The Sustainable Production Center of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) conducted a study with GIZ, Eschborn, Germany-based agency on social, economic and environment developments in five textile houses. It showed that after having complied with internationally-acclaimed social standards, companies in the textile business in Pakistan have enjoyed 52 per cent surge in return on equity, 36 per cent increase in efficiency, 76 per cent jump in production and 65 per cent rise in wages.
The five textile business houses are located in Punjab. They included small, medium and large textile mills, garments makers and hosiery manufacturers. The German consultant first carried out gap analysis and noted weaknesses in social compliance initiatives that resulted in loss of interest in job and abstentions. Interestingly, foreign buyers are increasingly getting sensitive on social compliance issues. The issue was tackled keeping in view the interest of both the workers and unit owners. The immediate concern of exporters was to fulfill all workers welfare related conventions where compliance is necessary to maintain the EU’s GSP plus status.
The results achieved through social compliance measures proved that the efficiency, quality and the competitiveness of all the manufacturing units in Pakistan can be greatly enhanced if workers welfare is taken care of. The exercise in the five units revealed that the benefits were much higher in units that were fully socially compliant and lower where compliance level was lower. Social compliance improves the involvement of the worker in the enterprise. The business that neglect social compliance are in fact compromising on productivity by denying fair wages to their workers.
The consultant also suggested an improvement in production, procurement and value chain management. Increase of productivity by 76 per cent in the socially compliant garmenting units should be an eye opener for the non-compliant units. The socially-compliant units do not default on their delivery time that is vital for the buyers.
