World’s biggest garment machine provider in new push on Lankan apparels

As 2013 apparel revenues topped $ 4.3 Bn, the world’s largest industrial sewing machine manufacturer is stepping up its presence in Sri Lanka -and opened its second South Asian training facility in Colombo on 06 February. “The garment industry in Sri Lanka is a very important contributor to Lanka’s GDP. We can support Sri Lanka to address its manpower issues, if any, in its apparel sector with our new tech innovations and latest training” said a determined Saito Noriaki (Singapore based Executive Vice President of Juki) on 06 February in Colombo.

Juki VP Noriaki was addressing the private exhibition and seminar titled “Special Presentation on Productivity by Juki Singapore” and “Juki New Innovations on Display” held at Taj Samudra, Colombo and inaugurated by Rishad Bathiudeen (Minister of Industry & Commerce) on 06 February.

45% of Juki Corp’s $ 463.1 Mn sales revenues (1H-2013) came from Asia (other than China) and 30% came from China. 75% of Juki Corp’s revenues were generated by “woven machines” while knitwear machines generated 10% of the revenues in 1H 2013.

“Minister Bathiudeen knows about what Juki has done in Sri Lanka. This is our second training facility in South Asia after India. Our contribution to Sri Lanka is more than 40 years. We not only supply Juki machines to Sri Lanka but even provide lots of technical support and train Lankans on productivity improvement. Juki is the largest industrial sewing machine manufacturer in the world, operating in 160 countries. In the region we are also present in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the head office, in Singapore. What I observed is that in comparison to all other South and South East Asian countries, Sri Lanka garment manufacturers are very high tech-they are using high tech machines. And you have very high productivity compared to other countries. Therefore when we do training for Lankan productivity improvement, we have to conduct severe pre-training studies unlike in India, Bangladesh or Pakistan. The garment industry in Sri Lanka is a very important contributor to Lanka’s GDP. We can support Sri Lanka to address its manpower issues, if any, in its apparel sector with our new tech innovations and latest training” said Juki VP Noriaki.

“This is the latest in a series of good news on Sri Lanka’s apparel sector” said Minister Bathiudeen addressing the event, and added: “Our internationally recognized apparel sector has shown strong resilience, and has earned revenues of $ 4.3 billion in 2013. This is a historic record for us and shows that we are moving towards the apparel target of $ 10 billion by 2016 as set by HE the President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Our President also wants us to be among the top 10 apparel export countries of the world by 2020. In 2013, our apparel sector has also entered the G4 manufacturing levels for the first time, in partnership with a global multinational, PVH Corporation. I wish to extend an invitation to Juki Corporation to partner with Sri Lanka for machine manufacturing and enter South Asian market through our FTAs with India and Pakistan. The JUKI Corporation is no stranger to Sri Lanka and its role in our apparels is well understood. Today more than 50% of industrial level sewing machines in our apparels sector are Juki machines. In that, more than 750,000 Juki machines are busy around the country fulfilling latest apparel orders at this moment. There is no doubt that Juki technology too, has contributed to these achievements in a significant way. I believe Sri Lanka’s apparel sector owes its appreciation to Juki’s technological support. Today Juki has honored Sri Lanka by granting its second training centre in South Asia to us, which I am pleased to inaugurate. Juki’s first centre in South Asia has already commenced in India. From the very beginning JUKI has been with Sri Lanka’s apparel sector in all its stages of development. In fact, the word ‘Juki’ has, at times, symbolized Sri Lanka’s own apparel industry due to its wide presence and role. Therefore on behalf of Sri Lanka’s apparel sector, let me extend my thanks to the Juki Corporation for its continuous presence and engagement with Sri Lanka, starting with us from the inception of our apparel story.”