Coats Plc is marking 25 years of operations in Bangladesh with a new zips factory in Chittagong. The state of the art factory located in the south east of the country will open in early 2015, and is being established in response to the growing demand from global consumer brands manufacturing apparel and footwear in Bangladesh. The new facility will create over 100 jobs in the area and overtime will manufacturer the company’s full offering of zips.
Paul Forman, Coats’ Plc group CEO, said, “Coats is extremely proud of our world class operation in Bangladesh and the support and relationship with our joint venture partner. Our business has seen significant growth and development, particularly in the last few years, and the opening of our new world class zips factory is a demonstration of our commitment to an ever-growing presence here.”
Ranjan Chakhaiyar, managing director, Coats Bangladesh, added, “We have a very strong, talented and dedicated team here which has helped make Bangladesh one of the flagship businesses of Coats. We have built a strong foundation for the next 25 years.”
Coats Bangladesh produces many of the company’s newest products including flame retardant threads, adhesive threads for hems, water-soluble thread for temporary stitching applications and more. Headquartered in Tejgaon, Dhaka, the company’s two factories in Chittagong and Gazipur have continued to increase capacity to manufacture a growing and diverse range of products to supply Bangladesh and global exports. Earlier this year, the Bangladesh business was awarded Coats’ Business of the Year and received the inaugural CEO Award for Health and Safety Excellence for reaching over five million accident-free hours.
Since Coats opened its first factory in Bangladesh in 1990, the country’s ready made garment (RMG) exports has ballooned from $624 million with 320,000 people employed by the sector to $6.4 billion in 2004 and a two million strong workforce. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) estimates exports this year will reach over $25 billion and employment will reach over 4 million workers.