Developing an Analytical System to Measure Style Wise Cost of quality.

Background of project:

Quality functions are crucial to survival of an organization under this ever changing
business world. Every company spent huge amount of resources on quality related
activities, but few of them could really understand the economic status of these
activities before they become financial burdens. The concept of identifying the costs
needed to carry out the quality function on regular basis has not been extended to
the 'Apparel Industry'. The companies are not measuring it regularly, because of the
complexity and the cost involved in the process. This 'Cost of Quality system' will
help to quickly collect, analyze ,identify, and report in terms of costs, profits,
investments, returns , etc. and not only in terms of production, percent defective,
percent rejected, etc to the upper management.

Objective:

To develop an analytical systems for measuring 'Cost of Quality' and identify the
opportunity for its reduction.

Methodology:

Identifying the cost centers of all manufacturing department contribution in

CoQ
Accumulation of cost data.
Development of system for measurement of CoQ.
SOP of developed system.
Finalization of coq system for extended application Result analysis of CoQ for
one month.
Suggestion for reduction of CoQ.
Implementation of approved suggestion.

Carbon and Energy Footprints and Over all Sustainability of a garment export
house.

Climate Change has resulted in Global Warming- a buildup of Green House Gases
(GHG), chiefly Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, to dangerous levels, threatening
to kill life. With growing consumer awareness, manufacturers are facing increasing
pressures to produce environmentally friendly products. The Apparel Industry is one
of the major contributors to this pollution. To be able to REDUCE its impact, we first
need to be able to MEASURE it.

What is the value of foot printing?

End consumer demand for CF is reportedly mixed. According to a study on European
attitudes towards the issue of sustainable consumption and production (Gallup
Organisation, 2009), only a small minority ranked environmental impacts of a
product as more important than price and quality. Generally, product impact on the
environment was ranked 3rd after quality and price, and only 10% said that the
carbon footprint was the most important information that an ecolabel should
contain. However, 72% of EU citizens were of the view that a label indicating a
products carbon footprint should be mandatory in the future. A British consumer
group found that just 20% of British shoppers recognized the carbon footprint label
in comparison to 82% for Fair-trade and 54% for organic labeling (Bolwig and
Gibbon, 2009).

Consumer demand is expected to grow with the time. According to FAO (2011), in
the UK, sales of products with carbon labels have exceeded 2 billion in 2011,
exceeding the total sales of organic products (1.5 billion) or Fairtrade products
(800m). However it is unclear as to whether the sales increase is purely due to
consumer choice based on carbon label or whether it is due to increase of such
products in Tesco outlets -- Britains biggest retailer (Economist 2011). According to
a consumer survey done in the UK, 44% of consumers are willing to pay more for
low CF products (Pandey et al., 2011). Although consumers are environmentally
concerned, climate change concerns single handedly are unlikely to influence
consumer buying decisions relative to other product attributes such as price, quality
and safety (Economist 2011). The biggest demand drive is reportedly created by
retailers (Bolwig and Gibbon, 2009), who wish to be in the forefront of sustainable
consumerism (Mintel, 2009), although retailers in general are not massive users or
generators of carbon, relative to other industries. Reputational and financial
benefits from saved energy are fundamental reasons for participation (Carbon
Trust).

Objective:

Thorough survey of the general contributing factors to Carbon Footprint Study

and narrow down the various functions/features/aspects of the different
departments in an Apparel Manufacturing Unit, which add to the footprint in
any significant way.
Generalizing the same to establish relationships and methods to calculate the
footprint for any garment style.
Analyzing the calculated footprint of sample styles to arrive at conclusions
helping in minimizing the footprint.

Methodology:

Establishing project boundaries for carbon footprint

Identifying GHG sources and sinks for the chosen scope
Define the quantification methodologies/calculation approach
 Collect GHG activity product data for sample styles
Apply calculation and determine carbon footprint
Compare and Analyze to determine the maximum contributing factors, and
possible ways of reduction
Report the carbon footprint and conclusive findings.

SHOP-FLOOR DATA TRACKING IN EXPORT HOUSE USING RFID TAGS.

In the textile and garment industry, while RFID technology has been applied in
stocktaking operations, strengthening customer relationships, facilitating
promotional activities, and allowing retailers to allocate resources more effectively
(Moon et al. 2008), the use of RFID technology in garment manufacturing, has not
been fully investigated. In traditional garment manufacturing processes, it was
under the manual tracking system that once the materials were sent to the
production shop floor, they were entered into a black hole and production visibility
was not available to management until becoming a finished product. Most of the
garment manufacturers are still using paper ticket to manage their operation.
Each bundle is tied with a paper ticket which is printed with bar-code label for
different operation steps. When the sewer completes his/her part of work, he/she
will tear off his/her part in the paper ticket. At the end of the day, the supervisor will
collect all the tickets, a clerk will enter the sewer staff identity and scan his/her
tickets. Operations information is collected and input into the system at this point at
the day-end.

LITERATURE REVIEW

RFID is a wireless technology that uses transmitted radio signals to tag, recognize,
track and trace the movement of an item automatically. It is one of the members of
auto identification technologies, which also includes magnetic strips and ubiquitous
barcodes. Basically, RFID infrastructures are composed of three principal
components (1) a transponder which is a reusable tag with a tiny computer chip to
identify the object; (2) a reader which serves as a communication channel between
the tag and the RFID-based information system; and (3) data collection application
comprising a software solution and an antenna. The application of RFID technology
is diverse and has been applied in at least 14 different industries, such as retailing,
library services, and logistics and supply chain management. Despite the rising
recognition of RFID technology, the garment manufacturing industry, which is a
labour intensive industry that can hardly be automated and has not adopted such
technology widely yet. Most of the organizations within the garment manufacturing
industry are using manual or partially bar coding system to keep track of production
line. As garment manufacturing is a labor intensive industry, output quality and
under/over production problems happen frequently. Manufacturers require real time
information of the production line to have a better management of the operation
and solve operational problems occurred before it is too late. China is the global
manufacturing center of textiles and garments and one of the largest manufacturing
bases in the world. However, the operating cost of Chinas garment manufacturing
industry is increasing rapidly due to the strict product quality requirement,
increasing unit labor cost and harsh regulations on labor right and working hours.
Garment manufacturing industry needs to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness
of the production system so as to remain competitive in the market. RFID
technology is a possible solution for it.

Objectives

Automated WIP tracking

Production tracking
Piece-rated or group incentive system