Common Standards Bring Industry Together
In industry, adhering to standards means getting the service or product exactly as you expected it. Not so long ago, when a company placed an order with Ukrainian apparel factory it could not be sure that it would get what it had ordered; size, trim or even color could vary.
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An apparel factory worker applies new standards in practice
Photo Credit: BIZPRO |
The demise of the Soviet Union left Ukraine’s textile and apparel industry in disarray. As the industry plunged into depression, economic ties and market linkages were severed. Every factory had to survive on its own. This led to adoption of a wide variety of different standards, which further complicated interactions between the industry players. Some factories kept on using old Soviet standards and procedures, while other strived to adopt newer Western approaches.
“Once we witnessed two production managers working at different lines of the same apparel factory debating how to measure a shirts sleeve properly,” says Khrystyna Patyk of Lviv-based SENSUS. “If things like that can happen inside one factory, imagine discrepancies existing among different enterprises.
USAID’s BIZPRO helps enterprises develop their business acumen in a variety of ways, including brand development; implementation of international standards in quality control and product testing; establishing commercial linkages with foreign partners, wholesale buyers and trade agents; integration into value chains and distribution channels; increasing awareness of financial resources for modernization and growth.
To create a growing, dynamic pool of highly productive enterprises that compete successfully in domestic and international markets, BIZPRO initiated an effort to develop and adopt common standards for the textile industry. BIZPRO invited a highly regarded textiles and apparels expert to help develop a production and quality assurance manual. After arduous process, which included working in close contact with factory managers and ongoing negotiations with sector players, the team produced a manual that has received positive reviews in the industry.
“There was definitely a need to work out common standards. With BIZPRO’s production and quality manual I feel we are now on the right track. Such a manual helps increase the predictability of the order process tenfold,” commented SENSUS’s Patyk.
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