A career in textile printing has an enormous opportunity to extend occupational success in Bangladesh. But the expertise has never grown from the graduates of fashion or print institutes. Ideally, a textile printing factory requires plenty of human hand involvement and also it has an extensive production floor to maintain. So, overall team and floor management is the prime area of responsibility that is considered for textile printing management.
In this respect, new graduates can grab this area for career development as well as to stand for greater innovation in textile printing.
Why new generation is reluctant to start a career in textile printing
A production assistant or manager does many different low-level tasks on the floor. Even an entry-level job is more laborious and not comfortable for the fresh graduates because of the overall factory environment.
When it comes to building a career in manufacturing, parents and well-wishers sometimes feel the young is sinking in the sea. Most relatively psycho-social concept barrier comes into play with working in a factory, as well as this not good choice to start a career, type of mindset.
“Most of the fresh graduates want to have executive jobs. We see that production-related jobs are always done by the undergraduates. The main reason behind this is the distance of the factory location from the main city.”
This pragmatist mindset is not really inspiring for young-fresh graduates who are willing to begin a career in textile printing. Let’s scrutinize the key factors:
Remote location of the factory: Sometimes people love manufacturing jobs but feel reluctant to do a job in factories because factories are located in remote areas and the roads and highways of Bangladesh are not always suitable for a long time journey.
Saiful Islam, Manager, Print and Emb at SAG Fashion International Ltd and General Secretary at Screen Print Welfare Association of Bangladesh said, “Most of the fresh graduates want to have executive jobs. We see that production-related jobs are always done by the undergraduates. The main reason behind this is the distance of the factory location from the main city.”
The industry is constantly changing: The production industry is highly competitive and evolving rapidly, especially with new technologies. Sometimes the quick adaption becomes overwhelming for the freshers.
Managing people: Effectively managing people in the textile printing sector requires strong leadership skills, the capacity to interact with varied people. Managing hundreds of workers sometimes gets very difficult and a tough job. Instead of fresh graduates rather think to go for executive jobs in the corporate environment.
Working Conditions: A textile printing factory is generally hot in temperature due to its electric dryer and curing process. Though many Bangladeshi factories are designed to ensure a comfortable working condition to eliminate injury possibility for the workers. But a fresher might not have that extra financial capacity to ensure that.
Printing expert Saiful Islam opined, “When I started my career in a print factory, I felt the job is totally not suitable to take as a longtime career because of the hot environment as well as dizzy atmosphere. However, I took the challenge and negotiated all the difficult situations and now I feel good that my choice was not wrong.”
Chances of error: A study found that 23% of all unplanned downtime in textile printing is the result of human error and the error may cost thousands of dollars. So, people always try to avoid textile printing if they have really other areas of opportunity to build a career.
Opportunity of career development in textile printing
A career in the textile printing sector has a range of manual labor and operational jobs to highly-technical and managerial positions. Most of the textile printing production is now done by machinery, computers and robots.
Consequently, technical experts are needed to control production, programmer and maintain these specialist pieces of equipment. So, a textile printing factory is included with much expertise both from the pre-production and production aspects.
Why choose textile printing for developing a career
- Textile print need expertise: The expertise in textile printing is not enough, still it is waiting for the person who is capable to handle the latest technology as well as new trends.
- People in textile print has little education or no education: Many of the printing mills do not have people those can read or speak English even they are not able to explain anything because of barrier in communication. So, fresh graduates can grab the opportunity and build a career.
- Available job opportunity: As mentionedthe sector has a lack of expertise so the job opportunity is enormous.
- To be a future entrepreneur: Getting the expertise in the sector the new generation can adapt the required knowledge and experience. This can help them to be a future entrepreneur because to set up a print factory never cost much and it needs expertise and marketing network only.
Scope of area to build expertise in the textile printing
Textile print production manager: The main role of a Production Manager is to oversee the manufacturing process within the factory. He is responsible for planning production schedules and ensuring that the production process is carried out within the budget.
Textile print quality assurance manager: Quality Assurance Managers help to develop and maintain quality standards. They play a crucial role in the factory by ensuring that textile print meet certain thresholds of acceptability.
Research and development analyst in textile print: A Research and Development (R&D) manager performs a number of highly important roles in a printing mill. They are responsible for research, innovation and implementing new ideas into the factory and overseeing the development of new products.
Sadrul Alom Sumon, President, Screen Print Welfare Association of Bangladesh told Textile Today, “The research and development is kind of laboratories that postdocs work in because this area is in charge of product discovery. The development section of the manufacturing unit and troubleshoot can help to discover new products.”
Marketing manager for textile print: A textile print manager is responsible for print marketing to get work orders from the RMG factories. He has to maintain and oversee the production of all promotional materials and marketing campaigns.
Graphics designer: Graphic designers are generally visual communicators, who create visual concepts by hand or by using a computer. They create concepts and use computer software to communicate their ideas. A textile print factory cannot run unless it hires a graphics designer to develop printing design and concept. So, there is an enormous opportunity is waiting for those who want to create a prosperous career.
Raihan Khan a student of the Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology said, “I always dream for a career that can help me to develop and improve my internal and external capability. So, it is only the career of a graphics designer that can extend my career up to the highest level of success and can give an opportunity to do the job in various organizations.”
In conclusion, it can be said that there are endless opportunities lying to develop a career in textile printing. Because Bangladesh is the second-highest apparel manufacturer after China and printing is becoming a popular trend in fashion.
