Way to get Maximum Efficiency in Shorter Run Orders at Garments Sewing Line.

An order of small order quantity that runs on the production line for 3-5 days called Shorter Run Orders. The order quantity for a short-run order may be different depending on the style design. Garment factories set their own criteria for considering the order short-run or a long-run order.

It is true that for short-run orders when the line reaches its pick performance, stitching get completed. When a factory compares the line performance of a short-run against a long-run order, it gets less efficiency. Normally, on the first 1-5 days of production loading, a line gradually increased its performance day by day (learning curve) and line works at optimum efficiency level after the learning curve. If the line gets a long run order, that normally runs more than half a month, the average efficiency of the order comes higher as after learning most of the days, the line works on the higher level.

On the other hand, when an order gets finished by 4th to 5th day of loading, the average line efficiency remains low due to initial days' learning curve. When a line gets 4-5 short run orders in months, they lost the productive time on production line set-up (style changeover). This results in lower line performance during the month.

Tips that can be useful in achieving maximum efficiency in shorter run orders. Though these tips are applicable for long-run orders too to achieve better performance.

• Prepare the line layout and process workflow on paper in advance and follow that one during line set-up.
• By loading the new style back to back. This means when the previous style getting completed from the one operator, load the new style without waiting for completing style from all operations. 
• All you need to be better prepared. Keep continuous feeding to the line. Before loading the cuttings in the line, keep everything ready- all approvals related to the style, trim, and complete cutting of the order or at least two day's cutting WIP should be there.
• Train employees (sewing operators) separately, how to do the operation they are going to assign to the style.
• Supervisors need to be prepared and need to complete line set-up as quickly as possible (no waiting of operators should be there), including machine changing, an instruction to operators, quality specification, approval etc,
• Reduce bundle size. single piece flow would better for small runs.
• If possible use a shorter sewing line for small qty orders. This change will also make difference in achieving line's overall efficiency.

Collected by: Md. Tarikul Islam Jony
Mail:jonytex073@gmail.com
+8801912885383

Eight wastes of lean manufacturing

       Today, the Lean Manufacturing model recognizes 8 types of waste  within an operation; seven originally conceived when the Toyota Production System was first conceived, and an eighth added when lean methodology was adopted within the Western World.  Seven of the eight wastes are production process-oriented, while the eighth waste is directly related to management’s ability to utilize personnel.

The 8 wastes of lean manufacturing include:

1. Transportation

Poor plant design can cause waste in transportation.  It can also trigger other wastes such as waiting or motion and impact overhead costs such as higher fuel and energy costs and higher overhead labor in the form of lift drivers as well as adding wear and tear on equipment.  It may also result from poorly designed processes or processes that have not been changed or updated as often as required.

Value stream mapping and partial or full changes in factory layout can reduce transportation waste. This is a full documentation of all aspects of the production flow and not just the mapping of a specific production process. This results in changes to reduce or eliminate transportation waste.

Common types of Transportation Waste:

• Poor layouts – large distance between operations
• Long material handling systems
• Large Batch sizes
• Multiple storage facilities
• Poorly design production systems

2. Inventory

Inventory is considered a form of waste because of the related holding costs.  This is true of raw materials, WIP and finished goods. Over purchasing or poor forecasting and planning can lead to inventory waste.  It may also signal a broken or poorly designed process link between manufacturing and purchasing/scheduling. Lean Manufacturing does not just focus on the factory but also requires process  optimization and communication between support functions.

Purchasing, scheduling and forecasting can have a version of standardized work in the form of defined minimums and maximums and order points that are mapped to the process flow and takt time. Purchasing raw materials only when needed  and reducing WIP and eliminating or narrowing the definition of “safety stock” will reduce this type of waste.

Common causes of Inventory Waste include:

• Overproduction of goods
• Delays in production or ‘waste of waiting’
• Inventory defects
• Excessive transportation

3. Motion

Motion costs money. This not only includes raw materials but also people and equipment.  It may also include excess physical motion such as reaching, lifting and bending. All unnecessary motion results in non-value-added time and increases cost.

Again, referencing core Lean Manufacturing methodology, process mapping should include facility layout and optimized workplace design that includes analysis of the distance of motion within the space as well as the location of parts, supplies and tools within the space as well.  As an effective process map is developed, proper utilization of the space can be captured with well designed and documented standard work.

Common Motion Waste examples include:

• Poor workstation layout
• Poor production planning
• Poor process design
• Shared equipment and machines
• Siloed operations
• Lack of production standards

4. Waiting

Waiting can include people, material equipment (prior runs not finished) or idle equipment (mechanical downtime or excess changeover time).  All waiting costs a company has in terms of direct labor dollars and additional overhead costs can be incurred in terms of overtime, expediting costs and parts.  Waiting may also trigger additional waste in the form of defects if the waiting triggers a flurry of activity to “catch up” that results in standard work not being followed or shortcuts being taken.

In many ways, waiting is the opposite of overproduction.  However, it can be mitigated or eliminated with many of the same remedies. Waiting is often the result of poor process design and can be addressed through proper measurement of takt time and the creation of standard work.

Common causes of Waiting include:

• Unplanned downtime or Idle equipment
• Long or delayed set-up times
• Poor process communication
• Lack of process control
• Producing to a forecast
• Idle equipment

5. Overproduction

When components are produced before they are required by the next downstream process, overproduction occurs.  This has several negative effects. It creates a “caterpillar” effect in the production flow and results in the creation of excess WIP  This leads to staging and therefore labor required to move the WIP additional times. And it can hide defects that could have been caught with less scrap if processes were balanced to allow detection earlier as earlier use of the WIP components would have revealed the defect in time to correct the issue.

Lean manufacturing systems utilize  several tools to combat overproduction.  Takt time is used to balance production rates between cells or departments.  Measured and process-mapped jobs result in reduced setup time allowing efficient small batch flow.  And in many industries, “pull” systems such as Kanban can be used to help control or eliminate WIP.

Common causes of Overproduction include:

• Unreliable process
• Unstable production schedules
• Inaccurate forecast and demand information
• Customer needs are not clear
• Poor automation
• Long or delayed set-up times

6. Over Process

Over/Excess processing is a sign of a poorly designed process. This could be related to management or administrative issues such as lack of communication, duplication of data, overlapping areas of authority and human error.  It may also be the result of equipment design, inadequate job station tooling or facility layout.

Process mapping is a lean waste elimination tool that helps define an optimized workflow that can eliminate over processing.  As a key method within lean production, process mapping is not limited to the performance of production tasks. It also includes reporting, signoff and document control.

Examples of Excess Processing include:

• Poor communication
• Not understanding your customers’ needs
• Human error
• Slow approval process or excessive reporting

7. Defects

Defects impact time, money, resources and customer satisfaction. Examples of Defects within a manufacturing environment include lack of proper documentation or standards, large variances in inventory, poor design and related design documentation changes and an overall lack of proper quality control throughout the process workflow. 

Formalized document control and design change documentation, thorough and documented quality methods in all production phases and checklists that have been audited to ensure proper adherence to the BOM are effective ways to control defect waste.  And standardized work at each production cell or point in the production line will help reduce this type of waste as well.

Specific Defect causes include:

• Poor quality control at the production level
• Poor machine repair
• Lack of proper documentation
• Lack of process standards
• Not understanding your customers’ needs
• Inaccurate inventory levels

 8. Non-Utilized Talent

The eighth waste is the only lean manufacturing waste that is not manufacturing-process specific. This type of manufacturing waste occurs when management in a manufacturing environment fails to ensure that all their potential employee talent is being utilized. This waste was added to allow organizations to include the development of staff into the lean ecosystem.  As a waste, it may result in assigning employees the wrong tasks or tasks for which they were never properly trained.  It may also be the result of poor management of communication. By engaging employees and incorporating their ideas, providing training and growth opportunities and involving them in the creation of process improvements that reflect the reality they experience and the skills they possess, overall operational effectiveness is improved. The elimination of this type of waste can improve all others.

Examples of Non-Utilized Talent:

• Poor communication
• Failure to involve people in workplace design and development
• Lack of or inappropriate policies
• Incomplete measures
• Poor management
• Lack of team training

Eliminating the 8 wastes of lean manufacturing is much easier when the production process is completely visible. Cloud computing, deep analytics and machine learning work in conjunction with devices, sensors and software adaptors to connect a factory and allow it to leverage hidden capacity for improved efficiency.  

Collected by: Md. Tarikul Islam Jony
Mail:jonytex073@gmail.com
+8801912885383

SAM Value in Production Planning and Control- How Important!

 PPC department can’t be performed below without having garment SAM value-

• Production execution and monitoring. 
• Order booking based on factory capacity for different types of products.
• Determining the capacity of the factory and capacity of the individual sewing lines in terms of how many pieces (product specific) factory can make in a certain time period with existing machines capacity. 
• Allocating of styles to the lines
• Determining production lead time for each order (styles)
• Process scheduling.

Roles of SAM Value in Production Planning includes

1. Order booking:
During order booking, we need to consider capacity availability in a certain period. In such cases, we can use how many minutes we need to make the new orders using garment SAM value and compare the same with how many production minutes are available in our factory for the defined period.

2. Line Capacity Calculation: 
Method of calculating the production capacity of a line is to use standard time (SAM) of a garment. So, to determine the production capacity of a line (for specific products) in pieces we need to know garment SAM.

3. Lead Time Calculation:
Based on the production capacity, order allocation is done for different lines. A planning guy also needs to calculate how long a style would run in a line if loaded in a single line. If you need to complete the order in less time, calculate how many lines to be considered for an order.

4. Process Scheduling:
Time & Action calendar (T&A) or production process scheduling of each order is done by the planning department. Again to schedule a list of tasks, you need to know the capacity of each process per day (or a predefined period). Based on the capacity of each process you allocate no. of days for the process. Like for the sewing department, you determine the sewing capacity of your line (or multiple lines) and according to that, you set how many days to be given to the sewing department for production.

5. Order Execution and Production Monitoring:
Standard minutes help planners to set a target for sewing lines. Mutually agreed and calculated target given to line supervisors. On a daily basis when you check production status you can compare actual production with target production. In case production is getting delayed you can push the production team based on the given target.

6. Labor Cost Estimation:
One most important task is the labor cost estimation of a specific order. To estimate how much labor cost to be considered for an order (style), you can’t make labor costing without having garment SAM value.

By considering all above, we can say that garment SAM plays a big role in production planning and controlling function in garment industry. But as I know, many factories in Bangladesh are not considering SAM/SMV for Order booking/Capacity Planning.

Collected by: Md. Tarikul Islam Jony
Mail:jonytex073@gmail.com
+8801912885383

Lean Manufacturing tools series 20 (Hoshin Kanri)

Every organization exists for a reason. One of the main reasons is to earn profits. There can be other reasons for existence as well. On the other hand every organization has their resources like capital, organizational structures, processes, and people. You may be a follower of lean or not, but I am sure you will agree with me, it is very difficult to align all your resources to achieve what you want to achieve, especially when your organization is larger. If you are working with only handful amount of people it is mighty easy to achieve your goals. You can see each other working. You have a direct control. But when your organization is large, you will have different clusters, departments and divisions etc, etc. there will be hundreds or even thousands of people who are working for you to achieve your goals. Everyone needs to be pulling in same direction in order for you to achieve your goals effectively. But I am sure you would know, it is not easy as it sounds. 

Only very few people in an organization would be aware of the goals of the organization. Even if they know it only a handful would know how your organization is going to achieve them, or your strategies. Even if they know how they are going to be achieved, most of you will not know what is the part you will have to play in order to achieve your organization goals. Sounds familiar isn't it. Best part is, even if you know what you want to achieve, you wouldn't know how you, yourself and others are going to measure it.

So every organization has to answer few questions when they set up their goals and cascade them down the chain.

1. What is our goal? For an example “we want to be the #1 car manufacturer in the world”

2. How are we going to achieve our goal? For an example “we want to sell x million units of cars to become the #1 car manufacturer of the world”

3. What do we want to achieve the target? For an example “We are going to manufacturer the world's lowest cost car so that everyone can afford it”

4. How are we going to measure whether we achieved our objective? For an example “Have sold y number of cars in this year as per our plan”

There may be several answers for the questions above depending on the goal you may set. But I guess you get the idea.

As you can see, setting the goals and cascading them down one step is hard enough. How about cascading your goals to thousands of employees. It will not be easy. But this is where Hoshin Kanri comes to play.

Hoshin Kanri is a very important tool used in lean environment. It is known as a good policy deployment tool. It basically systemizes the process of passing information level by level so that all the components of your organization would be completely aligned to the overall goals of your organization.

Every department will have their objective set by the Hoshin plan for their organization. Every sub divisions of the department will have their objectives set based on the goals their departments need to achieve. It will cascade down to the employee, and will clearly tell your employee what he or she has to do in order to achieve the goals of your organization. Isn't this cool?

Again it needs to be said however, this process is not easy either. It requires mindset changes, thorough follow up and dedication. No one is 100% in this regard. But there is no need to be 100% in your hoshin efforts to realize its benefits. You may realize it on the go.

Collected by: Md. Tarikul Islam Jony
Mail:jonytex073@gmail.com
+8801912885383