Achieved Cost Reduction! Established Chemical Management System with customers in Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, the government has issued bond licenses to dyeing mills to increase exports of apparel products to ensure the growth of the textile industry every year. The tax limit to which the bond license applies is determined by the amount of chemicals used at the dyeing mill and is determined based on the usage declaration.
Therefore, NICCA worked with its customers to develop a chemical management system and optimize agent to be used by considering how production can be increased with agent usage within the bonded limit.
In this report, we will introduce our efforts to reduce costs using the bond license achieved in Bangladesh by improving productivity.
Long
way to come across the solution
STEP 01 Back ground
Growing Bangladesh Textile Processing
Apparel exports in Bangladesh have grown at double-digit rates each year since the launch of exports, and production is expanding in most factory. However, the expansion of the bonded limit has been audited by the government, making it difficult to meet all the required chemicals, and many dyeing mills have become difficult.
Also, new dyeing mills cannot even show declarations of use at the beginning, so the bonded amount is very low and the processing cost is very high because additional chemicals need to be purchased outside the bonded range.
In addition, international apparel brands producing apparel products in Bangladesh strictly instruct dyeing mills to use sustainable and environmentally friendly chemicals. They use chemical checklists to classify hazardous materials and encourage dyeing mills to avoid using those substances. Many apparel brands require the acquisition of chemical certification by various organizations such as bluesign®, ZDHC, GOTS and Oekotex, and it is very important for dyeing mills to use certified chemicals.
STEP 02 Discovery of problems
Productivity and Quality
NICCA Bangladesh has set up a project team to address the chemical cost issue of bond licenses in processing mills. After thoroughly grasping the input amount of all the chemicals used in processing mills, we started the efforts for chemical substitution.
Generally, the amount of chemicals used in textile processing is calculated in g/L units in the processing formula and correlates with the amount of water used during processing. Many of the processing mills use old-fashioned machines, so they require a lot of water to process and use a lot of chemicals. In addition, when the amount of chemicals used was large, it was not possible to properly grasp the excess or deficiency of chemicals in the inventory space, and there were many cases where the processing agent was insufficient at the end of the month. The processing mill needs to get financial support from the supplier or buy the processing agent locally, but in any case, they are not sure about the quality of the processed fabric.
Therefore, in order to solve this problem in processing mills, we have created an optimal processing formula that improves productivity while maintaining quality.
We proposed reducing the amount of agent used by replacing to high-performance agents with a small amount of addition, or replacing from multiple agents that were previously used to one multifunctional NICCA product to reduce the number of agents. As a consequence, we were able to expand the production volume within the bonded amount limit without significantly increasing the amount of agent purchased. In addition, the inventory space that had been overflowed with agent became available, and other materials, such as fabrics, were unfolded, allowing room for space. This led to the optimization of inventory control.
STEP 03 Establishment of Chemical Management System
Improvement of Production Efficiency
Chemical Management System is a mechanism that allows you to easily identify the ionicity of individual processing agents on an Excel sheet and determine the processing agents that can be combined in the input system. This helps prevent misuse of agent and optimize processing. You can also check with hazard marks and compatibility charts during storage, so you can also perform correct inventory control. In addition, if you are injured when handling chemicals, you can follow the guidelines on the SDS and take appropriate action based on them.
We have set up Chemical Management System in one team with people from various departments, including labs, dyeing, storage, and finishing in processing mills.
First, in order to optimize the processing formulation, we observed the flow of conventional work and identified the improvement points. For customers who use large quantities of agent, we are working to reduce agent consumption by providing a processing agent that maintains performance with low doses. We are also contributing to reducing agent costs, reducing the labor required for agent inputs and inventory control, and reduction environmental impact.
NICCA Bangladesh also has a number of certified products, such as bluesign® and ZDHC, and the ability to use these certified products to establish Chemical Management System is a major benefit for Bangladesh processing mills.
STEP 04 Value obtained by introducing Chemical Management System
Cost Reduction and RFT (Right First Time) Improvement
The concept of using small and effective agent with a proper management system has provided a variety of benefits to our customers.
1. Reduction of recipe cost and inventory space:
Less dosage of chemicals accompanied by multifunctional chemicals usages reduced the recipe cost by 20-30% and also now our customers have some breathing space in the stores as they have more vacant spaces.
2. Improved production efficiency:
Improving work efficiency by correct work practice and following up standard operating procedures in every step. Better quality of NICCA products ensures the right output every time.
3. Stable chemical quality at storage:
Concentrated chemicals are more stable during storing and our global R&D team is ensuring securing this stability issue in a better way.
4. Less Risk and Easy Handling:
Reduction of risk associated with more amount of chemical handling and easy to deliver at product floors where they don’t have automated dosing.
5. bluesign® and ZDHC certified products:
NICCA's agents comply with most of the customers requirement from the brand side.
6. Range of special chemicals:
We have chemicals from Pretreatment to finishing and we have all those chemicals to address Cotton, Polyester, Nylon, Viscose, Wool fibers and their mixed blends.
7. Special and functional finishing:
NICCA is able to address all the available special and functional finishing asked by the top brands of Asia, Europe and America.
Comments from some of customers
“Almost all of your chemicals are in ZDHC gateway which is really helpful for us.”
“We were practicing chemical management system but your high-performance chemicals really gives us an extra advantage as we need to handle less chemicals.”
“I really like NICCA’s leveling agent having dye bath condition effect and at the same time it works even better as a dispersing and soaping agent, Incredible…”
“Wetting and Detergent agents are having limitation in bond capacity, but NICCA’s products are covering the limitations due to the lower dosage required.”
“The stabilizer of NICCA is amazing which gives stability in my pretreatment bath for prolonged time and I can reduce my consumption to half.”
“One chemical of yours replaced my three chemicals in polyester bath, it’s like a magical agent.”
“I have got highest wicking in polyester by using your product in dye bath, that’s really unthinkable.”
“I have used your fluorocarbon chemicals and I observed those can meet some toughest requirements (AATCC methods) asked by some renowned brands.”
“I did not even imagine that I could complete my polyester dyeing within 90min without any complaint of fastness, Thanks to you guys.”
“Your wet rubbing improver is the best available chemical in the market and I am quite blunt in saying so.”
“Washing yarn dyed stripe fabric was a nightmare for us and your chemical works really good for the purpose and it’s really cost effective with compare to other multinational company’s.”
“I got Quick dry effect with no compromise in yellowing effect in cotton and CVC whites is something really amazing."
TEAM NICCA in DHAKA
As a team we always believed that we have to follow 5C’s which are very important for us a manufacturer of chemicals and also for our customers as they are working for the high end brands.
Those 5C’s stands for “Can DO” attitudes, Challenging own status quo, Commitment, Customer focus and Collaboration. With these 5C in mind, we are working on a daily basis for a better future for Textile industry in Bangladesh.
We believe our sustainable products will definitely create a bridge of success between us and our customers. As a team, NICCA is engaged with many of the universities in Bangladesh and also participating in many CSR activities. Our concept of creating awareness among customers in building a proper chemical management system while using high-performance and multi-functional agents will definitely bring a change in this industry and our customers have already started getting advantages out of this concept. Looking forward to serve all the customers in Bangladesh with our innovative and concentrated chemicals from pretreatment to finishing.