Get a glimpse into textile manufacturing with Tatonka Open Factory! Once a week Mountech Co. Ltd. in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, opens their doors to the public. Everyone who is interested in seeing the factory and production process is welcome. The project “Open Factory” started in 2011 and so far over 400 people have visited. Are interested in touring Mountech’s facilities? Sign up here.
I’ve always been interested in seeing a textile factory and couldn’t wait to check it out. Mountech produces primarily Tatonka’s products – Tatonka is an outdoor brand that offers high-quality outdoor equipment. Tatonka has distributors all over the world and unfortunately, there isn’t one in Vietnam.
The open factory tour
The tours are every Friday from 10 to 11:30 AM and anyone interested can join. At the beginning of the tour, we learned about the companies history, employee statistics and working conditions. After the presentation was over we were given a tour of the production site.
Production steps
Making the prototypes
The production process consists of several steps, and the designers are located in Dasin, Germany. Based on their specifications prototypes are being put together. Every single person is making one particular prototype from start to finish.
Cutting out
Digital templates are printed out and then used to cut fabric. At Tatanoka there’s a huge room with cutting machines for this task and every employee wears a special glove for protection.
Sewing it together
The previously cut out pieces are then sewn together by the sewing teams. Each team consists of up to 22 different sewing stations and every single person does a particular task. The result is a finished product!
Assembly & Inspection
After the product has left the sewing shop it is being handed to the assembly and inspection team. The team cuts off loose stitches and checks if the sewing is up to the company’s standards.
What I found really fascinating is that in the very back of the room, every single tent is manually being set up. The tents are then exposed to strong winds from a huge fan and thoroughly checked.
After the product goes through assembly and inspection it is being put together, tagged and prepared for shipment.
These are of course not all the steps, these are just some of the steps that need to be taken to make the final product.
The warehouse
Tatonka’s warehouse houses accessories and a huge amount of fabrics. To my surprise, approximately 75% of all fabrics are coming from South Korea!
Employee canteen
Each employee has a short morning break, afternoon break, and a lunch break. The lunch at the canteen is free for all employees.
The tour lasted for roughly 1.5 hours and was incredibly well organized and structured. If you are interested in textile manufacturing then I highly recommend signing up for a Tatonka open factory tour.
The factory is located a little outside the city center and you can get there in approximately 20 minutes by car. Just make sure to account for traffic!
Address:
Mountech Co. Ltd.
131 Hong Ha Street, Ward 9
Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam
Have you visited a textile factory before? Would you be keen on it? Let me know in the comments down below! š
Updated: October 2018
How did you get to the factory? Aside from travelling via car, is there a public transportation like a bus in the area?
Author
Yes, there’s a bus that should also take you all the way up to the factory š While I don’t know where it stops exactly, it’s on google maps. Depending on when you go, a grab car is around 80,000 to 100,000 VND which is not bad if you split it with someone. A bus would, of course, be a lot cheaper! š