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| Sunday, 18 September 2005 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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FIP changes
attitude of Lankan managers
by Surekha Galagoda The International Labour Organisation's Factory Improvement Program (FIP) for the apparel industry has changed the attitude of traditional Sri Lankan managers in the manufacturing sector. Traditionally, managers were supposed to decide while workers had to execute the decisions without question. The ILO FIP changed this order as it involves a high degree of worker involvement for the benefit of the company and its workers. The current FIP3 is implemented by The Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC) with The Joint Apparel Associations' Forum (JAAF) as its collaborating partner. FIP was first launched in Sri Lanka in 2002 as a pilot program by Claudia Coenjaerts ILO Director Colombo in eight apparel factories for one year. The focus of the program was on factory improvement and manager development and consisted of six modules which have been improved in this third round [FIP3] and include continuous improvement, quality improvements, workplace cooperation / social dialogue, productivity enhancement, human resources management / development, and occupational safety and health. Emphasis is now on CI teams consisting of workers and managers cooperating to implement many project initiatives across their respective companies which are yielding substantial gains on corporate economic aspects as well as for workers in terms of benefits and improved work routines and environments. A baseline survey was carried out prior to commencement and a CEO forum was held addressed by Gotabaya Dasanayaka, Director General - EFC stating that 'CEO and Senior Management commitment is a must' if the companies are to gain from FIP3. The panel of experts' presented what is to be expected at this forum. In the light of the post MFA era with China and other neighbouring countries posing a fierce challenge for global market share which Sri Lanka can barely afford to lose, Jayantha R de Silva, ILO-FIP Regional Specialist and Head of the local program was confident that the program design and implementation ensures a dynamic and holistic developmental approach for apparel manufacturing companies proved by previous FIP results, will be of strategic advantage for enterprises as the modules cover economic as well as social and brand compliance criteria over the program period. FIP has 27 companies including multi-nationals with the current FIP3 spanning one year. Each module commencing with a two-day workshop is followed by at least four on site visits to participant factories for technical instruction, follow through and review by the expert and the experienced ILO National Program Managers; Ms. Roshami de Silva and Rienzie Diaz. The program has been subject to periodic reviews initially by the principal donor US Department of Labor, the ILO - Geneva and by a researcher from the Inst. of Development Studies, Sussex - UK, which have had positive reports and suggestions for improvement. The benefits of the program are many and include management level meetings to discuss issues/improvements, supervisory staff meeting with floor level operatives, workers freely expressing needs /issues to supervisors / executives, suggestion box scheme implemented, procedurised and practised, grievance procedures developed and implemented, increased awareness on discrimination and gender issues, increase in recruitment of differently abled persons, increased care for female expectant workers, participant factories sharing best practices and the ability to spread learning and knowledge to sister factories. Some quantifiable improvements include increase in quality through reduction of defects by 40%, improvement in productivity by over 20%, increase in attachment usage by 15%, decrease in labour turnover by 1.5% per month and absenteeism reducing over 1%, increase in cut to ship ratio by 3%, order fulfillment and value monitoring, increase in sample turnaround time, identifying and reduction of stains saving over Rs. 50,000 p.m., improvement in the manpower to machines ratio, Idle time and cost per minute monitoring, the net gains in some enterprises currently exceeding Rs. 500,000 per month, the program being at the mid point and Module 4 - Productivity enhancement just commenced. Outlining plans for the future, de Silva said that they plan to run FIP4 as a Multi sectoral (Manufacturing) program in 2006. The BOI, Ministry of Labour, Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya, Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya and the National Workers' Congress sit in the Advisory Committee of the FIP3. The FIP3 is funded by the US Department of Labour, SECO (Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs), NHO (Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry) and by way of fees from participating factories. The FIP methodology is used in Cambodia, Vietnam and India. The Global FIP is managed by Charles Bodwell - ILO, Chief Technical
Advisor in Thailand. |
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