Simple answer. We are in the business of bringing transformation to the garment industry. And the only one of the few ways to do it is when cost is not a significant issue.
Since 1945 there has been a growing interest in the use of motion time standards as a modern method of establishing rates quickly and accurately without stopwatches or other time recording devices (Nieble, 1993). Today, there are approximately 50 different Predetermined Motion Time System (PMTS) of established synthetic values for various industries. From this, there are 5 known systems, used globally, exclusively for garment making industries. Some established market entrants have been in the industry for as long as 30 years.
Asia is the biggest clothing producer and it is only growing bigger. Eastern Europe is another fast growing economy. Productivity of garment production is on the rise, thanks to technology improvements, changes in the marketplace and continuous improvement initiatives. Regrettably, adoption of such systems has largely been limited to Sri Lanka and Hong Kong, except for Asia, until now. This is exactly opposite to the trend of the open market now. You see, the market has opened up; the clothing producers are expanding their capacity in their home countries; and they are trying every means to increase productivity and reduce cost to stay competitive. If PMTS is as good as it claims we should see a proliferation of adoption of such systems throughout Asia. But, that is not quite what is happening.
Apparently, the available PMTS players in the market are facing a huge obstacle.
In the recent years we have seen a significant fall in the profit margin of garment manufacturers. Unlike the good old days, today they are squeezing for investment return for every penny they put in. The manufacturers have become more prudent in their spending now than ever before. Though the cost of PMTS has come down substantially over the years, it still is a huge amount of money many manufacturers refuse to buy in.
In GPRO, our philosophy is to bring transformation into the garment making industry by making information technologies affordable. This is much like offering a business class seat on Singapore Airlines with the price of budget airline like AirAsia.
Launched about 2 years ago, G.PRO IEES has been successfully implemented at 12 sites across 3 countries. A few more sites are in the pipeline for implementation in Indonesia, Singapore and China.
