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World-class systems for apparel manufacturing

Most of the companies that have embarked on a journey towards world-class manufacturing

have also given great impetus to human resource development, says Chandrark Karekatti,

who advocates world-class manufacturing systems for the Indian apparel industry.

Focus on Indian apparel industry with respect to new

technology adoption and investment in quality management

procedures, reflects poor figures. Majority of the industry

work with basic technology, and further investment on quality

management procedures is negligible. Experts attribute this

apathy to factors such as seasonal nature of apparel business,

small-scale nature of industry and lack of commitment form

top management.

Though the above issues pertain to entire apparel industry, author's personnel experience with

few manufacturing houses in projects pertaining to Business process reengineering, etc has

shown breakthrough results. In this paper an attempt is made to identify tools that apparel

manufacturers have successfully implemented to emerge as world-class manufacturers.

Causes for reluctance in investment in technology and quality systems

India's apparel production until recently had been reserved for SSI-registered units, which

effectively eliminated large-scale investment in this sector, except for export-oriented units. The

average annual investment in machinery per establishment in India's apparel sector is only

INR162,558, compared with Hong Kong's INR140 million and China's INR56 million. The new

pre-cutting machines are being installed at an average annual rate of 2.9 machines per unit in

South Korea, compared with 2.3 machines per unit in China, 2.0 machines per unit in Thailand,

and almost nil in India (ibid ,Cited in" India's Textile and Apparel Industry Growth Potential and

Trade and Investment opportunity", Office of Industries, US international Trade commission).

The low level of technology is a major contributor to low productivity and has deprived the

sector of benefits of economy of scale.

The Indian Apparel Industry mostly consists of small and medium scale manufacturers for

whom the seasonal nature of the business does not provide enough incentive to invest in

modern technology. Labour intensive nature of the industry having abundant availability of

cheap manpower does not perceive investment in high-technology/automated machines as an

attractive proposition. Further most of the small manufacturers perceive quality management systems such as ISO too

complex without immediate tangible gains. In addition the industry is plagued with high attrition rate at both lower and

middle management level. With little internal career advancement opportunity, employees flee at the slightest

provocation/opportunity. This further deters management to invest in training and development, since probability of losing

trained manpower is always higher.

Need to move towards world-class manufacturing

Over the years, a few apparel manufacturers have started investing in technology and quality management systems. There

are a few factors that differentiate these manufacturers from others. Firstly these companies have vision to create a

world-class manufacturing facility (WCM) to develop a sustainable business environment. This requires commitment from

top management and ability to look beyond ones nose. More importantly, changing dynamics of international apparel trade

and competition from emerging new economies have compelled manufacturers to invest in quality systems and technology

that assures higher productivity and improved bottom line. Many large companies are now using ERP systems not only as

order tracking tool but also for performance monitoring and incentive calculations, etc.

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Though tools such as Lean Six Sigma, Kaizen, Modular Manufacturing, and TPM are in vogue in automobile and

pharmaceutical industry for quite some time, one should apply caution and consider careful evaluation of needs and

objectives before implementing them in apparel business.

Process Improvement/Quality Management systems for apparel business

Experiences have shown that for successful implementation of any Process improvement /Quality management system,

factories should implement work place management through 5-S as a foundation tool.

Work place management: 5-S

The 5S is the methodology of creation and maintaining well organised, clean, and

effective workplace. Its result is the effective organisation of the workplace, elimination

of losses connected with failures and breaks, improvement of the quality and safety of

work. Name 5S is the acronym of five Japanese words of the following meanings: Seri

(sort), Seiton (set in order), Seiso (shine), Seiketsu (standardise), Shitsuke (sustain).

Authors experience in implementing 5-S in apparel industry has shown to improvement in

team work besides imparting problem solving ability in work force. It also brings

objective decision-making in the process (Quality Control department). The 2-S step (set in Order) also forms foundation

block for lean manufacturing by the virtue of defining quantity of stock to be stored in inventory. Sustenance of 5-S initiative

needs perseverance from top and frequent audits and review meetings to ensure timely disposal of red tags.

Kaizen

The labour intensive nature of the garment industry makes quality system and hence improvement process impossible if

the operator level work force is not included in improvement process. In such a scenario Kaizen (Japanese words “kai"

means continuous or change and “zen" means improvement) a Japanese management strategy is observed to provide

continuous improvement starting from lowest level in manufacturing. The key aspect of Kaizen is that it is an on-going,

never-ending improvement process. The kaizen system is based on incremental innovation, where employees are

encouraged to make small changes in their work area on an on-going basis. The cumulative effect of all these little changes

over time can be quite significant, especially if all of the employees within a company and its leaders are committed to this

philosophy.

Improvements are usually accomplished at little or no expense without sophisticated techniques or expensive equipment.

Kaizen focuses on simplification by breaking down complex processes into their sub processes and then improving them.

Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. In the first stage, management

makes every effort to help the workers provide suggestions, no matter how primitive, for the improvement of the worker's

job and the workshop. This will help the workers look at the way they are doing their jobs. In the second stage,

management should stress employee education so that employees can provide better suggestions. To enable workers to

provide better suggestions, they should be equipped to analyse problems and the environment.

Main subjects for suggestions are, in order of importance

Improvement in one's own work.1.

Savings in energy, material and other resources.2.

Improvement in the working environment.3.

Improvements in machines and processes.4.

Improvements in tools.5.

Improvements in office work.6.

Improvements in product quality.7.

Ideas for new products.8.

Practical experience in implementing Kaizen has shown increased participation of workforce in problem solving process. This

has helped in improvement in productivity and quality through implementation of small changes as indicated by operators in

work place lay out, attachments, methods improvement and material handlings equipment, etc.

Lean manufacturing system

Labour intensive industry like apparel manufacturing having level of manual work

generates huge amount of wastes. These wastes are categorised lean philosophy into

different heads. Lean manufacturing uses set of tools and methodologies that aims for the

continuous elimination of all waste in the production process.

The main benefits of this are lower production costs; increased output and shorter

production lead times. More specifically, some of the goals include:

Reduction of defects and wastage: Reduce defects and unnecessary physical1.


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wastage, including excess use of raw material inputs, preventable defects, costs

associated with reprocessing defective items, and unnecessary product

characteristics which are not required by customers.

Cycle times: Reduce manufacturing lead times and production cycle times by reducing waiting times between

processing stages, as well as process preparation times and product conversion times.

2.

Inventory levels: Minimise inventory levels at all stages of production, particularly works-in-progress between

production stages. Lower inventories also mean lower working capital requirements.

3.

Labour productivity: Improve labour productivity, both by reducing the idle time of workers and ensuring that

when workers are working, they are using their effort as productively as possible (including not doing unnecessary

tasks or unnecessary motions).

4.

Utilisation of equipment and space: Use equipment and manufacturing space more efficiently by eliminating

bottlenecks and maximising the rate of production though existing equipment, while minimising machine downtime.

5.

Flexibility: Have the ability to produce a more flexible range of products with minimum changeover costs and

changeover time.

6.

Output: In so far as reduced cycle times, increased labour productivity and elimination of bottlenecks and machine

downtime can be achieved, factories can generally significantly increased output from their existing facilities.

7.

Most of these benefits lead to lower unit production costs; for example, more effective use of

equipment and space leads to lower depreciation costs per unit produced, more effective use of

labour results in lower labour costs per unit produced and lower defects lead to lower cost of

goods sold.

Since describing all lean tools is beyond the scope of the subject, authors have found great

impact in implementing following tools in apparel factories.

Lean Lay Out

Lean Layouts are designed to optimise production per space used, by avoiding extra storage,

WIP and reverse movements. This can be implemented through

Cellular Manufacturing.1.

Combination of Cellular and Modular Manufacturing.2.

Star Layouts (Hub and Spoke Model).3.

Practically, it requires clubbing and splitting of operations with high amount of multi-tasking which results self-content work

cells that guarantee low levels of work in progress.

Super market system

Andon is a method used to expose abnormalities within the production process. A simple andon enabled super market as

shown in Exhibit 7 can be effectively used to trigger start and stop of cutting operation based on inventory level for sewing

lines.

SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Dies)

With global apparel trade inclining towards fashion garments, small order quantities with shorter lead times have become

norm of the day. In such a situation SMED is the single most important tool to aid quick change over. Changeover is defined

as the elapsed period between the last good products from the previous run to the first good product of the next run. A

changeover is not complete until the machine consistently produces good quality product. SMED works by identifying

internal and external set up activities. External Setup is those that can be completed while machine is in operation. Internal

Set up activities require shutdown of the machine for completion. SMED Primary aims to change all internal setups to

external ones, reduce length of internal setup if unable to convert to external and finally reduce length of all external

setups.

Poka Yoke

Poka Yoke or Fool Proofing, preliminary aims for designing the product, process such that

opportunities for errors to be generated are eliminated. It works on the following

principles:

That it is natural for people to make mistakes.1.

Detects an error as it is being made.2.

Detects an error soon after it has been made but before it reaches the next operation.3.

Over-production, excess inventory and inappropriate processing may result into increased amount of mistakes.4.

Built-in safeguards in to the process helps reducing chances of errors.5.

Practically in apparel industry Poka Yoke can be implemented using following three methods:


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Contact type helps by physically guiding the manufactured produce with little or no human intervention to produce goods

that conforms the requirements. Example of fixed value systems are programmable systems, which work as per values

punched usually in microprocessors like profile stitcher motion step types are fully automatic robotics systems that carry

out material handling, sewing, and disposal functions thereby eliminating human errors associated with handling,

placement, fatigue, etc.

Training and development

Most of these companies that have embarked on journey towards world-class manufacturing have also give great impetus

to human Resource Development. Career path development is practiced as continuous Improvement initiative by offering

more internal growth opportunities. Charting of career path up to the level of the operators is practiced so that, those

operators who perform well and improve their skills reach supervisory or junior management level with in a defined time

frame. Further internal training has been adapted as a standard procedure for new recruits as well as for multi-skilling.

Comprehensive training schedules covering technical, managerial and soft skills are practised as an on-going process.

Training also includes sessions, which educate the operators of the advantage of staying put with a company in terms of

accrued benefits. Besides incentives and other related benefits, these companies also keep the workforce informed

regularly of the company's overall direction and other major developments. This process creates a sense of belonging

among the workers. Apart from attrition, to counter absenteeism these companies conduct counselling sessions to resolve

work related issues; domestic issues are also resolved through NGO participation. These companies are also proactive to

tame absenteeism related issues by providing transport facilities, conducting preventive medical camps and addressing

problems like family planning that have a direct bearing on absenteeism.

Conclusion

To develop sustainable apparel manufacturing environment business it is necessary for industry to move towards

world-class manufacturing.

Note: For detailed version of this article please refer the print version of The Indian Textile Journal February

2013 issue.

Chandrark Karekatti,

Fashion Technology (PGFT)

NIFT, New Delhi.

Email: [email protected].

published February , 2013

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