NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI

LEAN MANUFACTURING

Department of Fashion Technology

Semester- VII

Assignment I: Essay Writing on LEAN Management Practice in

Business Environment

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Dr. D. Samuel Wesley Shaheen Sheikh

Associate Professor Shruti Gera

Department of Fashion Technology Vijayshree

DFT VII

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ABOUT THE COMPANY

Texport Syndicate (I) Limited is a firm leader in the Apparel export space in India over the

past 30 years and is well equipped to handle woven and knit products under one umbrella.

ESTABLISHED 1978

DIVISION WOVEN

KNITTED

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS NEW YORK, USA

MUMBAI, INDIA

MANUFACTURING UNITS BANGALORE, INDIA

TIRUPUR, INDIA

MUMBAI, INDIA

AREA 197*161 SQ YARDS

WORKFORCE 9000+ SKILLED WORKERS

300+ ADMINS & QASS STAFF

APPARELS CATEGORY SHIRTS

BLOUSES

SHORTS

TROUSER

TURNOVER ABOVE 75$ MILLION

COMPANY LABEL SEPIA

IN-HOUSE PRODUCTION 9 MILLION (WOVEN)

12 MILLION (KNITTED)

CERTIFICATION ISO Export Oriented Business (EOB)

CLIENTS MOTHER CARE

MATALAN

GEORGE

TESCO

BARSHIKA

H&M

ZARA

MARKS & SPENCERS

PRIMARK

DEBENHAMS

HURLEY

CATO KEY APPARELS

MACHINES USED JAPANESE MACHINES

SPECIALISED ANCILLARY MACHINES SUPPORTED WITH MODERN FINISHING

UNITS

INVESTONICA SYSTEM FOR PATTERN

GRADING

114 HEADS OF BURDEN MULTIHEAD

EMBROIDERY MACHINE

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LEAN MANUFACTURING

Introduction

Lean Manufacturing Management (LMM) is a buzz word in the business community in India. It

was originally practiced as a Toyota Production System (TPS) conceptualized by Toyota Motor

Corporation in Japan. After 2005, with the removal of Multi-Fibre Agreement, many a garment

manufacturing firm commenced practicing lean manufacturing system to reduce the lead time

and cost of manufacturing. Though the lean manufacturing system highlights the importance of

making an organization lean, it doesn't properly address the issue of assessing the degree of

leanness in business organizations.

In order to study the issue, one factory from a leading garment manufacturing was selected and

studied the processes where lean practices have been implemented. Data was collected through

the senior managers of the factories who are directly involved with implementation of lean

manufacturing systems. Findings of the study revealed that a variation of implementation of lean

manufacturing system is significant. Further it was found that the level of knowledge about lean

practices is also in varying degrees. Hence it is important to explore ways and means of

improving the lean implementation in a holistic approach instead of piecemeal approach, which

is the norm of this factory in the study.

The objective of implementing lean practices in this factory is to achieve the following:

To meet customers demand on time by elimination non value added work from the

process

To minimize the work in process inventory

To create flexibility of style changeover

To reduce waste percentage

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LEAN IMPLEMENTATION IN THE ORGANISATION

Autonomous Maintenance Implementation

The operators have been trained for maintaining their own machines for smaller issues

like tension change, needle change, threading, cleaning, SPI, bobbin changing etc.

Unlike traditional maintenance programs where the operators run the machines until they

break or become due for maintenance and then hand them to the maintenance department,

autonomous maintenance has the operators performing the simpler (and safe)

maintenance routines such as lubrication, bolt tightening, cleaning and also inspection

and monitoring.

Earlier for every small repair the mechanic was called and as there are less mechanics,

the attending time used to be high due to which production was being hampered.

Instruction sheets for autonomous maintenance have been put on machine so that

operators can follow the processes of the maintenance.

Before After

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GSD Card Flagging

GSD card is an instruction sheet that includes the standard of procedure of an operation.

It consists of modes, with standard working methods written in it step by step, to be

followed by the operators.

Whenever operators are in doubt about the piece handling and operation sequences, they

can refer the GSD card put on their machine.

This reduces the wastage of time and in case of doubt operators need not to contact their

supervisor every time for the material handling and operation sequences.

Before After

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Flagging of Critical Operation on Machine

On the basis of pitch time determined from GSD, critical operations have been identified.

In layout, they have been flagged on the machine so that they can be highlighted easily

and quickly for observation purpose.

It becomes easy for everyone to take care of critical operations and analyse them for

further improvement to make them non-critical operations.

Critical operations need more attention as compared to other operations, so flagging helps

the supervisor and the operators to identify such operations and give proper attention to

such operations so that there are lesser bottlenecks.

Before After

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Quality Specification Sheet Flagging

Quality Specification Sheet consists of Samples of parts which the operator’s stitched

garment part should match.

Operators should refer this QSS to check the quality of their work.

These have been installed as reference for operators in self-checking of the piece which is

an important aspect of lean manufacturing.

This leads to reduction in rework resulting into better efficiency.

Operators need to be trained properly regarding the importance of quality and Quality

Specification Sheet.

Before After

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Skill Matrix Chart

Skill Matrix Chart shows the grading of operators as “A” grade, “B” grade etc. based on

their skill sets.

Grading is done on the basis of number of operations an operator knows and does with

quality and good efficiency.

This chart can be referred by the supervisors to place the operators at right place so that

critical operations can be balanced according to the takt time.

It is easy to decide the salary of operators on the basis of their skill sets given in skill

matrix chart.

Operators go through the test for finalising the skill matrix grade and they have to sign

the form for it. Once signed, they can’t deny doing the operations which come under their

skill set.

File for every individual operator is maintained.

Skill Matrix charts has been put on sewing floor so that it can be referred in case of

absenteeism to place the operators on the basis of toughness and ease of operations.

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From Bundle System to Single Piece Flow System

Earlier, there was Bundle System in which bundles of cut pieces (bundle of 5, 10, 20 or

30 pieces) are moved manually to feed the line. Then inside the line an operator himself

drag the bundle from side table and transfer the bundle to the next operator after

completion of the work.

Now, Single Piece Flow system has been adopted to reduce the WIP. In this system, a

set of cut pieces for a single garment is loaded in a tray which is moved forward through

centre table and operations are carried out accordingly.

Bundle System (without Tray) Single Piece Flow (with Tray)

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Bundle System Vs. Single Piece Flow System

Parameter Bundle System

Single Piece Flow System

Transportation

-Pieces move in bundles

-Operators stop their work to fetch bundles. -Less effective in terms of production management. Resulted long response time

In this system trays are used to

carry pieces to each work stations. -Easier pick up and dispose at each work station. Resulted quick response time

Through put time

Through put time is longer in

Bundle. How much long will depend on the bundle size and no. of bundles kept in between two

operators.

-Through put time in single piece

flow system is less compare to Bundle system.

Through put time

-As a result of High Work In

Process (WIP) is required by sewing section, cutting sections are required

to perform 60-70% more than actual production can handle.

-Lower WIP results in less cutting

works. A balanced flow of material established in between cutting and

sewing line

Inventory level

-Due high WIP and higher cutting, fabrics and trims need to stock in advance

-Less Inventory for fabric and trims is required.

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Traffic Rule System

Traffic rule system is a system of flagging traffic rule sheets on every machine for

monitoring the quality of work every 2 hours.

Supervisors monitor the operators for defective work and accordingly color the circles on

the sheet.

Zero Defect – Green

One Defect – Yellow

Two or more defects – Red

Before After

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Andon System

Flags are being installed on all the machines for flagging in different situations so that the

supervisor and other concerned people come to know about the problem from far away only.

Red Flag:

• There is some problem in the machine.

• A call for the mechanic

Blue Flag:

• There is a quality issue.

• The problem is attended by the supervisor till the quality is perfect.

Yellow Flag:

• Signifies absenteeism or operator is away from the machine.

• A signal for the supervisor to do the required.

Green Flag:

• The work is in progress without any problem.

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Siren in Lines

Siren has been installed in each line so that mechanic can be called easily in case of

machine problems.

It has been easy for operators, now they need not leave their seat to inform to the

mechanics or supervisors and thus it is time saving.

Lean Awareness

Steps have been taken to spread the awareness among employees and workers.

Motivational Posters have been put on sewing floor in local language.

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Reports:

1. Hourly production report: Every hour the production writer notes the production of

each line and compiles the report of production against the planned target. The

production is displayed on the floor on the production boars for each line so that

operators and supervisors get to know the actual production and the planned target. The

board will motivate the operators to work more to achieve the target.

2. Weekly progress report: Weekly progress graphs displaying the efficiency progress of

each line are displayed on the boards by the I.E.D for supervisors and operators to see

their progress. Green smiley is given to the line which is working on and near 60%

efficiency which signifies Better Performance and Red smiley is given to the line having

low efficiency signifying poor performance.

3. Quality Report: Hourly quality reports are compiled by the quality checker at the end

line checking. The operation having maximum reworks is analyzed by the quality

controllers on the floor and necessary measures are taken. The reports are made using

control charts using which the defects are easily identifiable.

4. Hourly Maintenance report: the report for hourly maintenance is compiled by the

mechanics which contains the time taken in repair, the type of problem, number of

problems etc. the report helps in the further maintenance works. The machine facing

maximum problems is given extra attention and immidiate actions are taken.

5. Non-Production Time Report: the report is compiled by the production writer for a day.

It consists of the detail of all the time when the production was stopped or hampered on

any machine along with the reasons and accurate time. It consists the maintenance time,

rework time, empty workstation time, idle time, etc. the report is used to calculate the

loss for everyday incurred due to non- production. The reports are then further analyzed

for checking the main reason for the loss and more attention is given to that area.

6. Roll Throughput Yield (RTY): RTY for each day is calculated by input and output.

Roll throughput yield is calculated by the cutting issued against the output received. This

percentage gives the exact picture of the production quality of the line. The RTY is

displayed everyday on the board. Higher is the RTY, better is the quality and lesser is the

wastage as well as defects.

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7. DHU% Report: DHU= Defects per hundred garments. The percentage of defects per

100 pieces is calculated by the quality controllers on the floor to check the quality of the

garments. The reports are displayed on the boards for supervisors and operators to see

their quality.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Project Reference: Increasing Efficiency in a Sewing Line Using Lean

Tools. (Apparel Internship Report by Ravi Aditya, 2010-2014)

http://www.texportsyndicate.com/

http://www.inderscience.com/storage/f481151026917312.pdf

http://www.i-scholar.in/index.php/Imrj/article/view/51018