Contemporary issues in garment industry

Contemporary issues in the garment industry

Defects

Defects affect customer satisfaction, energy, manpower, resources, and money.   Examples of deficiencies in a manufacturing environment include lack of adequate documentation or specifications, significant variances in inventory, poor design and related changes in design documentation, and general lack of proper quality control throughout the workflow process.

Documentation for formalized document control and design change, detailed and documented quality methods in all production stages and audited lists in order to ensure proper compliance with the BOM are effective ways to control waste defects.  And standardized work at every production cell or point in the production line will also, help to reduce this kind of waste.

Common defects include:

Poor quality control at the manufacturing level

Poor machine maintenance

Lack of adequate documentation

Quality management

Not knowing the needs of your customers

Overproduction

If parts are assembled before the next downstream phase needs them, overproduction occurs.  There are several negative effects on this. It produces a "caterpillar" the effect in the flow of output which results in the creation of excess WIP. This results in the scheduling and therefore the effort required to move the additional periods of the WIP. And it can mask bugs that might have been found with less scrap if processes were designed to enable quicker identification because early use of WIP components would have exposed the flaw in time to correct the problem.

Takt time is used to even out levels of output between cells or divisions.  Measured and process-mapped jobs lead to reduced setup time allowing effective small batch flow.  And the "pull" systems such as Kanban can be used in many industries to help control or eliminate WIP.

Common causes of overproduction include:

Inefficient method

Unstable production schedules

Inaccurate prediction and demand information

The needs of the customer are not apparent

Waiting

Waiting can include people, material equipment (unfinished prior runs) or idle equipment (mechanical downtime or excess switching times).  In terms of direct labor dollars, all the waiting costs a company has, and additional overhead costs can be incurred in terms of overtime, expediting costs and parts.  Waiting can also cause additional waste in the form of defects, if the waiting triggers a flurry of activity to "catch up" which results in non-compliance with standard work or shortcuts.

Waiting is in many ways the reverse of overproduction.  With many of the same treatments, it can, however, be mitigated or removed.  Waiting is often the result of poor process design and can be solved by proper takt time measurement and standard work formation.

Common causes of Waiting include:

Unplanned downtime

Idle equipment Short

Set-up times Long or delayed set-up times

Lack of process control.

Non-Utilized Talent

The eighth waste is the only lean waste generated that isn't unique to the manufacturing process.  This form of manufacturing waste arises when management fails to ensure that all its potential employee talent is exploited in a manufacturing environment.   The waste has been incorporated to encourage organizations to integrate staff creation into the lean ecosystem.  As a mistake, this can result in assigning workers the wrong tasks or tasks they have never been properly trained for.  This may also be the result of poor relationship management.

The overall organizational efficiency is enhanced by engaging workers and integrating their innovations, offering training and growth opportunities and involving them in developing process improvements that reflect the reality they encounter and the skills they possess.  Removal of this type of waste may improve all others.

Types of Unused Talent: Poor communication Failure to involve people in workplace design and development Incomplete steps Poor management Failure to involve people in workplace design and development.

Transportation

The bad plant design will result in transport waste.  It can also cause other waste such as waiting or moving and affect overhead costs such as higher fuel and energy costs and higher overhead labor in the form of lift drivers, as well as adding wear and tear to equipment.  It can also be the result of poorly designed processes or processes that have not changed or updated as often as necessary.

Quality stream mapping and partial or complete factory layout improvements will reduce the transport waste.  This is a complete documentation of all aspects of the flow of production and not just a mapping of a specific process.  This leads to changes to reduce or eliminate the waste from transport.

Common types of transport waste:

Poor layouts

Distance between operations

Long material handling systems

Wide batch sizes

Multiple storage facilities

Inventory

Due to the associated storage costs, inventory is considered a form of waste.  This applies to raw materials, to WIP and finished goods. Purchasing or poor forecasting and planning may result in waste from inventories.  It may also signal a broken or poorly designed link between production and purchase/scheduling processes. In addition to focusing on the factory, Lean Manufacturing also requires process optimization and communication between support functions.

Common causes of inventory waste include:

Overproduction of products

Production delays or ' waste of waiting '

Inventory defects

Transportation excessive

Motion

Mobility costs money.  That includes not only raw materials but people and equipment as well.  It may also require unnecessary physical movement, such as reach, lift, and bend.  Any excessive motion results in time with no value-added and increases costs.

Again, with reference to the core Lean Manufacturing methodology, the process mapping should include facility layout and optimized design of the workplace, including an analysis of the distance of movement within the space and even the location of components, materials, and instruments throughout the space.  With the development of an effective process map, proper use of the space can be captured with well-designed and documented standard work.

Examples of common motion waste include:

Poor workstation layout

Bad production planning

Poor process design

Shared equipment and machines

Silo operations

Manufacturing standards lacking

Excess Processing

Excess processing is a sign that a process is poorly developed.  This might be related to management or administrative issues such as lack of communication, data duplication, overlapping authority areas, and human error.  It may also arise from the construction of the facilities, insufficient workstation tooling or the layout of the facility.

System mapping is a lean waste disposal tool that helps identify an automated workflow that can minimize processing over time.  System mapping is not limited to conducting manufacturing tasks as the main tool of lean development. It also involves the recording of records, sign-offs, and papers.

Excess processing examples include:

Poor communication

Not knowing the needs of your customer's

Human error

Slow approval process or unnecessary