat Centre – New Delhi
Theme: Commitment to Excellence
The 10th International Conference on Apparel & Home Textiles was organized by Okhla Garment Textile Cluster (OGTC). It is a two day annual event that was inaugurated on 19th September, 2014 and concluded on 20th September, 2014 at India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road, Delhi. This year conference theme was “Commitment to Excellence.”
The Inaugural & Award Function was held in the evening of 19th Sep 2014. Mr. Virender Uppal, Chairman, AEPC was the Chief Guest.
The total attendance in the on two days of the conference was more than 750 delegates
1. WELCOME ADDRESS
Mr. R C Kesar, Director General OGTC welcomed the Chief Guest Mr. Virender Uppal, Chairman AEPC and other members of the clusters to the conference. He started by explaining how such an international conference is a great occasion and opportunity for apparel industry. He highlighted that International Conference on Apparel and Home Textiles is a dedicated conference for apparel and home textiles industry with focus and emphasis is on the case studies as with case studies, one learns better.
He also took pride in informing the guest about the completion of 10 years of OGTC where it has been giving its service to the industry. HE MENTIONED THAT THIS CLUSTER IS A UNIQUE EXAMPLE WHERE THE COMPETITORS IN THE SAME INDUSTRY COME TOGETHER TO SHARE, COOPERATE AND LEARN FROM EACH OTHER FORMING A COHESIVE GROUP FOR BETTERMENT OF EACH OTHER.
He said that this method of sharing through cluster, not only every company gains but this in turn results into a better gain for the whole industry. He also suggested that over same period, all the members of the cluster have seen positive growth in size and improvement in costs through this cluster cooperation.
2. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Mr. P M S Uppal President OGTC in his presidential address started with welcoming all to a 10 year of journey by the cluster. He mentioned how the idea of forming a cluster evolved through constant perseverance & dedication. He said that what this conference brings to all stake holders is an opportunity to learn something new which otherwise might not have been possible through their normal course of work. He highlighted that each conference takes a lot of work and preparation in bringing the best on the podium.
He highlighted that more than technology, expertise and process, it is the focus on an inclusive growth that brings success. THE INCLUSIVE GROWTH FOR PERSONAL, ORGANIZATIONAL & NATIONAL LEVEL COMES THROUGH THIS OUTLOOK OF COMBINED IMPROVEMENT. He also highlighted the importance of innovating on a personal level where each person improves their own way of working on a daily job on a sincere and measurable basis.
He thanked Mr. M.K Mehra & Mr. R.C Kesar for organizing the successful conference which is focused on knowledge sharing. He also thanked cluster members for being together for a period of 10 good years.
3. AWARD FUNCTION
Mr. M. K. Mehra, Director, OGTC, announced this year’s OGTC Path Breaker’s award to be conferred on Dr. Darlie Koshy, Director General & CEO, IAM & ATDC (AEPC). He mentioned that his achievements in the areas of education, skill development & apparel industry are too many. DR. KOSHY HAS ALSO LEAD AND DESIGNED THE SKILL DEVELOPMENT & EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR OVER 1.5 LAKH CANDIDATES THROUGH SMART, ATDC & IAM.
Mr. Virender Uppal confered the award on Dr. Darlie Koshy.
Dr. Darlie Koshy then started his address to the cluster by thanking the guests and members. He spoke about how his start in this industry through handloom sector has resulted into his community based approach in development of sector.
He highlighted that there is a need to recognize the contribution of various key people in the industry like production managers, supervisors etc.
4. Inaugural Address
Chief Guest Mr. Virender Uppal thanked conference committee for inviting him to inaugurate the conference. HE CONGRATULATED THE OGTC IN BEING ABLE TO BRING TOGETHER A CONFERENCE THAT MATCHES THE VISION AND ACTION REQUIRED BY THE INDUSTRY IN A PRACTICAL APPROACH.
He mentioned that the industry has a huge scope for the growth and employment in coming times. He spoke about the role of AEPC towards the industry growth and mentioned key points that AEPC is working on these days through policy support. He mentioned that some of the suggestions have already been accepted by the ministry while some others are under discussion.
He also spoke about changing market scenario where speed and quality with lower quantities are the new challenges and India is facing challenges from various other countries.
He congratulated Dr. Koshy on receiving the OGTC Path Breaker award and lauded his contributions towards training programs through ATDC & IAM.
To encourage and recognize the research work of the students & faculty. OGTC organized a poster presentation competition where 15 presentation were received where the following three participants were given cash prize and certificate.
MS. PRABHJOT KAUR – GAUGING CARBON FOOTPRINT: AN ENVIRONMENT ALINDICATOR OF SUSTAINABILITY
MS. NOOPUR SONEE – DEVELOPMENTS OF PROTECTIVE WORK- WEAR FABRIC FOR FUEL FILLING ATTENDANTS
MS. MADHURI NIGAM – ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENT IMPACT OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY -WAY AHEAD
5. Vote of Thanks
Mr. M.K Mehra, gave a vote of thanks to the chief guest, invited speakers, members and others for participating into the conference and making it a successful event. He also thanked Lady Irwin College for organizing a fashion show where the students and student models showcased nearly 40 creations with the theme “COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE”
In the end, he also thanked all the sponsors as without them this conference would have been very difficult.
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
The conference started with the first session that was focused on “Strategy for Growth” and chaired by Mr. Deepak Mohindra, Chief Editor Apparel Online. He started with welcoming all the speakers on the dais. He then congratulated Mr. Kesar and team to organize such a conference that is only one in India which is knowledge based and where members come to share and learn from each other.
The session included presentations by Mr. Prasad Narayan Rege, Intimate Fashions (A MAS Holding Company), Mr. R. Dhamotharan, ITC and Mr. Anant Sadana, United Apparel. Mr. Dhamotharan presented on “Managing Supply Chain for Domestic Market Growth” about how ITC has been collaborating with domestic suppliers and the key challenges faced by them. Mr. Sadana presented next on the topic “Opportunities for Indian Exporters in Changing Global Scenario” while Mr. Rege presented on the topic “Training Processes – Plan/Execute/Sustain”.
The session highlighted the following key points during the session:
- COLLABORATING WITH SUPPLIERS IS A MUST IN DOMESTIC INDUSTRY
- INDIAN APPAREL DOMESTIC MARKET SOURCING SYSTEM
- KEY CHALLENGES IN INDIAN EXPORT INDUSTRY
- MOST IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT COMPANY – VISION, MISSION, OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES & TACTICS (VMOST)
- NEED TO FOCUS ON VISION FIRST INSTEAD OF TACTICS
The Second Session was focused on “Process to Progress” and chaired by Mr. Vinod Kapur, MD, Radnik Exports. The first presentation was by Mr. Perkinian Chellamani, Seeds Intimate Apparel Pvt. Ltd on the topic of “Planning-First Step to Succeed”. This was followed by presentation by Mr. Venkatesh Nagan, CEO, Asmara International on the topic of “Challenges, opportunities and strategy for growth for the Indian apparel industry- Lessons from my China experience”. The third presentation was by Mr. Jayant Kochar, Go Fish Consulting on the topic of “Complementing Export Market Strengths with Domestic Market Opportunities”.
The second session was focused on following key points:
- IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING IN APPAREL INDUSTRY
- SCOPE FOR INDIAN MANUFACTURERS CONSIDERING GLOBAL TRENDS
- INDIAN STRENGTHS IN APPAREL INDUSTRY
- MOVING BEYOND THE RESTRICTIONS AND THINKING BEYOND THE CONCEPTS OF “CHEAPER, FASTER, BETTER”
- SUCCESS STORIES ACROSS THE GLOBE AND HOW INDIAN APPAREL INDUSTRY CAN BUILD ITS BRAND
The Third Session which was focused on “Achieving Excellence” was chaired by Mr. Prashant Agarwal, Joint Managing Director, Wazir Advisors. In the session, presentations were given by Mr. Nitesh Burman, MRS Fashions WLL, Bahrain on the topic of “Journey from 10 to 30 pcs a day”. The second presentation was delivered by Mr. Gil Almog, OptiTex on “Smart Cut Planning and Virtual solutions – Reducing number of samples and fabric consumption – A practical approach”. In the end, the presentation was given by Mr. Nikhil Desai, Centre for Excellence whose topic was “In Pursuit Of Excellence – Unleashing The Potential in You & Your Organization”.
The session brought various dimensions and methods in achieving excellence. Mr. Burman talked about the process of achieving the excellence through better systems and processes in an organization. Mr. Almog highlighted the use of technology in cutting & virtual reality presentations.
Mr. Desai focused on the internal energy on personal level that accumulates in an organization towards achieving excellence. He emphasized on the visionary leadership of people who are leaders by action and not by designation.
The Fourth Session on 2nd day was focused on “Management” and was chaired by Dr. Rajesh Bheda, CEO Rajesh Bheda Consulting. The two presentations in the session were given by Mr. J. D. Giri, Director Shahi Exports on “Managing & Sustaining Consistent Growth in Indian & International Environment” and Mr. Rajat Sikka, MD, Saivana Exports on “Case Study- Performance and Winning Matrix”.
The key learnings during the session were:
- PERFORMANCE OF INDIA AGAINST VARIOUS APPAREL EXPORT COUNTRIES
- USE OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT TOOLS FOR BETTER CAREER ENHANCEMENT OF EMPLOYEES
WORKSHOPS ON 2ND DAY
The workshops at OGTC conference is a unique feature where practical issues our debated and deliberated amongst professionals of the specified skills.
The workshops for the conference were divided into two sessions of four parallel workshops. The first workshop was a combination of three case studies and was chaired by Mr. Anil Peshawari, MD, Menu Creation. Two of the case studies were by Mr. Manish Sachar, Orient Fashion & Mr. Pramod Mishra, Pee Empro Exports who presented the case study of lean journey of their organizations. Mr. Hemant Sagar MD of Lecoanet Hemant India presented case study of excellence in production.
The second workshop was chaired by Mr. Rajat Sikka, MD, Saivana Exports where Ms. Pooja Makhija of Fashion Future gave a session on “Processing Excellence with SOP’s” for merchandising. The third workshop was focused on CSR where Ms. Purti Marwaha of Jhalani & Co talked about CSR, Company Law Changes and LPP vs Pvt. Ltd. The session was chaired by Mr. Kamal Sidhu, MD, Neetee Clothing. The last workshop in this session was by Ms. Devyani Bhatnagar, Crestcom International who presented the concept of “How to Mentor and Retain High Performers”. This session was chaired by Maj Gen N K Dhir, Alphabet Teletec.
The Fifth workshop that was held in the second session was chaired by Dr. Sanjay Gupta where Maj Gen N K Dhir, Alphabet Teletec talked about “Achieving Superior Performance at Work Place”. The sixth workshop was chaired by Mr. Kartik Sharma, MD, Blessings Exports where Mr. Deepak Goel, IAM Gurgaon and Ms. Shilpa Sahni, IAM Gurgaon spoke about “Smart Merchandising – Digital Tools”. In the seventh workshop there was an interactive session with Business Owners with Mr. Nikhil Desai of centre for Excellence on achieving excellence through training.
Eight workshop was focused on social responsibility and was chaired by Mr. Akshay Kapur, Director, Radnik Exports. This workshop was a combination of 3 workshops. Dr. Jitender Aggarwal, Sarthak Educational Trust gave the presentation on “Apparel industry training programme for PWD”. This was followed by a case study on “Empowering persons with disability in Garment Manufacturing Skills” by Dr. Manpreet Chahal, Lady Irwin College. Mr. Ajay Kumar, Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society presented the case study on “Assisted Migration at Delhi NCR, Jeevika”.
SUMMING UP
In the summing up session Mr. PMS Uppal president OGTC in his concluding remarks said that the journey of 10 years would not have been possible without the active participation & cooperation of all OGTC members. He also placed on record the hard work put in by Mr. R.C Kesar & Mr. M.K Mehra in making this Conference a grand success & bringing the conference to really a high pedestal. The idea of organizing the conference is to help entrepreneurs and professionals to get together and listen to new ideas and success stories from all around the globe to enable them to sort out day to day and long term issues. In the end I can say with pride and confidence that the annual conference rejuvenates all of us.
The next OGTC conference ICAHT 2015 will be held on 10th Oct 2015 at India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.