Service and Quality Issues in Textile Industry of Pakistan

Abstract

The report will revolve around Textile industry in Pakistan. The report will follow the course of introducing the respective company first that is selected for analyzing the problems that occur in their Supply Chain (SC). After the introduction of company, the issues will be discussed in detail, how and when the issues arise and how is that related to company’s processing and production in the light of literature. The report also discusses the current global pandemic, COVID-19, and how it has affected SC in Textile sector. Further, the report will discuss the solutions on the issues faced by textile mills. The Pakistani textile industry is one of the biggest in Pakistan. In Pakistan, the textile industry is the second largest sector in terms of jobs in the region, contributing about 57 percent to exports. Pakistan is the eighth largest exporter of textile goods in Asia, accounting for about 8.5% of the country's GDP. In July-January 2018, gross textile exports stood at $7.72 billion. Between the years 1947 and 2000, the number of textile mills in Pakistan increased from 3 to 600 and the spindles rose to 805 million from 177,000. India, Bangladesh and Vietnam are the world's biggest rivals for Pakistan's textile industry. Currently, Pakistan is facing energy crisis which have significantly impacted the manufacturing sector of Pakistan industries ("Textile industry in Pakistan an open example of resistance economy," 2018). The concept and terminology of Supply Chain Management (SCM) first appeared in 1982. The terms SCM and logistics have been used interchangeably, that creates confusion and mixes up the concepts of both these terms. In 1986, the term logistics was defined by Council of Logistics Management (CLM) as “The process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow and storage of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods, and related information flow from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements” (Oak Brook, 1986). In 1994, the International Center for Competitive Excellence developed the definition of SCM as, “SCM is the integration of business processes from end user through original suppliers that provides products, services and information that add value for customers” (Cooper, Lambert, & Pagh, 1997). The confusion lies within the use of similar concepts while defining both terms of logistics and SCM, while logistics is just a part of SCM, and SCM itself is a much broader concept and involves most if the business operations. SC and SCM terms are discussed in the next section to clear this confusion.