As Pakistan grapples with rising unemployment technological up-gradation besides improving product quality also reduces labor costs rendering many workers operating on obsolete technologies redundant.
Some technologies introduced in textiles have almost eliminated the need for manpower. A spinner cited the example of laser machines that pick-up impurities and foreign material from cotton bale before it is taken up by the machines for spinning. He said it is imperative to remove all foreign materials from cotton before it is spun. He said if contaminants are spun along with yarn, it would impact the dye ability of the yarn and the fabric produced from such yarn.
He said until a decade back the spinning mills used to engage 200-500 women to pick up foreign material from cotton bales before it ended inside the mill for spinning. Now he said a laser machine that separates foreign materials and allows pure cotton to pass to the spinning machine. He said only two persons are required to handle this operation. They separate whatever cotton is thrown out by laser along with contaminants and again pass it through laser.
He said as a number of jobs have been lost due to this technological advance some economists term it as a creative destruction. He said upgrading this technology is important for the spinners as besides drastically reducing workers salary it has also improved the quality of the yarn. Now the spinners who have installed lasers do not have to pay a penalty to their buyers for supplying contaminated yarn, he said, adding that such savings have kept spinners afloat despite high energy and wages cost.
Now he said there is a dire need to replace the high-power consuming spindles with efficient ones that are more productive as well. He said the process has already started but still 50 percent of industry is operating on inefficient spindles. He said the improvement in yarn quality improves the quality of fabric which in turn adds higher value to apparel meant for exports and increases employment manifold than the jobs destroyed.
