INAUGURAL & AWARD FUNCTION REPORT
The 9thInternational Conference on Apparel & Home Textiles was organized by Okhla Garment Textile Cluster (OGTC). It is a two day annual event which was inaugurated on 20th September and concluded on 21st September at India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road, Delhi. This year conference theme was “Creative Thinking.”
The Inaugural & Award Function was held on the afternoon of 20th Sep 2013. Mr. Madhav Lal, IAS, Secretary Govt. of India, Ministry of MSME was the Chief Gust.
1. WELCOME ADDRESS
Mr. R C Kesar, Director General OGTC welcomed the Chief Guest and members. He reviewed the activities of OGTC and highlighted OGTC participation in the Lean manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme (LMCS) of Ministry of MSME.
Mr. R C Kesar recalled that the scheme was launched under the leadership of Mr. Madhav Lal as Development Commissioner and he has been guiding force to OGTC. OGTC was the only textile Cluster selected for the scheme. Mr. Kesar also informed that the scheme at pilot level was successfully implemented and is continuing towards complete lean transformation . Additionally OGTC had also sent a delegation to study lean implementation in Japan and Bangladesh.
He pointed out that in addition to cost control, quality control etc. OGTC is also focusing on other projects like Carbon Footprint Measurement Project and CSR programmes by providing training & employment to differently abled person and regularly arranging Health & Eye Check up Camp and Cancer Awareness Programmes for employees.
2. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Mr. P M S Uppal President OGTC in his presidential address discussed the new initiatives OGTC has undertaken and the rationale of organising annual conference. He emphasised OGTC considers this an obligation to society, to industry and above all to the country.
He discussed at length training at grassroots levels and highlighted that in the last 7 years we have been able to train over 4000 freshers and been able to retain 70 % of the trained which is by all means a major achievement in garment industry.
We also went for supervisors training and staff training but it was realised that by itself it was not enough so OGTC remodeled the trainings and initiated the training programmes starting from CEO’s and moving down the line. The learnings were rewarding and there is still more room for improvement. In Indian situation we missed the opportunity of being aggressive and could not achieve what we should have achieved. Will India will be on the top yes why not all of us have to contribute to reach the top position.
We had great design centers in our country in ancient times and our fore fathers created innovative and fancy design. We are even following the same traditions and creating marvelous designs. For this conference we have brought the best learned speakers from India and abroad and to get best from them. The saying is that if you meet a saint all what he said you cannot learn but what you can implement and produce is the real learning from saint so it is for us to learn the best from the learned speakers for this conference.
Chief Guest released the conference souvenir
The OGTC Path Breaker Award for 2013 was conferred on late Mr. Praveen Nayyar for his dedicated service to the garment industry. The award was received by Mrs. Vandana Nayyar.
Three participants of poster presentation competition were given cash rewards.
3. INAUGURAL ADDRESS
Chief Guest Mr. Madhav Lal thanked conference committee for inviting him to inaugurate the conference, he recalled his old association with OGTC and pointed out OGTC has been gracious to acknowledge the supporting role of Ministry of MSME and he was happy to emphasise that OGTC has progressed much faster than other clusters. This is a very active and efficient cluster and continues to perform faster and better. We wish that the important learnings and experience of OGTC must be replicated by other clusters.
He noted that MSME sector had a growth of about 5 to 8 % whereas we expected the growth to be about 15%. In order to achieve this the problems of MSME units need to be looked into so that the manufacturing activities should get boost for faster growth. As about 90 % of the MSME units are unorganized sector. The Govt. of India is finalizing the report to improve ECO system and devote time to improve manufacturing process.
We need to work with the associations and professionals to work faster and take up and identify challenges. We can find solutions to deal with these challenges. We should also consider the problems related to value chain and work on improvements to achieve higher value addition. This will only be possible if we develop partnerships and Government will try to play an important role.
The Chief Guest congratulated Mrs. Praveen Nayyar for receiving OGTC path Breaker Award 2013. He wished a very happy academic career to winners of the poster presentations.
He appreciated OGTC gesture for awarding appreciation certificate to the OGTC members for completing project under Lean Manufacturing Competitive Scheme.
He wished the conference a grand success and congratulated the participants of implementation of Lean Manufacturing Competitive Scheme.
3. VOTE OF THANKS
Mr. M K Mehra, Director said it is my privilege, pleasure and honour to propose a vote of thanks on behalf of the members of OGTC and Organizing Committee to our Chief Guest for inaugurating the conference & giving awards. In fact we have developed an interpersonal relationship with our Chief Guest. We had gone to Secretary Govt. of India, Ministry of MSME we had informed him about conference, sir we will request you to be Chief Guest and even without the formal request letter he gave on the spot consent to be Chief Guest. I sincerely thank the Chief Guest Shri Madhav Lal Ji.
OGTC expresses sincere thanks to all speakers from India & Abroad and to all session chairmen for their participation. We also thank Lady Irwin College for presenting Design Creations by students in the Fashion Show Format & helping in conducting sessions.
OGTC would like to thank nodal Agency Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) for giving support for being the lead Sponsor and to AEMA for Fashion Show Sponsorship and to Vector Consulting to be the sponsor. We also thank Textile Commissioner, Mumbai and development Commissioner MSME Okhla for their unqualified support & also GIZ & Wazir advisors.
I am also grateful to all the advertisers who have gavin the advertisements and the all sponsors and to the management of India Habitat Centre and all the delegates and OGTC Members.