Muhammad Maruf Ibne Wali (MfW) Department of Management North South University
Executive Summary The project report is based on operations operations management in a product manufacturing company. company. The report is on Origin Apparels, a renowned company in readymade garments !"#$ sector of %angladesh. Origin Apparels is a !"# company who speciali&es in manufacturing pant. The first part of the report includes the basic information about the !"# industry of %angladesh and where does Origin Apparels stand in the industry. The report explains each stages in the existing production process with with the help of a process map. 'ith 'ith the help of the process map it will be easy to understand the whole who le production prod uction process. (owever, the report also evaluates the existing process with what the other competitors in %angladesh and outside %angladesh %angladesh are doing. )t includes recommendations recommendations and suggestions about things that can be improved in the whole process. The report also includes a suggested new process map after implementing the suggestions.
Table of Contents Executive Summary.........................................................................2 Industry background ...................................................................... .. 4 Company background....................................................................... 6 Current Process Map ........................................................................ 8 Recommendation..........................................................................12 Conclusion.................................................................................19
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)ndustry bac*ground %angladesh with a population of about +- million people has the readymade garments industry !"#$ as the major earner of foreign currency. +/ of total export earning comes from this sector and employs around -.0 million wor*forces indirect employment of 1.1 million wor*forces in accessories industries and 1.21 million in waste recycling industry$ of which majority is women. Through !"# sub3sector, the industry contributes +1.01/ to #45 / annual average #45 growth$ and exports mainly to 6orth American and European countries. The !"# sector, which produces five products3 t3shirts, sweaters, trousers, men7s and women7s shirts, has replaced the jute industry when it started to diminish starting its journey in the +81s, when it started receiving investments. 9rom +8-: to +8:+ the textile industry was owned by 'est 5a*istan and in the +81s the local %engali entrepreneurs had set up their own textile factories in ;arachi and exported shirts "ercury shirts$ to the European mar*et. The pioneer of the !"# industry in %angladesh was 1 trainees to South ;orea in +8: to adopt the production of readymade garments and set up the factory3 4esh #arments. Over time, many hardwor*ing entrepreneurs started garments factories in %angladesh and the industry began to curve a niche in the world mar*et. ?urrently there are -28 manufacturing units attracting buyers due to cheap labor @1.22 4enim shirt in %4 costs @:.-: in SA$. Though the industry was made free of child labor in +880, one of the biggest challenges faced is ensuring wor*place safety and better wor*ing conditions, which will ta*e time to accomplish. Over the past decade the the !"# sector has witnessed a number of industrial accidents including fire at Ta&reen 9ashions and collapse of !ana 5la&a which put %angladesh in world attention and forced the #overnment to put up strict laws and regulations after #S5 was suspended from the country. )n 21+>, the minimum wage was raised to @ per month and the balance of payments was improved. 5resently, there are private and public textile engineering colleges to acBuire specilali&ed education about the industry in the country and use it to improve the lac*ing in the sector.
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?ompany bac*ground Established in 21+-, Origin Apparels
, %loc* no. %, 'ard no. 2>, (atiabo, #a&ipur, 4ha*a, %angladesh and is approximately >1 *m far from the Shahjalal )nternational Airport. The management representative of the company is ;a&i #ahangir (ossain "anager3 Admin, (! D ?ompliance$ and Auditing ?ompany is Eurocert, )ndia. )t imports machines from Singapore which are ->1 in number currently and its capacity is 201,111 per month. Total -:+ employees are employed in the factory >28 female and +-2 male wor*ers$ of which :- are non production employees and the rest are production employees. )t is a pre fabricated steel structure building with no chance of building collapsing and structural design approved by %#"EA engineering team having structural engineer who has ")E% "ember of )nstitute of Engineer7s of %angladesh$ number and uses the latest technologies for sewing garments. The ground floor of the factory is occupied for cutting, sewing, finishing, fabric store and accessories store and the me&&anine floor is occupied for office. Among its features it has fire exits all 1 inches tall$ which are not present in 80/ of the factories in %angladesh, art fire detection and prevention system, bus3bar truc*ing system instead of traditional wiring which is not present in 1/ of the %angladeshi factories. (aving rain water reservoir and recycling system for drin*ing and bio3gas plant for coo*ing, the company has established itself as a green factory. )t has 0 feet 1 inch$ wal*way in the production floor, conventional smo*e detection system and sprin*ler system in the finished goods area which is under process. 9or the wor*ers it has separate dining space, child care room, children playground, doctor7s room, prayer room, boiler, air compressor, subs station and generator room, which are outside the production facility but within the factory premises to reduce fire ha&ards and enhance wor*place safety. Ensuring no child labor, built3in shifts and 2-3hour ??T surveillance, the company has successfully maintained safe operations for the wor*ers.
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?urrent 5rocess "ap 5rocess "ap will explain the process flow in Origin Apparels. The process map will divide the whole production process into several elements which will give a better understanding about how the company produces their goods i.e. pants. The process will elaborate the various steps including some decision ma*ing as well. The process has been divided into several parts and will be explained chronologically. +. The "erchandising 4epartment will begin the production phase as they will be responsible for gathering or sourcing raw materials. The merchandising department will be sourcing the raw materials based on the reBuirements of the buyer. These raw materials include fabric, &ipper and other necessary materials for the production. 2. A ?A4 design of the pant will be prepared using software such as Auto?A4. The following process will be carried out based on the design of the pant. >. The design will be used to create a hardcopy pattern. A hard copy pattern is a measured mar*ing on a hard sheet of paper which will be used to cut the fabric. A picture of a hardcopy pattern is given below.
-. A sample is made using the raw materials and the hardcopy pattern. The sample is used to fit on a dummy. 0. The sample on the dummy is used to chec* the fitting of the pant. This is the first inspection activity in the whole production process. . The decision involves whether to accept or reject the fitting of the pant. )f the fitting is accepted, it flows to the next step of production. )f the fitting is rejected the sample is dumped and another sample is made. A$ :. 5attern grading is one of the most important process in the production phase. 5attern grading depends on the buyerFs reBuirement of the si&e of the pant. 9or instance, if the buyer demands three different si&es of the pant Gfor example Small S$, "edium "$ and
+1. All the fabric is cut on the cutting table and this process is called bul* cutting. ++. After cutting the fabric each part is placed on the panel of the respective si&es. 9or instance, all the pieces of fabric cut using the Small S$ pattern is *ept under single panel and all the pieces of fabric cut using the . The fabric now enters the sewing area and a complete pant is made. +-. The pant now enters the =? =uality ?ontrol$ inspection. Each and every product is chec*ed for Buality based on whether the product i.e. pant matches the level of Buality reBuired. +0. The decision to accept or reject the pant depends on the =? inspection. )f the product is accepted, it flows to the next stage of production. )f the product is rejected it is sold to the local buyers. %$ +. The pant goes through wash. 'ater and a small margin of chemical dye is used in the washing process. +:. After the products comes out of washing each and every pant goes under thread trimming. The extra thread in the pants are trimmed or cut. +. Each product is chec*ed inside out to find any defects. +8. )f no defects are discovered and the product is accepted, it goes to the ironing section. )f the product has any defects it is rejected. )f the inside out chec*ing team rejects a pant because of the uncut threads it is being sent to the thread trimming section again, but if it is rejected for some other reason it is stored and sold in the local mar*et. ?$ 21. The accepted pants from the inside out chec* is ironed. 2+. The metal detector chec* reBuires each pant to go through a metal detector. This is done to avoid any small needle or any other metal being discretely attached to the fabric. 22. )f there are no metals attached on the pant it is accepted and goes in to the next phase. )f there are metals attached on the pant, it is rejected and sent to the removing metal section. 4$ 2>. The pants that fail the metal test come here and this process discovers the metal and removes it from the pant and it is passed on through the metal detector again. 2-. This is the final inspection in the production process before the product is pac*aged. This section is a thorough summary of all the inspections in earlier stages. 20. )f the product is accepted in final inspection, it flows to the pac*aging section. )f the product is rejected it is sold in the local mar*ets. E$ !
6oteI Even if the product fails a metal detector test here it is not sent to the metal removing section but it is rejected. 2. The finali&ed products are pac*aged. Sometimes pac*aging is done as per buyer specifications. 2:. The products are shipped to the buyer.
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!ecommendation 'e would recommend the company to implement the following steps in their process mapI •
!educe waste
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Total =uality "anagement
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)mplement high Buality automated machines
These will result in higher productivity and and r educe the cost. %y Total =uality "anagement T="$ now the factory will chec* the raw materials right after buyi ng the m. Al so to red uce wa ste th ey wi ll sta rt prod uctio n after th ey receiv e an order. ?urrently the machines used by Origin Apparels are no doubt good machines which are being used in most of the %angladeshi garments factories and are producing a good Buality of clothing products but still can improve its production by importing Buality machines that can have new uniBue and improved features which are not available in the machines that are currently in use. %y using these machines, the factory can further reduce its labor cost as well as energy and labor hour. 9rom our visit we can see that this factory authority uses labors in most of the sections li*e fabric cutting, sewing, trimming, bul* cutting$ rather than using machines. They donFt use machines for higher implementing cost if they use machines in this sections it will be more fruitful for them and will be more time consuming as well. Time consuming is a huge fact either because ta*ing order and other staffs will be easy if the production ta*es less time. Some times it can attract buyers as well. On the other hand, proper training facility should be provided to labors as we all *now that the labors of our country are not well trained and not much educated and this lac* of training can hamper the reputation of the factory. A simple mista*e can create a big mess. The recommended process map is described in the following, explaining each step of the process.
*he +hole pro,ess stars after planning and approval from - . D se,tion/
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+. The buyers from different parts of the world including local buyers place order for their reBuired materials and Buality. As it is a !"# factory different Buality fabrics are reBuired to ma*e a single product. So the order placement is very important. The buyers give order through e mail and phone call and the materials sample are send to them and after the green signal the factory go for production. 2. The "erchandising 4epartment will begin the production phase as they will be responsible for gathering or sourcing raw materials. The merchandising department will be sourcing the raw materials based on the reBuirements of the buyer. These raw materials include fabric, &ipper and other necessary materials for the production. >. After buying the material there was no Buality chec* thus the rejection rate was high. So in the new process map we include this step to increase productivity and reduce waste.
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-. (ere a decision step is involved. )f the Buality of the raw materials is satisfactory then the materials flow to the next production process, otherwise they are sent bac* to the seller. 0. A ?A4 design of the pant will be prepared using software such as Auto?A4. The following process will be carried out based on the design of the pant. . The design will be used to create a hardcopy pattern. A hard copy pattern is a measured mar*ing on a hard sheet of paper which will be used to cut the fabric. :. A sample is made using the raw materials and the hardcopy pattern. The sample is used to fit on a dummy. . The sample on the dummy is used to chec* the fitting of the pant. This is the first inspection activity in the whole production process. 8. The decision involves whether to accept or reject the fitting of the pant. )f the fitting is accepted, it flows to the next step of production. )f the fitting is rejected the sample is dumped and another sample is made. A$ +1. 5attern grading is one of the most important process in the production phase. 5attern grading depends on the buyerFs reBuirement of the si&e of the pant. 9or instance, if the buyer demands three different si&es of the pant Gfor example Small S$, "edium "$ and . After bundling the panels all the fabric is numbered. The different bundles will be having different numbers. 9or instance, all pieces of fabric under the Small S$ bundle will be having the same number. This avoids fabric shading. +-. The fabric now enters the sewing area and a complete pant is made. +0. The pant now enters the =? =uality ?ontrol$ inspection. Each and every product is chec*ed for Buality based on whether the product i.e. pant matches the level of Buality reBuired. +. The decision to accept or reject the pant depends on the =? inspection. )f the product is accepted, it flows to the next stage of production. )f the product is rejected it is sold to the local buyers. %$ &
+:. The pant goes through wash. 'ater and a small margin of chemical dye is used in the washing process. +. After the products comes out of washing each and every pant goes under thread trimming. The extra thread in the pants are trimmed or cut. +8. Each product is chec*ed inside out to find any defects. 21. )f no defects are discovered and the product is accepted, it goes to the ironing section. )f the product has any defects it is rejected. )f the inside out chec*ing team rejects a pant because of the uncut threads it is being sent to the thread trimming section again, but if it is rejected for some other reason it is stored and sold in the local mar*et. ?$ 2+. The metal detector chec* reBuires each pant to go through a metal detector. This is done to avoid any small needle or any other metal being discretely attached to the fabric. 22. )f there are no metals attached on the pant it is accepted and goes in to the next phase. )f there are metals attached on the pant, it is rejected and sent to the removing metal section. 4$ 2>. The pants that fail the metal test come here and this process discovers the metal and removes it from the pant and it is passed on through the metal detector again. 2-. The accepted pants from the metal detector inspection are ironed. 20. This is the final inspection in the production process before the product is pac*aged. This section is a thorough summary of all the inspections in earlier stages. 2. )f the product is accepted in final inspection, it flows to the pac*aging section. )f the product is rejected it is sold in the local mar*ets. E$ 6oteI Even if the product fails a metal detector test here it is not sent to the metal removing section but it is rejected. 2:. The finali&ed products are pac*aged. Sometimes pac*aging is done as per buyer specifications. 2. The products are shipped to the buyer.
Others recommendations without process mapI
)mplement E!5 system. 9or good Buality product Origin Apparels should retain good raw materials. (ire speciali&ed wor*ers. "anagement should control the whole production carefully. Should ta*e some more initiatives to motivate labor and staffs. Should concern about the safety issues of every labor and staffs better ventilation system$. '
?onclusion Origin Apparels is becoming very well recogni&ed in our country and if they continue with their development process simultaneously then no one can stop them from becoming a world class ready mate garment industry. 6ow comes to our achievements and that is basically exploring something new going beyond our limited boundary. This factory visit was not only a thrill for us but also we acBuired so much *nowledge from it. 'e were also astonished by the hospitality of Origin Apparels garments authority. 'e got answers for each and every Buestions with explanations and sample of their products li*e their cloths items and others were given to us and we were also told if we could help them to develop some new process to help them develop their services in the near future.
