Gadoon Textile Mills Limited (GTML) today is the largest spinning unit in the country, meeting the domestic and international demand of 100% cotton and blended yarns. Despite the challenges enroute a journey of twenty years, the Company has remained focused on a sustainable growth.
GTML is a group company of Yunus Brothers, one of the leading business houses of the country with diverse interests - textile, cement and power generation. Located at Gadoon Amazai, the industrial estate in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, the Company is engaged in the production of 100% cotton combed and carded and all types of blended yarns. It produces various blends of high quality polyester, viscose, acrylic, lycra, triloble, milange and cotton yarns. The Company's products enjoy enviably high reputation in the domestic and international yarn markets.
The sponsors have demonstrated strong commitment to the textile business and have made continual investments in expansion and modernisation of the company. Many dedicated persons, including employees, have laboured together to build GTML into the textile spinning giant that it is today.
Reflecting back through the years, GTML has come a long way with some of the key milestones to cherish. Starting from scratch, it has achieved the present status as the country's largest spinning unit with close to two hundred thousand spindles at one location. The Company continues to create value by investing in state-of-the-art technology, plant and machinery.
After the expiry in 2005 of the founder Chairman and Chief Executive, Abdul Razzak Tabba, a renowned industrialist and philanthropist of the country, Mr Muhammad Yunus Tabba, and Mr Muhammad Sohail Tabba took over respectively as Chairman and Chief Executive and ensured smooth continuity of progress by their deft handling of the Company affairs.
QUALITY:
We believe that quality and commitment to continuous improvement are essential ingredients for our ongoing success. To us, quality is understanding the customer's expectations and supplying products that meet his expectations without compromise.
The Company constantly endeavors to maintain its position as a market leader to continuously improve efficiency and competitive strength. GTML lives up to its vision through providing its customers the highest value for their money. Everyone from top management to floor workers is driven by this vision and engaged in applying resources to continual product improvement.
To this end, employees are inculcated with an abhorrence of waste--the waste of manpower, the waste of raw materials, the waste of space, the waste of machine time. The underlying objective is to keep Company's costs lower than those of the competitors. At GTML, efforts are directed to achieve commitment, integrity, fairness and teamwork into every aspect of business.
MARKETING:
The Company aims at achieving operating efficiencies at costs which help to grow our business by selectively increasing capacities and introducing new products that meet customer needs. It understands customer needs and deliver on its commitments and demonstrate adaptability and agility in response to change. Stringent quality standards are the raison detre of the Company. No wonder the Company is able to compete and sell at home, especially among premier textile mills in the country; its yarns are very well received in foreign markets in USA, Europe, Far East, Africa, China, Hong Kong, India and Bangladesh, etc.
HUMAN RESOURCE:
The Company provides employment to over 4,000 people. Plant, being located in a remote area of the country with scarce job opportunities, is contributing significantly to the economic development of Swabi district by providing employment to so many people directly and indirectly.
The plant is managed by competent textile technologists whose concern is not only the smooth operation of the plant but also imparting training to new recruits which often include raw hands to help them acquire skills in the spinning sector. Realising that no industry can thrive without dedicated labour force, GTML strives to provide its employees a congenial environment, so that they can work to their full potential.
FINANCIAL HEALTH:
GTML's financial health is fairly satisfactory despite two years of operating losses due to rising inflation, higher interest rates, rupee/foreign currency rates and upward trend in operating cost. The sponsors are well-versed in financial strategy and the retention of profits in its business for capital expenditure is a hallmark of this strategy.
AWARDS:
The Company's contribution to the country has been recognised from time to time. It has been awarded the following gold medals/trophies:
-- Top sales tax payer of the NWFP
-- Top income tax payer of the NWFP
-- Top exporter of the NWFP for the last many years
-- Top importer of the NWFP
Corporate Social Responsibility:
The YB Group has taken things further through its major corporate social responsibilities initiatives for the benefit for the weak and the needy.
Outlook and Challenges:
Pakistan's textile industry is in the doldrums following the global financial crisis. Worse, the industry has taken a severe hit at a time when many of the leading players had invested huge borrowed sums in upgrading infrastructure and expanding capacities. There is a sharp decline in export orders as many businesses in the US and Europe have closed down, being no longer viable.
Further, the fall-out of current uncertain political situation is also exerting its adverse influence on the industry's performance. Growing incidents of lawlessness is keeping foreigners away from Pakistan. Buyers are reluctant to book orders on fears of delayed supplies because of what they apprehend turmoil and troubles in the days ahead.
(The writer is Chief Executive, Gadoon Textile Mills Ltd.)