Application of value stream mapping in the Procurement Department

of Artistic Milliners (Pvt.) Ltd.

By
Anum Anwar 23774
Farwa Batool Fatima 23877
Mahinoor Zainab 23678
Perah Abro 23673

Capstone-1 Supervisor
Dr. Mahmood Ali

Department of Supply Chain Management

College of Business Management
Institute of Business Management (IoBM)
Karachi
May 5th, 2020

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 Acknowledgement

We, Perah Abro, Mahinoor Zainab, Farwa Batool Fatima and Anum Anwar; would like to

express our deepest appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Mahmood Ali for providing us with an

opportunity to put in practice what we learnt throughout this experiential course of Capstone - I

and also for guiding and encouraging us to carry out this course smoothly.

Furthermore, we are grateful for the efforts of Mr. Zafar Jameel, General Manager Supply Chain

- Artistic Textile Mills, and his subordinates for their supportive consideration without which this

project would have been difficult to complete.

Lastly, we would like to acknowledge the efforts of the whole team in completing the project.

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Abstract

The present research study current processes and propose an improved map of the processes in
the procurement department of Artistic Milliners using Value Stream Mapping (VSM). This case
study based qualitative research used unstructured interviews and observation to understand the
current processes of the department. Using the current process flows, the study aimed to develop
a new improved map through gap analysis. The initial plan of the study was to carry out VSM on
all the processes; however, due to the Covid-19 outbreak leading to the lockdown, the VSM has
been limited to only three processes. The proposed recommendations including incorporating
technology and automating the processes through E-procurement and development supplier
portals to maintain relationships with the supplier.

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 Table of Contents
Acknowledgement...........................................................................................................................2

Abstract............................................................................................................................................3

List of figures and tables..................................................................................................................6

Chapter - 1 Introduction...................................................................................................................7

1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................7

1.1. Growth Trend....................................................................................................................8

1.2 Background of the Study...................................................................................................9

1.3 Rationale of the Study.....................................................................................................10

1.4 Objectives of the Study........................................................................................................11

2. Company Background...........................................................................................................11

2.1 Historical Leaps...........................................................................................................12

2.2 Expansion Plan................................................................................................................12

2.3 Divisions......................................................................................................................13

3. Challenges in Textile Industry............................................................................................14

3.1 Power & Energy Crisis................................................................................................14

3.2 Increasing Raw Material Prices...................................................................................14

3.3 Lack of Research & Development (R&D) in the Cotton Sector.................................14

3.4 Law & Order Situation in the Country........................................................................14

3.5 Lack of New Investments............................................................................................15

3.6 Other Internal Issues....................................................................................................15

3.7 Future Prospects for Pakistan......................................................................................15

4. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................15

Chapter - 2 Literature Review.......................................................................................................16

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2. Introduction............................................................................................................................16

2.1 Value Stream Mapping........................................................................................................16

2.2 Outcomes of using VSM.....................................................................................................17

2.3 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................21

Chapter 3 – Methodology..............................................................................................................22

3. Introduction............................................................................................................................22

3.1 Research Approach..............................................................................................................22

3.2 Data Collection & Types.....................................................................................................22

3.2.1 Interviews.....................................................................................................................23

3.2.2 Observations.................................................................................................................23

3.3 Data Analysis.......................................................................................................................23

3.4 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................24

Chapter 4 - Data Analysis and Findings........................................................................................25

4. Introduction................................................................................................................................25

4.1 Current state of processes in Procurement Department.......................................................25

4.2 Suggestions of Improvement based on Site tour.................................................................34

4.3 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................38

Chapter - 5 Conclusions.................................................................................................................39

5. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................39

5.1 Limitations...........................................................................................................................40

5.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................40

References......................................................................................................................................41

Appendix: Questionnaire...............................................................................................................44

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 List of figures and tables

1: Textile Industry Economic Contribution.....................................................................................8

2: Pakistan Total Export Growth.....................................................................................................9

3: Pakistan's Top 9 Export Items (2018-19)....................................................................................9

4: Historical Leaps.........................................................................................................................13

5: Divisions of company................................................................................................................14

6: Flow of information...................................................................................................................26

7: CSVSM......................................................................................................................................28

8: PO after VSM............................................................................................................................30

9: CSVSM......................................................................................................................................32

10: Raw material issuance after VSM...........................................................................................33

11: CSVSM....................................................................................................................................34

12: Shipment receiving after VSM................................................................................................36

13: Proposed improvements..........................................................................................................40

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 Chapter - 1 Introduction

1. Introduction

In this revolutionary world, industrialization paves the way for the economic success of the
country. The globalization has ended up with the vigilant competition among the countries and
their industries to sail the economic oceans and stand out in a world. In this contrast, the textile
sector of Pakistan, undoubtedly, is a major contributor to the national economy in terms of
exports, employment and investment. It is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and facing a
tough competition in an international market. In Asia, Pakistan is the 8th largest leading exporter
of textile products and 4th largest producer and 3rd largest consumer of cotton (Invest Gov. PK,
2020) It contributes to the total GDP of 8.5% in Pakistan. The yearly capacity of entire world
textile trade is US $ 18 trillion which is mounting at approximately 2.5 per cent annually.
Moreover, there are 423 textile companies in Pakistan out of which 5% of the textile companies
are listed in Pakistan Stock (DPS PSX, 2020). Pakistan has a complete set of value chain system
and the industry possess an approximate amount of 11.3 million spindles, 18000 knitting
machines, 350,000 power looms, a processing capacity of 5.2 bn sq. meters and 700,000
industrial & domestic stitching machines. Table 1 depicts the contribution of textile industry
which accounts for 60% of the total export, 46% manufacturing and 38% employment or labor
force. In addition to this, Pakistan has a great number of supplier bases at national level which
deals with natural and man-made fibers due to its abundance that may create a significant
opportunity worldwide by producing it on cheaper rates. All over the world, Pakistan has a huge
base of well-known customers & brands such as IKEA, Walmart, Target, H&M, C&A, Nike,
Adidas, Levis, Puma and many more (World Bank, 2020).

TEXTILE INDUSTRY’S ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION

Exports 60%

Manufacturing 46%

Employment 38%

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 Source: Economic Survey of Pakistan

Table 1: Textile Industry Economic Contribution

1.1. Growth Trend

In the current statistics, there’s a 26% volumetric growth in textile exports from the past years
and this figure was the capacity in surplus till recent months. A YOY analysis of growth trend
from the past 10 years is given below (CEIC, 2020):

Figure 1: Pakistan Total Export Growth

Figure 2: Pakistan's Top 9 Export Items (2018-19)

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As shown in Figure 2, the major export revenues, 11% comes straight from the garment sector
out of which denim fabrics have caught an immense attention and accepted by all types of gender
& social levels. Since it has become a necessity for everyone’s wardrobe and perceived to be an
evergreen fashion trend, Pakistan plays a vital role here due to abundance in its natural raw
material sources and serves as the second-largest exporter of denim fabrics. In this regard, there
are 40 major players in the Denim industry. Few of them include Artistic Milliners & Denim
Mills, Soorty Enterprises, Denim international, Siddiqsons, Rajby Textile Mills, US Denim mills
etc.

1.2 Background of the Study

The ultimate goal of every industry is to earn maximum profit and there are numerous ways to
achieve this cause. If we closely analyze the whole supply chain process from merchandizing to
the shipment, we surely come across several factors that may affect the production as well as
quality. The background of this research study is to figure out those factors and propose a way
out that might be helpful to reduce maximum production costs and increase customer
responsiveness. Among several tools available for quality enhancement, this research studies the
adoption of Lean Management System in the industry. In today’s competitive world the
manufacturers need to be conscious about quality, cost, time and delivery. Lean management can
be defined as “A systematic approach to identify and eliminate waste through continuous
improvement by flowing the product at the demand of the customer” (Kilpatrick, 2003). Lean
always focuses on identifying and eliminating different types of wastes and only utilizing those
activities that may add value to the final product. The main purpose of the use of lean production
is to improve product quality and manufacturing cycle time, increase productivity, reduce lead
time, reduce inventory, and eliminate manufacturing waste. To achieve these, the lean production
philosophy uses several concepts such as Kaizen, 5S, Kanban, Value Stream Mapping (VSM),
one-piece flow, cellular manufacturing, synchronous manufacturing, Just in Time (JIT), poka-
yoke etc. Besides all, our main focus is to implement the VSM tool which is considered to be the
most powerful lean tools for an organization. A value stream is a collection of all actions value-
added as well as non-value added that are required to bring a product or group of products that
use the same resources through the main flows, from raw material to the arms of the customer.

There are four stages of implementing the VSM technique.

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1. Identify what product or family of products to be mapped.
2. Draw the current stage of the processes (current VSM).
3. Identify where the improvements can be done to eliminate waste.
4. Draw and implement the future VSM.

These are the stages that help the managers of the organization to implement VSM techniques
efficiently in their organization and through these stages, many irrelevant processes or non-value
added activities can be highlighted.

1.3 Rationale of the Study

Textile industry in Pakistan is a thriving industry regardless of the setbacks and manufacturers,
particularly denim manufacturers, are critically analyzing their processes. The growing concerns
regarding streamlining supply chain seamlessly is a compelling manufacturer to closely
scrutinize their processes at every step to replace time-taking, redundant, repetitive and wasteful
tasks. This is especially necessary in manufacturing as each minute spent additionally or wasted
on repetitive tasks has a potential of causes losses of unforeseeable amount. To improve
processes different processes and models have been put in place by different organizations such
as lean manufacturing, Kaizen, total quality management and six sigma.

The local industry must be well-accustomed to the concept of lean management. Many
organizations have begun to adopt lean manufacturing and some organizations are still lagging in
doing so, therefore, missing out on the opportunity to improve operational efficiency and
productivity. To achieve operational efficiency and cut down on wasteful activities within the
selected company, this study aims to use lean management techniques in the organization and
value-stream mapping, also known as "material- and information flow mapping", is a lean
management method for analyzing the current state and designing a future state for the series of
events that take a product or service from the beginning of the specific process until it reaches
the customer.

As the textile industry contributes a major percentage in the products exported from Pakistan so
the company should focus on diversification. In this universal economy, the textile industry is
struggling with the efficiency, productivity, high cost, ineffective management and inefficient
utilization of resources. In Artistic Textile Mills Unit 2, they are doing centralized procurement
for which they are solely responsible for the purchase of raw materials such as fiber, yarn,

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chemicals, filaments and poly bags etc. To procure the raw material, a long process of
documentation and verification is done which results in increasing the time cost of the entire
process. This may also cause a delay in the procurement of raw material which will ultimately
affect the production. So, the requirement of time for better procurement is the new
methodologies for sustainable development and to increase competitive edge. VSM and other
lean management tools will be very beneficial for efficient procurement while eliminating the
non-value added processes & documentation and also utilizing the time effectively.

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The research aims to use VSM and propose an improved map for the processes in the
procurement department of Artistic Milliners. This research revolves around making the
organization efficient and productive by studying the current process of one department of
Artistic milliners (i.e. Procurement Department) and then after gap analysis coming up with the
Future state in which all those gaps are fulfilled.

The objectives of the study are the following:

1. To have a clear and in-depth understanding of the process flows of the Procurement
Department
2. To propose strategies for cost and lead time reduction while eliminating non-value adding
processes in the Procurement Department
3. To incorporate VSM as a tool to identify value-added and non-value added processes
4. To make recommendations to increase capacity and on diversifying the company.

2. Company Background

Artistic Milliners Pvt. Ltd. (AML) was incorporated as a private limited company in 2006. It was
vividly seemed to be grown from a small retail store, established in Pakistan in 1949, to become
one of the top manufacturers & exporters of Denim fabric in the world.

Artistic Milliners is the country’s leading denim and garment producer with vertically integrated
operations. The company deals with the manufacturing of yarn, denim fabric and garments
comprising of 18 facilities/units found at Korangi and Landhi industrial area in Karachi,
Pakistan. It is a vertically integrated denim manufacturing company with a strong focus on

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 women empowerment, innovation & sustainability. Since its inception, Artistic Milliners has
been a forerunner in the global textile industry and has spearheaded denim innovation and
sustainability; continually pushing the boundaries of what a pair of jeans can be (Artistic, 2020).

AML claims Pakistan’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certified
factory which devours 31% less energy, 50% less water and redirects 95% of squandering away
from landfills compared to an ordinary building. AML always believes in standardizing the
operations/processes and highly committed towards social & environmental
sustainability/protection by acquiring different certifications such as ISO 14001:2015 & ISO
9001:2015 coordinating universal quality standards.

2.1 Historical Leaps

Artistic Milliners always strives for the improvement and innovation and this is the reason
behind how they have evolved from retail shop (1948) to an industrial giant. The historical leaps
are shown through the below figure:

2013
2020
Setup 2016
1968 2007 of Second Set up of Full-
1984 1992 2002 Innaugratio fledge 18
1948 First Garme Expansion Garment
Units
First Garme Inception Denim Factory. n
First Retail nts of Denim Started including
nts Unit of Denim Fabric plant of Innovati Spinning,
Shop. Export to Fabric producing 2
Setup. Production. Setup on Center Denim Fabric
the World. Facility Mil ECO
Friendly in Dubai. & Garments
Products divisions.

Figure 3: Historical Leaps

Mission Statement

‘To sustain our reputation as one of the top manufacturers in the world by striving for
excellence in each function of our business.’

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2.2 Expansion Plan

As it is an export-based organization, AML strives to achieve a minimum production of 10

million meters/month shortly through extending its working capacities within the whole supply
chain (i.e. from sourcing of raw material to its delivery)

2.3 Divisions
The company’s operations revolve around the below-mentioned divisions:

Spinning Weaving Dyeing Finishing Garments

Figure 4: Divisions of company

Spinning: It has a capacity of 100,000lbs/month. Artistic Milliner’s spinning facility is

proficient in running a versatile range of fiber blends. Product range includes ring-spun, open-
end, core-spun lycra, multi-count & multi twist yarns.

Weaving: It has a capacity of 190 looms producing 3 million meters of fabric/month; their
weaving facility is fully equipped for different fabric ranges from 5oz to 15 oz.

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Dyeing: AML has two 24 Rope dye ranges capable of creating deep shades of indigo and other
different variations. With one of the longest dye ranges in Asia, and with the production of 7.5
million meters/month

Finishing: State-of-the-art Mercerizing, Coating, Calendaring and Finishing machines that are
running on a monthly capacity of 7.5 million/meters.

Garments: With a capacity of 1.8 million garments/month, their garments facilities are equipped
with the most advanced automated machines and functions capable of producing a variety of
fashion garments.

3. Challenges in Textile Industry

Every rise has a fall, and despite tremendous growth, there are some greater challenges to deal
with. There had been some ups and downs if see the previous growth trend of textile sector in
Pakistan and some of the main reasons of this crisis have been briefly discussed below (Aftab A.
Khan, 2010).

3.1 Power & Energy Crisis

Power & Energy crisis had always been a barrier to meet production targets because the textile
sector needs huge amount of power & energy to smoothly run its operations. There’s been a
drastic decrease in production due to the rapid increase in electricity and gas load shedding. The
cost of production also elevates when alternative energy sources are used such as generators
(Shah, Warraich, & Kabeer, 2012).

3.2 Increasing Raw Material Prices

Due to aggressive competition in the global market, every customer needs a quality product
along with reasonable prices. The fluctuation in prices of cotton & other raw materials has an
enormous impact on the production (Khan & Khan, 2010). These prices fluctuate often due to
double-digit inflation, ultimately resulting in unemployment and instability because if there
would be a decrease in exports the firm will look forward to the downsizing & cost-cutting to
retain its survival.

3.3 Lack of Research & Development (R&D) in the Cotton Sector

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Pakistan is quite deficient towards the R&D of raw material & cotton which resulted in poor
quality of cotton if we compare to the rest in Asia. The reason behind that was the use of
outdated machinery and equipment, old technology, less innovation and greater cost of
production (Shah, Shaikh, & Syed, 2014).

3.4 Law & Order Situation in the Country

Law & order situation has not been so good in the past due to which there’s a downward trend of
growth. Target killings, street crimes, kidnappings, rape etc. has a visible impact on the business
environment for which many owners were compelled to wrap up and move their businesses to
the neighborhood countries (Shah, Warraich, & Kabeer, 2012).

3.5 Lack of New Investments

To deal with the current era of digitalization & new technology, a huge amount of new
investment is needed because no new investment has been observed over the past years in this
sector. Even due to the current economic situation, people are reluctant to invest in this sector
(Khan & Khan, 2010).

3.6 Other Internal Issues

The other internal issues that caused a great challenge to the survival of this sector can be
observed as the global recession period, higher interest rates, money devaluation or depreciation
of Pakistani rupee, tight monetary policies, removal of subsidy in the textile sector etc. (Aftab A.
Khan, 2010).

3.7 Future Prospects for Pakistan

As the ongoing Trade war between USA and China is quite mainstream together with the
protests against low wages in Bangladesh, this is a high time for Pakistan to throw some value-
added products in the domestic & international market, for instance, Bangladesh is the major
buyer of yarn from Pakistan, so there’s an opportunity to get a greater export share by
diversifying and innovating in their products (Islam, Khan, & Islam, 2013). Also, the textile
industry can encourage and support farmers to grow high yield cotton together with the
government of Pakistan through helping the farmer to procure better seed and fertilizers.

15
4. Conclusion

In this chapter, objectives are set for the research after a thorough study of the background of the
textile industry, the challenges faced by the textile industry and the background of the subjected
company which have laid the foundation for this research.

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 Chapter - 2 Literature Review

2. Introduction

The textile and apparel industry is relatively complex due to a lot of variations every single
minute and with the changing trends. Considering that lean manufacturing tools application in
the textile segment has not an expressive number of researches due to its complexity and there’s
not a vast literature about the application of VSM tool in the textile sector the following section
present a literature review in the research area.

2.1 Value Stream Mapping

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is one of the effective tools used for refining the processing time
and improvising the productivity of lead time. It segregates the value-added and non-value added
activities involved in the business, both from material flow and information in a value stream to
eliminate waste. It is effective in maintaining the transparency of the process flow and improving
the process simultaneously as studied by Shou, Wang, Wu, Wang & Chong (2017). The study
described the value and waste analysis in a value stream is done through four phases: 1) selecting
a product Family; 2) drawing a current state map: segregating the data of value-added and no-
value-added processes of the present state; 3) drawing the future state map: improvement
guidelines for future according to the VSM theory; 4) attaining the future state. The plan for
value stream is developed to achieve the future state. Effective VSM can be evaluated based on
four scenarios: (1) Analyzing the current state; (2) the techniques used for improving the future
state; (3) VSM implementation benefits; (4) critical success factors (CSFs) for implementing
VSM effectively.

Andrade, Cardenas, Viacava, Raymundo & Dominguez (2019) proposed that using lean
methodology the production time can be reduced. The study pressed upon the fact that owing to
the inefficient manufacturing processes the textile industry faces delays in the production. To
avoid the delays and deliver the customer order on time, new techniques like VSM can help
companies become more efficient. VSM is the tool through which one can identify and reduce
waste in every process of production. Similarly, other lean management tools like 5S and
Kanban can be implemented to get the impact on returns of defective products, late deliveries

17
penalties, having the more lucrative business and more sales revenue for the organizations.
Continuous implementation and future improvement can be secured by using the Deming cycle.

2.2 Outcomes of using VSM

Silva (2012) investigated the apparel industry encountered considerable changes due to the
removal of the Multi Fiber Agreement in 2005. For that reason, the greater challenges faced by
the apparel industries includes the delivery of high-quality garments at low cost in a relatively
shorter lead time. Most of the apparel manufacturers tried so hard to mitigate these challenges
successfully. In 2008, the global recession badly affected almost all the apparel manufacturing
industries in the world due to which that demand for the low-cost garments are increased by the
customers. Suppliers were compelled to deliver low-cost garments. Now, due to high-cost factor
in Sri Lanka, most of the companies faced difficulties in getting orders giving that tough time to
their businesses and even some companies were shut down due to the loss. The companies were
seeking ways to curtail their costs to meet the competition by other low-cost countries such as
China and Bangladesh and to survive in the global market.

Silva (2012) further analyzed the impact of VSM on the Apparel Industry based in Sri-Lanka and
proposed strategies to derive the positive results by reducing the identified wastes in inventory
and defects and the VSM found to have a significant influence on improvement in visual
management, takt time, 5S, target acknowledgement), material flow & processing, machine
utilization, quality, sewing, visual management, inventory, work in process (WIP), finished
goods. Further, opportunities were identified on how to eliminate those seven wastes by
streamlining the current methods and reducing the time, redundant processes and excess
Resources.

Similarly, Jasti & Sharma (2014) studying the role of VSM in the flow of information and
material handling in an auto industry and identified the areas of improvement including cycle
time, work in process and lead time. This leads to an overall improvement in the processes from
9.34% to 34.48% with having a positive impact on inventory level, process time, reduces
manpower and total lead time and speed of the line. Also, it improved the customer satisfaction
and the delivery time and cost reduced while quality improved were also observed.

Additionally, Mohammad, Ahmad & Iqbal (2015) studied non-value-added time in the cutting,
sewing and finishing sections of the selected RMG industry in Bangladesh. They observed that

18
the value-added time is only 25%, while total non-value-added time was only 75% suggesting
that 75% of the production time is wasted. They proposed that existing value-added time can be
increased more than 60% if the company implements the suggested improvement strategies
adopting VSM technique to assess its existing position periodically. It was found out that
retention time (waiting time) is a significant problem for the studied company that leads the
company with decreased productivity and increased production lead time.

Similarly, Haque, Chakrabortty, & Mosharraf (2015) also applied a VSM tool in their case study
to the Ready to Manufacture (RMG). For that purpose, they did a time-motion study and jotted
down the existing time of t-shirt manufacturing and figured out the value-added and non-value-
added time. Their main objective was to improve the productivity level with increasing in value-
added time and minimizing the non-value-added time. Researchers observed that during the
waiting of every sequential operations, they failed to meet the daily targets of their production.
Even materials had to travel the large distance and unnecessary movements prevailed. The study
analyzed some process flows and layouts were proposed that maximized the productivity and
minimized the cost. The findings included better utilization of manpower and factory floor space.

Kibrom (2016) identified e applicability of Lean Manufacturing tool called “Value Stream
Mapping (VSM)” by collecting data from fabric storage to the finished goods which resulted in a
huge amount of inventory and high lead times between the departments. Finally, the current state
was mapped out followed by figuring out the four important wastes such as inventory,
transportation, work in process (WIP) and waste of motion after a series of calculation. The
findings of the study inform that using VSM, the production lead times are reduced as the
unnecessary inventory is minimized. This led to productivity improvement in organizational
context because the processes became more lean and integrated.

Kumar & Thavaraj (2015) also studied lean manufacturing and its impact on the clothing
industry in India using VSM, Kaizen and single-piece flow. The local textile industry of Pakistan
is similar to India and most of the clothing Industry in India engages in mass production. This
progressive bundling system has, rather, become a basis for creating non-value activities as well
as longer lead times in production owing to higher work-in-progress according to Kumar &
Thavaraj (2015).

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The production flows at the Indian clothing industry has been deeply affected. The study
approached this issue by using lean manufacturing techniques comprising cellular layout, VSM,
Kaizen and single-piece flow at one of the clothing companies of India.

This research, particularly, mapped the current process of the company using VSM; the map
entailed all the relevant information of product and information flow at the company. The
selected product line included inventory, machine cycle time, information flow i.e. customer’s
order placement process and setup time.

By studying and mapping the prevailing process flow, areas of improvement were identified that
helped in eliminating wastage in processes. Using Kaizen, single-piece flow and cellular layout
and better CSM was designed. The results showed 12.71 increase in the process ratio as it
improved exponentially from 3.73. the unnecessary delay in processes was minimized by
eliminating redundant and non-value adding activities and combining similar and close
operations.

Moreover, according to Hodge, Ross & Thoney (2011) lean manufacturing includes a variety of
techniques and principles used to eliminate waste and activities that are non-value-added in the
process of production and service, to uplift the customer satisfaction. The main objective of lean
is creating customer value while using optimum resources to design, make and sustain the
product.

In this regard, the study developed a conceptual model of lean principles and tools that were
grouped into six categories: 1) Visual Management; 2) Policy Deployment; 3) Quality Methods;
4) Standardized Work; 5) Just-In-Time; 6) Improvement Methods. The center focus of these
tools was to meet customer needs and satisfaction.

The findings of the research informed that the organization drastically improved after
implementing the lean manufacturing tools, the workspace was reduced by 22.3%, the average
times by 61.5% and in-process inventory reduced by 71.43%. Additionally, the daily production
had also increased to products. The total productive maintenance in a textile company is
measured through the application which shows the downtime of the machine reduced by 25%
increasing the performance of the machine by 15%. So all in all by implementing lean
manufacturing tools, the aforementioned tools help in minimizing or eliminating the unwanted
activities in the manufacturing process and also to reduce unnecessary internal activities.

20
Moreover, it also reduced the production time as it is the most critical factor for the textile
industry and it further minimized the errors and evaluated the cost of bottleneck. The company’s
income was increased by 84% by integrating the Deming cycle, Kanban and 5S.

Hines and Taylor (2000) identified seven wastes that can occur in a system such as
overproduction, defects, unnecessary inventories, inappropriate processing time, temporary
waiting, unnecessary motion, and excessive transportation. In the light of this, Behnam, et al.
(2018) identified as well as prioritized Mudas (7 wastes that businesses aiming to adopt lean
management must eliminate) of production within a natural fibre clothing manufacturing
company. The study used value stream mapping to identify Mudas followed by using the method
of analytical hierarchy to screen Mudas.

The research first obtained relevant information required for designing value stream mapping of
the manufacturing process. The information was obtained through observation followed by the
measurement and focus group interview to categorize the 7 wastes of Mudas. This research used
Super Decision software to prioritize 7 categories of Mudas to obtain future value stream map
for the company in question.

The seven Mudas that have been identified in the research were: 1) Waiting time in sewing and
cutting of fiber was identified along with the waste; 2) Motion refers to improper designing of
the workplace which leads to uneconomic motion and movement; 3) Defect in quality of the
fabric; 4) Over processing includes rechecking the pieces with defects and reworking on them; 5)
Overproduction includes lack of adequate forecasting and aggregate planning; 6) transportation
refers to improper equipment arrangement resulting in discontinuous material and process flow
and finally 7) Inventory includes pushing production as the company primarily focused on-
demand from customers which led to higher inventory stock. By identifying and prioritizing the
Mudas, the research found that by reducing these Mudas the company will be able to design a
new value stream map.

Apart from that, Islam (2011) studied the benefits of value stream mapping by explaining that
value does not come solely from the creation of a map but from the interaction of the people
making the maps, with the process and making the observations on the floor, which are
necessary to gather the information for the value stream maps. The prioritization and action must

21
follow the VSM. In short, there needs to be a management presence in the value stream map
construction process.

Henceforth, Nagaraj, Jeyapaul, Vima & Mathiyazhagan (2019) used Human factor and
ergonomics (HFE) integration with lean implementation to optimize the operational performance
and the life quality of workers in the textile industry. VSM was reformed by including a human
factor module. To estimate human factors with lean parameters and to identify critical activities
in the system, ergonomic VSM was modified.

Human factor ergonomics is a discipline to enhance the communication between the system and
workers augmenting their performance and quality of life. Organizational Ergonomics plays an
essential role in the lean implementation in the textile sector as it is a labor-intensive industry.
Ergonomics was implemented through the following steps: 1) Diagnosis (Development of the
present state); 2) Action planning (Identifying the suitable intervention of ergonomics); 3) Action
taken (Implementing the appropriate ergonomics interventions); 4) Consequence evaluation; 5)
Specifying learning (Findings after implementing). This was done by eliminating the processes
that were not adding any value or enhancing the job by giving them a better workplace to work
in. It also lowered the risk of injuries and illness which were work-related. Using this integrated
model, the operational performance, as well as the quality of life for workers, was enhanced.

2.3 Conclusion

The main objective is to strive for perfection which can be achieved when people within the
organization realize that the continuous improvement process eliminating waste and reducing
mistakes while offering what the customer wants becomes possible.

22
 Chapter 3 – Methodology

3. Introduction

This chapter entails the information regarding the methodology that has been adopted to carry
out the present research. The purpose of this chapter is to inform readers regarding the type of
research and method of data collection that has been adopted to undertake the research.

3.1 Research Approach

There mainly two types of research approaches to undertaking, collecting and reporting the data
i.e. qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative method focuses on non-numeric data and
explores the phenomenon such as human behavior, attitudes, opinions and what drives these.
Qualitative methods use interviews and observation to interpret, describe and contextualize a
certain phenomenon (Richard, 2013). Quantitative method uses numbers and statistical tools to
measure, analyze, categorize and identify patterns to make generalizations. There is a mixed-
method approach to conducting research which is the mixture of both qualitative and quantitative
methods in that it helps in measuring the data and exploring in-depth insight (Brannen, 2017).

Qualitative method relates to subjectivity and provides contextualized insight into a relatively
small number of cases. Being a case-oriented and exploratory research approach, the focus of the
qualitative method is on a single case in question and develops in-depth insight regarding the
subject of the study (Allwood, 2012). Therefore, given the scope of the present research,
qualitative method is the most appropriate approach as this research involves a qualitative case
study to gain in-depth information regarding the company in question and improve its processes
to achieve operational efficiency.

3.2 Data Collection & Types

There are mainly two types of data i.e. primary and secondary. Primary data is the firsthand data
which is collected by a researcher for the first time for a particular research. On the other hand,
secondary data makes use of already existing data as the nature of the research or objectives are
similar to the previous data. The present study uses primary data as follows:

23
3.2.1 Interviews

Purely Unstructured interviews were conducted from different six people in the unit who work in
the procurement department because unstructured interviews were intended to gather real-time
in-depth knowledge of the situation through open-ended questions. Structured questions, on the
other hand, provide a fixed set of responses. Moreover, if the objective was mainly towards the
improvement of the system, unstructured was mandatory to dig down the situation through
employee engagement and allowing people to express their opinions. Initially, a kick-off meeting
was called on in which Proposal of the Project was submitted to the HR Manager, Deputy
Manager Supply Chain & GM Supply Chain and in this warm-up session, Scope of the Project,
Understanding of the Organizational background, its current processes and prospects were
discussed and noted. The interview had last for almost 1 hour in their Conference room. In the
very next visit, interviews were conducted with deputy manager supply chain Chemical
Warehouse manager, a junior officer in Yarn procurement, and Management trainee officer in
chemical procurement in which the mechanism of their working was asked from requirement till
issuance to the user department. This interview was last for 3 hours along with site tour with
them. During the last visit, an interview from two Senior Officers in yarn & chemical
procurement was conducted who further elaborated the current challenges during procurement &
provided their feedback on them. This interview had a duration of almost 2 hours in the
Conference. This information was pivotal in understanding and outlining the existing processes
for each operation that is undergone by the procurement department (Alshenqeeti, 2014).

3.2.2 Observations

Several visits were undertaken around the facility to understand and closely monitor the
processes and gain firsthand exposure of the warehousing facility, production, storage and
operations within the unit. One recording is also present containing a detailed interview with
Chemical warehouse manager, Yarn procurement Officer and MTO chemical procurement in
which several questions were asked and process were observed critically.

3.3 Data Analysis

Case study data analysis is somewhat unusual because most of the data collected is qualitative.
Moreover, the analysis goes hand in hand with the collection of data. Therefore, the data analysis
method that is principally used in many case studies is OTTR (observe, think, test, revise)

24
(Baskarada, 2014). The present study has used an iterative approach to reflect on the initial data
and observations to conclude as follows:

 Observe: initial observations were made by site visits to understand the processes and record
data.
 Think: considering the initial observation, further information was gathered which was
necessary to understand and confirm the initial observations. The process flows were drawn
based on the initial information. Gaps were identified and reasons for those gaps were
discussed with the team at AML.
 Test: subsequent reviews and observations were used to collect additional data as different
employees were corresponded with to answer the queries relating to the process flow drawn.
Based on literature review and brainstorming, those areas and processes were selected which
promised room for improvement and value.
 Revise: the process flows were further reviewed to assess the effectiveness of the changes
proposed in the present study.

3.4 Conclusion

This chapter informed regarding the action plan that this study has followed. Keeping in mind
the case study nature of the present research, a qualitative approach has been selected to explore
in detail the contextualized data. Furthermore, primary data has been collected using observation
and unstructured interviews and OTTR method has been used to analyze the data.

25
 Chapter 4 - Data Analysis and Findings

4. Introduction

The project started by identifying the Organization through Site visits, its location and some
information related to its Background. Procurement is solely responsible for the purchase of
main ingredients such as Yarn, Fiber, Chemicals, Filaments and Polybags required to
manufacture the Denim Finished Fabric Rolls for the Export. The weaving division has a
capacity of producing 7.5 million meters of Denim Fabric per month, that’s why Procurement
Department has to stay on their toes and remain vigilant enough to procure the material required
in minimum lead time & better quality to avoid any hurdles at the production stage and meeting
the customer demands within Takt time Limits. The general Flow of Information & work is
mentioned in the below Figure:

Planning Finished
Procurement RM is stored
Department Denim Rolls
Department in the
Marketing through MRP are
does Sourcing Warehouses
Department calculates the manufactured
& sampling & & issued to
gets the order amount of & shipped as
procures the the User
Raw Material per customer
RM Department
required demand
Figure 5: Flow of information

4.1 Current state of processes in Procurement Department

The company consists of three main warehouses i.e. Chemical Warehouse, Yarn Warehouse and
Finished Fabric warehouse which are under the supervision of the procurement department. They
closely monitor its inventory levels & consumption using Naïve Forecasting method or simple
Cumulative mean Method to cater the requirement. In the current scenario, the Procurement
Department is responsible to undergo the following routine operations:
26
1. Sourcing & Sampling of Raw Material
2. Generation of Purchase Order (Local & Import)
3. Import Yarn Order Process
4. Stocks Monitoring
5. Raw Material Issuance
6. Ageing
7. Payment Follow up
8. Shipment Follow up & Receiving
9. Claim Management

From the above routines, VSM has been applied to three processes which include the generation
of the purchase order, raw material issuance & shipment receiving.

1. Generation of Purchase Order (Local)

Description

One of the primary responsibilities of the procurement department is the generation of the
purchase order. After getting the raw material requirements from the user department, the
procurement team is responsible to ask for quotations from suppliers & possible lead time.
Supplier then provides the rates through email and a comparison sheet is prepared for review.
Higher management i.e. Director Operations & GM Supply Chain is the approving authorities
for the rates, who further negotiates with the supplier and finalize. After the approval, PO is
generated in the system & further sent for the final approval and endorsement of the director and
then sent to the supplier. The current state consists of too many approving authorities, at different
stages, and duplication of work by maintaining Excel spreadsheet and system-generated P.O. at
the same time. The CSVSM can be mapped as:

27
 Suppliers Supplier
Process Manager

Quotations
Purchase
Order

Supplier
Portal
Information Flow
Approval on
one Click

Excel Excel Paper

Comparison sheet Higher Mgmt. Director Approval

Finalization

Cycle time = 30 mins Cycle time = 10 secs Cycle Time = 5 secs

Man power = 1 Man power = 2 Man power = 1
Responses Pending Pending
from Approvals Approvals
Suppliers for later for later
review review

Time Ladder

Lead Time = 4-5 days,

2 days 2-3 days 10 mins 10 mins
Process Time = 30
30 mins 10 secs 5 secs mins, 15 secs

Figure 6: P.O. generation process before VSM

Proposed state of PO process (Local)

In the future state, the Lead Time is reduced and manual work eliminated by introducing the
concept of E-procurement & Supplier Portal. It is observed that roughly around billions of
dollars are wasted every year due to inefficient procurement practices in an organization. As it
has been confirmed by numerous case studies, that shifting to digitalization for the purchase
through e-procurement technology (a new milestone in Supply chain) enables companies to
achieve a reduction in costs (average 8-12%) of total purchases. E-procurement offers the

28
 greatest opportunity for companies to improve processes, reduce costs, and increase productivity
across the supply chain. Automating and distributing transaction processing into the hands of

Suppliers Supplier

Quotations
Cloud based
Purchase
Order

Database Database Database

Data Set on Higher Mgmt. Director Approval

Supplier Portal Finalization on One Click
through Portal

Cycle time = 30 mins Cycle time = 10 secs Cycle Time = 5 secs

Man power = 1 Man power = 2 Man power = 1
Pending Pending
Responses
Approvals Approvals
from
for later for later
Suppliers
review review

Time Ladder

Lead Time = 1-2

30 mins – 1 hour 30 mins – 1 hour 10 mins hour(s), 10 mins
Process Time = 30
30 mins 10 secs 5 secs mins, 15 secs

Figure 7: PO generation process after VSM

29
employees free the procurement team to do more value-added work. With cloud/web-based
procurement, given below benefits can be reaped:

1. Elimination of time wastage by entering paper-based data into the system.

2. Lesser errors
3. More accurate information
4. Better inventory management
5. Shorter lead times

In this particular case, it takes pretty much time for the director’s approval due to their busy
schedule and other commitments to get a single sign, however, through a cloud-based purchase
order, the purchase request is submitted in the system & approving authorities get a pop-up
screen & are notified immediately. With a paper-based system, approvals can be dragged out and
cause unnecessary bottlenecks. Through this, the redundancy of dual working & numerous
approving hierarchies can be eliminated. (Mohsen Attaran, January 2002) .

Through VSM, the hold of Process Manager (which is Manager Supply Chain in case of AML)
to control the flow of information between different processes is eliminated.

Moreover, benefiting from the supplier portal will further reduce the lead times and manual
work. It is quite useful to organize data easily and for the quick and effective communication
with the suppliers. Through this, the manufacturer and supplier can easily collaborate by
securing online access and sharing all the information electronically. After the induction of
supplier portal, the time & extra paperwork will be reduced as the portal will have the details of
the order including all the specifications required for sampling, the deadline for the shipment and
its schedule which bounds the supplier to plan their working accordingly.

2. Raw Material Issuance

Description

In the current stream map, production departments after checking the inventory level, send
multiple requests for the raw material chemical/yarn required for the manufacturing of the final
product to the warehouse manager. Two manpower manually go and search for the yarn in the
30
 warehouse due to scattered locations in different racks. It takes almost 30 minutes to locate the
material on the shelf. Then the required material is moved out from the shelf & system as well
after which it further takes almost 40 minutes to load the Inventory on the truck to move to the
user department. The material is then unloaded handed over to Production Department which
further takes 40 mins to offload and stacked. The CSVSM can be drawn as:

Proposed Future State of Raw Material Issuance:

Production Department

Request Completed
through PR Request

Introduce
inventory
locator

Process Transportation
Material Handover to distance
Identify location of FIFO Move Material Out Production
material
Department

Multiple
Requests
Received Cycle time=30 min Cycle time=40 min Cycle time=40 min
Manpower=2 Manpower=2 Manpower=2

10 min 10 min 40 mins Lead Time= 1 hour

30 min 40 min Process Time = 1

hour, 10 mins

Figure 8: Raw material issuance before VSM

Usually, to save time, location of raw material is identified in system documents to reach
immediately & for easy access to raw material. During our site tour, we observed that locations
were not identified (racks were not marked properly) and there was no proper tracking system in
the yarn and chemical warehouse. The RM should be stacked based on ABC analysis. All the
specification of the RM should be mentioned on the label and also it should be recorded in the
warehouse management system as well as per the standards (Umry & Singgih, 2019).

31
 Production Department

Request
through PR

Completed
Request

Process
Identify location of Material Handover to
FIFO material through Move Material Out FIFO Production
inventory locator Department
Multiple
Requests
Received
Cycle time=10 min Cycle time=25 min Cycle time=20 min
Manpower=1 Manpower=2 Manpower=2

10 min 10 min 20 min Lead Time= 40 min

10 min 25 min Process Time =35

min

Figure 9: Raw material issuance after VSM

The future state suggests to introduce inventory locator in place of manual locating the material
as it consumes almost 30 min that can be reduced to 10 min and less manpower is required as
compared to the Current State. Another proposed stream was to minimize the distance between
RM warehouse and Production Department to reduce the transportation waste and waiting time
to offload the Material.

3. Shipment Receiving

Description

In the current stream of supplier raw material delivery, it was found that there was a
communication gap between the service provider and procurement department of AML to track

32
the route. This is the reason when the container reaches the gate, it takes a few days to unload the
material due to space and manpower availability at that time ultimately resulting in extra cost
penalty due to waiting. The CSVSM for the receiving of raw material can be drawn as:

Yarn Warehouse

Load
Leveling Receiving at Gate

Tracking
system
Cycle Time = 2-3 days
Manpower = 2

Time Ladder

8 days 1 day Lead time = 9 days

2-3 days Process Time = 2-3
days

Figure 10: Shipment receiving before VSM

Proposed State of Shipment Receiving

In the future state, the lead times and extra time waste is reduced through the idea of load-
levelling before the shipment arrives. Load levelling is a method for reducing large fluctuations
in customer demand. A floor supervisor might be inclined to want to produce the entire volume
ordered by the customer all in one run. With levelling by volume, what one can do differently is
to produce at the calculated long-term average demand and carry the amount of inventory that

33
meets the variability of demand, stability of production processes, and the frequency of
shipments. Through this technique, the supplier is bound to ship the committed quantity first on
priority followed by the other containers as per schedule.

Yarn Warehouse
OXOX

Receiving at Gate

Cycle Time = 2-3 days

Manpower = 2

Time Ladder

Lead time = 8
8 days 1 hour days, 1 hour
1 hour Process Time = 1
hour

Figure 11: Shipment receiving after VSM

Further, in the second kaizen burst, the automation of logistics will enable AML to reduce
communication gap with its suppliers. It is all just a matter of lack of digital skills and culture
which has affected the domestic textile industry. However, by digitalization, AML could

34
incorporate a delivery tracking system through which the containers could be tracked remotely.
Using this technology, AML would be able to manage space effectively.

To manage costs and strong relationship with suppliers AML, the space utilization practices must
be incorporated so that the material could be unloaded and stored at their respective place on
time (Bamberger, Nansé, Schreiber, & Zintel, 2017). The ABC analysis would help in managing
the warehouse space so that the space issue could be eliminated. This particular practice will
enable AML to reduce waiting time of containers. The FSVSM can be drawn as:

4.2 Suggestions of Improvement based on Site tour

There’s always a room for improvement for any process. Based on the site tour in conjunction
with the literature review, few gaps were found that are likely to increase the wastes. Therefore,
the following suggestions have been made to make the system leaner and efficient.

Sr.
No Activity / Department Scope of Improvement / Future State
.

Lean 5S should be implemented for proper inventory

management. By implementing 5S, response time for finding
the material will be reduced which will ultimately result in
faster replenishment leaving more space for the other materials
and also there would be less time of production as the material
from the warehouse will be dispatched in lesser time (Neyra,
1. Warehouse & Storage Muñoz, Eyzaguirre, & Raymundo, 2019).

2. Procurement Standardization of the procurement process is a necessary

35
 aspect of supply integration. By having a standard
procurement policy, the procurement department will be able
to adhere to the set guidelines spelt out in the procurement
policy (Loader, 2010).

These guidelines or standard operating procedures will

standardize the procurement decisions. In essence, there
should be established criteria regarding approval of a budget
set to procure raw material (McKevitt, et al., 2012).

For instance, to procure law material within the range of

10,000 to 100,000, the approval should be sought from the
procurement manager. This is important to avoid getting
approval from higher management for material of low quantity
and save time.

Proper racks should be made along with the name tag of the
chemical as well as its properties to avoid any hazards in
future. GHS (Globally Harmonized System) should be
implemented for labeling the chemicals as per the international
standards. Team of EHS (Environment, Health & safety)
should be made to supervise the chemical storage and safety
3. Chemical Warehousing
issues (Haque, Rahman, & Chakraborty, 2020).

4. Inventory Management Luckily, we are in the era of promising technologies such as

RFID and Barcode mechanism for having a better track or
monitoring of the inventory or FG stock. The system performs
scans when the new inventory arrives and when it is issued

36
out. Barcodes have a rapid return on investment (ROI) by
lowering operating expenses once implemented, even
for small businesses. Some of its visible benefits include:

1. To get rid of Manual data errors

2. Better material reconciliation
3. Prompt collection of inventory information
4. Inventory gets updated Automatically
5. Integration of Documentation &reporting
6. To enable movement of inventory between various
departments
7. Quick identification of minimum inventory levels &
reordering.
8. Fruitful for material forecasting during planning

RFID on the other is the more advanced version of bar codes

& little expensive than that. RFID tags contain electronically
stored information, more information than is possible with
conventional barcodes. Using RFID technology, one can have
better control over various operations such as manufacturing,
inventory control, warehousing, distribution, logistics &
supply chain management.

(Rajkishore Nayak, December 2015)

One of the above-mentioned mechanisms should be followed

to manage the huge inventory levels followed by better
traceability of the product.

37
 5. P.O Generation Textile mills have variable products and rapid change in
parameters. Item codes are opened in ERP for each product,
resulting in numerous codes for a single item due to frequent
changes in parameters. These various codes not only create
confusion while making P.O.s, but it also kills time and slow
down the system. So, the simple way out is to prepare a
Master database of all the items previously been added & the
upcoming ones, and there should be one person who should be
made responsible to manage the database of item codes to
avoid any duplication in the items.

Table 2: Proposed improvements

4.3 Conclusion

VSM has been applied to three processes of the procurement department in which wastes have
been reduced in the form of time. Moreover, improvements have been suggested by critically
examining the processes. Through VSM, non-value-added time has been eliminated.

38
 Chapter - 5 Conclusions

5. Conclusion

The Denim market has become more competitive and volatile due to the impact of global
competition & demanding customers around the globe. This requires a renewed assessment of
the critical elements in the supply chain to overcome the situation through strategic solutions.

Drawn from this research need, the present research studied how VSM can improve the systems
in the procurement department of Artistic Milliners (Pvt.) Ltd. and observed that by reducing the
waiting time, we can increase the productivity by generating more purchase orders, issuance of
raw material and receiving of shipment in much lesser time. The Denim industry is facing
several challenges due to seven wastes in lean management system. To overcome these
situations, they should adopt new methodologies and standardize the system so that duplication
of work, delays in time, extra motion can be minimized easily. As this project revolves around
the lean practices such as VSM, we tried to gather maximum data from the procurement
department to analyze the gaps and reduce the non-value-added time in the workflow. The
strategic procurement management is highly needed.

Throughout the project, one of the biggest challenges of AML analyzed through an interview
with supply chain head was delaying in purchase orders. If we look back at the current state
assessment of P.O generation, the future state of the value stream mapping shows that using e-
procurement, the number of days for the supplier response & approval of director can be
reduced, thus eliminating the non-value added timing of 4-5 days into a single day.

Similarly, in the current state of material request from user department, the lead times are
reduced from approximately 2 hours & 10 minutes to 1 hour & 15 minutes by reducing the waste
of time in the workflow. Through the site visit, the need of inventory locator was found to be
mandatory to increase the productivity and proposed in Future state value stream mapping.

Finally, the waste of time in the current value stream of shipment receiving was reduced through
the proposition of load leveling and container tracking mechanism in the future state value
stream mapping.

39
5.1 Limitations

The limitations confronted in this study were as follows:

1. There has been a lack of previous research in the textile sector in terms of lean management
and value stream mapping. This dearth of literature has limited the research scope as
referring to previous studies is what forms the basis for the research and review. Therefore,
the present study has been approached using a case study to build the research typology.
2. The lockdown followed by the outbreak of Covid-19 further posed constraints on the
research as the major part of this research was based on observation, site visits and formal
meetings. However, due to the lockdown, the research has been limited to what limited data
researchers were able to extract and use it to shift the way forward of the research.
3. There was limited access to data as the research was based on the organizational context and
it involved paying due consideration to confidentiality. This limited the data that was made
available. The numbers and figures used are the estimates as the real numbers were not
shared by the company due to confidentiality concerns.

5.2 Recommendations

In the manufacturing industry lead time is the most crucial element, talking about Artistic; the
infrastructure of the company is very scattered. The chemical storage area and the yarn
manufacturing area are at a great distance which results in delaying the production as the
chemical is used to dye the yarn and then it is further processed to convert the yarn into fabric. In
this era of digitalization, constant R&D is the need of time. Keeping in view the changing trends
in the market the company should focus on adapting the change to have a competitive edge.
Another important aspect that was found missing in Artistic was a proper supplier portal. The
supplier portal is an easy way to communicate and collaborate with the supplier online
minimizing the time cost and increasing the productivity. The portal consists of all the details of
the supplier along with the supplier performance, grading criteria and also the ranking. This will
improve the supplier relationship while reducing the administrative burden of supplier
management from the procurement team.

40
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Appendix: Questionnaire

Sr. Question Respondent

No.
1. Is your Organization vertically integrated or Horizontal? GM Supply Chain
2. How many processes are there in your Organization? GM Supply Chain
3. What are your biggest Customers? GM Supply Chain
4. Who’s your biggest competitor? GM Supply Chain
5. What is your Competitive Advantage? GM Supply Chain
Can you share the tentative capacities per month for
6. Deputy Manager Supply Chain
each process?
Do you have an R&D Department? Can you please
7. Deputy Manager Supply Chain
elaborate its role in your Organization?
Can you tell us about the latest technologies you are
8. Deputy Manager Supply Chain
using for production?
9. Any future plans for diversification or expansion? Deputy Manager Supply Chain
10. What is your business module? Deputy Manager Supply Chain
Officer Supply Chain Chemical
11. What is your current mechanism of Procurement? & Yarn, Management Trainee
Officer
Officer Supply Chain Chemical
12. What are your job descriptions? & Yarn, Management Trainee
Officer
Officer Supply Chain Chemical
13. What types of products you are procuring? & Yarn, Management Trainee
Officer

Note: A lot of open-ended Questions were also asked time to time through which report is
constructed and are not covered in the Appendix.

44