ALLPI Expert Team composed of Prof. Mekonnen Hailemariam and Mrs Birkinesh Gonfa with one Expert Trainer in Computer Assisted Designing (CAD) were on mission to Malawi to conduct Validation workshop of the Satellite Leather Design Studio and Business incubation Center in Blantyre and conduct CAD Training to selected SMEs from 6th to 17th March 2019. The validation workshop was conducted from 6th to 7th march 2019 and the training was from 8th to 17th march 2019 in Blantyre City.
Malawi Satellite leather design studio and Business incubation centre was established to assist SMEs and start-up enterprises in leather products manufacturing to successfully develop through attaining enhanced products quality, competitiveness and market access to local, regional and global markets. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MoITT), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute (SMEDI) and the Leather Industries Association of Malawi (LIAMA) are the promoters of the center.
The Centre is also part of the implementation of the National Leather Value Chain Strategy which was developed in collaboration with Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute. To implement the centre’s objective in a sustainable way, ALLPI facilitated the development of the Business Plan through a participatory process. The draft Business Plan was earlier submitted to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism for comment and revised based on feed backs received. The validation workshop that was attended by 20 participants from different institutions and SMEs validated the Business Plan with few minor amendments and recommended for implementation.
The Training of CAD was conducted by Mr. Hailemariam Gizaw Leather Product Technologists at leather Industry Development Institute of Ethiopia (LIDI) and coordinated by ALLPI Investment, Trade and Marketing expert, Mrs. Birkinesh Gonfa. The main Topic of the training encompassed:
- The fundamentals of CAD based grading system training Introduction
- Explanation and demonstration of Preparation of last standard /copy, Digitization
- Explanation and demonstration of the method of generating style lines
- Explanation and demonstration of Addition of allowances
- Extraction of upper, lining and bottom pattern from the standard
- Principals of pattern grading and application of grading with the support of CAD
- Perform nesting & calculate consumption of the model
- Adjustment of the CAM machine according to the work requirement and Card board insertion
- extraction and checking of the cut pattern from the sheet
This training was the continuation of the previous training on FOOTWEAR DESIGNING AND FINISHING held during August, 2018, with the objective of enhancing the quality of Footwear and Leather Products produced by SME’s by using the newly established state of art machines in Leather Design Studio in Blantyre. The machines were bought with the collaboration of EU with the aim of producing high quality footwear for Local and international markets.
Eleven SME’s from leather and leather product Associations and private players attended and successfully completed the CAD training. At the end of the training, trainees produced models of shoe using CAD machine were presented. Trainees were also made to evaluate the whole training program. The closing ceremony of the training was graced by the presence of MEPE Project Manager Mr Jussa who handed of certificates.
