ATDC organizes its 2nd Annual Principals' Meet

The second Annual Principals’ Meet-2011 of Apparel Training & Design Centre was organized at the ATDC, National Head Office, Gurgaon from April 4th to 8th, 2011.
The 5 day Principals’ Meet consisted of deep-dive (centre-wise and region-wise specific) meetings with around 45 Principals of ATDCs’ from across India. The first 3 days of this year’s Principals’ Meet focused on in-depth deliberations on the key learnings and challenges from the last year, and opportunities and roadmap for the upcoming year. The aim was to understand Centre and Region specific approaches and action plans for the year 2011-12. The major action plan outlined aimed at effective and fast-track upgradation of ATDC-IGNOU Community Colleges and preparedness for implementation of ATDC-SMART training project on a fast-track basis.
Parallel to the zone-wise deep-dive sessions the ATDC Principals and Centre Incharges were exposed to Personality Enhancement, Communication and Change Management through Motivational Workshops conducted by Ms Deepika Sondhi of CopeCom. The workshop for North & South Zone took place on April 5th and for East & West zone on April 6th. The worhshop included interactions amongst group members, case studies to learn the effect of real and effective communication on personal and professional relationships and SWOT analysis on ATDC to understand the game changing trends. Best & Runner-up teams were acknowledged for their wonderful insights in the SWOT Analysis activity.
The Morning Session on the 4th day of the meet was centered on ATDC-IGNOU Community Colleges. Dr. C.K Ghosh, Director, National Centre for Innovation in Distance Education & Nodal Officer, IGNOU Community College Scheme gave an Inspirational presentation explaining the need for ‘Scientific Vocational Skill Training’ through the Community Colleges. Through scientific examples from the sports field Dr. Ghosh explained very well the importance of scientific, motion and time study approach to achieve any goal. Dr. Darlie Koshy, DG & CEO IAM & ATDC congratulated Dr. Ghosh on his lucid presentation and the simplicity with which he has explained the point of scientific skill training to achieve exceptional results. Dr. Koshy added, ATDC-IGNOU Community Colleges are being positioned as a ‘College for the Community’ and ATDCs tie-up with IGNOU and becoming the largest network of Community Colleges in the Country in the apparel sector has been the Tipping Point in ATDC’s evolution.
The post lunch session on April 7th had a Special Focus Seminar on the concept of ‘Lean Sigma Management for Apparel Industry’. The seminar was conducted by Prof. Rajesh Bheda, CEO, Rajesh Bheda Consulting and Mr. Sudarshan Chakraborti, International Expert & Lean Sigma Master Trainer, RBC in Institute of Apparel management, Apparel House. It saw participation of around 45 ATDC Principals and about 20 members from the Industry. The speakers introduced the audience to concept of Lean manufacturing, operations improvement & six sigma. The concept of Seven different Wastes under TIMWOOD i.e. Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over Production, Over Processing & Defects and the control tools depicted as the 5 S i.e. Separate or Sort, Straighten or Store, Shine, Standardize, Sustain and Safety were also explained. The seminar had activities which helped explain the audience, the importance of these tools and how they help in day to day operations and lead to break through improvements.
The forenoon session on the last day was chaired by Dr. Darlie Koshy, DG & CEO-IAM & ATDC and it focused on summarizing the key points of the meet. The afternoon session was chaired by Shri Hari Kapoor, Vice Chairman, ATDC and was graced by the presence of and Shri Gautam Nair, Matrix Clothing.
The key note address by Shri Hari Kapoor emphasized that ATDC being a vibrant organization with Pan-India presence needs more such interactive fora to connect with each other and announced, in future apart from the Annual Meet, more one-to-one centre-level interactions will be initiated. He stressed, “Such gatherings are great platforms to share knowledge and challenges and it is a good thinking ground where one can learn from each others experiences.” Drawing a common link between the education & training & Apparel Exports Shri Kapoor highlighted the need for quality of the end product to achieve the best ongoing results. He expressed ATDC is already on the track and under the TOT initiative of ATDC’s-Faculty Development Centre ATDC already has a set of 100 Trained Trainers to impart skills for the SMART project. The address concluded with the example of great team work portrayed by the Indian cricket team in the world cup finals to bring the cup home and everyone was motivated with a common thought-‘Together everyone achieves more’.
Shri Gautam Nair, M/s Matrix Clothing during his interaction with the the ATDC Team highlighted the current industry trends and man power requirements. He narrated how buyers from other countries have been inquisitive about the role of ATDC and how ATDC is helping in solving the concern of shortage of skilled labour.
The members present on the dais appreciated the efforts of the ATDC team in all parts of the country and very well conveyed the importance of ATDC-SMART project to ATDC, to the apparel industry & our labor intensive Nation. They emphasized the need for scientific and timely roll-out of the ATDC-SMART Project to live up to the ATDC mantra of Imparting Skills and Improving Lives!
In an endeavor to enhance performance, ATDC announced it will award a rolling trophy to its Best Centre and Runner-up Centre each year. The Centre performance will be judged on key parameters like

• Overall performance ( Physical/Financial)
• Leadership
• Team work
• Industry linkages & activities
• Innovative ideas
• Per trainee Cost
• On-time utilization of resources
• Out Reach activities

This year the Best Centre Trophy was awarded to ATDC-Faridabad & Runner-up was bagged by ATDC-Jalpaiguri. We congratulate the winners!
ATDC is an Education & Training Initiative of AEPC and is committed to provide focused vocational skill training for the Apparel sector. For more details please log on to www.atdcindia.co.in.