Application of lean manufacturing tools in garments production

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

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1.1. Background
Due to the increasing labor wage in developed countries, the apparel manufacturing has been
migrating from the high wage developed world to low wage developing countries [1]. Even
though the labor cost is cheaper than in developed countries; due to the specific market nature of
the garment industries for example: the short production life cycle, high volatility, low
predictability, high level of impulse purchase, the quick market response; garment industries are
facing the greatest challenges these days [2].
Garments industries in developing countries are more focused on sourcing of raw material and
minimizing delivery cost than labor productivity because of the availability of cheap labor. Due
to this, labor productivity is lower in developing countries than in the developed ones. For
example, labor is very cheap in Bangladesh but the productivity is poor among other developing
countries [3]. Similarly, the cost of fabric is a major part of the garment so there seems to be
great need for improvement in this sector. Even in developing countries the CAD and CAM
system for fabric cutting has been implemented to save fabric. Now the worry is about labor
productivity and making production flexible; because the fashion industry is highly volatile and
if the orders are not fulfilled on time, the fear for losing business is real.
Even today, industries are getting the same or more volumes (orders), but the number of styles
they have to handle has increased drastically. Earlier industries were getting bulk order so there
is no need to worry; if the production line was set for the first time it would run for a month or at
least a week or two. But nowadays due to small order quantities and complex designs, the
garments industry has to produce multiple styles even within a day; this needs higher flexibility
in volume and style change over [4].
In some cases it has been observed that, in developing countries the garment industries are run as
family business lacking skilled personnel as well as capital to implement new technologies for
improving productivity and flexibility. Because of this, industries have been running in a
traditional way for years and are rigid to change. They are happy as long as they are sustaining
their business. They don’t have much confidence and will towards innovation over old processes.

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Now the time has come to struggle with global market demand and niche market in garment
industries if they want to run it further [5].
This volatility of styles can be addressed only by flexibility in manufacturing. The best way to
cope with all these challenges is the implementation of lean manufacturing. This will serve our
purpose of flexibility and save a lot of money by reducing production lead time, reducing the
inventory, increasing productivity, training operators for multiple works, and by reducing
rework.
1.2. Research Problems
The major problem people faced in garment industry is stitching; most of time failure to meet
delivery time is because of stitching. Stitching operations (with respect to cutting and finishing)
needs high skill as well as quality work, because of difficulty associated with repairing of
products sewed with wrong specifications. Thus we have to give more attention to stitching than
to cutting and finishing of garments.
Firstly, High WIP in traditional type of batch production is the major problem faced by
industries. Due to high WIP the throughput time as well as rework is very high. In some cases,
even though the operator has completed the stitching operations the garment cannot be packed
because of high WIP. Due to huge WIP, the defective parts are hidden inside the batches and it is
very difficult to clear them while completing the final order quantity. This is the reason why
garment professionals seem to work like fire fighters; because they are always in a hurry for
searching the missing garment pieces all over the shop floor.
Secondly, in batch processing flexibility cannot be achieved easily; which is the current demand
of garment industry. This is obstructed by the decreasing order size and increasing number of
styles. So to meet this requirement production layout should be designed such that it should hold
minimum WIP and should be flexible enough to the changing of order.
Thirdly, in batch process operators are given specific jobs, so the operator knows one or a few
more operations only. Though he (she) may have good skill and can work more efficiently on
one (allocated job only) operation; he (she) cannot work immediately on some other operation.

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This is another need of today’s world, because the fashion is changing frequently and the work
force should be capable enough to cope with this change. To achieve this operator should be
multi-skilled; which can be served by regular training and converting long assembly lines into
small manufacturing cells.
Workload fluctuation among operators is another problem in batch processing, because one
operator is given one operation at a time. So the operator who is performing easier and low time
consuming jobs can pile up a huge amount of WIP whereas in the critical operations (operations
which need more time and skill) there is lagging causing unbalanced WIP in-between machines
and the work load is not proper among operators. This research tries to address all these
problems of garment industry by implementing lean manufacturing in the case company.
1.3. Research Objectives
Lean manufacturing is an operational strategy oriented towards achieving the shortest possible
cycle time by eliminating wastes. The term lean manufacturing is coined to represent half the
human effort in the company, half the manufacturing space, half the investment in tools and half
the engineering hours to develop a new product in half the time. These benefits can be achieved
only if the concept is religiously followed in the organization. In simple terms lean
manufacturing is without waste. Thus the objective of this research is to find out how we can use
lean manufacturing to achieve the following:
• To meet customer demand on time by eliminating non value added work from the process
• To minimize the work in process inventory
• To create flexibility of style changeover
• To reduce rework percentage
• To create a pool of multi-skilled operators who can respond quickly for changing style

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1.4. Research Approach
The initial step in this research is to systematically study and define the history of the Lean
manufacturing concept and its different tools and techniques. It will then examine some most
used lean manufacturing tools and techniques. This will be followed by the study of the existing
production system of the case company for example the existing production layouts, inventory
movement systems, work balancing methods and other different variables which needs to be
improved for the betterment of the existing system.
To address the current issues of the industry, the researcher tries to find out the standard
operation time for each operation by using time study techniques and will try to standardize all
the operations. Once the standard operation time is obtained work will be done to find out the
best suitable production layout and WIP movement methods, which will help to get flexibility in
style changeover, should reduce the production lead time, create operator multi-skilling etc.
After doing these entire things as paper work, the researcher will implement the research
outcomes in the company and the improvement will be measured against the existing process.
Basically, this is quantitative research where the researcher is a part of the organization during
the study.
1.5. Report Construction
The whole report consists of seven chapters. The first chapter describes the need of the research,
research objectives and research approach. Literature review about lean manufacturing, layout
designs, time study and assembly line balancing is described in chapter two. Industry
background and garment manufacturing processes are described in the third chapter followed by
the research methodology, data collection methods etc. in chapter four. The fifth chapter
includes the analysis part of the research; in this chapter different parameters are compared
between existing production systems and the new recommended system. Chapter six is about the
research summary, conclusion of research, its limitations and recommendation for further study,
followed by the list of reference in the seventh chapter.

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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW

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2.1. History of Lean
During World War - II, the economic condition of Japan was heavily destroyed. Due to this there
was scarcity of fund resulting in limiting access to corporate finance. In this situation, neither
Toyota was able to set up a mass production system like their American counterparts, nor it was
possible to layoff the employees to reduce their cost due to legislation. Anyhow Toyota had to
devise a new system for reducing costs to sustain in the market. So they decided to produce a
small batch of products which would reduce inventories; it means they would need less capital to
produce the same product. But this is obstructed by the practical difficulty of changing tools and
production lines frequently. To cope with this problem they started making multipurpose tooling
systems in their machines and trained their employees in changeover time reduction methods. At
the same time, Toyota realized that investing in people is more important than investing in bigger
size machinery and continues employee training throughout the organization. This motivates all
employees and they are more open to the improvement process and everyone started giving their
input to the company.
In this way, short production runs started by Toyota became a benefit rather than a burden, as it
was able to respond much more rapidly to changes in demand by quickly switching production
from one model to another [6]. Toyota didn’t depend on the economies of scale production like
American companies. It rather developed a culture, organization and operating system that
relentlessly pursued the elimination of waste, variability and inflexibility. To achieve this, it
focused its operating system on responding to demand and nothing else. This in turn means it has
to be flexible; when there are changes in demand, the operating system is a stable workforce that
is required to be much more skilled and much more flexible than those in most mass production
systems. Over time, all these elements were consolidated into a new approach to operations that
formed the basis of lean or Toyota Production System.

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2.2. Definition of Lean
The popular definition of Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Production System Usually
consists of the following [7].
 It is a comprehensive set of techniques which when combined allows you to reduce and
eliminate the wastes. This will make the company leaner, more flexible and more
responsive by reducing waste.
 Lean is the systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste through continuous
improvement by flowing the product or service at the pull of your customer in pursuit of
perfection [8].
According to [9] the lean operating system consists of the following:
 A lean operating system follows certain principles to deliver value to the customer while
minimizing all forms of losses.
 Each value stream within the operating system must be optimized individually from end
to end.
 Lean tools and techniques are applied selectively to eliminate the three sources of losses,
such as waste, variability and inflexibility.
Thus the organization who wants to implement lean should have strong customer focus, should
be willing to remove wastes from the processes they operate on daily basis and should have the
motivation of growth and survival.
2.3. Lean Philosophy
1. Identification and elimination of waste is the central theme of a Lean Manufacturing
production system.
2. Lean Manufacturing is a dynamic and constantly improving process dependent upon
understanding and involvement by all employees.
3. Successful implementation requires that all employees must be trained to identify and
eliminate waste from their work.

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2.4. Lean Principles
The major five principles of Lean are as follows [10]:
Principle 1: Accurately specify value from customer perspective for both products and services.
Principle 2: Identify the value stream for products and services and remove non-value adding
waste along the value stream.
Principle 3: Make the product and services flow without interruption across the value stream.
Principle 4: Authorize production of products and services based on the pull by the customer.
Principle 5: Strive for perfection by constantly removing layers of waste.
2.5. Toyota Production System
It is a manufacturing system developed by Toyota in Japan after World War II, which aims to
increase production efficiency by the elimination of waste. The Toyota production system was
invented and made to work, by Taiichi Ohno. While analyzing the problems inside the
manufacturing environment; Ohno came to conclude that different kinds of wastes (non value
added works) are the main cause of inefficiency and low productivity. Ohno identified waste in
a number of forms, including overproduction, waiting time, transportation problems, inefficient
processing, inventory, and defective products.
Figure 1 shows the Toyota Production System in detail. From this figure it can be seen that TPS
is not only a set of different tools but it is the philosophy and integration of different tools and
systems to achieve a common goal of waste reduction and efficiency improvement. Each element
of this house is critical, but more important is the way the elements reinforce each other. Just in
Time (JIT) means removing the inventory used to buffer operations against problems that may
arise in production. The ideal of one-piece flow is to make one unit at a time at the rate of
customer demand or Takt time. Using smaller buffers (removing the “safety net”) means that
problems like quality defects become immediately visible. This reinforces Jidoka, which halts
the production process. This means workers must resolve the problems immediately and urgently
to resume production.

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Stability is at the foundation of the house. While working with little inventory and stopping
production when there is a problem causes instability and a sense of urgency among workers. In
mass production, when a machine goes down, there is no sense of urgency because the
maintenance department is scheduled to fix it while the inventory keeps the operations running.
By contrast, in lean production, when an operator shuts down equipment to fix a problem, other
operations will also stop immediately due to no inventory creating a crisis. So there is always a
sense of urgency for everyone in production to fix problems together to get the machine in
working condition and to run the production as soon as possible.
Figure 1: Toyota Production System
People and team work
(i) Selection
(ii) Common goals
(iii) Ringi decision making
(iv) Crossed -trained
Continuous Improvement
Best quality-Lowest cost-shortest lead time-best safety-high morale
Through shortening the production flow by eliminating waste
Waste Reduction
(i) Genchi Genbutsu
(ii) 5 Why’s
(iii) Eyes for waste
(iv) Problem solving
Leveled Production (Heijunka)
Stable and standardized processes
Visual Management
Toyota Way philosophy
Just in Time
 Right part,
Right amount,
Right time
 Tack time
planning
 Continuous
flow
 Pull system
 Quick
changeover
 Integrated
Logistics
Jidoka
(In station quality)
 Make problems
visible
 Automatic Stops
 Andon
 Person-Machine
separation
 Error proofing
 In station quality
control
 Solve root cause
of problems (5
Why’s)

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If the same problem occurs repeatedly, management will quickly conclude that this is a critical
situation and it should be cracked without any delay. People are at the center of the house,
because it is only through continuous improvement that the operation can ever attain this needed
stability. People must be trained to see waste and solve problems at the root cause by repeatedly
asking why the problem really occurs. Problem solving should be on the actual site of the
problem where everything is visible and practical also; this technique of problem solving is
called Genchi Genbutsu. In general TPS is not a toolkit. It is not just a set of lean tools like just-
in-time, cells, 5S (sort, stabilize, shine, standardize, sustain), Kanban, etc. It is a sophisticated
system of production in which all parts contribute to a whole. On the whole, its focus is on
supporting and encouraging people to continually improve the processes they work on.
2.6. Kind of Wastes
According to David Magee, [11] different kinds of wastes in a process can be categorized in
following categories. These wastes reduce production efficiency, quality of work as well as
increase production lead time.
1. Overproduction – Producing items more than required at given point of time i.e. producing
items without actual orders creating the excess of inventories which needs excess staffs, storage
area as well as transportation etc.
2. Waiting – Workers waiting for raw material, the machine or information etc. is known as
waiting and is the waste of productive time. The waiting can occur in various ways for example;
due to unmatched worker/machine performance, machine breakdowns, lack of work knowledge,
stock outs etc.
3. Unnecessary Transport – Carrying of work in process (WIP) a long distance, insufficient
transport, moving material from one place to another place is known as the unnecessary
transport.
4. Over processing – Working on a product more than the actual requirements are termed as
over processing. The over processing may be due to improper tools or 22 improper procedures
etc. The over processing is the waste of time and machines which does not add any value to the
final product.

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5. Excess Raw Material - This includes excess raw material, WIP, or finished goods causing
longer lead times, obsolescence, damaged goods, transportation and storage costs, and delay.
Also, the extra inventory hides problems such as production imbalances, late deliveries from
suppliers, defects, equipment downtime, and long setup times.
6. Unnecessary Movement – Any wasted motion that the workers have to perform during their
work is termed as unnecessary movement, for example movement during searching for tools,
shifting WIP, etc.
7. Defects – Defects in the processed parts is termed as waste. Repairing defective parts or
producing defective parts or replacing the parts due to poor quality etc. is the waste of time and
effort.
8. Unused Employee Creativity – Loosing of getting better ideas, improvement, skills and
learning opportunities by avoiding the presence of employee is termed as unused employee
creativity.
2.7. Lean Manufacturing Tools and Techniques
There are numbers of lean manufacturing tools which, when used in proper ways will give the
best results. Once the source of the waste is identified it is easier to use the suitable lean tool to
reduce or eliminate them and try to make waste free systems. Some of these tools are discussed
in this chapter.
2.7.1. Cellular Manufacturing
A cell is a combination of people, equipment and workstations organized in the order of process
to flow, to manufacture all or part of a production unit [12]. Following are the characteristics of
effective cellular manufacturing practice.
 Should have one-piece or very small lot of flow.
 The equipment should be right-sized and very specific for the cell operations.
 Is usually arranged in a C or U shape so the incoming raw materials and Outgoing
finished goods are easily monitored.

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 Should have cross-trained people within the cell for flexibility of operation.
 Generally, the cell is arranged in C or U shape and covers less space than the long
assembly lines.
There are lots of benefits of cellular manufacturing over long assembly lines. Some of them are
as follows [13]:
 Reduced work in process inventory because the work cell is set up to provide a balanced
flow from machine to machine.
 Reduced direct labor cost because of improved communication between employees,
better material flow, and improved scheduling.
 High employee participation is achieved due to added responsibility of product quality
monitored by themselves rather than separate quality persons.
 Increased use of equipment and machinery, because of better scheduling and faster
material flow.
 Allows the company higher degrees of flexibility to accommodate changes in customer
demand.
 Promotes continuous improvement as problems are exposed to surface due to low WIP
and better communication.
 Reduces throughput time and increases velocity for customer orders from order receipt
through production and shipment.
 Enhances the employee’s productive capability through multi-skilled multi machine
operators.
Apart from these tangible benefits, there is the very important advantage of cellular
manufacturing over the linear flow model. Due to the closed loop arrangement of machines, the
operators inside the cell are familiar with each other’s operations and they understand each other
better. This improves the relation between the operators and helps to improve productivity.
Whereas in long assembly line one operator knows only two 24operators (before and after his
operation in the line) it seems that operators are working independently in the line.

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2.7.2. Continuous Improvement
According to [14] Continuous improvement (CI) can be defined as the planned, organized and
systematic process of ongoing, incremental and company-wide change of existing practices
aimed at improving company performance. Activities and behaviors that facilitate and enable the
development of CI include problem-solving, plan-do-check-act (PDCA) and other CI tools,
policy deployment, cross-functional teams, a formal CI planning and management group, and
formal systems for evaluating CI activities. Successful CI implementation involves not only the
training and development of employees in the use of tools and processes, but also the
establishment of a learning environment conducive to future continuous learning. The short
description of PDCA cycle is given below:
Plan: Identify an opportunity and plan for change.
Do: Implement the change on a small scale.
Check: Use data to analyze the results of the change and determine whether it made a
difference.
Act: If the change was successful, implement it on a wider scale and continuously assess the
results. If the change did not work, begin the cycle again. Thus continuous improvement is
an ongoing and never ending process; it measures only the achievements gained from the
application of one process over the existing. So while selecting the continuous improvement
plan one should concentrate on the area which needs more attention and which adds more
value to our products. There are seven different kinds of continuous improvement tools [15]
they can be described as follows. The use of these tools varies from case to case depending
on the requirement of the process to be monitored.
Pareto Diagram: The Pareto diagram is a graphical overview of the process problems, in
ranking order from the most frequent, down to the least frequent, in descending order from
left to right. Thus, the Pareto diagram illustrates the frequency of fault types. Using a Pareto,
one can decide which fault is the most serious or most frequent offender Fishbone

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Diagram: A framework used to identify potential root causes leading to poor quality.
Check Sheet: A check sheet is a structured, prepared form for collecting and analyzing data.
This is a generic tool that can be adapted for a wide variety of purposes.
Histogram: A graph of variable data providing a pictorial view of the distribution of data
around a desired target value.
Stratification: A method of sorting data to identify whether defects are the result of a
special cause, such as an individual employee or specific machine.
Scatter Diagram: A graph used to display the effect of changes in one input variable on the
output of an operation.
Charting: A graph that tracks the performance of an operation over time, usually used to
monitor the effectiveness of improvement programs.
2.7.3. Just in Time (JIT)
Just in time is an integrated set of activities designed to achieve high volume production using
the minimal inventories of raw materials, work in process and finished goods. Just in time is also
based on the logic that nothing will be produced until it is needed
Just-in-time manufacturing is a Japanese management philosophy applied in manufacturing. It
involves having the right items with the right quality and quantity in the right place at the right
time. The ability to manage inventory (which often accounts for as much as 80 percent of
product cost) to coincide with market demand or changing product specifications can
substantially boost profits and improve a manufacturer’s competitive position by reducing
inventories and waste. In general, Just in Time (JIT) helps to optimize company resources like
capital, equipment, and labor. The goal of JIT is the total elimination of waste in the
manufacturing process. Although JIT system is applied mostly to manufacturing environment,
the concepts are not limited to this area of business only. The philosophy of JIT is a continuous
improvement that puts emphasis on prevention rather than correction, and demands a

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companywide focus on quality. The requirement of JIT is that equipment, resources and labor are
made available only in the amount required and at the time required to do the work. It is based on
producing only the necessary units in the necessary quantities at the necessary time by bringing
production rates exactly in line with market demand. In short, JIT means making what the
market wants, when it wants, by using a minimum of facilities, equipment, materials, and human
resources [16].
JIT principles are based on the following [17]:
 It is commonly used to describe the stockless production manufacturing Approach, where
only the right parts are completed at the right time.
 It is not a destination but a journey.
 Reducing inventory, improving quality and controlling cost.
 A “Pull System” where the parts are produced only when they are required.
2.7.4. Pull and Push System
In push system, when work is finished at a workstation, the output is pushed to the next station;
or, in the case of the final operation, it is pushed on to the final inventory. In this system, work is
pushed on as it is completed, with no regard for whether the next station is ready for the work or
not. In this way, the WIP is unbalanced in all operations throughout the shop floors [18].
The push system is also known as the Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) system. This
system is based on the planning department setting up a long-term production schedule, which is
then dissected to give a detailed schedule for making or buying parts. This detailed schedule then
pushes the production people to make a part and push it forward to the next station. The major
weakness of this system is that it relies on guessing the future customer demand to develop the
schedule that production is based on and guessing the time it takes to produce each part.
Overestimation and underestimation may lead to excess inventory or part shortages, respectively
[19].
Whereas in pull system; each work station pulls the output from the preceding station as it is
needed. Output from the final operation is pulled by customer demand or the master schedule.

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Thus in pull system work is moved in response to demand from the next stage in the process.
The Kanban system is used to monitor the effective pull process. Table 1 helps to differentiate
Pull and Push system.
2.7.5. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
Machine breakdown is one of the major headaches for people related to production. The
reliability of the equipment on the shop floor is very important because if any one of the
machines is down the entire shop floor productivity may be nil. The tool that takes care of these
sudden breakdowns and awakes maintenance as well as production workers to minimize these
unplanned breakdowns is called total productive maintenance. Total Productive Maintenance
(TPM) is a maintenance program, which involves a newly defined concept for maintaining plants
and equipment. The goal of the TPM program is to increase production, increase employee
morale and job satisfaction. [20]
TPM is set of tools, which when implemented in an organization as a whole gives the best
utilization of machines with least disruption of production. The set of tools are called pillars of
TPM and they are shortly described here and illustrated in a TPM diagram (Figure 2).
 5S
The first pillar of TPM is called 5S, which organize and cleans work place; this helps to make
problems visible and attracts the attentions of everyone. Brief description of 5S elements are as
follows:
Seiri (Sort): The first step in making things cleaned up and organized.
Seiton (Set in Order): Organize, identify and arrange everything in a work area.
Seiso (Shine): Regular cleaning and maintenance.
Seiketsu (Standardize): Make it easy to maintain, simplify and standardize.
Shitsuke (Sustain): Maintain what has been achieved.

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 Jishu Hozen (Autonomus Maintenance)
This is about the involvement of production workers in the day to day general maintenance of
machines like cleaning, lubricating etc. which saves the time of skilled maintenance person at the
same time the production workers are made more responsible to their machines.
Figure 2: Pillars of TPM
 Kobetsu Kaizen
Kaizen is for small improvements, but carried out on a continual basis and involve all people in
the organization. Kaizen requires no or little investment. The principle behind is that “a very
large number of small improvements are more effective in an organizational environment than a
few improvements of large value.” This pillar is aimed at reducing losses in the workplace that
affect our efficiencies.
Autonomous
Maintenance
Kobetsu
Kaizen
Planned
Maintenance
Training Office
TPM
Quality
Maintenance
Safety, Health
and
Environment
Pillars of TPM
5S
(SEIRI, SEITON, SEISO, SEIKETSU, SHITSUKE)

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 Planned maintenance
It addresses the proactive approach of maintenance activities. This involves four types of
maintenance namely preventive maintenance, breakdown maintenance, corrective maintenance,
and maintenance prevention.
 Quality Maintenance
It is aimed towards customer delight through the highest quality and defect free manufacturing.
In this system, one has to take care of parts which affect product quality and try to eliminate or
modify them to give customer superior quality.
 Training
Employees should be trained such that they can analyze the root cause of the problem. General
know how of the problem is not sufficient rather they should be able to know why the problem is
occurring and how to eliminate it. For this employee need continuous training, ultimately; the
entire employee should be multi-skilled and should solve the problem in their area by
themselves.
 Office TPM
This tool is about increasing the efficiencies in office (administrative) activities. This tool works
the problems like communication issues, data retrieval processes, management information
systems, office equipment losses, up to date information about
 Safety, Health and Environment
In this area, the focus is to create a safe workplace and a surrounding area that would not be
damaged by our process or procedures. This pillar will play an active role in each of the other
pillars on a regular basis. Safe work environment means accident free, fire less and it should not
damage the health of workers.

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2.7.6. Work Standardization
A very important principle of waste reduction is the standardization of work. Standardized work
basically ensures that each job is organized and carried out in the same manner; irrespective of
the people working on it. In this way if the work is standardized the same quality output will be
received even if the worker is changed in process. At Toyota, every worker follows the same
processing steps all the time. This includes the time needed to finish a job, the order of steps to
follow for each job, and the parts on hand. By doing this one ensures that line balancing is
achieved, unwanted work in process inventory is minimized and non value added activities are
reduced. A tool that is used to standardize work is called takt time.
2.7.7. Waste Reduction Techniques
Some of the waste reduction tools include zero defects, setup time reduction, and line balancing.
The goal of zero defects is to ensure that products are fault free all the way, through continuous
improvement of the manufacturing process [21]. Human beings almost invariably will make
errors. When errors are made and are not caught then defective parts will appear at the end of the
process. However, if the errors can be prevented before they happen then defective parts can be
avoided. One of the tools that the zero defect principle uses is Poka Yoke. Poka-Yoke, which
was developed by Shingo, is an autonomous defect control system that is put on a machine that
inspects all parts to make sure that there are zero defects. The goal of Poka-Yoke is to observe
the defective parts at the source, detect the cause of the defect, and to avoid moving the defective
part to the next workstation [22]. Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) is another technique
of waste reduction. During 1950’s Ohno devised this system; and was able to reduce the die
changing time from 1 day to three minutes [23]. The basic idea of SMED is to reduce the setup
time on a machine. There are two types of setups: internal and external. Internal setup activities
are those that can be carried out only when the machine is stopped while external setup activities
are those that can be done during machining. The idea is to move as many activities as possible
from internal to external [24]. Once all activities are identified than the next step is to try to
simplify these activities (e.g. standardize setup, use fewer bolts). By reducing the setup time
many benefits can be realized. First, die-changing specialists are not needed. Second, inventory
can be reduced by producing small batches and more variety of product mix can be run. Line

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balancing is considered a great weapon against waste, especially the wasted time of workers. The
idea is to make every workstation produce the right volume of work that is sent to upstream
workstations without any stoppage [25]. This will guarantee that each workstation is working in
a synchronized manner, neither faster nor slower than other workstations.
2.7.8. Value Stream Mapping
Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a technique that was originally developed by Toyota and then
popularized by the book, Learning to See [26], by Rother and Shook. VSM is used to find waste
in the value stream of a product. Once waste is identified, then it is easier to make plan to
eliminate it. The purpose of VSM is process improvement at the system level. Value stream
maps show the process in a normal flow format. However, in addition to the information
normally found on a process flow diagram, value stream maps show the information flow
necessary to plan and meet the customer’s normal demands. Other process information includes
cycle times, inventories, changeover times, staffing and modes of transportation etc. VSMs can
be made for the entire business process or part of it depending upon necessity. The key benefit to
value stream mapping is that it focuses on the entire value stream to find system wastes and try
to eliminate the pitfall [27]. Generally, the value stream maps are of three types. Present State
Value Stream Map (PSVSM) tells about the current situation, Future State Value Stream Map
(FSVSM) can be obtained by removing wastes (which can be eliminated in the short time like
three to six months) from PSVSM and Ideal State Value Stream Mapping (ISVSM) is obtained
by removing all the wastes from the stream. The VSM is designed to be a tool for highlighting
activities. In lean terminology they are called kaizen activities, for waste reduction. Once the
wastes are highlighted, the purpose of a VSM is to communicate the opportunities so they may
be prioritized and acted upon. Hence, the prioritization and action must follow the VSM;
otherwise it is just a waste like other wastes.
2.8. Method Study
Method study focuses on how a task can (should) be accomplished. Whether controlling a
machine or making or assembling components, how a task is done makes a difference in
performance, safety, and quality. Using knowledge from ergonomics and methods analysis,
methods engineers are charged with ensuring quality and quantity standards are achieved

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efficiently and safely. Methods analysis and related techniques are useful in office environments
as well as in the factory. Methods techniques are used to analyze the following [28]:
 Movement of individuals or material. Analysis for this is performed using flow diagrams
and process charts with varying amounts of detail.
 Activity of human and machine and crew activity. Analysis for this is performed using
activity charts (also known as man-machine charts and crew charts).
 Body movement (primarily arms and hands). Analysis for this is performed using micro-
motion charts.
2.9. Labor Standards and Work Measurements
Effective operations management requires meaningful standards that can help a firm to
determine the following [29]:
 Amount of labor contribution for any product (the labor cost).
 Staffing needs (how many people it will take to meet required production).
 Cost and time estimates prior to production (to assist in a variety of decisions, from cost
estimates to make or buy decisions).
 Crew size and work balance (who does what in a group activity or on an assembly line).
 Expected production (so that both manager and worker know what constitutes a fair day’s
work).
 Basis of wage-incentive plan (what provides a reasonable incentive).
 Efficiency of employees and supervision (a standard is necessary against which to
determine efficiency).
Properly set labor standards represent the amount of time that it should take an average employee
to perform specific job activities under normal working conditions. The labor standards are set in
by historical experience, time studies, predetermined time standards and work sampling.

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2.9.1. Historical Experience
Labor standards can be estimated based on historical experience i.e. how many labor hours were
used to do a similar task when it was done last time. Based upon this experience the new time
will be fixed for any new operation or works. Historical standards have the advantage of being
relatively easy and inexpensive to obtain. They are usually available from employee time cards
or production records. However, they are not objective, and we do not know their accuracy,
whether they represent a reasonable or poor work pace, and whether unusual occurrences are
included. Because their variables are unknown, their use is not recommended. Instead, time
studies, predetermined time standards and work sampling are preferred.
2.9.2. Time Studies
The classical stopwatch study, or time study, originally proposed by Federic W. Taylor in 1881,
is still the most widely used time study method. The time study procedure involves the timing of
a sample of worker’s performance and using it to set a standard. A trained and experienced
person can establish a standard by following these eight steps [30].
 Define the task to be studied (after methods analysis has been conducted).
 Divide the task into precise elements (parts of a task that often takes no more than a few
seconds).
 Decide how many times to measure the task (the number of cycles of samples needed).
 Record elemental times and rating of performance.
 Compute the average observed cycle time. The average observed cycle time is the
arithmetic mean of the times for each element measured, adjusted for unusual influence
for each element:
𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 =
𝐬𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝
 Determine performance rating and then compute the normal time for each element.
Normal Time = (average observed cycle time) x (performance rating factor)

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 Add the normal times for each element to develop a total normal time for each task.
 Compute the standard time. This adjustment to the total normal time provides allowances
such as personal needs, unavoidable work delays and worker fatigue.
Standard Time =
𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞
𝟏−𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫
Personal time allowances are often established in the range of 4% to 7% of total time, depending
upon nearness to rest rooms, water fountains, and other facilities. Delay allowances are often set
as a result of the actual studies of the delay that occurs. Fatigue allowances are based on our
growing knowledge of human energy expenditure under various physical and environmental
conditions. The major two disadvantages of this method are; first they require a trained staff of
analysts and secondly the labor standards cannot be set before tasks are actually performed.
2.9.3. Predetermined Time Standards
Predetermined time standards divide manual work into small basic elements that already have
established times (based on very large samples of workers). To estimate the time for a particular
task, the time factors for each basic element of that task are added together. Developing a
comprehensive system of predetermined time standards would be prohibitively expensive for any
given firm. Consequently, a number of systems are commercially available. The most common
predetermined time standard is methods time measurement (MTM), which is the product of the
MTM association.
Predetermined time standards are an outgrowth of basic motions called therblings. The term
"therblig" was coined by Frank Gilbreth. Therbligs include such activities as select, grasp,
position, assemble, reach, hold, rest and inspect. These activities are stated in terms of time
measurement units (TMUs), which are each equal to only 0.00001 hour or 0.0006 minutes. MTM
values for various therbligs are specified with the help of detailed tables. Predetermined time
standards have several advantages over direct time studies.
First, they may be established in laboratory environment, where the procedure will not upset
actual production activities. Second, because the standard can be set before a task is actually

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performed, it can be used for planning. Third, no performance ratings are necessary. Fourth,
unions tend to accept this method as fair means of setting standards.
Finally, predetermined time standards are particularly effective in firms that do substantial
numbers of studies of similar tasks.
2.9.4. Work Sampling
It is an estimate of the percentage of time that a worker spends on particular work by using
random sampling of various workers. This can be conducted by the following procedures.
 Take a preliminary sample to obtain an estimate of the parameter value (such as percent
of time worker is busy).
 Compute the sample size required.
 Prepare a schedule for observing the worker at appropriate times. The concept of random
numbers is used to provide for random observation. For example, let’s say we draw the
following 5 random numbers from a table: 07, 12, 22, 25, and 49. These can then be used
to create and observation schedules of 9:07 AM, 9:12, 9:22, 9:25, and 9:49 AM.
 Observe and record worker activities.
 Determine how workers spend their time (usually as percentage).
To determine the number of observation required, management must decide upon the desired
confidence level and accuracy. First, however, the analyst must select a preliminary value for the
parameter under study. The choice is usually based on small sample of perhaps 50 observations.
The following formula then gives the sample size for a desired confidence and accuracy.
N=
𝒛 𝟐×𝐩(𝟏−𝐩)
𝒉 𝟐
Where,
n = required sample size
z = standard normal deviate for the desired confidence level
(z = 1 for 68% confidence, z = 2 for 95.45% confidence, and z = 3 for 99.73% confidence
level)

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p = estimated value of sample proportion (of time worker is observed busy or idle)
h = acceptable error level, in percent
Work sampling offers several advantages over time study methods. First, because a single
observer can observe several workers simultaneously, it is less expensive. Second, observers
usually do not require much training and no timing devices are needed. Third, the study can be
temporarily delayed at any time with little impact on the results. Fourth, because work sampling
uses instantaneous observations over a long period, the worker has little chance of affecting the
study outcome. Fifth, the procedure is less intrusive and therefore less likely to generate
objections. The disadvantages of work sampling are:
 It does not divide work elements as completely as time studies.
 It can yield biased or incorrect results if the observer does not follow random routes of
travel and observation.
 Being less intrusive, it tends to be less accurate; this is particularly true when cycle times
are short.
2.10. Layout Design
Layout is one of the key decisions that determine the long-run efficiency of operations.
Layout has numerous strategic implications because it establishes an organization’s competitive
priorities in regard to the capacity, processes, flexibility and cost as well as quality of work life,
customer contact and image. An effective layout can help an organization to achieve a strategy
that supports differentiation, low cost, or response (Heizer et al., 2000, p. 336).
The layout must consider how to achieve the following:
 Higher utilization of space, equipment, and people.
 Improved flow of information, material or people.
 Improved employee morale and safer working conditions.
 Improved customer/client interaction.
 Flexibility (whatever the layout is now, it will need to change).

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2.10.1. Types of Layout
Layout decision includes the best placement of machines (in production settings), offices and
desks (in office settings) or service center (in setting such as hospitals or department stores). An
effective layout facilitates the flow of materials, people, and information within and between
areas. There are various kinds of layouts. Some of them are as follows [31].
 Fixed Position layout – addresses the layout requirements of large, bulky projects such as
ships and buildings (concerns the movement of material to the limited storage areas
around the site).
 Process Oriented Layout – deals with low volume, high variety production (also called
‘job shop’, or intermittent production). It can manage varied material flow for each
product.
 Office Layout – fixes workers positions, their equipment, and spaces (offices) to provide
for movement of information (locate workers requiring frequent contact close to one
another).
 Retail Layout – allocates shelf space and responds to customer behavior (expose
customer to high margin items).
 Warehouse Layout – it addresses tradeoffs between space and material handlings
(balance low cost storage with low cost material handling).
 Product oriented layouts – seeks the best personnel and machine utilization in repetitive
or continuous production (equalize the task time at each workstation).
2.11. Assembly Line Balancing
Line balancing is usually undertaken to minimize imbalance between machines or personnel
while meeting a required output from the line. The production rate is indicated as cycle time to
produce one unit of the product, the optimum utilization of work force depends on the basis of
output norms. The actual output of the individual may be different from the output norms. The
time to operate the system, hence, keeps varying. It is, therefore, necessary to group certain
activities to workstations to the tune of maximum of cycle time at each work station. The
assembly line needs to balance so that there is minimum waiting of the line due to different

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operation time at each workstation. The sequencing is therefore, not only the allocation of men
and machines to operating activities, but also the optimal utilization of facilities by the proper
balancing of the assembly line [32].
The process of assembly line balancing involves three steps [33]:
 Take the units required (demand or production rate) per day and divide it into the
productive time available per day (in minutes or seconds). This operation gives us what is
called the cycle time. Namely, the maximum time that the product is available at each
workstation if the production rate is to be achieved.
Cycle time = production time available per day / units required per day
 Calculate the theoretical minimum number of workstations. This is the total task duration
time (the time it takes to make the product) divided by the cycle time. Fractions are
rounded to the next higher whole number. Cycle Time
Where n is the number of assembly tasks.
Minimum Number Workstations =
∑ 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐧
𝐢=𝟏
𝐂𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞
 Balance the line by assigning specific assembly tasks to each workstation. An efficient
balance is one that will complete the required assembly, follow the specified sequence,
and keep the idle time at each work stations to a minimum.
2.11.1. Takt Time
Takt is German word for a pace or beat, often linked to conductor’s baton. Takt time is a
reference number that is used to help match the rate of production in a pacemaker process to the
rate of sales. This can be formulated as below [34]:
Takt Time =
𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭
𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭
or, Takt Time =
𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬
𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐮𝐭

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Takt time can be defined as the rate at which customers need products i.e. the products should be
produced at least equal to takt time to meet the customer demand. Takt time works better when
customer demand is steady and clearly known; but if the customer demand varies on the daily
basis then it is difficult to calculate the takt time as well as balance the production facility
according to varying takt time. So if the orders are varying every day the information of actual
shipments (not orders) should be gathered for last few months or years and takt time for the
particular product should be calculated. In this way, the production can be balanced to meet
changing customer demand.
Types of Takt Time
There are two types of Takt time
(i) External Takt time
(ii) Internal Takt time
External Takt Time
When the producers have any mandatory time or specific time through which the required
quantity of garments must produce.
Internal Takt Time
When the producers do not have any mandatory time or specific time through which the required
quantity of garments must produce.
2.11.2. Cycle Time
Cycle time is defined as how frequently a finished product comes out of our production facility
[35]. Cycle time includes all types of delays occurred while completing a job. So cycle time can
be calculated by the following formula:
Total Cycle Time = processing time + set up time + waiting time + moving time +
inspection time + rework time + other delays to complete the job
To meet customer demand or monitor productivity the cycle time and takt time should be
balanced in parallel. The higher cycle time than takt time may result the late delivery and

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customer dissatisfaction whereas shorter cycle time than takt time may cause the excess
inventory or excess use of resource.
2.12. Summery
This chapter briefly describes lean manufacturing tools and techniques for waste reduction and
efficiency enhancement. Literature defines lean manufacturing, describes some lean tools (most
relevant to this research), work standardization and assembly line balancing tools. The lean tools
selected consist of cellular manufacturing, single piece flow, just in time (pull production), work
standardization methods, continuous improvement process, and some other waste reduction
tools. The chapter ends with the work standardization process by time studies, layout design and
assembly line balancing methods. Lean is a powerful tool, when adopted it can create superior
financial and operational results. But in many cases, the confusion about how to start lean, from
where to begin is also a problem for new practitioners. In some cases, the company tries to
implement lean but it does not give effective results and stops in-between. All these are due to
lack of clarity before implementing lean and lack of top management commitment. So to avoid
the chances of failure one has to prepare in advance for the outcomes of the lean and should
involve all employees on improvement programs. Lean is not just about the implementation of
tools but also the development of its employees to adopt these tools.
So, regular training and upgrading of employee skill is the most important factor for the success
of lean.

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CHAPTER THREE
GARMENTS MANUFACTURING PROCESS

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3.1. Industry Background
The research is conducted in garment industry whose major products are Men’s formal shirt in
various order size. The factory consists of central cutting department, 3 independent stitching
lines and central finishing (packing) section. Generally, operators are responsible for the quality
of individual work, even after that there is quality check (audit) at the end of each section
(department) so that there should not be any defective parts transferred from one section to
another section. The overall production flow chart of the shop floor is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Garments Production Process Flow Chart
Folding
Fabric
Inspection
Spreading Cutting Ticketing /
Bundling
Quality Check Preparatory Cutting Audit Fusing
Assembly Quality Check Buttoning Thread
Trimming
Pinning Quality Check Ironing
Packaging Packing Shipment

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3.2. Garments Manufacturing Process
Garment manufacturing process consists of series of different steps. These steps are broadly
divided into two categories pre-production and production process. The preproduction process
consists of designing the garment, pattern design, sample making, production pattern making,
grading and marker making. Once the sample is approved for commercial production, final
marker is made for cutting. The production process consists of cutting, stitching (preparatory and
assembly) and finishing all these process are described here.
3.2.1. Cutting Section
In cutting section fabric rolls are inspected as per work order. These inspected rolls are
segregated on two sides as the quality pass and fail. The pass rolls are taken into the next
operation whereas the fail rolls returned to store with red tags on them. After this, depending
upon the order, size and quantity ratio; the spreader spreads the fabric for cutting. Once cutting is
done, bundles of approx 20 to 30 pieces are made and fusing is done simultaneously. After
fusing, all the parts are collected and put in the cutting audit. The bundles which pass the cutting
audit are forwarded to the sewing section (i.e. preparatory section) whereas the fail bundles were
re-worked for correction.
3.2.2. Preparatory Section
In preparatory section individual parts are made for assembly purpose. It consists of four sub
sections Cuff, Collar, Front and Sleeve. Each of these sections includes the series of different
operations to complete that part. These final parts are checked (or audited) so that defective parts
should not go to the assembly operations; the flow of operations for the preparatory section is
shown in Figure 4.
In current situation, the preparatory operations are aligned in a single line in order of operation
sequence. There is a continuous long table between the machines which serves the material flow
from one operation to another. Once the operator finishes his (her) operation he (she) pushes the
WIP to the next operator in the table and this process continues to the end.

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Figure 4: Preparatory Section Production Flow Chart
Fabric Inspection
Spreading
Cutting
Ticketing and Bundling
Fusing
Cutting Audit
Re-Work Ready for
Stitching
Audit Fail Audit Pass

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3.2.3. Assembly Section
This section consists of ten operations to make one full garment. The machines are kept in single
straight line according to the operation sequence. The final garment from last operation is fully
checked and corrected immediately for any defects. WIP movement inside the assembly is made
by the help of work aids attached with each machine. The operator after completing his (her)
operation forwards the semi finished garments to the next machine with the help of work aids
attached to each machine.
Figure 5: Assembly Section Production Flow Chart
Yoke Attach
Shoulder Attach
Sleeve Tacking
Sleeve Attach
Sleeve Top stitch
Side Seam
Collar Attach
Collar Close
Cuff Attach
Bottom Hem

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This process continues to the end of assembly line for each operation. At the same time the
required parts from preparatory are carried up to the assembly section manually. The flow chart
for the assembly operation is shown in Figure 5.
3.2.4. Finishing Section
Finishing section consists of three major operations such as buttoning and thread cleaning,
ironing and final packing.
Figure 6: Finishing Section Production Flow Chart
Button Attach
Thread Trimming
Thread sucking
Sleeve Press
Collar/Cuff Press
Body Press
Folding
Single Piece packing
Carton Packing
Buttoning
Pressing
Packing

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But in some garment washing is needed, in this case washing should be done before buttoning to
minimize damages in garments for longer washing cycles. In the case company after buttoning
there is thread cleaning section followed by ironing, finishing and packing. The operation
sequence for finishing section is shown in 6.
3.3. Style Communication
Style communication between different staffs and operators is critical part of garment
manufacturing to minimize style related confusion during production. Because the fashion
changes so frequently that there may be the need of producing new styles every day, so in this
situation if the shop floor people didn't get accurate information for the garment being produced
chances of mistakes are high. To minimize difficulties of this kind, there is pre-production
meeting between shop floor supervisors, machine technicians and operators. The purpose of this
meeting is to communicate about the various requirements of the upcoming style, for example
critical operations on the garment, type of machine and machine accessories required, garment
specifications, type of seams, target production per day, total order quantity, size ratio etc. In
some industries trial production is done for every new style, this helps to minimize the confusion
and rejection during bulk production. In this system commercial production starts only after
checking the final parameters of trial production. But nowadays, due to very small order quantity
(order volume) the trial production may not be feasible for each style. In such case a clear
information flow is of great importance.
3.4. Existing Production Layout
Existing layout of the sewing section (preparatory and assembly) is given in Figure 8. In this
layout, the individual parts are made in preparatory sections and these parts are then transported
manually to the assembly section. In the assembly section, these parts are assembled to shape a
final garment. There is quality check at the end of each section to avoid defective parts to the
next step. WIP movement in preparatory section is made with the help of the long table along
with machines, whereas work aids attached with each machine serves this purpose in the
assembly section.

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Cuff Run Stitch
Cuff Trimming
Cuff Trimming and Blocking
Cuff Button Hole
Collar Run Stitch
Collar Top Stitch
Collar Band Hem
Collar Band Attach
Collar Band Top Stitch
Collar Trimming
Collar Blocking
Collar Top Stitch
Collar Band Attach
Collar Notch Making
Pocket Marking
Pocket Attach
Pocket Attach
Left Front Placket
Front Button Hole
Pocket Hem
Pocket Iron
Extra Machine
Right Front
Back Yoke Level attach
Sleeve Placket Attach
Sleeve Placket Attach
Sleeve Pleats
Sleeve Diamond
Sleeve Diamond
Sleeve Button Hole
Collar, Cuff, Front, Sleeve Storage Rack
Cuff Hem
Cuff Run Stitch
Cuff top Stitch
Cuff top Stitch
TableForWIPMovement
Side Seam
Collar Attach
Collar close
Cuff Attach
Button Hem
Yoke attach
Shoulder Attach
Yoke Tacking
Sleeve Attach
Sleeve Top Stitch
Side Seam
Collar Attach
Collar Close
Cuff Attach
Button Hem
Yoke attach
Shoulder Attach
Yoke Tacking
Sleeve Attach
Sleeve Top Stitch
Yoke
Feeding
Front
Feeding
Sleeve
Feeding
Yoke
Feeding
Front
Feeding
Sleeve
Feeding
Figure7: Existing Production Layout of stitch Section

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3.5. WIP Movement System
There are different types of WIP movement systems applied in garment manufacturing
industries. Some of them are traditional, for example by trolleys or by hand carry. Some
advanced factories use the slow motion conveyor to move the parts from one operation to
another operation. The conveyor is designed such that it moves according to the operation
sequence. In this system, the first operator stitches and puts the part in the conveyor, and then the
next operator receives that part. He also sews it and puts it in the conveyor. In this way, the
unnecessary movement is reduced. This method is generally suitable for single piece movement.
In some industries, the work aids are designed such that the piece moves in forward directions.
When the first operator finishes his operation he gives it directly to the next operator with the
help of work aids, and this process continues. Thus the selection of the WIP movement method
depends upon the design layout, the technological advancement of the industry as well as
expertise of the personnel.

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CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH OF THE EXISTING PRODUCTION

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The research consists of conducting time and motion study of stitching operations. By doing this,
stitching operations will be standardized and production targets for each operation will be fixed.
Secondly, batch processing is converted into single piece movement by the implication of new
layout (cellular manufacturing). This will serve the purpose of WIP reduction. For the ease of
operator movement between machines, sitting operations were converted into standing. The
worker multi-skilling is achieved by the concept of assembly line balancing. As in cellular
manufacturing the numbers of operators are less than the number of operations (machines), one
operator has to perform at least three to four operations. This will help to increase operator skill.
Finally, flexibility in production is achieved by reduced WIP and multi-skilled operators, who
can work on multiple styles immediately.
4.1. Conducting Time Study
To calculate standard time for each operation, time study is conducted in the shop floor. To do
this, the standard formal shirt is selected as a base line because operations differ from style to
style and it is difficult to correlate all these operations of individual styles. After that, at least two
operators were selected for each operation so that the difference in timing can be cross checked
from the observed data of these two operators. To get better results, each operation time is taken
for at least 15 cycles. Once time study is made by collecting raw data the performance rating is
given to each operator and actual time is calculated for particular operation. Finally the Personal
Fatigue and Delay (PFD) component is added on the calculated time and the operation time is
standardized. The format of time study data collection sheet is attached in this thesis.
While conducting time study some parameters are kept fixed (for example machine speed,
stitches per inch, type of machine used etc.) to get consistent results. The PFD factor is taken as
15% of total time. This PFD is a little bit higher than normal industry standard; it is taken higher
considering the standing operation and operator’s movement inside the cell. Similarly the
average performance rating is taken 100% for the ease of calculation only. This rating is adjusted
average of actual ratings. The calculated SAM value for each section is attached in this thesis.

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4.2. Creating Cellular Layout
In new cellular layout some operations were removed from the existing one. First, the quality
checking points were removed from the preparatory, because the operator who is producing
garments should be aware of quality standards and should work accordingly. After that,
approximately four operations were removed from the process (three operations were combined
with other operations and one operation is completely removed by changing the operation
sequence). Once operations were finalized, creation of work cells takes place. The creation of
cells is as per the operations needed to complete individual parts. For example, in case of cuff
section there are approximately six operations to make the complete cuff. Thus all these
operations related to cuff sections are grouped in one cell. Similarly, operations of other sections
are also grouped in their respective cells and given individual name. Total, five cells were
created (four cells in preparatory section and one cell in assembly) to complete the garment.
The assembly operations are kept at the center and all other preparatory operations were aligned
in four sides of assembly. The cells working in preparatory operations (Cuff, Collar, Front and
Sleeve) were aligned such that the last operation of each preparatory section should directly
supply its final products to the respective first operation of assembly (for example, cuff section
supplies cuff to the cuff attach of assembly, collar section supplies collar to the collar attach,
sleeve section supplies sleeves to the sleeve attach, front section supplies fronts to the shoulder
attach of assembly section). This will eliminate WIP movement from preparatory to assembly. In
this way, the preparatory and assembly operations were kept in a close loop. In this new layout,
after feeding cut parts they will be converted into final garment immediately because there is no
WIP storage area, as well as operators are not allowed to build up a WIP, rather they should
change their operation immediately if WIP seems increasing. At the same time, each operator is
responsible for their work because quality checkers were removed from the line. Only the final
products after assembly are audited randomly for ensuring the quality of output. The
recommended new layout is shown in Figure 8.
The cellular layout suggested in this research is selected for single piece flow because of cost
effectiveness, operator skill enhancement as well as to shorten the time to implement it. Because
there is no need for ordering or installing any new equipment, it is just re-arranging the available
machines inside the shop floor. This work of single piece movement can also be done with the

43 | P a g e
help of automation (like slow speed conveyor and hanger system) but it may take considerable
time to install, significant amount of cost as well as time to train the employees about the
working principle of the system. Even after using the automation system (slow speed conveyor
or hanger) the operator multi-skilling cannot be achieved because in this case also operators are
in fixed allocated operations whereas the conveyor rotates pieces automatically, it serves only the
single piece movement but not the multi-skilling.
4.3. Work Balancing between Operators
After defining work flow and creating cellular layout, the challenge is division of work between
operators. The work should be divided in such a way that each operator should get equal work
load. This will motivate operators in their work as a result of which there is improvement in
productivity. To achieve this a few elements were considered as key elements and acted
accordingly as below.
 All the sitting operations were converted into standing operations. This will help to travel
between machines so that one operator can handle multiple machines within the cell. This
is very difficult in case of sitting operations.
 Operators should be trained for at least three to four operations of their respective work
cells. This will help to rotate operators between different operations.
 To create pull system, the capacity of assembly is made marginally higher than
preparatory operations. In this way every time when assembly operators are out of pieces,
everybody’s attention will go to preparatory section cells and they will produce more for
assembly operators.
 The numbers of operators are less than the number of work stations (machine) for
rotating operators between different operations; this helps in balancing the work load
between operators.

44 | P a g e
2.
Shoulder
attach
3. Sleeve
attach
4. Sleeve
Top Stitch
5. Side
Seam
Final
Product
9. Button
Hem
8. Cuff
Attach
7. Collar
Close
1. Back Yoke
Attach
6. Collar Attach
7. Collar Notch
Making
6. Collar Band
Top Stitch
5. Collar Band
Attach
4. Collar Band
hem
3. Collar Top
Stitch
2. Collar
Blocking
1. Collar Run
Stitch
8. Back Yoke
Level Attach
7. Front
Button Hole
6. Right
Front
1. Pocket
Marking
2. Pocket
Press
3. Pocket
Press
4. Pocket
Attach
5. Left Front
Placket
Cuff Section
Front Section
Assembly
Section
Collar
Section
Figure 8: Recommended stitching section layout
2. Sleeve
Diamond
3. Sleeve
Hole
4. Sleeve
Pleats
1. Sleeve Placket
Attach
Sleeve
Section
6. Cuff
press
5. Cuff
Hole
4. Cuff
Top
Stitch
3. Cuff
Blocking
2. Cuff
Run
Stitch
1. Cuff
Hem

45 | P a g e
 Finally, work is divided among operators of individual cells as per SAM. This is a little
bit difficult job because different operations have different timings. So, the worker who is
working in a job which takes less time should not build up WIP, rather should change his
(her) machine and do the next consecutive operation. In this way, all the workers will
rotate inside the cell in zigzag pattern to balance the work. This way of moving operators
inside the work cell is called floating balancing. The number of work stations and number
or operators in different work cells is shown in Table 2; which shows that there are
sufficient work stations to rotate operators. In total 23 operators are working on 34
machines (operations). Thus when WIP increases the operator should immediately switch
to the next operation and move forward.
4.4. Critical Operation Handling
Any product consists of a set of different operations with varying time and skill requirements in
each stage. Even within the same work cell some operations are critical in comparison to others.
The criticality of operation can be of different types; for 57 example the job may be critical being
more time consuming than other jobs, or it may need specific skill to complete it, or may need
high attention because of customer complaints, or may be due to machine capacity etc. So after
identifying the critical operations special attention should be given to them, because these are the
weakest links of the chain and if one link drops the whole chain may be disturbed.
TABLE 1: Section wise number of operation and number of operator requirement
Section No. of Operations No. of Operators
Collar 6 4
Cuff 7 4
Sleeve 8 5
Assembly 9 3
Total 34 23

46 | P a g e
In this research, the critical operations were identified for each cell. For example, in case of cuff
section cuff run stitch (high time consuming) and cuff top stitch (special skill needed due to
thickness of stitching area) are critical operations. In case of collar section collar band attach
(due to large number of parts to be handled simultaneously) is critical operation. Similarly, the
pocket ironing (due to frequent iron weight lifting) and pocket attach (due to different shapes of
pocket as well as from the aesthetic point of view; because the pocket is in the center of the
garment in front side) are critical operations in front section and sleeve diamond making
(garment folding skill for making diamond) for sleeve section. In case of assembly, cuff attach
(due to thickness of the stitching area and accurate alignment of garment) is most difficult as
well as time taking work. So while balancing a cell, extra care should be given to these
operations. At the same time, some extra operators should be trained for critical operations. This
58will save from drastic production loss in absence of critical operators or due to breakdowns of
machines for these operations.
4.5. Trial Production on New Layout
There are a few challenges in this process because this layout is new to the people who have
been working for years. The first difficulty is because of conversion of sitting operations to
standing. Because operators were habitual of operating sitting machines and when these sitting
machines were converted into standing they lost their control on pedal and it took some time to
train them. Secondly, for work balancing purpose one operator has to perform multiple
operations by changing machines, whereas operators don’t like to work on multiple machines
because they feel that management is overloading work on them. The operators were convinced
by saying that if people move around the machine they will not tire of the same operation and
can work more effectively as well as feel less tired. At the same time they will learn multiple
operations within their cell, which increases their skill and confidence. Similarly, the balancing
of a cell is as per standard allocated minutes; so all the operators were given equal work load
within their cell. Earlier to this, the critical operators were blaming management and supervisors
for allocating them in difficult operations. Now by the implementation of SAM for work
balancing the problem of uneven work load is solved.

47 | P a g e
CHAPTER FIVE
RESULT ANALYSIS

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5.1. Throughput Time Comparison
In the existing batch production system throughput time is too high and sometimes, it took even
two days (7.5 hour per day X 2 days = 15 hours) to complete a 20-minute garment. In existing
situation operators took bundles of cut panels from cutting department and started producing
assembly parts like cuff, collar, front and sleeves in respective sections. The problem comes
when the preparatory sections produces unequal amount of parts. For example, cuff section
produces 800 pieces of cuffs, collar section produces 600 pieces of collar, sleeve section
produces 900 pieces of sleeves and front section produces 200 pieces of fronts.
In this case maximum number of garments that can be produced will be 200 pieces only. In batch
production, if everything goes well, pieces are produced without quality defects, there is no
machine breakdown etc. and operator follows the bundle sequence properly it will take minimum
220 to 230 minutes. (Approximately 90 minutes in preparatory and 136 minutes in assembly to
complete one bundle). Whereas this time is less than an hour in case of single piece flow
recommended by this study. On the other hand, strict follow up of ticketing numbers is another
issue in garment industry. Due to shade variation, the garment parts of different ticketing
numbers cannot be mixed even though they are of the same size. Thus in some cases even if all
preparatory sections (collar, cuff, front and sleeve) produce equal number of parts in their
respective area they cannot be used in assembly if they hadn’t followed proper ticketing number.
In some cases, the problem appears due to quality issues or reworks. The operator works in
bundle system and one bundle consists of approx 20 to 30 pieces. While checking these bundles;
if quality checker find defects even in a few pieces, then the whole 60 bundle will be returned to
the concerned operator for correction. Thus the mistake in one or two pieces may hold the
complete bundle (i.e. 20 to 30 pieces) causing unbalanced WIP. In this way if there is quality
related issue in different bundles on different sections, the garment cannot be completed. For
example, there are 4 bundles with 25 pieces in each bundle are loaded in stitching sections from
cutting department. Suppose, cuff section has noticed rework in bundle number 1, collar section
has to rework in bundle number 2, front section has to rework in bundle number 3 and sleeve
section has to rework in bundle number 4, then the output for assembly will be zero. Because
while feeding in assembly all parts of same bundle number should be loaded but in this case
there is not even a single bundle cleared from all the sections.

49 | P a g e
In the existing system, operators start producing parts continuously at their full efficiency
irrespective of the requirement of succeeding operation. Due to this there is huge WIP in
between processes, which creates problems because as the WIP increases, the chances of
mistakes also increase. The most important part of low WIP is; anything which feeds in
production line became finished product at product cycle time. Once the problems are noticed
during processing these will be corrected immediately which minimizes the cost of quality. For
example, in case of batch production, if there are different styles running in preparatory and
assembly and the quality checker finds some defects after assembly, then to correct this is very
difficult. Because in preparatory, different style is running and the operator has already removed
the trims (thread, label, buttons etc.) of previous style. In this case operator’s time is wasted in
searching these items (trims) and chance of misuse of trims is very high. Thus the possibility of
rework will increase with increasing quantity and time of WIP (the older the WIP, the more
chances of rework).
Firstly, the problem of low flexibility is eliminated by cellular manufacturing, because there is
very low WIP inside the process, so the line can be changed immediately if needed. This helps to
make different kinds of products in the same production line depending upon requirements,
whereas in case of old production layout this cannot be implemented. Because when there is a
need to change the style, the pile up of existing WIP takes time to finish before loading new
style. In some cases it may take a few days also to clear it whereas the delivery time may pass
out by that time. Although, in some exceptional cases, if the management tries to produce urgent
orders in the existing line it is very difficult because the running WIP should be packed for future
and new style will run in the line. This increases the chances of mixing trims (threads, labels,
buttons etc.) of two different styles; which increases rework percentages.
Secondly, by following JIT for production and purchase of items reduces in house WIP which
serves two things. First, the unnecessary handling of large amount of raw materials and finished
goods is reduced which saves store people’s time as well as warehouse space.
Thirdly, the working capital requirement is also low because of small order size and fast rotation
of fund due to short production lead time. In this way, small amount of money can generate
significant profit. Thirdly, all stitching operations were standardized by means of time and
working procedures, this will help management to know the production target per line and can

50 | P a g e
make the production plan before loading actual products in the shop floor. This advance
knowledge of the production target helps to allocate production operators on different styles
according to the delivery schedule.
Similarly, allocation of workers in different work cells is as per the standard operation time.
This motivates operators towards their work, because everybody is given equal work load by this
system. At the same time each operator inside the cell should have to work on multiple
operations. This eliminates accusing to supervisors for inappropriate allocations of operators in
difficult operations. The other benefit of using cellular manufacturing is consistent output. In
existing batch processing, if the critical operators were absent or there is any problem in
machines of critical operations, the final output may drop drastically because there are few
operators who can work on multiple jobs, whereas there is no such problem in case of cellular
layout, because there are lots of operators who can do multiple operations. This eliminates the
problem of production hikes and lows. In this way, consistent output can be achieved in cellular
manufacturing.
5.2. Comparison of Production Time
Production time of the garment has been reduced by 1.52 minutes (i.e. approximately 4.2%).
This has been achieved by combining 3 operations with other operations (cuff trimming
combined with cuff run stitch, collar trimming combined with collar run stitch and sleeve tacking
combined with sleeve attach) and by eliminating one operation (collar peak ironing removed by
changing the shape of fusing). The time needed to complete the work on different sections is
shown in Figure 9.

51 | P a g e
Figure 9: Comparison of production time for different stitching sections
5.3. Comparison of Number of Operation
The number of operation needed to complete garments is reduced to 37 from 44. In total 4
operations were removed from stitching section and 3 operations from quality checking section.
Those operations were not adding any value to the final product; so they were removed. The
comparison of the number of operations before and after situation is shown in Figure 10.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Cuff Collar Front Sleeve Assembly
Production Time Section Wise (Minutes)
Before
After
Different Stitching Sections
ProductionTime(Min)

52 | P a g e
Figure 10: Comparison of number of operation in different sections
5.4. Comparing Number of Operator Required
In case of batch production, there used to be one operator in each machine and one additional
person who can work at least in two to three operations for balancing the flow. The job of this
extra operator is to support in critical operations and minimize operational bottlenecks. Whereas
in case of single piece flow the operators are allocated as per standard allowed minutes in each
cell and they will balance the work according to their need. In single piece flow, the rotation of
operators is defined by the SAM and situation of WIP. The number of operators used in different
sections is shown in Fiqure11.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Cuff Collar Front Sleeve Assembly Quality
Checks
WIP &
Trims
Section Wise Number of Operations
Before
After
NumberofOperation

53 | P a g e
Figure 11: Comparison of Number of operator required in different sections
5.5. Comparison of Information Flow
In existing layout the production line is very long, starting from preparatory to the end of
assembly. Because of this, communication and information flow is difficult and for each and
every thing supervisor has to walk around the line frequently. In case of new layout (cellular
layout) the information flow is effective and quick. Because, the group of people who are in the
same cell, works in compact area where each operator is in direct contact with other operator of
the cell and they know each other’s job inside the cell. This makes information flow fast and
accurate. Whereas this cannot be achieved in long assembly line; where one operator is in
contact with only two operators (one operator before and one operator after his operation) so
neither he can give any suggestion nor he knows the issues of other operation i.e. workers are not
participating in each other’s work, rather working independently.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Cuff Collar Front Sleeve Assembly Quality
Checks
WIP &
Trims
Section Wise Number of Operators
Before
After
NumberofOperators

54 | P a g e
5.6. Comparison of Rework Level
The rework level has been decreased by 76% over existing trends. In existing production, the
rework level is approximately 7% but after implementation of recommended layout the rework
level falls to 2%. The main reason for rework reduction is due to reduction in WIP and balanced
work cells. Due to low inventory, mistakes are clearly visible and if any defect is found in the
garment, it will be cleared inline, and the piece comes out as a final product. In case of batch
processing, until the defect is noticed operators may have piled up bunch of WIP and it is very
difficult to clear defective parts. In some cases, there may be new style running in the next
section before finding defects. This is the most difficult work for clearing defective parts. The
older the WIP becomes, the more difficult to clear because there is high possibility of mixing
trims (threads, buttons, labels etc.) and confusion regarding style related specifications.
5.7. Operator Skill Improvement
In case of batch processing, due to sitting operation one operator works in one operation only for
long time. There is rare chance for operators to do multiple jobs; they do multiple jobs only in
critical situations so they don’t have much knowledge of another job. They may work more
efficiently on the job they were trained but have lack of knowledge for other jobs in the same
production line. Whereas in case of cellular manufacturing all operators should have to learn at
least three to four operations to balance the cell. This is achieved by rotating operators in
between machines for the smooth flow of pieces. In previous batch production, there were only a
few operators who know multiple operations, so when the critical operators were absent total
output was affected drastically, whereas in case of cellular layout the output will remain
consistent irrespective of these factors.

55 | P a g e
5.8. Operator Motivation
In new layout, operators are motivated because all operators are working in multiple operations
in rotation. So there is no arguing that someone is doing a difficult operation and others are
working in easier operations. On the other hand, this is not possible in batch production because
of specific allocated work for the whole day. Similarly, in case of new layout, operators are
treated as a group inside the cell so their combined effort is to do better and produce more.
Likewise, operators cannot work carelessly because they will be immediately caught by the next
operator inside the cell, so the combined result of all these factors motivates them to do better in
each step.

56 | P a g e
CHAPTER SIX
RESEARCH SUMMERY

57 | P a g e
6.1. Conclusions
In this study the lean manufacturing tools and techniques were studied and used in case company
(garment manufacturing industry). The problem of batch processing of existing company is
addressed by using single piece movement of WIP. This is achieved by converting sitting
operation to standing operation and by converting long assembly line into small work cells. Thus
by converting long assembly line into work cells, the assumed worker multi-skilling seems
effective as well as communication between operators is fast and accurate. The other benefits
observed are the flexibility of style changeover and rework reduction. Thus the initial
assumptions were solved by this study in the case company.
6.2. Limitations of the Study
This research is limited to the sewing section only, but the lean principles can be implemented in
other areas of the shop floor also like cutting and finishing. The lean can bring lots of
improvements in cutting area also. For example, even if the small amount of fabric can be saved
by the implementation of lean it will save significant amount of money because fabric is the most
expensive part of any garment. So the research can be extended to the other areas of the
industries also.
The line balancing is made as per manual calculation and assuming every operator knows at least
three to four operations of respective cells, but operators may not necessarily know this much
operation fluently. Thus while selecting operators for the particular cell it is necessary to check
whether the operator is suitable for that work or not because the cell will perform best if all the
group members have the same skill level. Thus, if there is a high skill gap, between operators of
the same cell it is difficult to balance and will give reduced efficiency.
Normally, the stitching operations are given personal fatigue and delay allowances of 9% to
11%, but due to standing operation and frequent movement from machine to machine this is
taken as 15% without any scientific calculation. This needs to be checked with a proper study of
ergonomics to get better results.
The study compares different parameters of the existing production system and the
recommended system for example production time, rework percentages, operator multi skilling,

58 | P a g e
operation flexibility etc. but this study cannot correlate all these data to their equivalent financial
values. It would be important to do this to attract top management’s attention, because the top
management can decide whether to continue the lean or stop it by evaluating financial figures.
6.3. Recommendations for Future Research
In this research, only the stitching operations of a formal shirt are standardized due to time
limitation and availability of running style during the time of research. But this work can be
extended for any new style and data bank should be prepared for other styles also. This will
minimize the duplication of work and it is easier to calculate standard time of new style by
reallocation of some operations over existing. In the research the idea of cellular manufacturing
has been implemented to increase the productivity. This can be further improved by using the
system of group incentive and reward systems. Similarly, the sitting operations have been
converted into standing operations for the better movement of operators in between the
machines, from the perspective of work balancing and uniform work load distribution. But it is
necessary to understand whether this standing operation is appropriate from the ergonomic point
of view or not. Similarly if there is any short (long) term health problem of standing operation or
not. Because most of the workers were ladies and this mass consists of some pregnant women
also. So this issue needs to be reviewed some other way also, rather than productivity point of
view only.

59 | P a g e
CHAPTER SEVEN
REFERENCES

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