Lean in Apparel Industry

By

Rao Sajid Mushtaq

LEAN?
??

Lean
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.
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.

History Of Lean

History of Lean
During II world war, 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.

Lean Manufacturing
Techniques
5 Major Principles of Lean
Manufacturing

Design for Manufacture (Value)

Synergistic with ISO 9000:2000 7.3,
Design Control.
Involve manufacturing, customers,
and other related departments in the
design process.
Don't "throw the design over the wall" to
manufacturing. The design must be
manufacture- able by the equipment in
the factory.
Process capability: Design for Six Sigma

5S-CANDO
5S-CANDO, a systematic approach to
cleaning and organizing the workplace,
suppresses friction.
Seiri = Clearing up
"When in doubt, throw it out."

Seitori = Organizing (Arranging)

"A place for everything and everything in its
place."

Seiso = Cleaning (Neatness)

Shitsuke = Discipline
Seiketsu = Standardization (Ongoing
improvement, holding the gains)

Visual Controls
"Basically, the intent is to make the
status of the operation clearly visible
to anyone observing that operation"
(Wayne Smith, 1998).
Visual controls are like a nervous
system (Suzaki, 1987)
"Visual controls identify waste,
abnormalities, or departures from
standards" (Caravaggio, in Levinson,
1998)

Examples of Visual Controls

5S-CANDO (arranging)
Jidoka or autonomation
Andon lights and buzzers announce tool status.

JIT: kanban squares, cards, containers.

Lines on the floor to mark reorder points

Safety: colored labels for materials

Statistical process control charts: should
be clearly visible.

Visible Management
A visible production management
system should indicate:
(1)What the operation is trying to make
Measure the takt rate, or desired
production per unit time.

(2)What the operation is achieving

(3)What problems hinder the production
goal?

American workplaces used such

controls prior to 1911.

"Pull" Production Control

Systems
Just-In-Time (JIT)
First described by Henry Ford in My Life and
Work (1922)

Kanban
Drum-Buffer-Rope (Goldratt)
All reduce inventory and its carrying costs,
along with cycle time.
Tie-in with small lot and single unit
processing

Error-Proofing
(Poka-Yoke)
Error-proofing makes it difficult or
impossible to do the job the wrong
way.
Slots and keys, for example, prevent
parts from being assembled the
wrong way.
Process recipes and data entry also
can be error-proofed.
14

The Origin of Lean

Manufacturing
Discussion question: Who
created the Toyota Production
System?

15

Concept of Friction, Waste,

or Muda
Understanding of friction,
waste, or muda is the
foundation of the lean
Manufacturing.
16

The First Step is to Recognize the

Waste

This principle has been stressed

by:
Henry Ford
Taiichi Ohno (Toyota production
system)
Tom Peters (Thriving On Chaos)
Shigeo Shingo
J. F. Halpin (Zero Defects)
17

Waste Often Hides in Plain

View
We cannot eliminate the waste of
material, labor, or other resources
until we recognize it as waste.
A job can consist of 75 percent waste (or
even more).

Classic example: brick laying in the

late 19th century

18

Waste is Often Built Into

Jobs

Pre-Gilbreth Bricklaying
19

This is a Real Example

Top: "The usual method
of providing the
bricklayer with material"
(Gilbreth, Motion Study,
1911).
Bottom: "Nonstooping
scaffold designed so
that uprights are out of
the bricklayer's way
whenever reaching for
brick and mortar at the
same time."
20

Post-Gilbreth Brick Laying

The solution is obvious (in retrospect),

but first we have to know that we have
a problem!
21

Another Example: Fabric

Folding

Redesign of this job to eliminate the

need to walk doubled its productivity.
We will see that material waste also
hides in plain sight.
22

Lessons so far
Waste often hides in plain view.
People become used to "living with it" or
"working around it."
Definition for employees at all levels: If
it's frustrating, a chronic
annoyance, or a chronic
inefficiency, it's friction. (Levinson
and Tumbelty, 1997, SPC Essentials and
Productivity Improvement, ASQ Quality
Press)
23

How we

Reduce Those
Wastages

25 ESSENTIAL LEAN TOOLS

Selecting Few
Kaize
n

Kanb
an

JIT

5S

TPM

VSM

Muda

Gemb
a

3 Gen stands for 3 initials of

the following Japanese words:
1. Gemba (Site)
2. Genbutsu (Actual Thing)
3. Genjitsu (Fact)

Hunting
-SAF
1

3 Gen (5
Gen)
Gen- or Gem- is a capital letter of Japanese
words.
These words headed by Gen- or Gem- are used
as watchwords in every organization.
These items can be check points of fact oriented
approach to solve problem or to promote
improvement.
Japanese origin
English interpretation

Gemba

Real workplace, scene

Genbutsu
Genjitsu
Gen
ri
T*
Gensoku

Tangible objects in Gemba

Fact observed in Gemba
Fundamental truth of S &
General rule
ofand S
&T
* Science
Technology

GEMBA (at Site):

The place where process is actually executed

A Japanese proverb meaning The place where the

truth can be found.. e.g.
Service Sector:
Guest dining room, kitchen etc. at restaurant.
Operation Theaters, Emergency wards, medicine store,
canteen, health laboratories etc. at hospitals
Show rooms, sale services centers etc. at show rooms
Manufacturing Sector:
Process assembly line 5, Production hall, etc. in the
factory.
Shop-floor, Stores , Marketing department, Finance
department, washrooms etc.

GENBUTSU:
A Japanese word meaning Actual thing. For

example:
Service
Sector:
Foods, material for cooking, Seasoning, Recipe, Work
instruction, table ware and cloth, cooking
utensil/equipment, etc. at restaurant.
Medical equipments, medicines, vaccines , chemicals in
lab, procedure, standard values etc. at hospitals
Design catalogues, showcase, best selling goods etc. at
show rooms
Manufacturing Sector:
Rejected product, WIP covered with dust, Semi-finished
shorts with size-tag, raw material/finished product at stock
yard, Painting defect marked on product by QC, Sliding part
of machine damaged by chips, work instructions, companys
rules and regulations file etc.

How we can Improve?

3 Mu Elimination
Mu is a capital letter of Japanese words.
These 3 items are used as the check points of a
systematic approach to find out something to be
improved.
3 Mu elimination is an important way for cost reduction as
well as sensitivity training for improvement.

Japanese
English interpretation with
origin
examples

Muda
Wastefulness: Waste of material (defective products, startup waste, dead stock, long staying stock, Waste of
manpower
(idle time, overtime, reworking. Etc.) Waste of
facility (broken facility, excess facility, etc.)

Mura

Un-even: Driving fast and slow, Daily production very high

and very low, materials coming too much and too little,
machines stop frequently, etc.

Muri
thing,
driving

Un-natural: Working uneasy posture, carrying too heavy

Trying to reach too high, working too much overtime,
too fast, stacking too high etc.

STEP 2- GENERATE IDEAS

Muda, Mura and
Muri
Muda (Wastefulness or Irrelevancy)
All items or works of non-value-adding
Objects to be eliminated aiming at improving work
performance

Mura (Dispersion or Irregularity)

Dispersion or irregular performance of every process is
a sign of some abnormality of a process.
Analysis of Mura may lead to finding out true cause of
Muda.

Muri (Excessiveness or irrationality)

Excessiveness may be a cause of problem for both
workers and machines.
Recognizing Muri may lead to anticipating some
important problem.
Careful observation of degree of Muri is necessary to
promote Muda elimination. Sometime Muda elimination
induces new Muri.

More generally though..

VALUE:
An activity that transforms or shapes raw
materials or information to meet customer
needs
WASTE:
Activities that consume time, resources and
space, but do not contribute to satisfying
customer needs
Customers will pay for value,
but, more and more, they will not pay
for waste.

What Is Value and Value Added?

Value: Expressed in term of how the specific
product/service meets the customers needs,
at a specific price, at a specific time.
Value Added: Activities that transform input
into a customer usable output. The customer
can be internal or external to the organization.
The objective is to eliminate all non-value
added activities in producing and providing
goods or service

Waste elimination

Complexity
Variation
Lack of Employee
involvement

1
Waste-Over
Production

2
Waste-Correction

3
Waste-

Inventory

3
Waste-Inventory
INVENTORY ON-HAND

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

INVENTORY REQUIRED

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

PARTS

Potential Problems with Excessive Inventory:

Carrying Cost
Warehouse Space
Obsolescence
Hidden Quality Problems

4
Waste-

Motion

Waste of Motion
Machines
or Tools

Excessive
Walking

Assembly
Point

Movements which Do Not Add

Value to the Product or Service

Muda4 in motion
Foot motion
To no place
Half step
back
Half step
ahead
Stop

Hand
motion
Up-down, R-L
One hand
waiting
Holding
work/tool
Hand switch
Repetition
Hard to catch
Hard to work

Material
motion
Up-down, R-L
Flip
Change
direction
Take up and
downBody motion
Turn around
Bend down
Look up
Large move
Carry heavy
load
Pulling
Unsafe motion

Eye motion
Look for
Select
Confirm
Hard to see
Aim at
Look around
U-D, L-R
Irritating

5
Waste-

over processing

6
WasteConveyance

7 waiting
Waste-

8
Waste of Complexity
Counting,
updating,
recounting,
lifting, carrying,
storing, loading,
unloading,
looking, fixing,
rework, watching

machines run, scrap,

rework, sorting the
good from the bad,

Getting anything done is

Like mating Elephants

extra trucks, extra

shelves, tracking and
retrieval systems,
wrong tools,
no tools,

obscure instructions,
chasing hot lists,

looking for material,

packaging for storage

Waste 9of Variation

Process not capable

Process out of control

UCL
_

c
LCL

_
c
TOLERANCE

Other variation problems found in the work place:

Batch processing induced variation
Artificial demand variation
Variation due to equipment breakdown
Unreliable suppliers create variation
Poor quality

10 Lack of Employee Involvement

Definition:
Not engaging people in the process

Examples:
Not asking people to participate in
activities
Not asking people for opinions
Not considering that specific
people wouldhave
anything worth contributing to
the work group