Survival of the Leanest

Success Stories from Indian Apparel Industries

StitchWorld |January 2012
Madura Clothing, Bangalore
Madura Clothing, Bangalore has implemented 5S, modular manufacturing, Kaizen and LeanSix Sigma throughout their organizational structure. The initiatives have reduced the manpower
per line from 52 to 21(60%), the process lead time from 3 to 1.5 days (50%), enhanced the
number of pieces per operator from 7 to13 (85%), number of pieces per machine from 11 to
20 (81%), output per line from 350 to 425 pieces (21%) and operator efficiency from 41% to 82%.
The backbone of all the substantial gains for Madura has been the removal of non-valueadded activities from the manufacturing and related processes.

Silver Spark Apparels, Bangalore

Silver Spark Apparels, Bangalore (A unit of Raymond), embarked on their lean journey in
September 2010 and has achieved incredible results in a short span of time. Resulting in
reduction in WIP by 70%, freeing up of floor space by 20%, improvement in delivery times by
40% and reduction in manpower by 10%. Lean is not a flavor of the month or the year; it has
become a way of organizational life for Silver Spark, they aim to extend the benefits of Lean
to other components of their supply chain like merchandising, purchase, stores, export/import
and accounts.

Pratibha Syntex, Indore

Pratibha Syntex, Indore just by incorporating modular manufacturing within their
manufacturing systems had increased the productivity by 65%, reduced its work force by 30%
which empowered them to increase the wages by 18% for the remaining workforce while
reducing cost per unit by 30%, enhanced efficiency by almost 60%, reduced the cutting waste
by 6% and the WIP to 1.5 days, all within a time period of just a year.

Paragon Apparels, Noida

Paragon Apparels, Noida had reduced the cut to pack time from an average of 22 days to 710 days, the material in-house to dispatch time is about 15-20 days lead time, increased the
operator efficiency by 8% to around 50-55% and the cut to box rejection rate to less than 1%
from 3-5%, all by keeping the principle of waste elimination (MUDA) at its core.

Delhi/NCR Region
A major ongoing Lean implementation program is happening at 10 garment manufacturing
facilities in the Delhi/NCR region, subsequent to the collaboration of Charles Dagher
consultancy with OGTC, two years back. The 10 companies - Radnik Exports, Orient Clothing,
Orient Fashions, Neetee Clothing, Pee Empro Exports, Akriti Apparels, Saivana Exports, Team
Krian, Matrix Clothing and Genus Apparels are embracing the lean practices.

Lean Fruition Consulting, Trichy

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I N F L U E N C E

Survival of the Leanest

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ome companies have

stood out from the
rest in-terms of the
Lean initiatives taken by
them in various forms and
aspects. The rst is Madura
Clothing, Bangalore which

has implemented 5S, modular

manufacturing, Kaizen and
Lean-Six Sigma throughout
their organizational structure.
The initiatives have reduced
the manpower per line from
52 to 21(60%), the process

lead time from 3 to 1.5 days

(50%), enhanced the number
of pieces per operator from 7
to13 (85%), number of pieces
per machine from 11 to 20
(81%), output per line from
350 to 425 pieces (21%) and

JANUARY 2012 z StitchWorld 11

CMYK

operator efciency from 41%

to 82%. The backbone of all the
substantial gains for Madura
has been the removal of nonvalue-added activities from
the manufacturing and related
processes. Today, Madura has
a team of 7 Black Belts and 40
Green Belts in Six-Sigma.

A combination of lean
and six sigma is today
a common practice
as both the concepts
complement each
other. Lean reduces
the time variability
whereas Six Sigma
aims at reducing the
process variability.
Lean aims to increase
speed and eliminates
waste, whereas
Six Sigma aims at
improving the quality
and productivity.

Another upfront company in

apparel manufacturing, Silver
Spark Apparels, Bangalore (A
unit of Raymond), embarked
on their lean journey in
September 2010 and has
achieved incredible results in
a short span of time. The lean
implementation was centred
on the theme of Waste
Elimination and followed the
Toyota Production System
and its tools like JIT, JIDOKA,
Shigeo Shingo, etc. The Pilot
lean implementation began
with the cutting department,
where the concepts of 5S,
Cellular Layout, Product
Value Streams, Stockless
Production, Kanban System,
Visual Management, Takt
Time Planning, Value Stream
Mapping, Versatility Matrix
and 8D Problem Resolution
were implemented, resulting
in reduction in WIP by 70%,
freeing up of oor space by
20%, improvement in delivery
times by 40% and reduction
in manpower by 10%. Lean
is not a avour of the month
or the year; it has become a
way of organizational life for
Silver Spark, they aim to extend
the benets of Lean to other
components of their supply
chain like merchandising,
purchase, stores, export/import
and accounts.
Lean and related terminologies
have been modied and
developed to suit their specic
needs by many apparel
manufacturing facilities.
Pratibha Syntex, Indore just
by incorporating modular
manufacturing within their
manufacturing systems had

12 StitchWorld z JANUARY 2012

increased the productivity by

65%, reduced its work force
by 30% which empowered
them to increase the wages
by 18% for the remaining
workforce while reducing
cost per unit by 30%,
enhanced efciency by
almost 60%, reduced the
cutting waste by 6% and the
WIP to 1.5 days, all within a
time period of just a year.
Similarly, Paragon Apparels,
Noida had reduced the cut
to pack time from an average
of 22 days to 7-10 days, the
material in-house to dispatch
time is about 15-20 days
lead time, increased the
operator efciency by 8%
to around 50-55% and the
cut to box rejection rate to
less than 1% from 3-5%, all
by keeping the principle of
waste elimination (MUDA)
at its core. Style changeover
time is one of the most
crucial times in a sewing
line. By following SMED
(Single Minute Exchange
of Dies) philosophy under
lean initiatives paragon
streamlined average style
changeover time to 27
minutes for a six minute
garment. Under this concept
the current operations and
methodology of working are
closely observed and then
separated into the internal
and external activities.
Finally, wherever possible
the internal activities are
converted into external ones.
A major ongoing Lean
implementation program
is happening at 10
garment manufacturing
facilities in the Delhi/NCR
region, subsequent to the
collaboration of Charles
Dagher consultancy with
OGTC, two years back.
Among the 10 companies,
Radnik Exports, Orient
Clothing, Orient Fashions,
Neetee Clothing, Pee Empro

Exports, Akriti Apparels,

Saivana Exports, Team Krian,
Matrix Clothing and Genus
Apparels, lean implementation
is at a very early stage in
Radnik, with a lot of training
still in progress. The most
recent and impressive one
has been the commencement
of Lean implementation in
Matrix Clothing, keeping
in mind the fact that Lean
is a phenomenon not a
technology which can just be
restricted/implemented to
a particular department, the
company has kept a holistic
approach towards it and aims
to cover all its manufacturing
systems along with the
support systems. In case of
Orient Clothing, concepts of
5S and Kaizen have not only
increased the efciency per
operator by 20% but have
also removed every nonvalue adding activity from
production, sampling and
merchandising operations.
Nowadays, Lean-Six Sigma,
a combination of both the
concepts has broadened its
scope in the manufacturing
sector. Actually when
compared, both the systems
complement each other,
Lean reduces the time
variability whereas Six
Sigma aims at reducing the
process variability. Lean
aims to increase speed and
eliminates wastes, whereas
Six Sigma aims at improving
the quality and productivity.
In collaboration with TBM
Consultants, Gokaldas Exports,
Bangalore, has reduced the
WIP by half to just a single day,
increased productivity by 43%
to 3 pieces per operator, rst
pass yield to 92%, efciency to
55% while adhering to the takt
time, production to 2,00,000
pieces per unit and improved
changeover time by 40% all by
incorporating the principles of
Kaizen, 5S and Lean-Six Sigma.