Picard Bangladesh: Continuity and Change

Interview with Amrita Islam, Deputy Managing Director, Picard Bangladesh by Marianne Scholte, 21 September 2014, Dhaka

Scholte: You grew up in this entrepreneurial family. The Picard factory was part of your life from day one. And I imagine there was always the hope that you would want to work in the business. Was there ever a time in your life when you said, ‘I am going to do something else; I am not joining the business’?

Islam: No, strangely enough, I always wanted to go into business. So I studied business subjects throughout. I did my undergraduate degree in business and accounting in Sydney, and then I came back to Bangladesh and worked in the factory for three years. For the first two years I was on the production floor full time learning how each step worked, how the whole thing happens. You have to know that or you cannot run the factory – especially a leather goods factory. You have to know the leather. You have to know how things are made. You have to know what you are talking about. Otherwise people are going to bullshit you.

Then I went back to Sydney and did a master’s degree in organizational management.

Scholte: Specifically chosen for the needs of Picard?

Islam: My master’s was focused on change management. For the last five years, I have been the change driver. Almost everything that I have done in the company has been a fairly big change to the way things were done in the past – from starting to manufacture for new customers to looking into different production techniques, more machinery-oriented production techniques rather than manual techniques, and so on.

I was in charge of business promotion and in order to grow the business, we needed other brands to work with us. The name of our company is Picard Bangladesh, but we are free to manufacture for other brands. We started branching out in a really small way about four years ago, and now our business is about 30% other brands, 70% for the Picard brand. The vision is to do it 50-50.

 Scholte: So how do you get people on board to embrace change and not resist it? How do you do that?

Islam: Well the hardest part is for people to buy into the idea. So you have to continuously communicate. You have to tell employees how they are going to be better off. And you have to anticipate that some people are just scared. And you have to be somewhat flexible as well. It is a day to day process.

You also have to ask for their input. For example, last year we started this new gluing technique. Previously we used solvent-based glues, and we wanted to switch to water-based glue. I went to a machinery fair and saw a person demonstrating the machine. I saw how much faster the work was being done, and it was done in an environmentally friendly way. The glue was good and it was cheaper than what we were using. So I asked the man if he could come to my factory and demonstrate this to our workers and supervisors.

He came out with his whole set up, and as I watched our workers, I could see that they thought it was a good idea. And then we went forward. I guess the most important part is buying into the idea of change.

Scholte: But there must have been some resistance, even some resentment. You are young: you don’t have the experience that some of them have.

Islam: Absolutely. I still remember the first shipment I did for a non-Picard customer. The work was not done properly, and it was not done when I wanted it done, because they did not think it was important enough. I think it was my second year in the business. I was devastated because we had made the commitment and our motto is quality and timely shipment. It worked out alright – we still had enough time to ship it out on time – but I was devastated.

Scholte: So how did you overcome the foot-dragging?

Islam: As the orders became bigger, the workers could see that this wasn’t just a one-off thing. And as the orders got bigger, the productivity increased as well. However, there is still a bit of struggle even now. Our name is Picard Bangladesh, and the people in our company identify with the Picard brand. They have been working in the same way for the last 15-20 years. It will take some time.  

The good thing about our partner – Picard Germany – is that they are very appreciative of the fact that we are now working for other brands. It makes us more competitive as a factory. The other customers we are working for are good brands on the same level as Picard. So we learn different production techniques and finishes. It opens up a broader horizon.

The way the Picard family conducts business is wonderful. They want to do good. That is the mentality you need. If you want to do good, you will end up benefittng the lives of the people you touch.

Scholte: You plan to make even more changes in the new factory?

Islam: Well, production in our existing factory was put together as and when it was required. So we still have lines of tables and lines of sewing machines, but they should actually be arranged as a set of sewing machines and tables together, with the finishing, so that you have one group doing the entire production. That suits us better because we do fairly small production runs.

In the new factory we are going to fully implement production in groups. Each group leader is going to be responsible for the whole production chain, starting with cutting and continuing until the pieces become a bag, including finishing. We will then calculate the productivity of each group.

Scholte: How quickly do you want to or do you think you can expand production and employment in the new factory?

Islam: We are not thinking of doing it quickly. We want to phase it in. The new production facility has the capacity to hold 4000 people, but we will increase to a maximum of maybe 2000, 2500 next year, because it takes time to train people and there are quality assurance issues. We will take it a step at a time and do it slowly.

Scholte: You are imagining a future not just for Picard Bangladesh, but for the whole Bangladesh leather goods sector, right? This is what you are also trying to nurture. Tell me a little bit about that. What needs to be done to grow this sector?

Islam: Most of the other manufacturers in the sector work for the low-end segment of the market. They need to decide whether they are going to stay there or are going to aim for the mid-market or higher market segments. And we need to develop more professionals in this sector. We struggle to find production managers and supervisors, for example. There is also a lack of training for workers. There is a new leather training institute, but it is more focused on the footwear sector.

When we need people, we have to look in the readymade garment (RMG) sector. Despite all the bad publicity it has had, RMG has really made Bangladesh a manufacturing location. Still leather is different, so we have to train everybody we get on the job.

Scholte: So what do you think is the potential for leather goods export from Bangladesh?

Islam: There is a huge potential, because everybody is moving away from China and leather goods is a very labor-intensive industry. Bangladesh seems to be the next logical destination. Leather has been exported since before Liberation, but it is only in the last five-six years that leather goods and footwear have received so much attention and that there has been so much talk of value addition.

Scholte: This is a question I asked your father this, too. I asked him how it was to work with his daughter. And the first thing he did was laugh and laugh. How has it been to work with your father?

Islam: It is a completely different experience. He has this exuberance and this extreme amount of energy and love for work. There is so much to learn from him, because he is the one who built the factory from scratch. Naturally, we have differences of opinion, but at the end of the day, I know I can turn to him for advice. I know that even if it takes me a long time to get him on board with whatever I am thinking, he will choose to do what is good for the company in the end, because we have a common goal.

It is difficult as well, because the father-daughter dynamics had to change a bit. He always spoiled me to a certain extent. But when you are working and there are differences of opinion, different ideas, that is difficult when it is your father. But I have to remember that he is the one who built the company from scratch and he knows what could go wrong. He has the experience.

He is also my safety net. When you want to take certain decisions that are going to change a lot of things, it can go really well or it can go horribly wrong. But if it goes horribly wrong, I know that he will back me up. Fortunately, it has all gone pretty well up to now.

Scholte: Thank you very much!