Dickson Kinuthia, the processing manager, says the company started about 60 years ago.
“After joining the company in 1982 directly from school, I have been here since then, thus growing with the company, from trainee to the position I hold currently,” Kinuthia told the Star during an interview in Nairobi on Saturday.
The workforce has about 700 employees, of which 600 employees are general staff and 100 employees are management staff. The employees work 24 hours in three shifts: from 7am to 3pm, then from 3pm to 11pm and lastly from 11pm to 7am.
Thika Cloth Mills produces fabrics for various end uses, from school uniforms, industrial fabrics, bed sheets, curtains, promotional materials, vitenges to lesos/kangas.
Other forms it produces include high quality light and heavy fabrics, such as suiting materials, camouflages, canvases and shirting materials, thus tailoring production on the basis of customer demand.
“We manufacture in Thika Industrial Area, and we have our head office and sales office on Second Avenue Parklands, including a sales office in Kakamega,” Kinuthia said.
Their raw materials are mainly cotton, which is grown in Kenya, but also blend it with other fibres that the company normally imports.
“Cotton is produced in various areas of our country, but the production is not enough to sustain Thika Cloth Mills production. So we import from neighbouring countries like Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia,” he said.
The textile sector has undergone a very turbulent period. When I joined the industry, it was very robust and here in Thika, we had so many textile factories. Now they have all closed except for us
MOTIVATING FARMERS
Currently, the company, in conjunction with the government, has embarked on a motivation project to try and encourage farmers to produce more cotton.
The processing manager said the company is supplying seeds and other input ingredients to farmers because cotton has a ready market.
He said the company supports about 20,000 small-scale farmers in Kenya from the Coast, Eastern and Western regions.
This directly helps the company because if it has a steady supply of cotton, it improves its production.
"We have signed contracts with the cooperatives and farmers to buy cotton at Sh52 per kilo, which is directly helping the farmers,” he said.
He added that 3 kilos of cotton produces one kilo of lint, which the textile mills use after it is ginned. The remaining 2 kilos is seed, which is used to produce animal feed and oil, which benefits the ginners.
“The textile sector has undergone a very turbulent period, because when I joined the industry, it was very robust and here in Thika, we had so many textile factories,” Kinuthia said.
“But somewhere along the way, a lot of imports ruined and reduced the local activities, which forced all the textile factories in Thika to close except us.”
He said the closure of textile factories also applied in various towns in the country, including Kisumu and Nanyuki. This as, around the mid-90s, during liberalisation, doors were opened for imports.
"We have been getting cheap imports from outside, but Thika Mills has consistently produced quality fabrics. And that is how it has maintained its customers," Kinuthia said.
THREAT FROM CHEAP IMPORTS
When President Uhuru Kenyatta instructed the disciplined forces and local government organisations to source textile materials locally, it really helped the company since it could supply camouflage and other textile materials, giving it a new lease of life.
"Sometime back, we were running on two shifts and even one shift, but currently we can run 24 hours because we have signed contracts with the government," Kinuthia said.
"These materials used to be imported. The Buy Kenya Build Kenya Initiative has allowed for import substitution, benefiting the cotton farmers, spinners, weavers, processors and tailors in the country and creating jobs in the value chain.”
He said the move has further enabled investment: Thika Cloth Mills in the last two years has invested $5 million in new machinery. The government has also made efforts to revive Rivatex, creating many more jobs.
The processing manager hopes other government agencies will come to source textile fabrics from it since they believe given a chance, they can do more. He said the company is planning under the Afta to target and sell to Africa and under Agoa to the American markets.
He said the company's success is basically on the quality of fabrics they produce. The company can supply within a short period of time on order.
“The government should come in and help, especially on quality, because our people are buying fabrics with low quality without knowing,” Kinuthia said.
He urged Kebs to ascertain quality to protect the sector, which in turn will help its people and the local textile industry.
He said if imports reduce, then companies like Thika Cloth Mills will employ more people and traders will get work to do, but if importing continues, it will hurt the local textile industries and job markets.
The future of textile manufacturing in Kenya is bright. We can produce all the textile required in this country. But the government first of all needs to support the industry
COSTLY ELECTRICITY
The high cost of power is another stumbling block. If the government can reduce it, it would help reduce the cost of production of fabrics, Kinuthia said.
"The final pricing of the company's products is basically based on the inputs, and one of the high costs is the electricity from Kenya Power. We consume a lot of power because the machines are driven by electricity,” he said.
He added that Thika Cloth Mills has been competing with the cheap imports and still does. "We believe we are competitive and give good value products that are long lasting,” he said.
He said in other countries, they subsidise their fabrics so they can sell them cheaper outside. In that way, they motivate their people to export, which makes Kenyans buy cheap fabrics.
Kinuthi said Thika Cloth Mills has embarked on a modernisation project. It is buying more efficient machines in terms of power and water consumption, including other efficiencies it believes will help it lower the cost of production in future to compete with the cheap imports.
The company is replacing the old machines with new machines and now has a biomass boiler that uses waste materials from the farming industry. These include coffee husks, cashew nut husks and macadamia husks including a project of using solar energy which will take about six months to install and will greatly reduce the consumption of electricity.
The company absorbs students from certificate to degree levels from the local tertiary and university institutions, offering attachments in the factory in their related fields, such as engineering, clothing technology and accounts personnel.
Kinuthia said laws and policies that can assist in supporting the local industry should be looked at and if possible be changed like the importation of raw materials and fabrics that can be sourced locally should be taxed by the national government to show its seriousness towards the textile industry.
“The future of textile manufacturing in Kenya is bright. We can produce all the textile required in this country not only in Thika Cloth Mills but also in other companies in this industry combined. But the government first of all needs to support the industry,” he said.
Kinuthia commended Uhuru for encouraging government agencies to buy locally manufactured products, specifically from the textile industry but also other products.
He urged the incoming leaders to embrace the same and follow the trend that was set by the outgoing government.
