The Arrival Of Robot, Garment Industry, and The Future

RuhulKader

Mridha's report:

Baugladesh's apparel mauufacturers are increasiug the use ofmodern techuologies to boost productivity,
deliver products ou tinre aud meet demand for finer
products from global retailers and brantls. Some local fabrics ma[ufacturers have eve[ gone oue
step ftrther, as they are using robotic techuolory and machinery.
EnvoyTextiles Ltd (ETL) is one such denim fabrics manufacturer which is using robotic machiuery
to raise output atrd improve the quality ofprod,cts.
Refayet goes on talking to Kutubuddin Ahmed, chairman ofEuvoy Group deuoting the potential benefits
of usiug cutting ealge techDolos/ like robotics iu

reduce the requirement ofhuman intervention from ro to r in a particular instance ofmanufacturiug work.

This is, given the nature ofwork in the garmeut industry, a predictable development. Many experts have predictecl
that a large portiou oflniform manual labor do,e
in garment industry will be carrieil out by robots in the coming years. The surprise is, however, that we did not expect it coming
this early. Blame the human
tendency that always mistakes when it comes to predicting the possibility ofa negative eveut happeni[g. We often predict greater possibility
a of a positive event
happening than a uegative one. With garment industry aud robot, it is no different. We missed the couut.

No doubt, the introduction of robotech in the garment iudustry will have implicatious on the iuclustry, employnent, an6
the society.
There are two aspects to it: one is general robotics that can help to clo repetitive work more efficie[tly than
the humans. The robot in the discussion is of that nature
and theu there are robots with a certain Jevel of intelligeuce that can accomplish a more complex task and learn
as it goes.

II e arrival of robotech and the future

I have seen two responses to the Daily Star article, one category of people thinks that it will clestroy employrnent
an6 create mass unemplolrment and the other
category cousiders that it is a great thirg that a Bangladeshi company introducecl robotics in manufacturing. Both
are right.
Techuolory, auy kiud ofit, has always iuvoked a uegative response in tenns ofits immediate uegative impact
and uot so critical respouse in terms ofits far-reachiug
and long term impact.

No matter how we take the particular ilevelopment, we have to accept that the history of humanity is the history
oftechnology. Fire was the first tech that disr.ptecl
human civilization massively and then farming and advauced farming and theu industrialization. The implicatiol
oftech is far aud wide.
The iutroduction of robotech in garment iuilustry will have two micro impacts that each will have further macro impacts. one is it will fucrease efficieucy and profit

courpetitive edge over smaller players iu the market.

Bangladesh is the second largest RMG e><porter in the world ancl offers a competitive price. The prediction
goes that the couutry will soou become the largest

we can afford to pay our workers less. Irr most cases, garmeut workers maintaiu inhumau work
hours for a wage that hurts. That said, the tmth is a majority of these
workers are either unskilled or semi-skilled aud it would require significant training, investment
and time to train them which many employers deem irnpossible or
are not iuterested iu investiug.

Now that tech is coming into the industry, it lvill destroy many ofthese jobs aud we will require special prograrns
to deal with these people. At the sa*re tiure, this
will also push people to tlo more skilled, diverse, complex work that would likely result i1 better pay.

The a[other aspect will be that the sma]l manufacturers and many big ones will focus ou doing more value-added
work or will rather be forced to do so in order
survive which will yield a better result in the long run.

industry, in the loug run. We will have to wait to see that.

That said, whether we want it or not we can't sidestep the techrological progress ancl we should not
do that either ifwe care about a better future. The truth is that
many of these jobs will be lost anyways aud that is what history tells us all the time but we will have
to work hard not to mismanage this change a,d ensure a better
future for the people who will be affecte<l by this shift. And we should prepare ourselves for that.

Lead image: AP Photo/A.M. Ahad

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Ruhul Kader is a co-founder at Future startup. He writes about busiuess with a specific concentration ou
stratery, techuolog,, and society. He can be reached at
ruhul@futurestartup.com