Pooja Singh
IIT Guwahati study undertaken recently proposed strategic design management interventions.
The interventions are to be taken up in Eri and Muga Silk sectors in Assam. IIT Guwahati study was taken up from a design management perspective.
Among the first such reports in this sector, the final report of IIT Guwahati study has already been accepted by the World Bank consultants.
IIT Guwahati study proposes great strategic intervention
IIT Guwahati study titled ‘Diagnostic Study on Weaver’s need in respect of Eri and Muga Silk,’ the research output of this IIT Guwahati study will play a very significant role in formulating development strategy in this sector.
The team that undertook the study could gather and demonstrate very insightful interpretations on the basis of a huge amount of field-level data.
The Assam Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Services Society (ARIAS), Government of Assam, is keen to implement the strategies proposed in the IIT Guwahati study report.
This project is a strategic contribution of the Department of Design, IIT Guwahati, towards socio economic development of Assam.
IIT Guwahati study was conducted by Dr. Pratul Ch. Kalita and Professor Amarendra Kumar Das.
Professor Amarendra is a professor at Department of Design at IIT Guwahati. Dr. Pratul is associate professor at the same department.
Speaking about the highlights of IIT Guwahati study Dr. Pratul said it is a very detail study on Eri and Muga silk under aegis of World Bank-financed Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART).
The project primarily focuses on the study of the existing Design Value Chain of Eri and Muga Silk in Assam, starting from weaving (supply side – value creation) to marketing (demand side – value delivery), and formulation of Design Management Strategy to align demand and supply, he said.
IIT Guwahati study comprised 1,282 weavers, was carried out with primary data collected through structured questionnaire for weavers, sellers, cluster level designers, dyers and yarn suppliers.
IIT Guwahati study reached out to weavers in eight districts: Jorhat, Kamrup, Majuli, Lakhimpur, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, Charaideu and Biswanath.
Professor Amarendra Kumar Das spoke about the semi-automatic loom proposed under this IIT Guwahati study.
‘The newly designed semi automatic loom is expected to significantly improve productivity and quality of weaving.’
Dr.Pratul Ch. Kalita identified five strategic design management interventions for alignment of demand and supply side of the Design Value Chain of Eri and Muga Silk.
The IIT Guwahati study describes the strategies with a detailed plan.
The five design management strategies formulated are:
Ø Skill development & Skill-up gradation strategy,
Ø Design Studio and Digital Design Bank
Ø System Design Solution for integrated Supply Chain Management
Ø Frame Loom and a new Semi-Automatic Loom to improve productivity and quality
Ø Attracting weavers for Eri-Muga weaving.
Dr.Pratul further elaborated that the Business to Business Model of System Design Solution proposed under this IIT Guwahati study is expected to structure and streamline the entire value chain of Eri and Muga silk. At present, it is much unstructured.
Information on production quantity of individual weavers were collected for Eri and Muga silk separately.
The detail report shows the descriptive statistics of production of various types of Eri and Muga products in all the districts considered under the IIT Guwahati study.
Number and percentage of weavers (producers) in each district who have been part of the production is also mentioned in the report.
Based on their experience gathered in the IIT Guwahati study and their previous endeavors on similar studies, the researchers were able to determine the skill level of weavers on various types of looms, equipment and machineries.
Detail methodical approach for skill development and skill upgradation, along with structured methods for assessment of effectiveness of training has been proposed in the IIT Guwahati study.
It is interesting to note that Dr. Pratul and Professor Amarendra who conducted this IIT Guwahati study had provided design, technology and management consultancy to Sivasagar Mega Handloom Cluster during 2016-2019.
IIT Guwahati
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati established in 1994 has completed 25 years of glorious existence in 2019.
At present, the Institute has eleven departments, five inter-disciplinary academic centres and four schools covering all the major engineering, science and humanities disciplines, offering BTech, BDes, MA, MDes, MTech, MSc and PhD programmes.
The institute offers a residential campus to 412 faculty members and more than 6,000 students at present.
Besides its laurels in teaching and research, IIT Guwahati has been able to fulfil the aspirations of people of the North East region to a great extent since its inception in 1994.
The picturesque campus is on a sprawling 285 hectares plot on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, around 20 kms from the heart of the Guwahati city.
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