Subject: Apparel Manufacturing Process, M.F.

Tech-II

PART A

Short answers

Q. No. 1 - Answer the following

a) Coffee vending machine is an example of push or pull system? Why.

A great example to show how a pull system works is the coffee vending machine. A system in which
work is done if and when there’s an actual demand for it. Remember that value is what the customer
wants and is willing to pay for – not necessarily what you think they want. Pull system is-

 Based on demand
 Supplies current needs
 Works with precision
 Tends to eliminate waste
 Higher level of adaptation

Manufacturing system in which production is based on actual daily demand (sales), and where
information flows from market to management in a direction opposite to that in traditional (push)
systems.

Figure 1 Diagrammatic Representation of pull system

b) How was TOC different from other traditional system followed?

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a concept developed by Eliyahu Goldratt while he was trying to
create a planning program to make chicken coops for a friend. The TOC addresses three major
concepts. It covers-

 Process bottlenecks,
 The logic of problem solving, and
 Contains a touch of business theory that nicely simplifies the topic of money in a
manufacturing business.

His system is strong on

 Inventory reductions,
 Reduced lead time, and
 Reduced batch sizes, all needed to accelerate cash flow.

His theory is very weak on quality and many other aspects of waste. TOC is often a solid place to start
for many businesses before they embark on a journey into Lean Manufacturing. On the other hand, if
you have a pure make-to-order system, with multiple routings and highly variant machine cycle times
then TOC is effective.

PART B

Long answers

Q. No. 2- Competition in the manufacturing industry over the next decade will be focused on the
ability to flexibly and rapidly respond to changing market conditions. With significantly
shortened product life cycles, manufacturers have found that they can no longer capture market
share and gain higher profits by producing large volumes of a standard product for a mass
market. Success in manufacturing requires the adoption of methods that can manage
anticipated change with precision while providing a fast and flexible response to unanticipated
changes.

Which system in manufacturing would you suggest to fulfill the above requirements and why?

TPS (Toyota production system) is a manufacturing system that-

1. Has a focus on quantity control to reduce cost by eliminating waste

2. Is built on a strong foundation of process and product quality

3. Is fully integrated

4. Is continually evolving

5. Is perpetuated by a strong healthy culture that is managed consciously, continuously, and

consistently
These skills and tactics are the foundation for the quality and quantity control aspects. Some very old
engineering techniques are used within the TPS. In addition, some old techniques with new twists, as
well as some totally new techniques, are also included. These manufacturing aspects include:

• The makeup of the typical production cell/line and how quality is handled
• Handling multiple models of a product
• The use of “pull” versus “push” technology
• The issue of changeover times
• How parts and subassemblies are transported in the plant
• How finished product demand and supply variations are handled
• How quality is managed
• How cycle time variations are managed
• How line availability is managed In the next subsection, we shall review them in
order

The following essentially summarizes the majority of the technical issues in the TPS:

• Production cells flowing using pull production systems

• Balanced, so synchronized flow is achieved
• Producing at takt rate
• Using kanban to reduce inventory
• Rate and product mix leveled to minimize inventory
• Using cycle/buffer/safety stocks to handle internal and external rate fluctuations
(while keeping cell production stable)

PART C

Case study

Q. No. 3- Select any lean tool and explain the basic features, advantages and disadvantages of it.
With the help of case study explain how the same lean tool was used for the apparel company
and how it helped the company

Introduction-The history of lean involves companies such as Toyoda, Ford, Ohno, Taylor and
many others. Read about their accomplishments and contributions. When we talk about lean,
the first name that strikes our mind is Toyota. However, it is worth noting that the history of
lean started way back in 1450s in Venice, and thereafter the first person who integrated the
concept of lean in the manufacturing system was Henry Ford.

Further, in 1799, Eli Whitney came with the concept of interchangeable parts. Then in 1913,
Henry Ford propounded the flow of production by experimenting with interchanging and
movement of different parts so as to achieve standardization of work. However, there was a
limitation to the Ford’s system that it lacked variety and was applied to only one
specification. It was only after the World War II in 1930s Toyota inspired from the Ford’s
flow of production concept and invented the Toyota Production System. The premise of this
new system is to change the focus from the use and utilization of individual machines to the
work flow from the total process. The Toyota Product system aims at reducing the cost of
production, enhancing the quality of products and increasing the throughput times so that the
dynamic customer needs are met. Some of the steps that the system incorporated are the
sight- sizing of the machines keeping in consideration the needed volume of production, self-
regulating features of machine so that the quality of the manufactured products is enhanced,
sequencing the machines as per the process, develop quick steps so that the manufacturing of
multiple parts in comparative small volume becomes possible and keeping a strong
communication of the requirements of the parts between the steps of the process.

The core idea of lean manufacturing is actually quite simple it eliminates waste in our
manufacturing process and improves productivity with least waste and act as a Sustainable
solution in fast paced organization.

So what is waste?

The Seven Wastes of Lean Manufacturing are-

 Transport

 Inventory

 Motion

 Waiting

 Over-Processing

 Overproduction

 Defects

Waste is defined as any activity that does not add value to any firm or processes. According
to research conducted by the Lean Enterprise Research Centre (LERC), fully 60% of
production activities in a typical manufacturing operation are waste – they add no value at all
for the customer.

It can be difficult to find reliable and well-written information about improvement techniques
for manufacturing. So, our goal is to provide you with the absolute best source of easy-to-
understand information for helping you improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and
profitability of manufacturing operations.

Tool- DMAIC stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control. Waste elimination
from a process is one of the core objectives of the lean Manufacturing. Waste elimination
program is implemented. For lean 3 types of objectives can be taken up -

 Quality improvement

 Cost reduction

 Lead time reduction

These all objectives can be used side by side to improve efficiency of the firm.
- Define Phase:

(D – Define the problem in terms of what is wrong)

Following steps may be applied for effective problem definition:

1. Understand the problem

2. Develop a problem statement

3. Set the project objective and goals

4. Define the milestones for project completion

5. Form a project team and describe the role of team members

Understanding the Problem

 Is quality a problem?

 Is productivity a problem?

 Is cost a problem?

 Is delivery a problem

 Is safety a problem?

 Is morale a problem?
Assess the damage: how much damage does the problem cause? How much qualitative,
quantitative and financial impact does it make?

Goal statement

 Goal statement defines the improvement (result) project team is seeking to

accomplish.

 Starts with a verb (reduce, eliminate, control, increase, improve etc.)

 Provides measurable targets with a completion date

 Statement is actionable and sets the focus, motivates team

 Does not include the presumed cause or prescribed solutions.

Example goal statement:

Reduce the rejection rate at unit 2 from current level to 2% by the end of next quarter ending
30th September.

-Measure Phase

(M – Measure the non-conformance / abnormality)

The main activities of measure phase are:

 Clarify measurement objectives

 Develop process map

 Decide what data to be collected

 Collect and compile valid data

Decide what data to be collected:

 What data is needed?

 Clarify the operational definition of each measurement

 Determine the measurement methods that will be required

 Determine the sample size

 Make a data collection plan

Collect Data: Collect data on the relationship between defects (result) and various factors
that influence it. Collect data impartially. Do not collect only data that is easy and convenient
to collect. Investigate from many different points of view to discover variation in the results.
Design appropriate formats for data collection. Compile data in appropriate format that can
facilitate correct and quick analysis.

-Analyze Phase

(A – Analyze the situation to establish root cause)

As explained earlier the objective of the analysis is to reach the root cause of the problem.
This step is divided into two parts.

1. Set up hypotheses &

2. Test the hypotheses

-Control phase

(C- Control through prevention of reoccurrence)

This step is must in lean manufacturing

 To make sure that system and processes stay in controlled condition after problem is
solved

 To hold the gains of improvement

 To quickly detect the “out of control” state and take immediate corrective and
preventive action

To hold the gain of improvement following control must be taken by the project teams:

 Process control

 Standardization

 Mistake proofing

 Education and training

Advantages-

 DMAIC has a proven track record of adding value and ensuring quality to the output
of a business in the form of incremental improvements to a product or a service.
 It may also be used to optimize supply chain processes and increase customer
satisfaction. The benefits may go beyond simple problem-solving and consider the
entire production process from the raw materials to the end product, as opposed to
only the end product.
 It is a proactive methodology that identifies and provides recommendations for
potential problems before the company incurs any form of loss.
 It may be implemented in several categories within a business, directly impacting
profitability and reducing costs.
  Used to reduce delays in garment delivering, Defects in sewing sections, to improve
productivity, reduce time in spreading sections, Process improvement

Disadvantages-

 DMAIC inspects the business processes minute-by-minute and generates large

amounts of empirical data, leading to time-consuming and complicated procedures.
 It is a quality improvement process at its root, adoption of its protocols often leads to
an increase in the overall costs.
 Sometimes when a company implements DMAIC, problems arise as the company
focuses on Six Sigma endorsed policies only and forgets about its specific mission
statement or policies. For small businesses, it may constrain new ideas favoring
creativity and innovation, which require some risk-taking to implement.
 Companies have to find certified Six Sigma institutes to train their employees or
conduct in-house training without formal certification. The cost of Six Sigma
adoption by small businesses is too high to be feasible. Even large companies must
provide a lot of training for employees to grasp the system.

Ref:- For case study

http://www.ijeert.org/pdf/v3-i9/5.pdf

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2e10/b43c1636d2ad15105a6d722bfceb614e565f.pdf

Next I have studied, “Impacts of lean tools and techniques for improving manufacturing
performance in garment manufacturing scenario: a case study.”

The study has been conducted after studying for one year at garment industry in Tirupur. This
research concentrated the application of lean concepts to the bulk manufacturing sector with a
focus on garment firms and several lean tools & techniques have been applied in the
garments industry. Data has been taken from the past reports.

Define- The main objective is to reduce waste by applying 5S concept and using DMAIC
methodology. A total of 23981Shirts, Pants and T- shirts were checked and 1169 pieces were
found defective and its 7.9% defective.
Several lean wastes are determined which affects the production process of the firms, after
visiting the garment firms, According to lean concepts these garment wastes in selected firms
are-

* Overproduction

*Waiting

*Transportation

*Inventory

*Excess motion

*Defect

*Over Processing

-Under Utilization of People

Measure- During this phase, after discussions with the production manager and line
supervisor’s data has been collected independently as per requirement. Pareto chart is made
to identify the main concern of wastage.
-Analyze phase- In this phase root cause analysis has been used or Ishikawa flow diagram has
been used to find the root cause of the problem. All the causes has been identified which can
result in the fomation of defects.

-Improve phase- these were the solution given by brainstorming to find the solutions and 5s
concept has been used to improve the defects rates Sort, Set In order, Shine, Standardize and
Sustain.
Control phase- In this stage controlled garment defectives eliminated from 11.29% to 5.27%
which is approximately 53.3% of improvement for profit earned Rs 2075959/- in selected
garment firms by lean tools.

Conclusion- Garment defectives eliminated from 11.29% to 5.27% which is approximately

53.3% of improvement for profit earned Rs 2075959/- in selected garment firms by lean
tools.