The Hindu Business Line : Bannari Amman-Brandot launches apparel plant

New facility: (From left) Mr V.S. Ganesh, CEO, Bannari Amman Apparel; Mr S.V. Balasubramanian, Chairman, Bannari Amman Group; Mr S.V. Arumugam, Managing Director of BAA; Mr Rick Paul, President, Mast Industries; and Mr Martin Trust, President, Brandot International Ltd, at the commissioning of the BAA’s new production facility at Ozhaiyur in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu

G. Gurumurthy

Coimbatore, March 28 Bannari Amman Apparel Pvt Ltd (BAA), the joint venture apparel production company of the Coimbatore-based Bannari Amman Group and the US private investment company Brandot International, has commissioned its modern production facility at Ozhaiyur in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu.

The joint venture project is the first major investment in India by the Brandot group headed by Mr Martin Trust who is widely viewed as the ‘father’ of speed sourcing in the US fashion retail sector. Brandot is involved in many textile/apparel related joint ventures in the South East and Far Eastern countries including China and Sri Lanka.

The BAA’s plant with a 1.72-lakh sq ft floor area set on a 30-acre site is designed as a world class apparel manufacturing facility and will produce innerwear for men and women to be supplied to specialty brands and global retailers. The BAA has projected a cumulative sales of about $100 million over the next three years.

Mr S.V. Balasubramaniam, Chairman of the Bannari Amman Group; Mr Martin Trust, President of Brandot International Ltd; Mr S.V. Arumugam, Managing Director, BAA; and Mr V.S. Ganesh, BAA Chief Executive Officer, besides Mr Rick Paul, President of Mast Industries that supplies to Victoria’s Secret brand, were among those present at the launch ceremony.

Toyota system

According to a communication from BAA, the fully air-conditioned manufacturing unit, designed to carry environmentally sustainable features including rain water harvesting and waste-water recycling systems, is also the first apparel unit in the country to have a Toyota production system for lean manufacturing that would provide flexibility, consistency in quality and delivery and competitive pricing to customers. The plant with stand-up modular production system with a single piece flow has double shift operation.

India needed global talent and innovation to take on China which produced a third of all garments for the US market and that can be attributed to the involvement of foreign investment and investors who brought longstanding customers, the communication quoted Mr Martin Trust as saying.

Jobs for rural women

Mr Balasubramaniam, it further said, expressed his group’s happiness in associating with Brandot in the new project which would create good job opportunities for thousands of young rural women.

BAA, by locating the unit in a rural area, is committed to the development of the region and the plant will employ 4,500 people by 2012. Most of the women workers recruited for the unit hail from nearby rural communities and hence do not have to travel long distances for work, the company communication added.

More Stories on : New Projects | Readymade Garments | Tamil Nadu

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