We often overlook the importance of the materials that form the foundation of some of our more advanced products. However, behind that high performance polo shirt or jacket raw materials and processes are at work.
Praekasa Textile Co.,Ltd. recognizes the critical importance of continual improvement. And so while other spinners focus on new product development or expanding their operations, Praekasa has been investing in day-to-day improvement of its core products.
“Making yarn is simple, anyone can do it. But we want to make top quality yarn so we focus on a process of continual improvement,” said Pongnarin Tangchalermkul.
“Over the past two decades that I have been working here, not a single day goes by that I haven’t thought about how we can improve.”
“Over the past two decades, not a single day goes by that I haven't thought about how we can improve.”
The company has 50,000 spindles and produces about 400 tons of yarn each month, over which 50 percent is 100% cotton and the rest is cotton blends.
Going from Good to Great
As part of its efforts for continual improvement, Praekasa works with COTTON USA™ SOLUTIONS, a technical support service provided by Cotton Council International.
“Their technical consultant came to our mill and spent five days here to see what we’re doing and to see how we can improve in terms of both quality and efficiency,” he said, adding that he started to implement COTTON USA SOLUTIONS’ advice and has seen improvements.
“We want to have even better control over quality and stability. As we keep increasing the level of stability of our products, we will have fewer problems – or no problems – especially with export customers.”
Another aspect of Praekasa’s commitment to outstanding quality includes using the best raw materials, such as U.S. cotton.
“The most important thing about U.S. cotton is that it has very little contamination. We have tried to use cotton from other parts of the world but they contain a lot of contamination. We try to remove those impurities, but we cannot get them out,” said Mr. Tangchalermkul.
Sustainability is Key
Traditionally, Praekasa focused on selling to the Thai domestic market. However they are now exploring exporting. This means being able to support brands in meeting the increasingly strict laws on sustainability and transparency in their home markets.
Every Day Better
Looking ahead, while other mills are focusing on expansion, Praekasa plans to continue to invest in enhancing the quality of products and the efficiency of its operations. Their goal is to be known for the highest quality yarns backed by reliable and stable production – something that the entire supply chain has come to appreciate a lot more during the past two years.Email. praekasa@gmail.com
Certified Sustainable
The Trust Protocol is aligned with existing sustainability programs including the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. It brings quantifiable and verifiable goals and measurement to sustainable cotton production, and drives continuous improvement in six key sustainability metrics – land use, soil carbon, water management, soil loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy efficiency. The Trust Protocol is designed from the ground up to address the unique regulatory and larger farm growing environment in the United States.
How the Trust Protocol Works
The Protocol Consumption Management Solution (PCMS) starts at the gin when the participating producer’s cotton is ginned and each unique Permanent Bale Identification number (PBI) is attached. At this point we know the exact gin weight and can create an exact amount of Protocol Cotton Consumption Units, where one Protocol Cotton Consumption Unit is created for each kilogram of Protocol Verified Cotton. This important step provides absolute authentication of U.S. cotton origin, verifying against the USDA database.
Supply Chain Transparency
The PCMS harnesses blockchain technology through a powerful combination of the Trust Protocol platform and TextileGenesis™ system to deliver full supply chain transparency by recording and verifying the movement of U.S. cotton along the entire supply chain. This creates article-specific transparency for finished products that was not previously accessible to brands and retailers.
Trusted Third Party Certification
The Trust Protocol incorporates a comprehensive program of verification against Trust Protocol benchmarks, in the form of both second-party and independent third-party audits of grower performance through Control Union Certifications—the latter through allocated on-site visits.
Control Union Certifications has certified over 150 industry standards programs worldwide, including working as a key partner in the early development and piloting phases of Impact Claim Verification Protocol.
Learn More https://trustuscotton.org
The COTTON USA Advantage
- Family growers who are committed to working their fields sustainably and leaving them better for future generations.
- A long history of innovative harvesting and ginning technologies resulting in higher-quality cotton.
- One of the highest rates of adoption in the world for Precision Agriculture, which minimizes water and pesticide usage.
- U.S. farmers operate under voluminous, stringent, and enforceable regulations.
- A commitment to transparent partnership that is unmatched anywhere.
- One of the most comprehensive systems for monitoring and measuring all the key metrics involved in sustainability.
U.S. Cotton Facts
- 2/3 of U.S. cotton land uses only rain water
- U.S. cotton water use efficiency has improved by 79% over the past 35 years
- Cotton is carbon footprint neutral, meaning the plants remove more greenhouse gasses than production produces.
Sustainability Goals
The U.S. cotton industry is building upon the strong environmental gains already achieved over the past 35 years. The aim is to help members meet their current needs while making the world a better place for future generations.
Specific goals include:
- Reducing by 13 percent the amount of land needed to produce a pound of cotton fiber
- Reducing soil loss by 50 percent, in balance with new soil formation
- Increasing water use efficiency (more fiber per gallon) by 18 percent
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 39 percent
- Increasing soil carbon in fields by 30 percent
- Reducing energy to produce seed cotton and ginned lint by 15 percent
Learn More www.cotton.org
