Lean Manufacturing Process in Garments Production

1. Abstract
Manufacturers are nowadays facing intensive global competition. The key to competing in
the international market place is to simultaneously improve both quality and productivity on
continual basis. The major purposes of the use of lean production are to increase productivity,
improve product quality and manufacturing cycle time, reduce inventory, reduce lead time and
eliminate manufacturing waste. To achieve these, the lean production philosophy uses several
concepts like Kaizen, Kanban, 5s, OEE, Just in Time (JIT) etc. This paper clearly explains the lean
concepts, its principle, importance and benefits. This paper also addresses the approaches to
implement lean practices in apparel industry
2. Lean manufacturing
Lean Manufacturing is a systematic approach for achieving the shortest possible cycle
time by eliminating the process waste through continuous improvement. Thus making the
operation very efficient and only consisting of value adding steps from start to finish. In simple
lean is manufacturing without waste. Lean manufacturing=half the human effort in the
company +half the manufacturing space + half the investment in tools +half the
engineering hours =to develop a new product in half
3. Lean theories
Objective of lean manufacturing: Lean Manufacturing, also called Lean Production, is a 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:
- Defects and wastage - Reduce defects and unnecessary physical 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 customer
- 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/model conversion times.
- Inventory levels - Minimize inventory levels at all stages of production, particularly
works-in-progress between production stages. Lower inventories also mean lower working capital
requirements
4. Lean theories
- Labor productivity - Improve labor 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);
- Flexibility - Have the ability to produce a more flexible range of products with minimum
changeover costs and changeover time.
- Output
Insofar Utilization of equipment and space - Use equipment and manufacturing
space more efficiently by eliminating bottlenecks and maximizing the rate of production
though existing equipment, while minimizing machine downtime;
-as reduced cycle times, increased labor productivity and elimination of bottlenecks
and machine downtime can be achieved, companies can generally significantly increased
output from their existing facilities. -Another way of looking at Lean Manufacturing is that
it aims to achieve the same output with less inputs
less time, less space, less human effort, less machinery, less materials, less costs
5. What kinds of companies benefit most from lean
- Lean is most widely used in industries that are assembly-oriented or have a high amount
of repetitive human processes. These are typically industries for which productivity is highly
influenced by the efficiency and attention to detail of the people who are working manually with
tools or operating equipment. For these kinds of companies, improved systems can eliminate
significant levels of waste or inefficiency. Examples of this include wood-processing, garment
manufacturing, automobile assembly, electronics assembly and equipment manufacturing.

- Since Lean Manufacturing eliminates many of the problems associated with poor
production scheduling and line balancing, Lean Manufacturing is particularly appropriate for
companies that dont have ERP systems in place or dont have strong material requirements
planning (MRP), production scheduling or production allocation systems in place. Lean
Manufacturing is also appropriate in industries for which it is a strategic priority to shorten the
production cycle time to the absolute minimum as a source of competitive advantage for the
company
6. Traditional Garment Manufacturing Process
- Effective utilization of capacities which results more products were produced by lesser
number of worker & infrastructures. (progressive system)
- Work in process is very high around 3000 pcs /line
- Workers & Machines need not wait for the product
- Product spends more time in manufacturing just waiting
- Garment defects are very high.
- This system is not suitable in todays scenario
7. Lean manufacturing concepts
Value Creation and Waste:
- In Lean Manufacturing, the value of a product is defined solely based on what the
customer actually requires and is willing to pay for. Production operations can be grouped
into following three types of activities:
- Value-added activities are activities which transform the materials into the exact
product that the customer requires.
- Non value-added activities are activities which arent required for transforming the
materials into the product that the customer wants. Anything which is non-value-added
may be defined as waste. Anything that adds unnecessary time, effort or cost is
considered non value-added. Another way of looking at waste is that it is any material or
activity for which the customer is not willing to pay. Testing or inspecting materials is also
considered waste since this can be eliminated insofar as the production process can be
improved to eliminate defects from occurring.
8. Traditional Manufacturing Vs Lean Manufacturing:
Activity
Inventory level
Suitability
Higher product design
Cost of production
Bundle size
Process waste
Product inspection
Work in progress
Production type
Layout

Traditional
High level
For high order quantity
Not suitable
High
Low
High
Sample based inspection
High
Stock production
Functional layout

Lean
Low level
For low order quantity
Highly suitable
Low
High
Low
100% inspection
Low
Custom production
Product layout

9. Advantages lean system in apparel industry

- Waste Elimination
- Work place Standardization
- Effective plant layout
- Quality will be enhanced at source level.
- Increase the Productivity by 30% from the existing level.
- Reduction of Production cost & other Overheads
- Reduce the Risk of non compliance and Late Delivery.
10. Principles of lean manufacturing
- Principle 1: Production of value

Principle
Principle
Principle
Principle

2:
3:
4:
5:

Optimizing the Value Stream

Converting the Process to Flow
Activating the Demand Pull
Perfection of All Products, Processes and Services

11. Tools and Techniques Involved in Lean Manufacturing

- Quality control Tools
- 5S
- Just in time
- Kanban
- Kaizen
11.1. Quality control Tools involved in lean manufacturing process:
- Pareto Chart
- Fish Born Diagram
- Histogram
- Control charts
- Scatter Diagram
11.2. 5 S System:
These 5 Tools are utilized for Workplace Standardization
- Seri (Sort)
- Seiton (Straighten)
- Seiso (Shine)
- Seiketsu (standardize)
- Shitsuke (Sustain)
11.3. Just in time (JIT):
- This tool is one of the important tool for LEAN manufacturing. It defines the PULL
Demand model instead of PUSH Demand model in earlier system which is mostly control
the following activities
- Purchase
- Production
- Distribution.
11.4. KANBAN:
This is also another important LEAN Manufacturing Tool. Which will mainly focusing
on over production. There are mainly two types of Kanbans.
11.5. Kaizen:
- Kaizen is the Japanese term for continuous improvement within a business,
operations or productive process. Some of the areas where kaizen activities and programs
can be of great benefit include:
- Individual plant and machinery
- Entire production lines
- Raw material procurement and utilization
- Labor utilization
- Production processes and tasks
12. Approaches to Implement the Lean Production system in apparel industry
The Following approaches will convert the apparel industry in to Lean based Production
factory. These approaches will be met through Effective Utilization of above said LEAN TOOLS.
- Minimizing the required inventory level
- Zero down the defects
- Reduce the process lead time (WIP)
- Minimizing the production cost
- Continues process improvement
13. Application of kaizen
- Continuous Improvement can be applied in all the garment manufacturing operations
.From cutting to finishing various places are available for improvement .
- Improve the fabric handling practice while sewing.
- Reduce the Sewing pucker.

- Stitch & Seam failure can be controlled through continuous improvement

- Minimizing the Standard Minute value for a given garment
- Once the new standard has been created, the factory floor must follow it in addition to
this KAIZEN activity should be done continuously
14. Five Things Sales & Marketing Can Learn from Lean
Benefits
Produce increases in profitability and market
share
Provide enormous competitive advantage
Possess clear best practices (well list some
below)
Have aspects that are easy to accomplish

Challenges
Require cultural - educational change
Generally last several years
Are often not understood at first
Require leadership commitment from top
Management
Have elements that are not at all easy

15. Conclusion
The concept of lean manufacturing is new in Bangladesh, and proactive organizations
have already been observed to implement this tool in their functional departments. This is
primarily due to the multitude of cost advantages which arise from having lean manufacturing
processes.