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| RAJEEV KUMAR DWIVEDI |
Historically, the invention or commercial use of majority of plastic materials kicked off between 1940 and 1960; and in Indian context the decade of 70s could be the era of commencement of use of plastics in numerous applications from commodity to engineering or industrial applications. By the end of 90s or in the beginning of the new millennium, globally it has been proven that we live in the 'plastics age' and 'plastics' is inseparable from mankind due to inherent merits such as cost effectiveness, convenience or user friendly, and density advantages over many conventional materials (high strength to weight ratio).Plastics Woven sack or fabric based products are recyclable, reusable and very much fall in the criteria of “ Circular Economy” under the global theme to practice resource efficiency & circularity.
There are over 30,000 plastic processing or product manufacturing units across India with total installed capacity of around 30 million tonnes and actual plastics consumption (virgin) has crossed 18 million tonnes in 2019 with investment in processing machinery to the tune of USD 5.5 billion and 1.3 million workforce employed directly and indirectly. India's raffia industries are organized in terms of operation but are labour intensive with larger number of requirements of Loom operators (60% of total strength), winder man, tape plant operators, conversion machine like BCS / Volvomatic machine operators etc. This sector consists of about 1400 industries across India with installed capacity of around 3 million tons.
As envisioned by Shri Raj Kumar Lohia, Chairman, Lohia group, Technical Training & Research Centre (TTRC) - the 1st Institute for the raffia sector globally commenced its journey in September’ 2012 with focus on structured Training of manpower to take up job roles from Operator to Supervisory to managerial functions. As on Dec 31,2020, LOHIA-TTRC has trained over 2600 trainees enrolled in regular & sponsored courses for Operators, Supervisors & Engineers through Practical oriented programs. In addition, around 100 new Entrepreneurs/Project promoters have been trained on all aspects of Woven sack manufacturing including production planning & control, manpower management, quality control etc.
Over the past few years, TTRC has emerged as the apex Institution with International repute for Training of Technical manpower at all hierarchical levels or Positions. As on Dec 31’2020, Around 200 technical personnel from different countries across the globe have been benefitted from specialized training modules of Raffia or Plastics Woven sack manufacturing Proccess.
The expanding spectrum of LOHIA’s TTRC services to raffia industries are one of the efforts in realisation of Vision of our Chairman- Shri Raj Kumar Lohia to support Raffia sector in bridging the gap of demand & supply of trained manpower in coming years. TTRC's Onsite training Programs at Factory premises of Industries have been contributing in improving the productivity & quality of products manufactured by respective Industry. The On- site training program also helps in upgrading the technical know how & skills of existing manpower who had never been formally trained on fundamental aspects of Manufacturing Process.
To augment Technical support services, TTRC’s Plastics Woven bag laboratory (accredited with NABL as per ISO 17025: 2017) commenced undertaking Testing & Quality assignments of PP/HDPE Woven sacks & fabrics as per National & International Standards. For improving product performance & formulation, TTRC is engaged in developmental projects with leading Petrochemical /Plastics Raw material companies of India & abroad.
On behalf of Lohia-TTRC team, I invite the attention of young aspirants who wish to pursue a technical career in the field of growing Raffia Industries to become trained Technicians, Operators, Maintenance technicians, Supervisors, Production Engineers, to apply for TTRC Courses. Also, new Entrepreneurs, Existing personnel / Management of Raffia industry can contact TTRC for our services like Customized training - at TTRC or Onsite training at factory premises Technical services or Testing or Lab services from NABL accredited laboratory of TTRC, Manpower requirement through Placement cell.