This
webpage has been produced with the financial assistance
of the European Union. The contents of this webpage are
the sole responsibility of the European Chamber of Commerce
of Sri Lanka and can under no circumstances be regarded
as reflecting the position of the European Union.
Project
description
This productivity improvement project for the SME apparel
sector expects to provide increased local management skills
that will lead to productivity improvement and cost reduction
in the SME apparel manufacturing sector in Sri Lanka prior
to them seeking investment partners or increased export
opportunities within Europe.
Given
the opportunity to improve productivity, and reduce costs
the beneficiary companies will be much better placed to
attract European buyers and increase exports either through
the creation of joint venture partnerships or through increased
export potential.
The
programme will provide practical assistance within the selected
enterprises through a structured training and coaching programme.
This will then provide technical and business advice directly
to the participants and will be specific in their prevailing
needs.
Project
implementation
The project is designed to run for 20 months and will be
implemented by the European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka
(ECCSL), in conjunction with company members of Joint Apparel
Association Forum (JAAF).
This productivity improvement project for the SME apparel sector in Sri
Lanka is co-funded by the European Commission.
Project
delivery
The delivery of the project will be through a series of
structured events, in particular, an initial benchmarking
exercise to determine the current operating parameters of
the participating companies, a series of productivity improvement
workshops and seminars, followed by in-house coaching and
implementation assistance.
The
course content of the workshops will be presented to the
participants in a modular fashion. This signifies that the
appointed representatives of the 30 companies will need
to attend all 6 workshops in order to gain a comprehensive
and holistic insight into the complexities and requirements
of doing business with EU companies.
In
as far as possible case studies will be utilized as part
of interactive sessions with participants so that queries
can be raised and specific issues discussed.
The
workshops will be organized in Colombo, for the duration
of 1 day each.
The
evaluation of the project will be continuously assessed
via members of the participating companies using a variety
of techniques including questionnaires and evaluation forms
and progress against pre-set benchmarks.
Target
group
The target group will be a maximum of 30 selected apparel
manufacturers from the SME group, who are currently exporting
or would like to export their products to Europe.
These
companies will be better prepared through improved productivity
and competitiveness to conduct durable business relationships
with EU companies.
Expected
impact on the target group
The main project outcome is a group of companies trained
to improve their competitiveness through increased productivity
and retain or gain market share within the EU. This outcome
is expected to have a ripple effect whereby the industry
as a whole will have to react to, and adapt better management
and business practices.
The
provision of training workshops and follow up implementation
assistance on issues related to implementing best practice
and improving productivity will undoubtedly assist the beneficiaries
in doing business with Europe.
It
will also help the Sri Lankan SME apparel manufacturers
to prepare for new ways to better anticipate and meet their
partner/export customer requirements. The real impact will
be a reduction in operating costs, higher output levels,
and increased business through being more competitive. It
is expected that participating companies will be able to
improve their productivity by at least 15% over a period
of 12 months.
The
project expects to enhance the capability of company managers
to plan in advance, improve competitiveness relating to
price, quality and delivery performance, respecting international
standards, including customer compliance requirements.
At
the policy level, it is expected that the sector will adopt
best practice techniques, in particular those encouraged
by the major retail buying organizations of the EU. These
will include practices as those developed by WRAP, SA 8000,
and other ethical and social trading initiatives practiced
by the major buying organizations.
Selection
criteria
• The selection criteria will be based on the companies’
ability to participate in all aspects of the programme.
•
The participants need to be company owners, leading managers
and middle management personnel. They should be able to
filter the lessons learnt and the experience gained, throughout
their company.
In this respect, the training programme will take the form
of a ‘Train the Trainer’ approach, as the external
experts conducting the programme can pass on valuable information
and experience to the participants who are in a position
to act as change agents in their respective companies.
Cost
of participation
As the project is funded by a grant of the European Commission,
there is no cost to participating companies, except for
an one-time nominal registration fee of LKR 10,000.00 (subject
to 15% VAT) per company.
Registration
procedure
The completed registration form, along with the company
profile and the registration fee should be sent addressed
to the Project Manager , SME Apparel Project Office of The
European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka – Room 168,
Trans Asia Hotel, Colombo 2, by 20th October 2005.
All documents will be treated with confidence.
It
is expected of the registered companies that they sign a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Chamber
of Commerce of Sri Lanka, thus confirming their participation
throughout the training programme. This would ensure that
the participants gain the full benefit of the training programme.
Online registration
Companies interested in registering for the programme, could also fill in the registration form online at this website and forward it to the ECCSL.
Kindly note that the ECCSL will not consider such registration forms as complete till such time the company profile, and the registration fee are received by the ECCSL.
The
SME apparel project has 3 main phases:
PHASE
I Implementation and registration of companies
PHASE
II Benchmarking participants’ manufacturing
facilities
The
objective of this phase of work is for the international
experts and the local management to visit each of
the participating factories, to assess their current
operating systems and methods and benchmark their
company against best practice. This information
will provide valuable input into the final preparation
of the workshops and seminars. In addition, it will
enable specific concepts to be more fully explored.
It will also provide background information on the
product types, their complexity of manufacturing
and current customers.
PHASE
III Delivery of workshops
Following the benchmarking exercise, the objective
of this phase will be to deliver the workshops to
the participants. These hope to develop skills and
understanding of best practice techniques before
applying them with each company. Click here for
workshop dates.
PHASE IV In-company coaching and implementation assistance
The objective of this phase in the work programme
is to implement the agreed action plans, capitalize
on the lessons learned and put to use the tools
and techniques from the workshops and seminars.
The beneficiaries will be coached during this phase,
for a period of up to 10 days in each factory in
order that they can be fully implemented.
Each
company will be visited on a rotational basis to
assist with the implementation of the companies’
own action plans. The visit schedule will be agreed
with the companies. The visit days will not be consecutive.
This will ensure longer contact with each company
and ensure that the companies maximize the use of
the resource personnel’s skills over an extended
time period.
PHASE V Follow up and final evaluation
This phase will review the impact the workshops
and the in-house coaching has had on the overall
productivity improvements to the beneficiary group.
The evaluation reports generated by the workshops
will be used to measure whether the workshop methodology
has been effective in achieving the objectives of
the project.
Asia-Invest
Programme
The Asia-Invest Programme was launched in 1997 as an initiative
of the European Union to promote and support business co-operation
between the EU Member States and Asia. The programme provides
assistance to intermediary organizations to facilitate mutually
beneficial partnerships between EU and Asian companies,
in particular Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as well
as to strengthen the framework conditions to increase trade
and investment flows between the two regions. The programme
is designed to help SMEs to identify cooperation partners
and provide them with the information necessary to make
decisions on partnerships, market and investments. The programme
focuses on three main areas of activities: (i) Business
to business match-making and partnership building; (ii)
Asian private sector development, and (iii) Institutional
capacity building, networking and dialogue.
The EU is made up of 25 Member States
who have decided to gradually link together their know-how,
resources and destinies. Together, during a period of enlargement
of 55 years, they have built a zone of stability, democracy
and sustainable development whilst maintaining cultural
diversity, tolerance and individual freedoms.
The
European Union is committed to sharing its achievements
and its values with countries and peoples beyond its borders.
