Possibilities for Producing High Quality Raw Silk and Fostering a Skilled Work Force in the Indian Silk-reeling Industry

Abstract

India is one of the major countries of raw silk production in the world. But Indian raw silk is not exported at all because of its poor quality, not because of strong domestic demand. The poor quality of raw silk is true for not only the product from multivoltine cocoons in the indigenous sector, but also the product even from unior bivoltine cocoons in the modern filature sector with highiy productive reeling machines. This fact implies that, to produce the quality raw silk, skilled labor under strict production control is more crucial than the quality of raw materials or the sophisticated machines. This paper aims to uncover the insuinciency of production management in modern filatures, which consequently fails to foster well-organized skilled labor. Since such micro data to prove the fact are not available, we conducted the structured interview survey at 16modern filatures. The results reveal the lack of quality consciousness among managerial staff as well as the shortage of skilled labor.