Archer Clothing increases employment figures

03 May, 2015 - 07:05 0 Views
Archer Clothing increases employment figures Archer Clothing workers on a production line at the factory in Bulawayo on Thursday. The company is set to employ more workers as production increases

The Sunday News

. . . as Byo strives to reclaim textile hub status

Archer Clothing workers on a production line at the factory in Bulawayo on Thursday. The company is set to employ more workers as production increases

Archer Clothing workers on a production line at the factory in Bulawayo on Thursday. The company is set to employ more workers as production increases

BULAWAYO textile giant Archer Clothing has resumed operations on a large scale with the company significantly increasing its employment numbers, a move that has been lauded by the local manufacturing industry.
Speaking at the official announcement of the increased employment and unveiling of the employment graph outside the factory on Thursday, Paramount Garments managing director Mr Jeremy Youmans said the company had employed 539 workers with an additional 40 set to begin next week.

“We have been giving first preference to former employees and taking other locals as well as we realised that the more people we employ here, the more people have disposable income and then more companies can re-open and this will boost our local industry,” said Mr Youmans.

Mr Youmans said the company was targeting to operate at full capacity by October with 850 employees hence they will be training 40-50 people every month as part of the trainee programme that the company has started.

“We had a problem with getting enough skilled machiners so we resorted to taking people with no experience and training them here at the factory on how to sew for a month then move them to the actual production and employ more,” he said.

He, however, said the employment rate at the factory was dependent on getting more orders although the company is exporting mainly work wear to South Africa which is Archer’s biggest market this year, a position that was previously held by Germany.

Mr Youmans said the company is also exporting to other countries in the region that include Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi as well as Germany internationally.

“There are a lot of opportunities for Bulawayo industries, people should just be prepared to work and maintain international standards, quality and productivity in order to make it,” he said.

Mr Youmans urged big companies to have the confidence to invest locally so as to show foreign investors that they believe in their own country and this will in turn attract foreigners to invest locally as well.

Bulawayo mayor Councillor Martin Moyo reiterated Mr Youmans’ sentiments and said it was essential to do things ourselves as a way of proving that we actually believe in our products.

Matabeleland Chamber of Industry president Mr Busisa Moyo hailed the increased employment rate at Archer Clothing and said this was a positive and welcome development for Bulawayo.

He said this was in line with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset).
“The economic policy calls for value addition and job creation and this is what Archer Clothing has done. It is a positive step for Bulawayo and we would like to encourage workers to be supportive.

This is the time for the city to reclaim its status as the textile hub,” said Mr Moyo.
The textile industry in general realised a 10 percent increase in the number of employees from last year and is projected to see an additional 1 000 employees this year across the industry.

Archer Clothing received a new lease of life after a takeover by Harare-based Paramount Garments, in a deal that has been mired with delays and court procedures.

Negotiations for the takeover of the troubled Bulawayo firm, which threw hundreds of workers onto the streets, started in 2013 after the two textiles firms initially entered into a Cut Make Trim (CMT) deal.

Under the CMT deal, Paramount Garments assisted with clothing material and labour while Archer Clothing chipped in with working space pending the liquidation process of the Bulawayo firm.

Archer Clothing was laid low due to a myriad of problems which included a harsh economic environment and a liquidity crunch which has seen several local firms close or listed in critical condition.

The company was placed under judiciary management in 2010 after being seriously hit by shortage of working capital, obsolete machinery, power challenges and cheap imports which remain major constraints crippling viability of industries in Bulawayo.

In the same year, the clothing company scaled down operations, laying off 270 contract workers and 210 permanent employees.

The revival of the company is welcome news for the industry, which at its peak, the textile sector used to produce about 135 million garments annually, compared to the current 18,7 million garments.

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