University of Ibadan IPE Garment Lab.

The academia should be relevant to the community, business and national development in terms of developing the human capital required, as well as tailor made researches toward solving societal challenges. Having an understanding of the potentials of the Fashion industry, and its value chain to establish businesses, create jobs, improve communities, reduce imports, and contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Industrial & Production Engineering Department invested significantly in establishing and equipping the Garment Lab.

The establishment of the University of Ibadan IPE Garment Lab., which original name is Professor O. E. Charles-Owaba i4.0 Worksystems and Ergonomics Lab., is hinged on the department’s research into the development of the Nigeria Garment Sizing System, backed by a TETFund grant. The alumni of the department also contributed financially towards the equipping of the Lab. The Lab. was commissioned by the University Vice Chancellor, Professor Idowu Olayinka on 26th November 2020 in the presence of notable and reputable academicians and engineers from different tertiary institutions in the country.

The Lab. has instituted a Governing Committee which oversees it. The 7-man committee meets periodically to review cooperation, evaluate progress and make recommendations to the Parties, as appropriate, including with regard to future activities in the priority areas of cooperation, and matters which might affect the successful completion of collaborative activities agreed pursuant to this MOU. The committee is chaired by the Head of Department, Industrial & Production Engineering, with two representatives from Zucchini Fashion Center.

The Lab. is well equipped with modern equipment such as manual and industrial sewing machines respectively, industrial steam irons, heat transfer machine, industrial leather sewing machine, treadmills, exercise bike, and a lecture area. The Garment Lab. also has a 3D Printer and a CNC Machine. The signature equipment in the Lab. is the 3D Full Body Scanner.

The priority areas of operations of the Lab. includes vocation & enterprise training, fashion & clothing production, shared facility, and research. With quality research from the academia and the fashion entrepreneurs providing a platform for testing and offering adequate feedback, it is certain that both worlds will be better for it, with a lasting impact on the socio-economy of the community and nation at large. The Garment Lab. is open to the public on a shared facility arrangement, offering small fashion businesses access to quality equipment in order to meet regulatory standards.

Zucchini Fashion Center as managing partner and administrator of the University Fashion and Garment Lab shall also work directly with the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering in exploring opportunities in technology commercialization, innovation, trainings, human capacity development and consultancy services in other mutually agreed areas of research in the department.

The Industrial & Production Engineering Department also offers specialized and subsidized courses on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and SAP certification examinations, which Zucchini administers.

Scroll below for information on the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and SAP certification examinations.

University of Ibadan is one of the few Universities in Sub-Saharan Africa and pioneer university in Nigeria in partnership SAP University Alliance to facilitate the Enterprise Systems Education for Africa (ESEFA) programme to benefit students in tertiary institutions across the country.

The SAP University Alliances program enables academia to educate the next generation for the Intelligent Enterprise and the experience economy, engage at SAP events, build industry partnerships, and prepare graduates for the SAP ecosystem. ESEFA is a programme initiative of SAP University Alliance in Africa.

The ESEFA initiative aims to address the shortage of Enterprise Systems skills in Africa by enabling local universities to produce highly qualified ICT and ERP professionals. The growing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Sub-Saharan Africa has brought about substantive economic changes in the region which are influencing people’s lives.

Various business areas and the management information of an enterprise, e.g. financial accounting, human resources, logistics, manufacturing, marketing etc., are all united in enterprise systems, thereby supporting information flow within an enterprise and the communication with outside market participants. The software application can optimize resources making business processes more efficient. Having the ability to understand and work with these software applications is a major advantage for students in Africa who will be in the job market in the near future. (http://www.esefa.ac.za/)

The ESEFA programme which comprise of ESEFA ERP short course trainings and SAP certification is coordinated by Industrial & Production Engineering Department under the i4.0 Lab.