Apparel and Textile Industry Urged to Conserve, Get Lean
The California apparel and textile industry should prepare for several more years of operating under the current electricity and natural gas crisis, according to industry experts who spoke at an apparel council meeting hosted by the California Fashion Association (CFA) on March 14 at the CaliforniaMart. The news was not all doom and gloom, however, as representatives from the California Manufacturing Technology Center (CMTC) and manufacturers offered strategies for conserving energy and boosting productivity.
The meeting included presentations by Leila Mazaffari, vice president alliances for CMTC; Nancy Sidhu, senior economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. (LAEDC); and David Huard, attorney and partner with Manatt Phelps & Phillips. Lee Harrington, LAEDC chair, moderated the panel, and Lonnie Kane, co-owner of Vernon, Calif.-based Karen Kane and CFA chair, introduced the speakers.
The current energy crisis has hit the textile sectors hard, particularly companies that offer value-added services, such as dyeing, finishing and laundering, which use substantial amounts of natural gas in their processes. Manufacturers have felt that they are not as affected by the crisis, said Kane, adding that manufacturers will soon see indirect costs such as surcharges and energy costs passed along from their textile suppliers.
“There is no reason to think that [the energy crisis] won’t continue,” he said.
CMTC’s Mazaffari used California’s energy capacity to illustrate the need to conserve.
If all of the state’s generating plants were up and running, they could produce about 52 gigawatts of power; but, currently, the state’s peak load is approximately 52 gigawatts, she said.
CMTC conducted a survey in January 2001 of Southern California manufacturers including a small number of apparel manufacturers. The survey found that 47 percent of respondents plan to react to increased energy costs by increasing prices and 27 percent said they would reduce operating hours. But 25 percent said they would close their companies if energy costs continued to increase and 14 percent said they would relocate.
As a result of the survey, CMTC plans to host industry-specific workshops and consulting on energy efficiency improvements, Mazaffari said. The organization also plans to expand its lean enterprise services, which help companies find efficiencies to increase productivity. (More information on CMTC services is available on the organization’s Web site at [www.CMTC.com]).
“We believe [increasing productivity] is an untapped resource,” said Dina Lane, strategic partnership development for CMTC.
Kane also pointed out some of the ways companies and individuals can conserve energy, such as turning down the thermostat and turning off the lights in unused areas of a factory or in an individual’s home.
Karen Kane has formed an employee energy panel with representatives from each department, Kane said. Members of the panel are given a bonus if the company adopts one of their suggestions.
“The problem is bigger than us as individuals—demand has outstripped supply,” Kane said, adding, the question is, “What can we do as individuals to cut back on demand in the short term?” —Alison A. Nieder
