Till the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, spinning mills in Coimbatore, a textile hub in Tamil Nadu, offered training for new workers round the year as attrition rates were high.

Thanks to the initiative of Coimbatore-based Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) on digital learning and showing how technology can make companies fitter for the new business environment, spinning mills are no longer worried about attrition and training.

The attrition rate in the spinning sector is very high at 30-40 per cent. Mill workers include people from Tamil Nadu and from North India.

Three job roles — autoconer (or auto winding), sider and doffer — account for about 80 per cent of a spinning mill’s workforce.

With the Covidoutbreak, ITF took the lead to go down the digital path and invested in digital tools for training workers.

The first learning video was for the role of autoconer last year and the second for a doffer has been launched now and it is working on the third video to cover major workforce of spinning mills.

“The first video has so far attracted more than 60,000 views. I would say about 80 per cent our association members are using it,” Prabhu Damodharan, Convenor, ITF, told BusinessLine .

Whenever a new worker is recruited by a mill, the video is shown to the worker in an exclusive classroom repeatedly for a few days.

“The challenge before us was to device training programmes that will be fool-proof, scientific and quick. We developed the videos with the help of professionals. So, this video will ensure that the prerequisites and basic information are well understood by the worker before he is starts hands-on training on actual machinery,” he said.

The videos have also played a big role during the staff mobilisation process in other States. When a team goes to hire people in other States, this video is shown to them and it gives an idea about the role and infuses some confidence to take up the job.

Now, mills are asking for more such videos beyond shop-floor operations such as maintenance work. “Now, we have been asked to produce such videos for apparel operations and we are exploring it,” said Damodharan.

The videos are also uploaded on YouTube for the benefit of mills across India.