‘CREATE’ team visits TEAM Group at Savar, Dhaka

The ‘CREATE’ team had a visit to 4A Yarn Dyeing Ltd., A Concern of TEAM GROUP on 8th August 2023. The factory of this 100% export oriented outwear manufacturing company is located in Kaicha Bari, Baipal, DEPZ Area, Savar, Dhaka. The visit was led by the CREATE project leader, Dr. Mohammad B. Rana, Associate Professor at Aalborg University Business School (AAUBS), Denmark, together with Emeritus Professor Olav Jull Sørensen at AAUBS and a senior Research Fellow at Access2Innovation, DK, Prof. Dr. Imranul Hoque (AUST and JnU), Mr. Abul Kalam Azad, Research Associate at CREATE, Sarah Mirza, Research Assistant at CREATE, PhD Students at Aalborg University Mr. Syed Ahmed Tajuddin, Mr. Hasan Imam, and the future PhD student Asma Khatoon.

On arrival to the factory premise the ‘CREATE’ team received a very warm welcome from the management of 4A Yarn Dyeing Ltd.

Md. Zahedul Hoque, Executive Director, Operations, 4A Yarn Dyeing Ltd. started the discussion with the company history and their major footprints for the sustainability and circularity. This reminds the CREATE team that how an entrepreneurial vision and management expertise can contribute to sustainability-driven business modeling. He added that TEAM group buys the sick company and turns that into a sustainable company. Their corporate focus is on sustainability, profit is a consequence. They sell to all the top brands in the world. Team Group’s garment manufacturing unit, 4A Yarn Dyeing Ltd, achieved the esteemed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certification from the United States Green Building Council.

Afterward, Mohammed Monower Hossain, Head of Sustainability gave a tour to the factory floors and described the different production dynamics and capabilities. The factory, comprising a workforce of 7,000 employees, specialized in crafting a diverse array of high-end garments, including padded jackets, quilted jackets, seam-sealed jackets, down jackets, bomber jackets, ski-wear, jogging suits, rainwear, casual jackets, gilets, windbreakers, and leather jackets for renowned brands such as Guess, Next, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and s. Oliver.

They have installed (IoT) devices (computers with the capacity to process and transmit data wirelessly) into each sewing machine, from which they can collect real-time data about the production line’s bottleneck and real-time worker productivity without the need for human intervention.

Mr. Monower also mentioned that the technology provides the efficiency to the production and enable the company to produce less pre-consumed wastage. They do not have any recycling facilities due to this very limited quantity of the garments wastage but they sell their wastage to the third party.

They have placed Solar panels for cutting down pollution produced by power plants to generate electricity for their Plant. They installed Power Factor Improvement (PFI) to maximize electricity-carrying capacity to improve voltage and equipment and reduce power losses for lower electric bills. Thus they are contributing to preserve the resources by using renewable energy which also contributes to circular economy. They mentioned that they are going to shift their energy consumption 70% from this renewable energy by2030.

They also shared the company’s sustainability and circularity initiatives and their future plan to raise their contribution to the circular economy.

At the end, Mr. Abdullah Hil Nakib, the Deputy Managing Director of the company shows very keen interest for all sorts of cooperation and collaboration to any of the initiatives related to sustainability and circularity.

However, the ‘CREATE’ team had an impression that 4A Yarn Dyeing Ltd and TEAM GROUP as a whole can be a role model for the RMG industry in Bangladesh to exemplify how the visionary leadership can bring the technological upgradation and adaptation to make the process efficient and contribute to the sustainability and circular economy in the industry and thus contribute to the development of the nation.