January 17, 2025

From Hands to Machines

Over forty years ago a couple in the town of Ramanagara worked to turn silk cocoons into silk thread. They had no employees and did the entire process completely by hand and still managed to produce 2kg of thread each day, that’s over 10,000 silk cacoons per day on average; today much of the process has changed but a few key things remain the same.

Syed is a man born into the silk industry. He learned the process of turning cacoons to tread from his parents, then took over the business. In 1984 he bought at least three different types of machines including, but not limited to, two cacoon boiling machines, six reeling machines, and four coal drying machines. At one point in time he attempted moving to a rented factory space, put shortly after returned to the downstairs area of his two story house.

The process of making the tread starts at the cocoon market where Syed purchased new cocoons daily. Then he transports the cocoons to his home, first the cocoons go into the boiling machine where the outer layer of silk is stripped and becomes waste. The inner layer of silk is loosened and the cocoons are transferred to the reeling machine where women grasp the nearly invisible threads and feed them through the machine to make the silk yarn. It takes between four and eight silk threads to make the desired thickness of yarn, that thickness being with width of a strand of hair. After there is a long length of yard the reel is moved to the coal drying machine. There the yarn is unspooled from the reel and fed onto a large rotating metal tube that drys the yarn by quickly and repeatedly passing it over hot coals. The drying process used to use steam, but Syed found wood burning more efficient so converted to this method.

Using the machines Syed has been able to increase his yarn production to ten to twelve kg a day, that’s over a 500% production increase and over 50,000 silk cocoons each day. The addition of machines changed Syed’s family business from a two person team to an unofficial company that employees men and women from around the village while Syed acts as a supervisor. But like the production has changed, so has the family legacy. Syed’s son has no plans to take over the business, instead he works at a lecturer in the city.

It is incredible how quickly the industrialization of a company completely changes that company’s impact on the surrounding community. They are able to provide jobs and the increased revenue leads to a larger economic impact on the village. But with these added benefits there are still things to address, such as the difference in pay between men and women, the unofficial status of the company leading to unofficial and lower wages, and the future of the company as the family legacy changes from silk to academia.

By,
Stella