BÖNNIGHEIM, Germany — June 30, 2014 — On 6 June the 10-year anniversary of this foreign branch was celebrated at a ceremony attended by the 75 staff from the Bangladeshi contact office of the Hohenstein Institute as well as Institute Director Prof. Dr. Stefan Mecheels and International Sales Manager Jörg Diekmann. “The positive response since opening our office in Dhaka in 2004 and our rapid growth in the workforce from just one representative at the start to our current headcount underlines the key importance of Bangladesh as a supply market for the textiles sector”, explains Mecheels.
To cater for the ever-increasing demand for a wide range of quality assessments by independent specialist test centres such as the Hohenstein Institute, the company is continuously stepping up its presence in Bangladesh with experienced professionals from the branch. “What our customers, who are predominantly from typical consumer markets like Germany, other EU states or the USA, particularly appreciate”, comments Mecheels, “is the wide range of services we offer, our prompt order processing system and the expert advice of our partners in the relevant manufacturing countries”. The successful office in Bangladesh has joined a number of other Hohenstein branches such as China or India, adds Mecheels. He has headed up this family firm from Swabia since 1995 and has meanwhile built up a network of in all 44 test laboratories, branches and contact offices in over 40 countries around the world.
The most successful example of the services offered by the Hohenstein Institute in Bangladesh is its programme of testing textiles for harmful substances based on OEKO-TEX® Standard 100. With the issue of 768 certificates in 2013 Bangladesh comes in fifth in the international ranking for the 97 countries participating in the OEKO-TEX® system. In addition, Hohenstein is currently preparing to certify a multi-stage clothes factory with a workforce of 3000 as an environmentally friendly and socially responsible production facility that complies with the requirements of STeP by OEKO-TEX® Standard for sustainable textile production.
“Given the series of accidents occurring at factories in recent years, this sends out an important signal, not only for this industry in Bangladesh but also to the customers it supplies in the target markets”, says sales manager Diekmann not without satisfaction. “This shows that it is a question here of each company assuming personal responsibility and consistently upholding this claim in its supply chain. Sustainable textile production is also possible in countries such as Bangladesh and can pay off for suppliers and their customers in equal measure.”
Another issue that is popular with the customers of Hohenstein’s office in Dhaka is fit testing fit and testing of professional workmanship for garment manufacturing.
Combined with the inspection service offered by the Hohenstein Institute to the local factories, clothing companies can be sure ahead of shipment that their deliveries will satisfy the expectations of the relevant sales markets in terms of quality.
Posted July 8 , 2014
Source: Hohenstein Institute
