Adjusting factory layouts for faster fashion

In garment factories around the world, surprisingly little thought is given to basic factory management, organisation and methods suggests Niki Tait. She believes that refinements to layout and working practices could help many companies maximise productivity and better meet the fast response needs of their customers, without considerable reinvestment. The layout of factories around the world is almost 95% predictable. Production flows though conventional progressive bundle lines with about 30 people per line to one supervisor, a quality controller and maybe a technician or trainer, almost regardless of the product, style or quantities being made. Individuals are paid on a piece work basis, with management is seeking the highest level of performance based on the standard minute rate for the operation. Work in progress stocks help to smooth out imbalances, and in line and final inspection identify quality issues before the garments are dispatched. But most importantly, this progressive bundle system ignores the total costs of production - the handling times, and the correction times. Instead, it looks at the short term profitability of production, clamping down on visible costs but tolerating high levels of waste. What is also predictable is that these layouts fail to offer customers what they increasingly want: short run flexible production with reliable quality and delivery with fast turnaround. Faster throughput Progressive companies, however, understand that two week throughput is not adequate when other manufacturers can turn the order round in one week. They analyse customers' requirements from design and pre production through production to post production, including logistics and delivery, and decide how best to address these needs. These companies are also likely to have a detailed plan of where they wish to be in five years time, their shortfalls, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. Aims and objectives are likely to include faster market response with shorter throughput and lead times, lower overheads and less administration, increased productivity, reduced raw materials, and improved quality. Methods, systems and technology should all be developed to optimise resources such as money, labour, material, time, space and machinery. It is also worth remembering that defects in design or product specification add extra work, and that lack of standardisation prevents the use of mass production processes. But even in a highly flexible manufacturing environment there are still aspects which can still be standardised, such as the method of waistband attachment on shirts and trousers. Incorrect or misunderstood quality standards can also cause unnecessary work, as can the use of the wrong machines or tools, bad layouts and lack of adequate training.

In addition to excess work content, time is also lost through excessive product variety and lack of standardisation, which adds idle time at the changeover of styles. Bad planning of work and orders can lead to under-utilisation of operators and machines, as can machinery and equipment breakdowns. Material movement In terms of moving materials around the factory, and indeed under the needle, tremendous time savings can often be made - which in turn helps increase throughput time of orders through production. In most sewing factories, 80% of production time is spent in handling, with just 20% going on sewing, pressing or finishing. So for any 30-minute garment, only six minutes of the work is actually productive, value added, and effective. The other 24 minutes is unproductive, spent moving and manipulating material so the productive work can be carried out. Handling adds nothing to the value of the product, but does add to the cost of manufacture. The manual movement of work from one work station to another is completely unproductive, whether carried out by a service girl or supervisor. Tying up and untying bundles, folding and unfolding work and booking work are all non-productive too. And storing work between operations ties up money, adds no value to a garment, takes space and slows throughput. If there is no bundling, no moving around by the operator to collect or dispose of work, and a garment is ergonomically delivered to the needle point ready for sewing, such as with a unit production or Switchtrack system, the 80:20 handling ratio can be changed to 60:40 or better. This maximises productivity by replacing non-productive time with productive time. The best solution, however, is to avoid handling wherever possible Team working Where short runs and highly flexible production is required, team working may be a consideration. Team work is a flexible quick response production system consisting of self organised, self motivated, multi skilled versatile operators who work collectively in teams, making joint decisions and sharing responsibility for the team's output in terms of both quality and quantity. The emphasis is on utilising a small multi-skilled group of operators, with group bonuses replacing individual incentives. Teams are responsible for their own quality with the emphasis on avoiding mistakes rather than identifying and correcting them. Team members are all equality responsible for their own supervision, quality and collective output. Cost effective production In terms of improving the cost effectiveness of production, it is not just industrial engineering or different manufacturing methods such as unit production systems or team working that can help.

There are also many management techniques which can be of benefit including just in time, total quality management, Kaizen, and the 5S principles. As with teamwork, Kaizen is also a collective rather then individual function that involves every employee from upper management to cleaning crew. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis in a managed manner, since the Kaizen philosophy is that everything can be improved. Part of Kaizen is the 'Five S Programme' which focuses on visual order, organisation, cleanliness and standardisation and aims to improve profitability, efficiency, service and safety - all of which are necessary to good production. The principles underlying a Five S programme are simple, obvious, and commonsense, but unless they are highlighted many businesses ignore them. Sorting - sort through everything in each work area. Only keep the materials, tools, equipment and supplies that are necessary and used frequently. Systematic organisation - there should be a place for everything and everything in should be in its place, properly identified and labelled. Regularly used tools should be readily available; areas on the floor should be outlined to identify work areas, movement lanes, storage areas etc. Sweep and keep clean - once everything is sorted, cleaned up and organised, it needs to be kept that way. Regular cleaning and inspection makes it easy to spot - and fix - oil leaks, equipment misalignment, breakage, missing tools and low levels of supplies. Standardise and simplify - good practices should be standardised, made easy to accomplish, and then updated and modified to avoid slipping back into old work habits. Self Discipline - the final step is to continue training and maintaining these standards. Have a formal system for monitoring the results and continue to educate people about maintaining standards. Niki Tait, CText FTI, FCFI heads Apparel Solutions, which provides independent assistance to the apparel industry in the areas of manufacturing methods, industrial engineering, information technology and quick response