Rohit Pandit
Director Intex Consulting Group-VTMtex Virtual Textile Mill India Pvt Ltd
Biggest challenge for India is to evolve around smart factory concept
Wuppertal, Germany-headquartered Intex Consulting GmbH is an ERP solution provider for the textile industry, operating through its subsidiaries in markets like Brazil, China, India and Thailand. Rohit Pandit, Director, Intex Consulting Group-VTMtex Virtual Textile Mill India Private Limited, stresses on digital transformation of the Indian textile industry.
What is the rate at which your company is growing? What is the target set for the next two years?
Our average growth rate for the last few years has been 15 per cent. We expect to exceed that in the next two years.
How big is the market for ERP solutions in the textile industry?
The textile industry in India is quite mature in terms of ERP adoption and acceptance. The biggest opportunities are in the SME textile companies, which are growing.
As a private enterprise, what kind of governmental help will advance growth?
Since we are in IT for the textile industry, some funding or incentives for new IT technologies in textile manufacturing like programmes for automation and Industry 4.0 themes would help.
Where is demand the most in Asia? Which are your biggest and upcoming markets?
India and China generate the maximum demand for our software solutions. The markets of Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam also demand textile ERP software.
What challenges does the Indian textile industry need to be ready for in terms of software solutions?
The biggest challenge for the Indian textile industry, specifically in the SME segment, is to evolve around a smart factory concept. This means a highly efficient factory. The tradeoff that the industry would need to work out is the level of software technology and automation vis-à-vis the cost and quality of manpower. Going forward, the cost of manpower will only increase whereas the cost of automation will come down. The question is always where to start and when to scale up automation.
Which three factors will have a major impact on performance of the Indian textile industry?
Adoption of practical areas of automation on the shop floor to enhance efficiency and competitiveness; adoption of the smart factory concept and industry 4.0, and adoption of more digital ways of doing business across the internal and external supply chain will improve performance of India's textile industry. For example, we have collaborated with consultancy firm McKinsey & Company with eight other leading industry companies and rewarded research centres ITA at RWTH Aachen University, for the recently launched Digital Capability Center (DCC) in Aachen, Germany.
During the inauguration, DCC showcased Industry 4.0 applications in warping, weaving, thermofixation, coating, digital printing, auto cutting and sewing of an individualised smart wristband, which will automatically transfer the order and customer information from an app to Intex ERP software, generating MRP and production orders, simultaneously producing order network with real time material tracking/movements on the shop floor through an RFID interface.
DCC can reduce cycle time by up to 50 per cent, bring maintenance cost and downtime down up to 50 per cent, and increase productivity up to 55 per cent. Intex ERP Business Suite is the digital backbone of DCC in Aachen. Additionally, since it aims to offer a platform to managers to experience the real potential of Industry 4.0-related technologies in a live environment, Intex will enable smooth flow of operations through its vast technological offerings.
DCC claims that the key challenge of digital transformation for most textile producing companies is that the ERP system does not support the fluent integration of technologies. Thus, being the technological leader in ERP systems for the textile industry, Intex Consulting offers knowhow to support this process. This is just the first phase of DCC. More concepts will be implemented and showcased over time.
How is the Indian textile industry faring in adapting to software solutions compared to counterparts like China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam?
India is considered more advanced in software adaptation. However, countries which are export-oriented like Bangladesh have different pressures for modernisation. Therefore, they are adapting fast.
What percentage of mills or textile units in India is powered with ERP solutions? How many MSMEs are switching to ERP solutions?
We cannot pinpoint the exact figures. However, the concept of ERP is well accepted and adopted in textile mills in India including the SMEs.
Does the industry have trained staff to operate such software? What assistance do you provide?
We have our own training curriculum through which we train our customers' staff. We are also going to tie up with some textile engineering institutes for training programmes on our Intex software as part of curriculum or as optional modules that textile engineering students canparticipate in. This would create a pool of basic trained resources that mills can look to absorb.(HO)
Published on: 05/07/2017
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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