Research Proposal – Introduction

Research Title

Constrains of implementing lean management in Sri Lankan Apparel industry.

Introduction

Apparel sector being one of the most significant contributors towards the Sri Lankan economy,

has shown a steady growth over the past three decades [ CITATION BOI \l 1033 ]. This rapid

development of the apparel sector of the country has resulted in transforming Sri Lanka into a

regional Apparel Hub [ CITATION Dai \l 1033 ]. It provides a massive volume of products and

services to both local and international markets and handles a massive volume of transactions

daily [ CITATION Gop19 \l 1033 ]. Hence, gathering and using information to aid and

coordinate the process of making planning and control decisions throughout the Sri Lankan

apparel manufacturers and to guide the behavior of its managers and employees is very critical.

Ferdousi and Ahmed (2009) have reported that the important factor that impacts on apparel

sector businesses is how the organization is improving simultaneously both in terms of quality

and productivity on continuous basis. To survive as well as to establish as market leader in the

present global markets, the manufacturing organizations have lean manufacturing as one of the

important alternatives [ CITATION Abd07 \l 1033 ]. Furthermore Lean Management (LM)

contains universal management principles and tools; and it could be implemented in any system

and in any organization in order to achieve its targets and goals [ CITATION Upa10 \l 1033 ].

As per the literature, Lean management is an approach to managing an organization that supports

the concept of continuous improvement, a long-term approach to work that systematically seeks

to achieve small, incremental changes in processes in order to improve efficiency and quality
[ CITATION Tec \l 1033 ]. Although the organizations are keen on lean management, most of

the businesses in apparel industry has been failed to implement lean management and get the

uses they hope from it. Although many researches have addressed implementation and

advantages of lean management, very few have addressed limitations and constraints associated

with LM. Therefore, this research aims to identify various critical issues and constraints of

implementing LM within above mentioned backdrop.

Research Gap

The term Lean Management was first introduced to the business world in the last decade of 20th

century. The term “lean production system” was initiated by John Krafcik 1988, while he was

reviewing Toyota Production System. Although the concept has been routed to the literature for

more than 30 years, it was revealed that there is a significantly lower uptake of Lean

Management in organizations [ CITATION Kod16 \l 1033 ] and that many organizations are still

unfamiliar with Lean implementation [ CITATION Ach06 \l 1033 ]. Due to this research gap

existing in the current literature, this study attempts to address the deficiency in literature

regarding the particular area.

The reasons for selecting apparel industry to cover the subject research problem are, there are no

any published research conducted regarding the constraints of implementing lean management in

Sri Lankan apparel sector, it is one of the most significant and dynamic contributor for Sri

Lankan economy because it contributes approximately 40 percent of total exports, 33 percent of

the manufacturing employment in the country and this industry has been developed drastically in

last few years (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2017). Moreover, while several studies that have

addressed Lean implementation in general, most of them have focused on manufacturing

industries especially automobiles. Only a handful of studies have covered apparel industry, but

none of them have been done with respect to Sri Lankan context. So, there is a dearth of research

that focuses on Lean Management and its constraints within Sri Lankan context. This paper

focuses on contributing to filling this gap by conducting a study on Lean implementation and its

constraints in apparel sector.

Research Questions

1. Why most of apparel sector companies do not interested in implementing Lean

Management?

2. What are the constraints and limitations associated with implementing Lean

Management?

3. What are the solutions for above identified problems?

Research Objectives

1. To find out the reasons for uninteresting regarding lean management in apparel industry of

Sri Lanka. .

2. To debate various critical issues faced by them when implementing Lean Management.

3. To discuss remedies for the main research issue.