THE Garments and Textile Export Board (GTEB) has partnered with an international yarn and thread maker to provide technical training for local garments exporters to enhance their global competitiveness.

GTEB deputy executive director Philip Panlilio, said the Coats Manila Bay Inc. has agreed to dispatch its technical experts to provide training and seminars to interested garments manufacturers nationwide for free.

Coats Manila Bay, Panlilio said, is owned largely by British businessmen and is the largest local producer and exporter of yarns and threads.

Panlilio said included in the training package are improvements in tensil adjustments, production line, proper maintenance of sewing machines and other production engineering interventions.

The training hopes to enhance seam durability and appearance and reduce thread-related rejects and return-to-manufacturer rejects.

“We will help our exporters maximize their outputs and improve the quality of their products,” Panlilio said.

For example, Panlilio said tensil adjustments, if too tight, would result in breakage of threads.

The productivity enhancement efforts are part of the 2002 Garments Industry Transformation Plan that seeks to sustain the sector’s viability.

Panlilio said the training would also include seminar on workers’ productivity improvement and the current state of the garments industry.