The Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit organised a One Day Seminar on "Innovation in Weaving” in Vapi, Gujarat recently. It was attended by nearly 250 delegates.

Mr V C Gupte, chairman, TAI, Mumbai Unit welcomed the Chief Guest, Dr Chandan Chatterjee, director, The Center for Entrepreneurs Development, Industries Commissionerate, Govt of Gujarat, Keynote Speaker Mr Prakash Shah, chairman & managing director, Prashant Group of Industries, Guest of Honour Mr S S Aich, chief executive officer, Alok Textile Industries Ltd and Mr Narayan Thakkar, managing director, Rukshmani Syntex Pvt Ltd, Mr G Banerjee, director, Shree Ram Textile Mills Ltd, speakers, media and delegates.

Mr C Bose, president, TAI, Mumbai delivered the presidential address and briefed about the activities of TAI, Mumbai Unit.

Mr Haresh B Parekh, convener & joint hon gen secretary, TAI briefed about the seminar. He said that TAI, Mumbai Unit feels proud to meet the technocrats and technologists from the region of Vapi, Silvassa, Tarapur and Umbergaon. He further informed that the textile industry was the second largest sector in India till the year 2000 before other industries like IT (Information Technology), construction stepped in our country. However the textile industry is a second largest industry in our country providing employment to the people only next to agricultural sector. There is no doubt that Textile Industry contributes significantly to the countries economical growth. The latest changing scenario of economic slow down has adversely affected this Industry. The Govt of India and State Govt of Gujarat have announced various schemes to provide subsidy for the development of this industry. The textile units should take advantage of various schemes by forming clusters to come out of the economic slowdown.

Mr Prakash Shah, chairman & managing director, Prashant Group of Industries in his keynote address said that preparatory process is as important as weaving. Therefore, machinery design and development on commercial scale plays a key role in growth of the sector. During his deliberations, he demonstrated the strength of the machinery manufacture by illustrating various developments made by Prashant group of Industries in terms of various weaving preparatory processes. He emphasised the importance of the collaboration in the design of machinery to shrink the time in the development.

Mr S S Aich, chief executive officer, Alok Textile Industries Ltd, in his special address informed the importance of process control and quality control in the weaving mill. He informed the steps taken to increase the productivity and production targets in the management of mill operations. As one of the leading mills in the country, he informed the ways and means pursued in his mill to achieve the high quality and productivity.

Mr Narayan Thakkar, managing director, Rukshmani Syntex Pvt Ltd while addressing the delegated narrated the historical transect of his carrier. He explained the importance of human resource development as key factor for the growth of his enterprise.

The Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit has set a precedent by felicitating the textile professionals for their outstanding contribution in the field of textile industry. In this Seminar, the TAI, Mumbai Unit felicitated Mr G Banerjee, director, Shree Ram Textile Mills Ltd with “The Life-Time Achievement Award” for his contribution to the textile industry. The Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit for the first time conferred “The Corporate Excellence Award”, which was awarded to Prashant Group of Industries for their contribution in the field of textiles.

Dr Chandan Chatterjee, director, The Center for Entrepreneurs Development, Industries Commissionerate, Govt of Gujarat was the Chief Guest of the Seminar. Dr Chattargee in his address said that textile industry has a prominent place in India as it provides large employment and contributes to the export business. Due to the emphasis on high value added products like technical textiles, the demand for different levels of technologies has become a necessity. In the context of cost reduction, energy, efficiency and environmental aspects play key role in reinforcing the viability and profitability. He also narrated various steps taken by the state and central government in dealing with various challenges faced by the industry. He expressed his happiness for the initiative taken to hold a seminar in Vapi by the Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit. He hoped that the deliberations would meet the objectives of technological issues confronted with the user industry.

In all, there were 7 technical papers presented during the seminar:

• Mr Rais Inamdar, general manager, Bakubhai Ambalal spoke on “Weaving Solutions for Rapier Weaving Machines”.
• Mr Navin Agrawal, general manager - presented the paper on “Latest Innovations in Fabric Forming”.
• Mr Bhupesh Trivedi, chief executive officer, REECODE Energy Solutions made the presentation on “Solar Energy has turned cheaper”.
• Mr J B Purohit, sr manager - PL Sizing and Mr K Suresh, manager, Clariant Chemicals (India) Ltd presented the paper on “Ecological Denim Manufacturing”
• Mr Sanjay Gajul, marketing manager - Technical, S A Pharmachem (Pvt) Ltd expressed his views on “Recent Developments of Synthetic Sizes for Spun Yarns and Size Recovery”.
• Mr Tapas Nandi, president & country head, ITEMA Weaving (India) Pvt Ltd presented the paper on “Ecological solutions for any fabric”.
• Mr Vilas Gharat, managing director, Gharat & Associates made the presentation on “Innovative HR practices”.

All the Papers received good response from the participants.

The last session began with Panel Discussion, which was moderated by Mr Sharad Tandon, chief executive officer, Standon Consulting. The panel comprised Dr G S Nadiger, research advisor, BTRA and speakers who presented their papers in the seminar. There was good interaction between participants, who posed many queries to panel members and the same were answered by the panel members. It was a very interesting and fruitful session. The Plenary Session was professionally handled by the moderators as well as the speakers. At the end, Mr Arun K Narkar, jt hon secretary, TAI, Mumbai Unit proposed a vote of the thanks.