Cut to Box Module
A dissertation submitted in partial Fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Degree in
Bachelor of Fashion Technology (Apparel Production)
Submitted Submitted By Mihir Kumar Jha Mukund Narayan U nder nder
the Guidance of Ms MausamiAmbashtha Ms NilimaTopono
Department of Apparel Production National Institute of Fashion Technology,Kolkata
³This is to certify that this Project Report titled ³{ cut cut to box module}´ is based on our, Mihir Kumar Jha and Mukund Narayan, original research work, conducted under the guidance of Ms Ms MausamiAmbashtha and Ms NilimaToponotowards partial fulfillment of the requirement for award of the Bachelor¶s Degree in Fashion Technology (Apparel Production), of the National Institute of Fashion Technology,Kolkata. No part of this work has been copied from any other source. Material, wherever borrowed has been duly acknowledged.´
Index:
Abstract: ³cut to
box´ wor d is
dir ector
of
industr y
means
coined
by John Allen and G r eg T homer son, pr esident and
Total Systems Development, r espe ctively. Cut a single l ocation physically
box
to
connected cutting,
module
shaping,
managing
in ga rment
molding,
sewing
and packing. The name is Supermarket. As in gener al lif e supermarket does not and selling, in
our supermarket
manuf actur e
also no
anything, just a pla ce
manuf actur ing
for purchasing
is done. The goods ar e
cut
parts
and tr ims. And the curr encies ar e kanban car ds r aised by r espective deartments. Fir st
the
whole production
unit
was studied and analysed wi th a lot
of
data
of
sever al
department. The problems, they wer e f acing wer e: y
Huge inventor ies
y
Gr eater lead time
y
Quality problems
y
Wastage of man power
y
Execution of plans.
Then the basement was dr illed and
found these
enlisted f actor s as seeds.
y
Tr ims department deadlock/bottleneck
y
Stoppages in
y
Delay due to changeover
y
Poor execution of plan
y
Late deliver y
y
Unor ganized pape r work and r ecor dkeeping
y
Lack of control over the cutting department
y
Excessive inven tor y / unor ganized inven tor y
y
Excessive workload on distr ibutor s
the
line due to delay in tr ims
We suggested
them to implement ³cut to
box´. In which we successfully solved
their problems.
Kanban is taken as a tool to implement cut to box.
most of
CUT TO
BOX MODULE
Low ba rr ier s
to
str etch around months.
entr y.Intense, pr ice-based the
wor ld. Product lines
Fickle and
competition.Supply
that
switch
unpr edictable customer s.
Low
and dis tr ibution
out completely mar gins.
chains that
ever y two
These ar e
the
to thr ee
business
r ealities for garment manuf actur er s.
One would
think that
such
competitive
industr ies in
challenges
the
would have
for ged one of the most
eff icient and
wor ld, but that¶s f ar from r eality. W hen it comes to oper ational
eff iciency, the pur suit of lowest cost labor can hide a lot of sins. Hence we, as a pa rt
of our
consists of only those
lean
gr aduation pro ject,
tools
have tr ied to
which ar e r elevant
to the
develop a
module
which
garment industr y. We
have
named it ³cut to b ox module´ and its immediate objectives ar e Minimized throughput time. Low inventor y. Or der ly production. Incr eased P roductivity ³Cut to
box´
means ³to cut only that much
which can be packaged, i.e.
your consumption capacity´. It¶s basically a lean
tool; the only
to cut
diff er ence is
accor ding
to
that it focuses
pr imar ily on the implementation of a ³pull f low system´. Pull on
/
a
Kanban is a customer¶s
method of controlling the f low of
demand. Pull Systems
process by r epla cing
only
what
has
production
through the f actor y
cont rol the f low of r esources
been
consumed.
production schedules based on actual demand and
They ar e
based
in a production
customer or der -dr iven
consumption r ather than for ecasting.
Implementing Pull Systems can help you eliminate waste in handling, stor ing, and getting your product to the customer . The
cor e
idea is
cr eating mor e
to maximize customer value
through
minimizing
waste. Simply, lean
means
value for customer s with f ewer r esources.
A lean or ganization continuously
while
under stands customer
in cr ease it. The
ultimate
goal is
value and to
focuses
its
key
provide perf ect value
processes
to
to the custome r
a perf ect value cr eation process that has zero waste.
To accomplish
this,
lean
thinking changes the focus of manage ment f rom optimizing
separ ate technologies, assets, and vertical departments and ser vices
through
entir e value str eams
to optimizing the f low of products
that f low hor izontally
across technologies,
assets, and depa rtments to customer s. Eliminating waste along en tir e value str eams, instead processes
that
need less
human
at isolated points,
effort, less spa ce, less capital, and less time
products and se r vices at f ar less tr aditional
of
costs
and with
much f ewer
business system s. Companies a r e able
desir es with high var iety, high quality, l ow
cost,
def ects,
cr eates to make
compar ed
with
to r espond to changing customer
and with ver y f ast
throughput times.
Also,
information management becomes much simpler and mor e accur ate. The
7 Manufacturing Wast es
Waste elimination is one
of the most
business. Processes either add value eliminate waste, it is important
eff ective ways
or waste to the
to under stand
r educe or
incr ease
production
of a
f actor ies,
the
prof itability
good
typical
environments ar e quite similar . For each waste,
eliminate its eff ect on a
the
of
any
or ser vice.
To
exactly what waste is and wher e it exists.
While products signif icantly diff er between manuf actur ing
to
wastes
ther e
company, ther eby i mproving over all
found
in
is a str ategy
to
pe rformance and
qualit y. The seven wastes 1.
consist of :
Overproduction.
Simply put,
over production
Over production is highly f low of mater ials
is
to manuf actur e
costly to
a
manuf actur ing
to
needed. Over production
as ³Just in Time´ (JIT) be cause ever y i tem is
manuf actur ing
is r ef err ed
excessive lead times, r esults in high stor age The simple solution the
plant because it prohibits
the
smooth
and actually degr ades quality and productivity. The Toyota Production
System is also r ef err ed
because
an item befor e it is actually r equir ed.
to over production
problems
is
costs,
to
and
made just
as ³Just in Case.´ This makes it
a lot
is hiding will be r evealed. The
of cour age
concept
schedule and produce only what can be immediately sold/shipped and i mprove changeover/set -up capability.
cr eates
diff icult to detect def ects.
tur ning off the tap; this r equir es
that over production
as i t is
is
to
machine
2.
Waiting
Whenever goods ar e not Typically
mor e than
moving or
being processed,
99% of a product's lif e in
tr aditional
the
waste
waiting
of
batch -and-queue
occur s.
manuf actur e
will
be spent waiting to be processed. Much of a product¶s lead time is tied up in waiting for the next oper ation;
this
is usually because
mater ial f low
and distances between w ork center s ar e stated
many times that one hour lost
f actor y¶s output, f eeds
3.
is poor , p roduction
gr eat. Goldr att (Theor y
too
in a bottleneck process is one
which can never be r ecover ed. Linking processes
runs
of
a r e
too long,
Constr aints) has
hour lost to the together
so
entir e
that one
dir ectly into the next can dr amatically r educe waiting.
Transporting
Tr ansporting product between processes is a product. Excessive quality
movement
and
in another or ganizational cost to r educe
due
to the
Furthermor e, it is
that
perceived
often har d to
incur sion which adds no value
handling cause
deter ior ate. Mater ial handler s
to
cost
must
adds no
da mage and ar e an
be used to tr ansport
customer value.
costs of moving
to the
opportunity for
the mater ials,
r esulting
Tr ansportation can be diff icult
equipment and processes closer together .
determine which processes should be next
to
each
other .
Mapping p roduct f lows can make this easie r to visualize. 4. Inappropriate Processing
Often termed as expensive r esults
high
a sledge hammer
to cr ack
pr ecision equipment wher e simpler
in poor plant layout because pr eceding
apart. In addition changeover s) use
³using
of
they
encour age
asset
tools
many or ganizations use
would be suff icient. This
or subsequent oper ations utilization
often
ar e located f ar
(over -production with
minimal
in or der to r ecover the high cost of this equipment. Toyota is f amous for their
low-cost automation,
machines.
high
a nut,´
combined
Investing in smaller ,
manuf actur ing cells;
and
mor e
combining
with immaculately f lexible
maintained,
often
eq uipment wher e possible;
steps will gr eatly r educe
the
waste
of
older
cr eating
inappropr iate
processing. 5.
Unnecessary
In ventory
Work in P rogr ess (WIP) is a di r ect r esult tends to hide
of over production
and waiting. Excess inventor y
problems on the plant f loor , wh ich must be identif ied and r esolved in
or der to
improve
oper ating
pe rformance. Excess inven tor y incr eases lead
productive f loor space, delays
the
identif ication
of problems,
By achieving a sea mless f low between w ork center s, to improve customer ser vice
6. Unnecessary
/
Excess
This waste is r elated
to
times,
and inhibits
consumes
communication.
many manuf actur er s have
been able
and slas h inventor ies and their associated costs.
Motion
er gonomics and is seen in all ins tances
bending, str etching,
of
walking, lifting, and r eaching. These ar e also health and saf ety issues, which in litigious society ar e becoming motion
mor e of
a problem
should be analyzed and r edesigned
for or ganizations.
for improvement
with
today¶s
Jobs with excessive
the
involvement
of plant
per sonnel. 7.
Def ects
Having a di r ect impact
to the
bottom line, quality def ects r esulting in r ework or scr ap ar e a
tr emendous cost to or ganiza tions.
inspecting, r escheduling, and def ects is
often
Associated
capacity
loss.
a signif icant percentage
costs
In
include quar antining inven tor y, r e -
many or ganizations the total cost of
of total manuf actur ing cost.
involvement and Continuous Process Improvement (CPI), r educe
In
the
ther e
is a
Through employee huge opportunity to
def ects at many f acilities.
latest edition
Employees
has
of the
Lean Man uf actur ing classic Lean Thinking, Underutilization
been added as an eig hth waste
to
Ohno¶s
Or ganizations employ their staff for their nimble f inger s and strong come to
or iginal muscles
seven was tes . but for get they
work ever yday with a fr ee br ain. It is only by capitalizing on e mployees'
that or ganizations can
eli minate
the other
seven wastes and
of
cr eativity
continuously i mprove their
performance. Many
changes over r ecent
or ganizations or
attack
the
year s
have
dr iven
or ganiza tions to
Lean Enter pr ises. The f ir st step in achieving
seven wastes. As Toyota and
r ealize, customer s
other
wor ld-class
that
become wor ld goal is
to
class
identif y and
or ganiza tions have come to
will pay for value added work, but never for waste.
Literatur e
Review
In 1990 Ja mes W omack wrote a book called "The Machine That Changed The Wor ld". Womack's b ook was a str aightfor war d a ccount combined
with a study
of
of the histor y of automobile manuf actur ing
Japanese, A mer ican, and European automotive asse mbly
plants. What was new was a phr ase-- "Lean Man uf actur ing." Lean Manuf actur ing
caught
countr ies.Lean i mplementations
the
im agination
ar e now
of
manuf actur ing
commonplace.
people in
many
The knowledge and expe r ience
base is expanding r apidly. The essential elements
of
Lean Manuf actur i ng ar e descr ibed at
Lean Manuf actur ing." They do not substantially diff er from Ohno, Shingo and change.
Just as
f irms copy
ser ies
of
the
our
page "Pr inciples
the techniques
of
developed by
people at Toyota. The application in any spe cif ic f actor y does
many f irms copied
For d techniques in slavis h and unthinking ways,
many
Toyota's techniques in slavis h and unthinking ways and wi th poor r esults. Our
articles
on
implementation includes a " Mental Model"
to
assist
the thinking
process and g uidance on str ategy and planning. Ther e is no
cookbook for manuf actur ing.
processes, people, and
histor y.
While
Each f irm has its own unique set certain
pr inciples
may
of
products,
be i mmutable,
application is not. Manuf actur ing Str ategy will always be a di ff icult,
uncertain,
individual process. Str ategy ("The Gener al's Art") is still, lar gely, an art. But, not pr event us from br inging the available s cience to bear on the problem.
that
their
and
should
The histor y of Lean Manuf actur ing goes ba ck the concept of
to
at least 1850 when El;i W hitney perf ected
interchangeable pa rts. The timeline above shows per iods
of major
development and some of the key per sonalities.
Kanban (or kamban ,katakana,
meaning
"signb oar d"
lean and j ust-in-time (JIT) p roduction. Accor ding developing JIT, kanban is a
means through
is a
concept r elated to
TaiichiOhno,
the man cr edited
to tr igger action.
uses car ds to
for an item.
As its name suggests, kanban histor ically
However , other devices s uch as plastic
marker s
(kanban squar es), balls ( often g olf balls), an empty pa rt tr ansport
trolley, or simply
location can also be used
or
f actor y.
with
which JIT is a chieved.
Kanban is a signaling sys tem signal the need
to
or "billboar d")
to tr igger the movement,
production,
supply
of
a f loor
a unit in a
The need
to maintain
a
high r ate of improvements
system. Kanban be came an eff ective tool as a whole. In addition, it proved
to
to
led Toyota
support the
devise
to
running of the
be an excellent way
for
the kanban
p roduction system
promoting improvement s
because r educing the number of kanban in circulation highlighted problem ar eas. The term kamban descr ibes an e mbellished wooden
or metal
sign
often r epr esenting
tr ademark or seal.
Ka mban became an important part of the Japanese
the
much
17th centur y,
calligr aphy
like
the militar y
banner s had been
to the
mercantile
a
scene in
samur ai. Visual puns,
and ingeni ous shapes wer e e mployed to indicate a tr ade and class of business
or tr adesman.
In
the
la te 1940s, Toyota began studying supermarkets with a view
shelf -stocking techniques
to the f actor y f loor , f igur ing,
what
needed time, and in
they
need, at
the
the
of
futur e
process goes
to this
stor e
supermarkets,
or iginally,
the
to
customer s only take
to
components,
signb oar ds wer e used
to
and
of
the
stor e. The
get the
what
view a p rocess as a
pr eceding processes as a kind
get needed
customer s
needed amount. Furthermor e,
s upply is assur ed. This led Toyota
pr eceding processes, and
applying s tor e and
in a supermarket,
supermarket only stocks what it believes i t will sell, and need because
to
they
customer customer
stor e r estocks. As in
guide "shopper s"
to
specif ic r estocking
locations. "Kanban" uses the
end
the r ate of demand to control the r ate of production,
customer up through the chain of customer -stor e
passing de mand
from
processes. In 1953, T oyota
applied this logic in their main plant machine shop. An important determinant
of the
success
demand is the quality of the demand Kanban, by Ther efor e, customer s.
contr ast,
the
supply
is part
of
of production
for ecast that can r eceive
an approach
or production
"pull"
to the
chain.
to obser ved
demand.
act u al demand
of the
demand. This is exa ctly what a kanban
that immediately
the
be deemed as app ropr iate which can be a chieved by iss uing be eff ective kanban
must follow
the
through the
supply
chain
supply r esponse cannot be quick enough
actual de mand f luctuations, causing signi f icant lost sales, to
propagates
This can be used to ensur e that intermediate stocks held in
ar e better managed, usually smaller . W her e
states that
from the
In contexts wher e supply time is lengthy and demand is diff icult to for ecast, the
system can help: It is used as a de mand signal
to meet
the
such "push."
of r eceiving the
is determined accor ding
best one can do is to r espond quickly supply
s cheduling based on "pushing"
str ict
then
stock building
mor e kanban.
rules of use
(Toyota,
may
TaiichiOhno
for example, has
six simple
rules,
below) and
that clo se monitor ing of these rules
is a neve r -ending task
to
ensur e that the kanban does what is r equir ed. Toyota's
six rules
Do not send def ective products to the subsequent process The subsequent process comes to withdr aw only what is needed Produce only the exa ct quantity withdr awn by
the
subsequent process
Equalize production Kanban is a
means to f ine tuning
Stabilize and r ationalize the process
Thr ee-bin
system
A simple exa mple the
of the kanban
supplied pa rts (wher e
f loor (demand
bins usually
ther e
point), one bin in
have
system implementation is no in- house
the f actor y
a r emovable car d
might
be a "thr ee -bin system"
manuf actur ing)
² one bin on
stor e, and one bin at
that contains the
the
for
the f actor y
s upplier s' stor e. T he
product details and
other r e leva nt
information ² the kanban car d. When the bin on the f actor y f loor becomes empty, i.e, ther e is de mand for parts, the empty bin and kanban car ds ar e r etur ned to the f actor y stor e. The f actor y stor e then r eplaces bin on the f actor y f loor with a full bi n, which also then contacts the
supplier¶s stor e and r etur ns
contains
the
step to the system. Thus
then
delive r ed into
the f actor y
stor e
process will neve r run out of product and
could
be descr ibed as a l oop, providing
ther e
will neve r be an over supply. This 'spar e' bin allows for the uncertainty in supply,
and tr ansport
that
ar e inher ent in
the
calculate how many kanban car ds kanban use the colour ed
especially
the
the
a kanban car d. The f actor y stor e
now -empty bin with its kanban car d. The
supplier's inbound p roduct bin with its kanban car d is completing the f inal
the
exa ct amount r equir ed, with only one spar e s o
system. The secr et
ar e r equir ed
for
to
use
a good kanban system is
each product. Most f actor ies
boar d system (Heij unka Box). This
consists of
a boar d
to
using
cr eated
for holding the kanban car ds.
Conwip
Production
controlsystems can
be classif ied as pull and push systems (Spearman et al.
1990). In a push system, the production or der is scheduled and the
production line. In a pull system,
tr igger ed
by
the
the completion of another at the
start end
of
the mater ial
is pushed into
each product assembly process is
of production
li ne. One var iant
of a
p ull
system is the CONstant Work in Process (CONWIP) system (Spearman et al. 1990) which is known for its ease of implementation. CONWIP is a kind
of
single-stage kanban system and is also a hybr id push -pull system.
While Kanban sys tems
maintain tighter control of system
WIP through the individual car ds
at each workstation, CONWIP systems ar e easier to implement and adjust, since only one set
of
system car ds is used
number
of
to manage
system WIP. CONWIP uses car ds
WIPs. For example, no part is allowed
enter
to
the
to control the
system without a car d
(author ity). After a f inished part is completed at the last workstation, a car d is tr ansf err ed to the f ir st
workstation and a new part is pushed into
paper , Spearman et al. (1990)
used
the
a simulation
CONWIP, kanban and p ush systems, and
sequential process
to make
found that
a
route.
compar ison
In
among
their t he
CONWIP systems can achieve a
lower WIP level than kanban systems. Car d control policy in CONWIP system In a CONWIP system, a car d is shar ed by all kinds proposed a dedicated car d
control
of products.
However , Duenyas (1994)
p olicy in CONWIP and he stated
that this
p olicy
could
perform as a multiple chain closed queuing network.
These ar e some
of the f ew cases
we gone
through.
Since kanban is n ot ver y popular in
garment manuf actur ing yet so we studied other similar manuf actur ing industr ies. Case
y
1
A kanban system schedules cleaner s from
y
production
of
six people asse mbling industr ial ai r
sheet metal and purchased parts .
They build 15 basic units and tools
y
the
many
var iations. Ten asse mbly cells have f ixtur es,
and parts r eady at all times.
Each cell produces one or two basic
models.
One
to thr ee
people can staff any cell.
An adjacent war ehouse holds a small f inished stock of each standar d model. y
The
charts
r elative
show
the
data which
formed the
design basis. P-V analysis displays
volume. The or der analysis shows volatility and the or der size prof ile.
The Team Leader scans incoming
or der s.
He pr epar es one-time car ds
and customized items. The Leader sorts car ds
coming from the
go on a boar d arr anged by asse mbly cell. Cells with car ds in
for
lar ge
or der s
war ehouse. All car ds then
the r ed
zone have p r ior it y. If
necessar y, additional people work an over loaded cell. The war ehouse picks standar d combine
or der s from
standar d items with any
stock and sends car ds
customized items
arr iving
from
to
production. They
production and ship
the
or der s.
In a second phase adjacent
to the
of this
pro ject, sheet
metal
and welding
oper ations moved
dir ectly
asse mbly cells. They have dedicated people and eq uipment. The welding
Team Leader examines each assembly cell for stocks
of welded cabinets.
He also
checks
the
Boar d.
This daily
checking constitutes the
r eplacement cabinets hour s. It may
and pla ce
signal
them on
for r eplacement.
particular cabinet. A
minimum
Sheet Metal
met al components
hour s.
holds
The sheet
basket and r etur ns it
Higher volume cabinets
or the
metal
to the
may have
in la r ge wir etainer s. Each
a f ixed number of each item on a
quantity signals oper ator s
for r eplenishment.
components to r eplenish the
within 24
necessar y
a paint line. This r eplenishment is normally 24
wir etainer has spe cial shelves and b r ackets. It
to
the
be as little as four hour s.
The welding depa rtment stocks sheet
basket
Oper ator s weld
Team Leader to send
Tea m sets
up
and builds
Welding. This normally
sever al identical baskets
the
occur s
to maintain
welding production dur ing r eplenis hment. This
complete
system uses Kanban, Di r ect Link and Re-Or der Point. A Broadcast syste m
over lays the other
systems since all team leader s
have
access
to the f inal
asse mbly
Kanban boar d. This kanban system eliminated 96% of f inished goods inventor y, simplif ied scheduling and eliminated losses from obsolescent product.
Case 2
The lar gest helping
manuf actur er of off ice fur nitur e
pe ople in
r ealization of this
off ices
across
goal begins in
North Amer ica, wants
to
f loor
ment
space. Manage-
eliminating
unnecessar y
the
in
the
globe work eff ectively in
their manuf actur ing
expand
wor ld, Steelcase Inc.is dedicated
inventor y
The
plant. One of their divisions, Steelcase
manuf actur ing capacity
decided
the utmost com - fort.
to
wit hin
that one they could
from the manuf actur -
the conf ines of
accomplish
existing
this objective
by
ing f loor , and str eamline as-
sembly line processes. They concentr ated on the kanban, the r eceptacle that houses parts needed to assemble off ice fur nitur e. Kanbans ar e the key . A Case for Kanbans components throughout
of
inventor y systems
used to control
work in process
Steelcase Inc.
Problem
Making sur e the r ight
amount
mater ials to
deavor s
the kanbans of
ar e
the corr ect
parts will neve r run
size is always a
out of stock
challenge.
A kanban
and it won¶t cause extr a
that holds
money
and
be tied up in excess inventor y. The manuf actur ing department consistently en -
to make the kanbans
accountants ar e
lar ge, just in
constantly tr ying to
down. Ther efor e, the challenge is SIMULATION SUCCESS
/
case
pull ba ck and
to keep
extr a stock is needed, while
minimize kanban
size
the
to keep costs
a happy medium between the two objectives.
JUNE 2000Ther e ar e approximately 120 kanbans in
which we estimate will save addi tional $100,000 and fr ee up 50,000
to
our plant
60,000 squar e f eet
of f loor space.
With six additional these could
manuf actur ing
plants in
our Gr and
add an addi tional $600,000 in
mater ial
Rapids and Ken twood
complexes ,
and lab or savings, plus 300,000
to
1,800,000 squar e f eet of f loor space. About the Author : Mike Cavanaugh holds dual bachelor¶s degr ees from Aquinas College in Business Ad ministr ation and Psychol- ogy. He attended duty, r aising
thr ee
daughter s and building a
house.
college,
with time
Mr . Cavanaugh
off for militar y
curr ently r esides
as
Senior Industr ial Enginee r at Context Plant, Steelcase Inc. He has been with Steelcase for mor e than 22 year s, and has hel d sever al positions² production worker and production super visor ²to Cavanaugh br ings a long tionally, he has
manuf actur ing
his
background
curr ent
engineer ing
to his use of
been inv olved in his community as a volun - teer at
the
role.
from
Mr .
simulation. Addi -
Public Museum and
as a mentor for the Gr and Rapids A r ea Pr e - College Enginee r ing Pro - gr am.
Solution
The simulation tech team at Steelcase wanted
to help manuf actur ing f ind
them corr ectly
conf ident that
modeling of the
size
their kanbans.
They f elt
would do the job. A kanban
size
hypothetical
of kanban
ar eas:
needed²
model
the f abr ication of steel
parts,
the
to help
ProcessModel simulation
was designed, and
the manuf actur ing
a way
then
²to get a proper idea
process was divided in to
painting of
these
parts, and
thr ee
then f inal
assembly of these painted parts. Most
of the kanbans used
in
the manuf actur ing
process ar e
utilized
between f abr ication
and paint, so this is was input into the model. With simple modif ications to the arr ival cycle, it was discover ed that each kanban part can be tested and tr acked. Fir st, the model user enter s the part number to be tested. He then
adds
the cycle time for the r eplenishing
³quantity on hand´ that ³r an
allows
process. The
the model user to
model tr acks the
var iable
see if the quantity was suff icient
or if it
dr y.´ Consumption and r eplenishing processes can also be viewed a t this point.
Results
We have seen a $3,000 saving in have our
also
fr eed the much
mater ial
and lab or on
the thr ee
needed f loor space. Ther e ar e approximately 120 kanbans in
plant which we estimate will save additional $100,000 and
squar e f eet
of f loor space.
and Kentwood
parts tested s o f ar and
With six additional
complexes, these could
manuf actur ing
fr ee up
plan ts in
add an addi tional $600,000 in
50,000
our
60,0 00
to
Gr and Rapids
mater ial
and lab or
savings, plus 300,000 to 1,800,000 squar e f eet of f loor space.
LEAN, AS THE TOYOTA-REFINED PRODUCTION SYSTEM improvement, is ever ywher e. Beginning in
the
outwar d to
chain manage ment
wide r ange roles
all forms of manuf actur ing, supply of ser vice-or iented
integr ate and adap t descr ibes
the
benef its
one company's
view
of
lean
of those
process
auto industr y, its application expanded
industr ies. As industr ialenginee r s
in a g rowing number of these ar eas,
for continuous
and logistics as well as a move for war d
they f ind themselves f aced to their
with
into
the
cr itical
need
to
specif ic environments. This article
benef its, as
r ef lected
in
our
eight year s
implementing lean wor ldwide in
the
garment industr y.
Total Systems Development (TSD) is an in ter national lean systems mor e than
12 yea r s
exper ience helping
of
commercial
and
consulting f irm
militar y clients
in
with
the tr aining
and implementation of sustainable lean sys tems -based improvements. When we wer e f ir st approached
work in f ashion wear production, we
to
conf idence that the cor e
industr y's particular scor es
of f acilities
manage ment, the
pr inciples
char acter istics.
of
a lean
took on the
tr ansform
ation
pro jects with
hold true,
in spite
the
of
an
Sever al garment clients in Asia and La tin Amer ica,
and eig ht year s later ,
those
pr inciples --committed leade r ship, good
a systems per spective and a r efusal to live with the status quo in any pa rt of
system--did not disappoint.
TSD's lean
While
the
approac h
s tart
of any
lean-based i mprovement progr am is inf luenced by
immediate needs, neve r lose sight
of the
la r ger context
of that cha nge.
grounded on Toyota's f ive-phase lean i mplementation process follow
shift
model.
the client's most
Our progr ams a r e W hile
the
phases
a gener al sequence, the degr ees to which they over lap and interconnect (or at times
out of or der )
depend
on
each
or ganization's circumsta nces
and
the
skill and
exper ience of its chosen lean g uide. Stability
The
focus of this f ir st
phase is
to highlight
and r ecognize instability so
that immediate
problem solving can begin. The e mphasis is in es tablishing super visor y a uthor ity, instilling a sense
of ur gency to
solve problems and
problems become visible. By to
the close of this
see instability and the skill and knowledge
Continuous f low. In task to task.
each
phase,
a visual workplace so
interruptions. At
to r eact to it
the objective
ele ments is exa mined, and the close of this
that those
phase, the or ganization must have the ability is
appropr iately.
to cr eate continuous, controlled f low from
Flow is typically interrupted by equipment, process
of these
natur al r ate.
this
cr eating
tools
or mater ial.
ar e developed
p hase, processes should f low
Ther efor e,
to overcome those
from task to task,
at
their
Synchronous production
The
objective of this
phase is
to
adjust
the f low of
demand (takt time). Work is r edistr ibuted so r ate,
that
compar e the
that time for war d, the
to the r ate of customer
each process is
and as work is r ebalanced, each task within
standar d. From
processes the
completed
within
this
process is documented into a
visual r epr esentation
of that
process is
used to
actual to the standar d.
Pull systems
Once
the
product
process f lows at
through the
var ious processes while pulling
focuses on maintaining
process ar e at
to
the r ate of customer demand, the
smooth and even f low, but
mater ial from to
the r ate of its
This, in
actual
tur n,
use
sets
the r equir ement for the
(success at
this
to
pull
for the
the
supplier s. This phase
do so by pulling production
process, wher e only those parts just necessar y
the r eady.
next objective is
from
next production p rocess
supplier s
to
provide
mater ial
at
stage r esults in dr astically lower ed work -in-
process and inven tor y levels). Level production. Once
the or ganization
is capable
demand,
the
of improvement,
and
r eached
by
next stage
focusing on the
of
producing at
the one that
deliver s
the r ate of customer
the
gr eatest r etur n, is
way production is scheduled and b uilt. The
objective
is
to
build. product in the exact sequence or der ed, leveled in v olume, mix and seq uence, over a f ixed
per iod and equal
encounter s r esults
the
gr eatest
to customer
demand. In
phase ,
the or ganization
challenge to r educe the time from or der to completion.
Success
in shorter lead-time and gr eater f lexibili ty in meeting customer demands.
Traditional
gar ment production system
Aside from the tr aditional batch-processing, non-lean
production
char acter istics.
It
f acilities,
the
establishing
that
the time it takes to
command
garment
makes r egular use of
designed by GSD (C or por ate) L td. to
this f inal
and control mentality typical of most
industr y
a pr edetermined
is "used
to
possesses motion time
other
distinct
(PMT) syste m
evaluate w orking pr actices with a view
perform a given task and
to
determine
the cost s
associated to that task." This system tr anslates
to
"gener al sewing data," including standar d
which assign time and value
for
specif ied
component
minute
values (SMV),
actions associated with
the
manuf actur e of hypothetical the
garments. The SMVs
garment, as dictated by
the
for
all actions
r equir ed to
produce a single
GSD, ar e tallied. This total is the starting point for
bidding p rocess between the customer and the manuf actur er .
Reliance on
this format
supports
tr aditional forms of f actor y
performance
measur ement,
such as number of standar d hour s in oper ation and pie ces per per son per hour . These run counter to
lean-based
def ect-fr ee p roducts
metr ics,
which
focus on customer
the f ir st time through
demand,
the
ability
to
produce
without r epair , equipment eff ectiveness and
the
ability to produce the r ight products on the r ight day in the r ight sequence in the r ight time. Garment production is ver y labor -intensive due
to
a lar ge var iety
of
stitch types and
specialized eq uipment. We obser ve that in Asia, it is often the case that the pr edominantly f emale
work
force tur ns over ever y
seve r al year s, placing a heavy bur den on
incr easing pr essur e to maintain high skill levels
to
(which only r aise
tools
the i mportance of such
lean
tr aining
and
produce a balanced r epetitive cycle time like standar dized work, j ob instruction
and balan cing oper ations).
Path to transfor mation
Lean
tr ansformation,
problems on
to
a
challenge for
per sist and as
production. Each path
from
leader ship down, a
super sede
them,
as
to
managed
accept
a disconnected set
changing
discipline
the
of loosely
to
Planning. Planning plant
may run
running
to
is as si mple as r efusing
an individ ual's an
adher e
to
an aligned se t
status quo. Without aligned ini tiatives
ar e s ome obser vations based on garment of curr ent oper ations
or ganization,
to that tr ansformation r ef lects
a systems approach
plans and a r efusal than
complex
any
fundamental
ur gent
need
to
allow
per spective
solve proble
ms
standar ds until improvement s
of
goals with supporting action
this r ecipe, change
that r ise
manuf actur er s
to
and f all like
is r ar ely
the tide.
mor e
Below
working to balance the demands
with the tr ials of a tr ansformation to lean.
for
new work is a
continual challenge
18 lines si multaneously: six
product lasting
four months
running
in
the
new product
garment industr y. One
for only thr ee
(on a r epeating annual cycle) and
weeks, nine
thr ee running
product continuously. In
the tr aditional
approach planning is in timately tied
customer solicits for the manuf actur e of
deliver y in a f ixed number of days. All standar d
conf igur ation to
multiplied
by
the
SMV. As an exa mple, a
a given n umber of newly designed ga rments
the
garment's
arr ive at an SMV needed
number of units
to the
or der ed
componen t to
produce
and divided in to
the
for
actions ar e tallied in a one
garment. This is
adjusted available time,
f actor ing
in
the
number of people needed
an estimated eff iciency f actor . In
this
to construct one
p roduction
approach, we have obser ved
module
that the
along with
SMV is
the
goal on which the process is structur ed. In
contr ast,
a lean approach starts with
customer
demand and
the
dr ive
to
produce
product to takt ti me (often mistaken for cycle time, it is not dependent on your productivity). It is a
measur e of customer
demand into
the
demand expr essed in
units of time.
Dividing
the custome r
available work time per shift provides an estimated takt time (e.g., x
seconds per unit). In this approach, the SMV per unit is only a depa rtur e point. The ele ments and time r equir ed
for making one unit
ar e physically
oper ator s or tea m
leader to establish the lower r epeatable time (the "standar d"). The production model layout is
cr eated maximizing
spa ce and eff iciency. Then
examined and balan ced, r ef ining
the
the
workloads
for
number of oper ator s needed
all
the oper ator s
to meet takt time.
ar e The
number of people r equir ed is based on the actual value -added time from the standar d pl us an allowance for necessar y non-value-added process steps. The starting point is based on the
study of actual oper ations and r evised with dir ect participation from the oper ator s.
When
compar ed,
controlled than often occur s
put
a
tr aditional
approach
at ease, allow
emer ge. W hen tr adition
minimized
trust
change.
and
the methods to
meets change the key
adjust to skills and lea r ner s to achieve Managing
change
is
mor e
dictat ed and
a lean app roach. For this r eason, the tr ansition from the former to the latter
g r adually. The r isk is
customer s
planning and
to
Centr al
the test of lean
evolve and
is small enough now
changes
in
the
to
process
to
is small in cr emental steps, allowing time
to
conf idence.
to the manage ment of change
and r espect among all parties involved,
cr eation of
in a lean sys tem ar e:
mutual
a highly structur ed r elationship
between the parties with the appropr iate metr ics in pla ce, and naviga ting between knowing what needs awar eness,
to
be done and what can be done. This last element demands an a cute
through obser vation
and analysis ( using
the metr ics mentioned
above),
of the
need for and progr ess towar d balanced change, both cultur al and physical. We take
our f ir st
example
from
a garment
manuf actur er that, over the
implemented lean sys tems in a n umber of plants in an effort r educe
waste. In
the
from the cutting to
pr eviously product
r esisted change, the
sewing
committed
to many
industr y specif ically, to
signif icant
packaging
this means to
shortening
shipment. But
monies to centr alizing cutting
separ ate sewing f acilities located bur r esisted being
eff iciency of batch processing.
changed,
to
miles
last
thr ee
year s,
shorten lead-times and the time
many
in
and dis tance
the or ganization
in a f acility
that
"pushed"
apart. Some leader s not
only
inves ted as they wer e in an in tuitive belief i n
However , once
they
a cquir ed a
trust
in
the methodology, they f elt
secur e in
committing to
an exper iment a tr ial "cut-to -box" pro ject wher e a single location p hysically cutting,
shaping,
cutting to comes
molding,
sewing and pa cking. The r esult was
boxing was r educed
from
w hen leader s n ot only trust
55
hour s to
their guide,
less
than
but trust
compelling.
eight
hour s.
connected
The time
Signif icant
the methodology
from
change
as de monstr ated
by the metr ics of other successes. Another example de monstr ating ear ly pro ject in a single plan t simultaneously. In one,
the challenges of man-aging change containing two
the consultant
is r evealed in an
pilot implementation ar eas progr essing
executed a disciplined
change
effort
that car efully
balanced the physical capacity to execute tools and techniques with the mental capacity to absor b and endor se the major cultur al change. In
the
se cond pilot ar ea a less balan ced approach pr evailed. Major physical alter ations
machiner y
and line a rr ange ments wer e
made that,
r econf igur ed the r esponsibilities of certain
additional pr epar ation tensions that
juxtaposition
wer e
for the
only
inevitable
senior
while
oper ator s.
to
commitment from the
on the
people
the
methods,
changes,
in
without
heightened
to those cultur al
in a single plan t illustr ates
between knowing what needs
with lean
These
cultur e change, r esulted
allayed wi th quick attention
of these two r esults
consistent
to
plant
issues. The
diff iculty in balancing
be done and what can be done. It is ground (those who add value)
cr itical to
secur e
to orchestr ate the
achieve ments that ar e needed.
Organizational
A
structur e
tr aditional role of the
industr ial enginee r is
to under stand the r elationship
performance and performance standar ds and def ine
those
s tandar ds. Yet
between
this can cr eate
and adver sar ial r elationship between the industr ial enginee r and the per sons exe cuting the standar ds. In the typical garment production f acility some of the industr ial enginee r's roles, in
the
guise
separ ate
of the
gener al sewing da ta, r einforce
or ganiza tion
for
which equa l
performing
the time
minute
and dis cr ete acts
and lab or (SMV) r equir ed
These standar ds ar e then adopted and per petuated by new work, but having
to
Under the auspices
promoting industr y standar ds, enginee r s in a
determine idealized times compilation of
that conf lict.
determine
the
of
r emote
a
locate
production,
to cr eate
of
the
any garment.
the manuf actur er not only to
bid on
necessar y labor r equir ements, sometimes without ever
produced such a ga rment befor e.
A lean system r ecognizes situation. However , its conf lict. those
those
steps and pace
of
which
their
they
do
value in
challenge
In a lean sys tem,
who support
the
ther e
is
the clar ity the
integr ate
the
ar e two types
of
to
industr ial enginee r br ings
IE's
roles
and
per sonnel:
who add value. It is not pr actical
minimize the
those
to the
str ess
of
who add value and
for oper ator s to
determine
the
production initially. These ar e gover ned by takt time, pitch (space in work) and sequence. But
then ope r ator s take than
information,
participate in its r ef inement and tur n it into a continuously f lowing process. Industr ial enginee r s and those in r emote pilot ar eas determine the sequence of oper ations needed
to
expected to the
build a quality product. They pr actice
customer demand (takt time).
line
for tr ials
and
conside r ation
whether the process can f low r equir ed machines;
Team
member s
ai m
of this
Once d one and documented,
by
the team.
The team,
the constr aints of
the
process is taken
through tr ials,
determines
and the inventor y or in-process stock needed in ea ch oper ation.
work on any problem discover ed, and a f inal product is d ocumented into
p rocess is
equipment down time,
the
number of changes ultimately
for the oper ator s to
enables oper ator s and gives methods
pe rf ect within
continuously from o per ator to oper ator ; the conf igur ation of
standar d worksheets. Although r eal
until
them the
overtime)
skills
gain owner ship
to
made may
of the
be f ew,
the
s tandar d work. Lean
analyze abn ormalities (e.g., quality issues
and so lve problems
using
plan-d o-check-act/adjust
and statistical process control tools.
In a lean sys tem, the industr ial enginee r and the oper ator work hand -in-glove for maximum eff ectiveness. Gone is way. Participation is
the command
the
a r e
and suggestions
often i mplemented
exper ience, garments arr iving on f actor of
50 percent, as
control mentality
wher e
communicatio n
is one
watchwor d. Time studies and line balan cing a ctivities ar e
r esponsibili ties of team member s, manage ment,
and
the
with
the
line in
compar ed to
made
assistance
by oper ator s, after evaluation by of the
the tr aditional
90 percent as
the
the
way
industr ia l engineer . In our often
exhibit an e ff iciency
starting point
for those items
brought along in a lean-based app roach. The
tr aditional
developed wor ld
of
ga rment
outside
manuf actur er
any r elationship with
exemplif ies a wor ld wher e expe ctations ar e the f loor -bound
lean places p r imar y emphasis on
or ganization's
those
"value adder s." In
value-adder s, tr ying
contr ast, the
their success to the
s uccess with a supportive multi-per son or ganiza tion. The industr ial enginee r
is key to this environment, r esponsible
for cr eating the
basic work inter actions, meeting the
needs of the value adder and building trust and r espe ct along the way. Leader ship (is all
the r age).
The lean
tr ansformation r equir es
leader ship. This can be
found
at the ver y apex of the or ganization, as we en counter ed with the dyna mic leader ship
of one
garment
company typically
Fir st,
lean
manuf actur er chairman, or f arther
champion or plant manager .
the
the
leader is a per son
tr ansformation.
to
vision. This
of
the
seeing bey ond
leader s exhibits a willingness to change,
and
Thir d, t he leader demonstr ates a willingness
effort. Delegating participation
and provide
means
lear n ar e gener ally unwilling
or ganization, it undermines the
to
in
the roles of the
Regar dless of its source, successful leade r ship
dissatisf ied with t he obvious and r emaining
status quo. Second,
Those unwilling change
the hier archy
exhibits four cr itical char acter istics.
r emaining consistently
with
down
meaningful
to other s
leader's ability
input. And
fourth, the
the obvious
consistently
to
and
dissatisf ied
lear n and under stand.
change
is a p r er equisite
to
devote per sonal time to the
to
n ot only sends
the
w rong
message to the
to compr ehend the complexity of the
effort
leader has patience. Ther e is a willingness
let people lear n, take r isks and sometimes f ail.
These
char acter istics
ar e not
fr equently found
in an industr y
a
histor y of
controlling
envi ronments wher e labo r was
r ather than
an inves tment to solicit mor e participation. But the garment industr y r ef lects our
wider
commercial
and
militar y
consider ed
that has
a r esource, a f actor of production
exper iences; lean leade r s ar e r ar e in any
production environment. B ut if we begin with someone who possesses enthusiastic lean vision and a willingness these can
be nurtur ed into a disciplined
to
the
act decisively and ass ume
under standing of
tr aditional
seeds
of
an
controlled r isk,
lean and accountability
to the
system as a whole. One f inal
char acter istic
is r evealed in
Many bosses ar e exa mples
of
the
necessar y
tr ansition from
to
"leader ."
society's best and br ightest with good ideas and
company's
inter ests at heart. But often they push these ideas in
those that
add value, and
the
"boss"
ideas
often f ail.
The hallmark
the form of changes u
of
buy-in and
commitment from the
entir e
solving and val ue- consistent, incr emental knowledge of those
or ganiza tion.
change over time.
pon
lean leade r s and a lean
system in gener al is involvement. Lean leade r s solicit and value participation, and f eeds
the
this
They encour age pr oblem They r ely
who add value, and in so doing inspi r e and dr ive
on the
change
in
expe rt those
around them. The garment industr y is a has chased low major role contains
in
labor r ates only
the
some
challenging
wor ld
of the
market
and r ewar ding envi ronr nent
to f ind that this cannot mean low
and clear ly
best people capable
to
i mplement lean. It
q uality. It has played a
under stands the meaning of of making
needed
cha
wor ld class. It
nges and providing
innovative solutions. However , times
the
ga rment industr y has allowed inventor y
and allowed itself to be def ined by
those of other industr ies,
and so like
the low -cost
to
expand,
other industr ies, it f inds its
to
the r efusal to
per petuate
quality var iable at
provider . Its p roblems ar e n ot unlike
about process, not product, and about people participating in discipline, teamwork and
made
the
s olutions in lean. Lean is
that
process. Lean is ab out
s tatus q uo. The systems approach
garment prod uction provides an envi ronment wher e competition f lour ishes.
In time, the systems approach will fr ee the industr y from its r ates the
and all ow it to focus on providing
shortest lead- time. Soon,
the
the highest
compulsion to chase low
quality garments at the lowest
labor
cost
with
industr y will str ike a balance between car efully studied
jobs, support from qualif ied IEs and invig or ated oper ator s constantly str iving improvement. Throughout its evolution,
committed, f lexible
cr itical role tr ansla ting
this
and e mbedding
into
the
for continuous
ind ustr ial enginee r s will play a
workplace. The
role
is set and
the
demand is gr eat. John Allen and Greg Thomerson are president and managing director of Total Systems Development, respectively. Both are long-term alumni of Toyota's first North American production facility, authors of the 500-page reference work Lean Manufacturing; A Plant Floor Guide and recognized experts in lean systems methods.
