Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine July Issue 2018 | Page 25

RESOURCE CENTRE
Water managment systems at the A&E factory contribute in the sustainable journey of the company
that there is an environmental and
quality commitment,” reasons Angelo.
A&E Bangladesh also looks at the
investment as the foundation stone
for sustainable expansion. “Honestly,
the US $ 1.8 million we put in only
wastewater management could have
been used to double the capacity of the
plant. But now with this in place, we
are ready for any expansion. Earlier
we used 58-60 litres of water for per
kg thread produced, now we only use
40-46 litres of water for the same, so
with same resources, we can produce
more,” argues Angelo.
Angelo adds that preserving water in
Bangladesh is even more important as
there is a major water level fluctuation
issue in this part of the continent.
To the advantage of A&E, the water
quality in Gazipur, where the factory
is situated is better than that found in
the rest of Bangladesh and since there
is no recharging of water resources,
the only way to ensure water levels is
industrial discharge, so it’s important
to put back the right quality of water
in the ground. “You cannot damage
nature and take the profits and go; you
have to replenish it,” argues Angelo.
The company’s commitment to nature
can easily be gauged from the fact
that since 2009, much before anyone
else, A&E had been involved with
rainwater harvesting.
People Management… Health
& Safety are of top priority
Besides water management, another
area of dedicated attention is people
management, most of who are local
talent. The company has a buddy
system which involves on the job
training module, wherein someone
from within the company works
closely with the workers, getting him
or her acquainted with the company.
“It’s not only the employment, it is
also the relationship we develop with
them, so they work wholeheartedly,”
says Angelo. The commitment is
so strong that a worker’s safety
in factories extends to his or her
family; the safety concept is so
deeply enrooted that they can take
it wherever they go. “We have small
training modules where we talk to
them. We have an Environment and
Health Safety (EHS) meeting every
month where the committee gives
a five-year plan of what all things
we are looking to do, what are the
areas we need to focus on and the
various indexes to achieve the goals,”
shares Lutfar Parvez, Director
of Supply Chain Operation at
A&E Bangladesh.
Each department is responsible
for its workers to be completely
trained and a training passport
has been created that is kept
updated; so there is clarity on who
received which training, and when.
Management people are taking
the leadership and accountability,
ensuring facilitation, giving the
authority and empowerment to the
downstream level regarding safety.
All the employees are working as a
team, helping each other in managing
safety issues to building a matured
interdependent safety culture.The
efforts in safety have resulted in an
accident-free factory over the last
three years, which only goes to show
FA C T S H E E T
All the employees
are working as a
team, helping each
other in managing
safety issues to
building a matured
interdependent
safety culture.
The efforts in
safety have
resulted in an
accident-free
factory over the
last three years,
which only goes to
show how well the
training modules,
other safety
programmes and
safety systems
have worked.
how well the training modules,
other safety programmes and safety
systems have worked. To encourage
the workers to remain engaged, the
company has devised interesting
programmes for rewarding the best
like an EHS person of the month,
best safety observation award,
instant safety quiz and employee
of the month, along with EHS of
the year and employee of the year
awards. Further there is a system
of cross-pollination for training…
“We train one guy who has to train
another guy maybe from marketing,
finance or operations department.
That way we are sure that everyone
is getting the training, because if
only EHS people train, we can’t be
completely sure,” adds Lutfar.
Other motivational activities include
scholarships for children of the
workers, organising family trips for
all the employees when their families
come to the factory and having
lunch with the management, besides
arranging small competitions for
children. “Once we handed our
cameras to our employees and asked
them to click pictures on the theme
‘Life in Bangladesh’, we got amazing
pictures. Last year, we had artwork
created by our employees’ children
printed on our calendar along with
their pictures and we paid them also;
just think what a proud moment
it was for both the kids and their
parents to have an official calendar
carrying their photo and their
artwork,” concludes a very satisfied
and motivated Angelo, adding that
there is much more to do and the
journey is still on!
www.apparelresources.com | July 2018 | Apparel Online Bangladesh
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