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 By
Mihir Kumar Jha
Mukund Narayan

Under the Guidance of

Ms Mausami Ambashtha
Ms Nilima Topono

Department of Apparel Production

National Institute of Fashion Technology,Kolkata
 “This is to certify that this Project Report titled “{cut to box
module}” is based on our, Mihir Kumar Jha and Mukund
Narayan, original research work, conducted under the guidance
of Ms Mausami Ambashtha and Ms Nilima Topono towards
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:

“cut to box” word is coined by John Allen and Greg Thomerson, president and managing
director of Total Systems Development, respectively. Cut to box module in garment
industry means a single location physically connected cutting, shaping, molding, sewing
and packing. The name is Supermarket.

As in general life supermarket does not manufacture anything, just a place for purchasing
and selling, in our supermarket also no manufacturing is done. The goods are cut parts
and trims. And the currencies are kanban cards raised by respective deartments.

First the whole production unit was studied and analysed with a lot of data of several
department.

The problems, they were facing were:

 Huge inventories
 Greater lead time
 Quality problems
 Wastage of man power
 Execution of plans.

Then the basement was drilled and found these enlisted factors as seeds.

 Trims department deadlock/bottleneck

 Stoppages in the line due to delay in trims
 Delay due to changeover
 Poor execution of plan
 Late delivery
 Unorganized paperwork and recordkeeping
 Lack of control over the cutting department
 Excessive inventory / unorganized inventory
 Excessive workload on distributors

We suggested them to implement “cut to box”. In which we successfully solved most of

their problems. Kanban is taken as a tool to implement cut to box.
CUT TO BOX MODULE

Low barriers to entry. Intense, price-based competition. Supply and distribution chains that
stretch around the world. Product lines that switch out completely every two to three
months. Fickle and unpredictable customers. Low margins. These are the business
realities for garment manufacturers.

One would think that such challenges would have forged one of the most efficient and
competitive industries in the world, but that’s far from reality. When it comes to operational
efficiency, the pursuit of lowest cost labor can hide a lot of sins. 

Hence we, as a part of our graduation project, have tried to develop a module which
consists of only those lean tools which are relevant to the garment industry. We have
named it “cut to box module” and its immediate objectives are

•Minimized throughput time.

•Low inventory.

•Orderly production.

•Increased Productivity

“Cut to box” means “to cut only that much which can be packaged, i.e. to cut according to
your consumption capacity”. It’s basically a lean tool; the only difference is that it focuses
primarily on the implementation of a “pull flow system”.
Pull / Kanban is a method of controlling the flow of production through the factory based on
a customer’s demand. Pull Systems control the flow of resources in a production process
by replacing only what has been consumed. They are customer order-driven production
schedules based on actual demand and consumption rather than forecasting.
Implementing Pull Systems can help you eliminate waste in handling, storing, and getting
your product to the customer.
The core idea is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste. Simply, lean means
creating more value for customers with fewer resources.
A lean organization understands customer value and focuses its key processes to
continuously increase it. The ultimate goal is to provide perfect value to the customer
through a perfect value creation process that has zero waste.
To accomplish this, lean thinking changes the focus of management from optimizing
separate technologies, assets, and vertical departments to optimizing the flow of products
and services through entire value streams that flow horizontally across technologies,
assets, and departments to customers.
Eliminating waste along entire value streams, instead of at isolated points, creates
processes that need less human effort, less space, less capital, and less time to make
products and services at far less costs and with much fewer defects, compared with
traditional business systems. Companies are able to respond to changing customer
desires with high variety, high quality, low cost, and with very fast throughput times. Also,
information management becomes much simpler and more accurate.

The 7 Manufacturing Wastes

Waste elimination is one of the most effective ways to increase the profitability of any
business. Processes either add value or waste to the production of a good or service. To
eliminate waste, it is important to understand exactly what waste is and where it exists.
While products significantly differ between factories, the typical wastes found in
manufacturing environments are quite similar. For each waste, there is a strategy to
reduce or eliminate its effect on a company, thereby improving overall performance and
quality.

 The seven wastes consist of:  

1. Overproduction.

Simply put, overproduction is to manufacture an item before it is actually required. 

Overproduction is highly costly to a manufacturing plant because it prohibits the smooth
flow of materials and actually degrades quality and productivity. The Toyota Production
System is also referred to as “Just in Time” (JIT) because every item is made just as it is
needed. Overproduction manufacturing is referred to as “Just in Case.” This creates
excessive lead times, results in high storage costs, and makes it difficult to detect defects.
The simple solution to overproduction is turning off the tap; this requires a lot of courage
because the problems that overproduction is hiding will be revealed. The concept is to
schedule and produce only what can be immediately sold/shipped and improve machine
changeover/set-up capability.
2. Waiting 

Whenever goods are not moving or being processed, the waste of waiting occurs.
Typically more than 99% of a product's life in traditional batch-and-queue manufacture will
be spent waiting to be processed. Much of a product’s lead time is tied up in waiting for the
next operation; this is usually because material flow is poor, production runs are too long,
and distances between work centers are too great. Goldratt (Theory of Constraints) has
stated many times that one hour lost in a bottleneck process is one hour lost to the entire
factory’s output, which can never be recovered. Linking processes together so that one
feeds directly into the next can dramatically reduce waiting.

3.  Transporting

Transporting product between processes is a cost incursion which adds no value to the
product. Excessive movement and handling cause damage and are an opportunity for
quality to deteriorate. Material handlers must be used to transport the materials,  resulting
in another organizational cost that adds no customer value. Transportation can be difficult
to reduce due to the perceived costs of moving equipment and processes closer together.
Furthermore, it is often hard to determine which processes should be next to each other.
Mapping product flows can make this easier to visualize.

4.  Inappropriate Processing

Often termed as “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut,” many organizations use

expensive high precision equipment where simpler tools would be sufficient. This often
results in poor plant layout because preceding or subsequent operations are located far
apart. In addition they encourage high asset utilization (over-production with minimal
changeovers) in order to recover the high cost of this equipment. Toyota is famous for their
use of low-cost automation, combined with immaculately maintained, often older
machines. Investing in smaller, more flexible equipment where possible; creating
manufacturing cells; and combining steps will greatly reduce the waste of inappropriate
processing.

5.  Unnecessary Inventory

Work in Progress (WIP) is a direct result of overproduction and waiting. Excess inventory
tends to hide problems on the plant floor, which must be identified and resolved in order to
improve operating performance. Excess inventory increases lead times, consumes
productive floor space, delays the identification of problems, and inhibits communication.
By achieving a seamless flow between work centers, many manufacturers have been able
to improve customer service and slash inventories and their associated costs.

6.  Unnecessary / Excess Motion

This waste is related to ergonomics and is seen in all instances of bending, stretching,
walking, lifting, and reaching. These are also health and safety issues, which in today’s
litigious society are becoming more of a problem for organizations. Jobs with excessive
motion should be analyzed and redesigned for improvement with the involvement of plant
personnel.

7.  Defects

Having a direct impact to the bottom line, quality defects resulting in rework or scrap are a
tremendous cost to organizations.  Associated costs include quarantining inventory, re-
inspecting, rescheduling, and capacity loss.  In many organizations the total cost of defects
is often a significant percentage of total manufacturing cost. Through employee
involvement and Continuous Process Improvement (CPI), there is a huge opportunity to
reduce defects at many facilities.

In the latest edition of the Lean Manufacturing classic Lean Thinking, Underutilization of
Employees has been added as an eighth waste to Ohno’s original seven wastes.
Organizations employ their staff for their nimble fingers and strong muscles but forget they
come to work everyday with a free brain. It is only by capitalizing on employees' creativity
that organizations can eliminate the other seven wastes and continuously improve their
performance.

Many changes over recent years have driven organizations to become world class
organizations or Lean Enterprises. The first step in achieving that goal is to identify and
attack the seven wastes. As Toyota and other world-class organizations have come to
realize, customers will pay for value added work, but never for waste.
Literature Review

In 1990 James Womack wrote a book called "The Machine That Changed The World".
Womack's book was a straightforward account of the history of automobile manufacturing
combined with a study of Japanese, American, and European automotive assembly plants.
What was new was a phrase-- "Lean Manufacturing."

Lean Manufacturing caught the imagination of manufacturing people in many countries.

Lean implementations are now commonplace. The knowledge and experience base is
expanding rapidly.

The essential elements of Lean Manufacturing are described at our page " Principles of
Lean Manufacturing." They do not substantially differ from the techniques developed by
Ohno, Shingo and the people at Toyota. The application in any specific factory does
change. Just as many firms copied Ford techniques in slavish and unthinking ways, many
firms copy Toyota's techniques in slavish and unthinking ways and with poor results. Our
series of articles on implementation includes a "Mental Model" to assist the thinking
process and guidance on strategy and planning.

There is no cookbook for manufacturing. Each firm has its own unique set of products,
processes, people, and history. While certain principles may be immutable, their
application is not. Manufacturing Strategy will always be a difficult, uncertain, and
individual process. Strategy ("The General's Art") is still, largely, an art. But, that should
not prevent us from bringing the available science to bear on the problem.
The history of Lean Manufacturing goes back to at least 1850 when El;i Whitney perfected
the concept of interchangeable parts. The timeline above shows periods of major
development and some of the key personalities.

Kanban (or kamban , katakana, meaning "signboard" or "billboard") is a concept related to

lean and just-in-time (JIT) production. According to Taiichi Ohno, the man credited with
developing JIT, kanban is a means through which JIT is achieved.

Kanban is a signaling system to trigger action. As its name suggests, kanban historically
uses cards to signal the need for an item. However, other devices such as plastic markers
(kanban squares), balls (often golf balls), an empty part transport trolley, or simply a floor
location can also be used to trigger the movement, production, or supply of a unit in a
factory.
The need to maintain a high rate of improvements led Toyota to devise the kanban
system. Kanban became an effective tool to support the running of the production system
as a whole. In addition, it proved to be an excellent way for promoting improvements
because reducing the number of kanban in circulation highlighted problem areas.

The term kamban describes an embellished wooden or metal sign often representing a
trademark or seal. Kamban became an important part of the Japanese mercantile scene in
the 17th century, much like the military banners had been to the samurai. Visual puns,
calligraphy and ingenious shapes were employed to indicate a trade and class of business
or tradesman.

In the late 1940s, Toyota began studying supermarkets with a view to applying store and
shelf-stocking techniques to the factory floor, figuring, in a supermarket, customers get
what they need, at the needed time, and in the needed amount. Furthermore, the
supermarket only stocks what it believes it will sell, and customers only take what they
need because future supply is assured. This led Toyota to view a process as a customer
of preceding processes, and the preceding processes as a kind of store. The customer
process goes to this store to get needed components, and the store restocks. As in
supermarkets, originally, signboards were used to guide "shoppers" to specific restocking
locations.

"Kanban" uses the rate of demand to control the rate of production, passing demand from
the end customer up through the chain of customer-store processes. In 1953, Toyota
applied this logic in their main plant machine shop.

An important determinant of the success of production scheduling based on "pushing" the

demand is the quality of the demand forecast that can receive such "push."

Kanban, by contrast, is part of an approach of receiving the "pull" from the demand.
Therefore, the supply or production is determined according to the actual demand of the
customers. In contexts where supply time is lengthy and demand is difficult to forecast, the
best one can do is to respond quickly to observed demand. This is exactly what a kanban
system can help: It is used as a demand signal that immediately propagates through the
supply chain. This can be used to ensure that intermediate stocks held in the supply chain
are better managed, usually smaller. Where the supply response cannot be quick enough
to meet actual demand fluctuations, causing significant lost sales, then stock building may
be deemed as appropriate which can be achieved by issuing more kanban. Taiichi Ohno
states that to be effective kanban must follow strict rules of use (Toyota, for example, has
six simple rules, below) and that close monitoring of these rules is a never-ending task to
ensure that the kanban does what is required.

Toyota's six rules

▪ Do not send defective products to the subsequent process

▪ The subsequent process comes to withdraw only what is needed
▪ Produce only the exact quantity withdrawn by the subsequent process
▪ Equalize production
▪ Kanban is a means to fine tuning
▪ Stabilize and rationalize the process

Three-bin system

A simple example of the kanban system implementation might be a "three-bin system" for
the supplied parts (where there is no in-house manufacturing) — one bin on the factory
floor (demand point), one bin in the factory store, and one bin at the suppliers' store. The
bins usually have a removable card that contains the product details and other relevant
information — the kanban card.

When the bin on the factory floor becomes empty, i.e, there is demand for parts, the empty
bin and kanban cards are returned to the factory store. The factory store then replaces the
bin on the factory floor with a full bin, which also contains a kanban card. The factory store
then contacts the supplier’s store and returns the now-empty bin with its kanban card. The
supplier's inbound product bin with its kanban card is then delivered into the factory store
completing the final step to the system. Thus the process will never run out of product and
could be described as a loop, providing the exact amount required, with only one spare so
there will never be an oversupply. This 'spare' bin allows for the uncertainty in supply, use
and transport that are inherent in the system. The secret to a good kanban system is to
calculate how many kanban cards are required for each product. Most factories using
kanban use the coloured board system (Heijunka Box). This consists of a board created
especially for holding the kanban cards.

Conwip

Production control systems can be classified as pull and push systems (Spearman et al.
1990). In a push system, the production order is scheduled and the material is pushed into
the production line. In a pull system, the start of each product assembly process is
triggered by the completion of another at the end of production line. One variant of a pull
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 hybrid push-pull system.
While Kanban systems maintain tighter control of system WIP through the individual cards
at each workstation, CONWIP systems are easier to implement and adjust, since only one
set of system cards is used to manage system WIP. CONWIP uses cards to control the
number of WIPs. For example, no part is allowed to enter the system without a card
(authority). After a finished part is completed at the last workstation, a card is transferred to
the first workstation and a new part is pushed into the sequential process route. In their
paper, Spearman et al. (1990) used a simulation to make a comparison among the
CONWIP, kanban and push systems, and found that CONWIP systems can achieve a
lower WIP level than kanban systems.

Card control policy in CONWIP system

In a CONWIP system, a card is shared by all kinds of products. However, Duenyas (1994)
proposed a dedicated card control policy in CONWIP and he stated that this policy could
perform as a multiple chain closed queuing network.

These are some of the few cases we gone through. Since kanban is not very popular in
garment manufacturing yet so we studied other similar manufacturing industries.

Case 1

 A kanban system schedules the production of six people assembling industrial air
cleaners from sheet metal and purchased parts.
 They build 15 basic units and many variations. Ten assembly cells have fixtures,
tools and parts ready at all times.
 Each cell produces one or two basic models. One to three people can staff any cell.
An adjacent warehouse holds a small finished stock of each standard model.
 The charts show the data which formed the design basis. P-V analysis displays
relative volume. The order analysis shows volatility and the order size profile.
The Team Leader scans incoming orders. He prepares one-time cards for large orders
and customized items. The Leader sorts cards coming from the warehouse. All cards then
go on a board arranged by assembly cell. Cells with cards in the red zone have priority. If
necessary, additional people work an overloaded cell.

The warehouse picks standard orders from stock and sends cards to production. They
combine standard items with any customized items arriving from production and ship the
orders.

In a second phase of this project, sheet metal and welding operations moved directly
adjacent to the assembly cells. They have dedicated people and equipment. The welding
Team Leader examines each assembly cell for stocks of welded cabinets. He also checks
the Board.
This daily checking constitutes the signal for replacement. Operators weld the necessary
replacement cabinets and place them on a paint line. This replenishment is normally 24
hours. It may be as little as four hours.

The welding department stocks sheet metal components in large wiretainers. Each
wiretainer has special shelves and brackets. It holds a fixed number of each item on a
particular cabinet. A minimum quantity signals operators or the Team Leader to send the
basket to Sheet Metal for replenishment. The sheet metal Team sets up and builds
components to replenish the basket and returns it to the Welding. This normally occurs
within 24 hours. Higher volume cabinets may have several identical baskets to maintain
welding production during replenishment.
This complete system uses Kanban, Direct Link and Re-Order Point. A Broadcast system
overlays the other systems since all team leaders have access to the final assembly
Kanban board.

This kanban system eliminated 96% of finished goods inventory, simplified scheduling and
eliminated losses from obsolescent product.
Case 2

The largest manufacturer of office furniture in the world, Steelcase Inc. is dedicated to
helping people in offices across the globe work effectively in the utmost com- fort. The
realization of this goal begins in their manufacturing plant. One of their divisions, Steelcase
North America, wants to expand manufacturing capacity within the confines of existing
floor space. Manage- ment decided that one they could accomplish this objective by
eliminating unnecessary inventory from the manufactur- ing floor, and streamline as-
sembly line processes. They concentrated on the kanban, the receptacle that houses parts
needed to assemble office furniture. Kanbans are the key.
A Case for Kanbans components of inventory systems used to control work in process
throughout Steelcase Inc.

Problem

Making sure the kanbans are the correct size is always a challenge. A kanban that holds
the right amount of parts will never run out of stock and it won’t cause extra money and
materials to be tied up in excess inventory. The manufacturing department consistently en-
deavors to make the kanbans large, just in case extra stock is needed, while the
accountants are constantly trying to pull back and minimize kanban size to keep costs
down. Therefore, the challenge is to keep a happy medium between the two objectives.
SIMULATION SUCCESS / JUNE 2000There are approximately 120 kanbans in our plant
which we estimate will save additional $100,000 and free up 50,000 to 60,000 square feet
of floor space.
With six additional manufacturing plants in our Grand Rapids and Kentwood complexes,
these could add an additional $600,000 in material and labor savings, plus 300,000 to
1,800,000 square feet of floor space.
About the Author: Mike Cavanaugh holds dual bachelor’s degrees from Aquinas College in
Business Administration and Psychol- ogy. He attended college, with time off for military
duty, raising three daughters and building a house. Mr. Cavanaugh currently resides as
Senior Industrial Engineer at Context Plant, Steelcase Inc.
He has been with Steelcase for more than 22 years, and has held several positions— from
production worker and production supervisor—to his current engineering role. Mr.
Cavanaugh brings a long manufacturing background to his use of simulation. Addi-
tionally, he has been involved in his community as a volun- teer at the Public Museum and
as a mentor for the Grand Rapids Area Pre- College Engineering Pro- gram.

Solution

The simulation tech team at Steelcase wanted to help manufacturing find a way to help
them correctly size their kanbans. They felt confident that ProcessModel simulation
modeling would do the job. A kanban model was designed, and then—to get a proper idea
of the size of kanban needed— the manufacturing process was divided into three
hypothetical areas: the fabrication of steel parts, the painting of these parts, and then final
assembly of these painted parts.
Most of the kanbans used in the manufacturing process are utilized between fabrication
and paint, so this is was input into the model. With simple modifications to the arrival cycle,
it was discovered that each kanban part can be tested and tracked.
First, the model user enters the part number to be tested. He
then adds the cycle time for the replenishing process. The model tracks the variable
“quantity on hand” that allows the model user to see if the quantity was sufficient or if it
“ran dry.” Consumption and replenishing processes can also be viewed at this point.

Results

We have seen a $3,000 saving in material and labor on the three parts tested so far and
have also freed the much needed floor space. There are approximately 120 kanbans in
our plant which we estimate will save additional $100,000 and free up 50,000 to 60,000
square feet of floor space. With six additional manufacturing plants in our Grand Rapids
and Kentwood complexes, these could add an additional $600,000 in material and labor
savings, plus 300,000 to 1,800,000 square feet of floor space.

LEAN, AS THE TOYOTA-REFINED PRODUCTION SYSTEM for continuous process

improvement, is everywhere. Beginning in the auto industry, its application expanded
outward to all forms of manufacturing, supply chain management and logistics as well as a
wide range of service-oriented industries. As industrial engineers move forward into critical
roles in a growing number of these areas, they find themselves faced with the need to
integrate and adapt the benefits of lean to their specific environments. This article
describes one company's view of those benefits, as reflected in our eight years
implementing lean worldwide in the garment industry.

Total Systems Development (TSD) is an international lean systems consulting firm with
more than 12 years of experience helping commercial and military clients in the training
and implementation of sustainable lean systems-based improvements. When we were first
approached to work in fashion wear production, we took on the projects with the
confidence that the core principles of a lean transformation hold true, in spite of an
industry's particular characteristics. Several garment clients in Asia and Latin America,
scores of facilities and eight years later, those principles--committed leadership, good
management, a systems perspective and a refusal to live with the status quo in any part of
the system--did not disappoint.

TSD's lean approach

While the start of any lean-based improvement program is influenced by the client's most
immediate needs, never lose sight of the larger context of that change. Our programs are
grounded on Toyota's five-phase lean implementation process model. While the phases
follow a general sequence, the degrees to which they overlap and interconnect (or at times
shift out of order) depend on each organization's circumstances and the skill and
experience of its chosen lean guide.

Stability

The focus of this first phase is to highlight and recognize instability so that immediate
problem solving can begin. The emphasis is in establishing supervisory authority, instilling
a sense of urgency to solve problems and creating a visual workplace so that those
problems become visible. By the close of this phase, the organization must have the ability
to see instability and the skill and knowledge to react to it appropriately.
Continuous flow. In this phase, the objective is to create continuous, controlled flow from
task to task. Flow is typically interrupted by equipment, process or material. Therefore,
each of these elements is examined, and tools are developed to overcome those
interruptions. At the close of this phase, processes should flow from task to task, at their
natural rate.
Synchronous production

The objective of this phase is to adjust the flow of processes to the rate of customer
demand (takt time). Work is redistributed so that each process is completed within this
rate, and as work is rebalanced, each task within the process is documented into a
standard. From that time forward, the visual representation of that process is used to
compare the actual to the standard.

Pull systems

Once the process flows at the rate of customer demand, the next objective is to pull the
product through the various processes while pulling material from suppliers. This phase
focuses on maintaining smooth and even flow, but to do so by pulling production from
process to process, where only those parts just necessary for the next production process
are at the ready. This, in turn, sets the requirement for the suppliers to provide material at
the rate of its actual use (success at this stage results in drastically lowered work-in-
process and inventory levels).
Level production. Once the organization is capable of producing at the rate of customer
demand, the next stage of improvement, and the one that delivers the greatest return, is
reached by focusing on the way production is scheduled and built. The objective is to
build. product in the exact sequence ordered, leveled in volume, mix and sequence, over a
fixed period and equal to customer demand. In this final phase, the organization
encounters the greatest challenge to reduce the time from order to completion. Success
results in shorter lead-time and greater flexibility in meeting customer demands.

Traditional garment production system

Aside from the traditional batch-processing, command and control mentality typical of most
non-lean production facilities, the garment industry possesses other distinct
characteristics. It makes regular use of a predetermined motion time (PMT) system
designed by GSD (Corporate) Ltd. that is "used to evaluate working practices with a view
to establishing the time it takes to perform a given task and to determine the costs
associated to that task."
This system translates to "general sewing data," including standard minute values (SMV),
which assign time and value for specified component actions associated with the
manufacture of garments. The SMVs for all actions required to produce a single
hypothetical garment, as dictated by the GSD, are tallied. This total is the starting point for
the bidding process between the customer and the manufacturer.
Reliance on this format supports traditional forms of factory performance measurement,
such as number of standard hours in operation and pieces per person per hour. These run
counter to lean-based metrics, which focus on customer demand, the ability to produce
defect-free products the first time through without repair, equipment effectiveness and the
ability to produce the right products on the right day in the right sequence in the right time.
Garment production is very labor-intensive due to a large variety of stitch types and
specialized equipment. We observe that in Asia, it is often the case that the predominantly
female work force turns over every several years, placing a heavy burden on training and
increasing pressure to maintain high skill levels to produce a balanced repetitive cycle time
(which only raise the importance of such lean tools like standardized work, job instruction
and balancing operations).

Path to transformation

Lean transformation, a challenge for any organization, is as simple as refusing to allow

problems to persist and as complex as changing an individual's fundamental perspective
on production. Each path to that transformation reflects an urgent need to solve problems
from leadership down, a managed discipline to adhere to standards until improvements
supersede them, a systems approach to an aligned set of goals with supporting action
plans and a refusal to accept the status quo. Without this recipe, change is rarely more
than a disconnected set of loosely aligned initiatives that rise and fall like the tide. Below
are some observations based on garment manufacturers working to balance the demands
of current operations with the trials of a transformation to lean.
Planning. Planning for new work is a continual challenge in the garment industry. One
plant may run 18 lines simultaneously: six running new product for only three weeks, nine
running product lasting four months (on a repeating annual cycle) and three running
product continuously.
In the traditional approach planning is intimately tied to the SMV. As an example, a
customer solicits for the manufacture of a given number of newly designed garments for
delivery in a fixed number of days. All the garment's component actions are tallied in a
standard configuration to arrive at an SMV needed to produce one garment. This is
multiplied by the number of units ordered and divided into the adjusted available time,
factoring in the number of people needed to construct one production module along with
an estimated efficiency factor. In this approach, we have observed that the SMV is the
goal on which the process is structured.
In contrast, a lean approach starts with customer demand and the drive to produce product
to takt time (often mistaken for cycle time, it is not dependent on your productivity). It is a
measure of customer demand expressed in units of time. Dividing the customer demand
into the 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 departure point.
The elements and time required for making one unit are physically operators or team
leader to establish the lower repeatable time (the "standard"). The production model layout
is created maximizing space and efficiency. Then the workloads for all the operators are
examined and balanced, refining the number of operators needed to meet takt time. The
number of people required is based on the actual value-added time from the standard plus
an allowance for necessary non-value-added process steps. The starting point is based on
the study of actual operations and revised with direct participation from the operators.
When compared, a traditional approach to planning and change is more dictated and
controlled than a lean approach. For this reason, the transition from the former to the latter
often occurs gradually. The risk is minimized and the test of lean is small enough now to
put customers at ease, allow the methods to evolve and changes in the process to
emerge. When tradition meets change the key is small incremental steps, allowing time to
adjust to skills and learners to achieve confidence.
Managing change. Central to the management of change in a lean system are: mutual
trust and respect among all parties involved, creation of a highly structured relationship
between the parties with the appropriate metrics in place, and navigating between knowing
what needs to be done and what can be done. This last element demands an acute
awareness, through observation and analysis (using the metrics mentioned above), of the
need for and progress toward balanced change, both cultural and physical.
We take our first example from a garment manufacturer that, over the last three years,
implemented lean systems in a number of plants in an effort to shorten lead-times and
reduce waste. In the industry specifically, this means shortening the time and distance
from the cutting to sewing to packaging to shipment. But many in the organization
previously committed significant monies to centralizing cutting in a facility that "pushed"
product to many separate sewing facilities located miles apart. Some leaders not only
resisted change, bur resisted being changed, invested as they were in an intuitive belief in
the efficiency of batch processing.
However, once they acquired a trust in the methodology, they felt secure in committing to
an experiment a trial "cut-to-box" project where a single location physically connected
cutting, shaping, molding, sewing and packing. The result was compelling. The time from
cutting to boxing was reduced from 55 hours to less than eight hours. Significant change
comes when leaders not only trust their guide, but trust the methodology as demonstrated
by the metrics of other successes.
Another example demonstrating the challenges of man-aging change is revealed in an
early project in a single plant containing two pilot implementation areas progressing
simultaneously. In one, the consultant executed a disciplined change effort that carefully
balanced the physical capacity to execute tools and techniques with the mental capacity to
absorb and endorse the major cultural change.
In the second pilot area a less balanced approach prevailed. Major physical alterations to
machinery and line arrangements were made that, while consistent with lean methods,
reconfigured the responsibilities of certain senior operators. These changes, without
additional preparation for the inevitable culture change, resulted in heightened plant
tensions that were only allayed with quick attention to those cultural issues. The
juxtaposition of these two results in a single plant illustrates the difficulty in balancing
between knowing what needs to be done and what can be done. It is critical to secure
commitment from the people on the ground (those who add value) to orchestrate the
achievements that are needed.

Organizational structure

A traditional role of the industrial engineer is to understand the relationship between

performance and performance standards and define those standards. Yet this can create
and adversarial relationship between the industrial engineer and the persons executing the
standards. In the typical garment production facility some of the industrial engineer's roles,
in the guise of the general sewing data, reinforce that conflict. Under the auspices of a
separate organization promoting industry standards, engineers in a remote locate
determine idealized times for performing minute and discrete acts of production, the
compilation of which equal the time and labor (SMV) required to create any garment.
These standards are then adopted and perpetuated by the manufacturer not only to bid on
new work, but to determine the necessary labor requirements, sometimes without ever
having produced such a garment before.
A lean system recognizes the value in the clarity the industrial engineer brings to the
situation. However, its challenge is to integrate the IE's roles and minimize the stress of
conflict. In a lean system, there are two types of personnel: those who add value and
those who support those who add value. It is not practical for operators to determine the
steps and pace of production initially. These are governed by takt time, pitch (space in
which they do their work) and sequence. But then operators take than information,
participate in its refinement and turn it into a continuously flowing process.
Industrial engineers and those in remote pilot areas determine the sequence of operations
needed to build a quality product. They practice until perfect within the constraints of
expected customer demand (takt time). Once done and documented, the process is taken
to the line for trials and consideration by the team. The team, through trials, determines
whether the process can flow continuously from operator to operator; the configuration of
required machines; and the inventory or in-process stock needed in each operation.
Team members work on any problem discovered, and a final product is documented into
standard worksheets. Although the number of changes ultimately made may be few, the
real aim of this process is for the operators to gain ownership of the standard work. Lean
enables operators and gives them the skills to analyze abnormalities (e.g., quality issues
equipment down time, overtime) and solve problems using plan-do-check-act/adjust
methods and statistical process control tools.
In a lean system, the industrial engineer and the operator work hand-in-glove for maximum
effectiveness. Gone is the command and control mentality where communication is one
way. Participation is the watchword. Time studies and line balancing activities are the
responsibilities of team members, and suggestions made by operators, after evaluation by
management, are often implemented with the assistance of the industrial engineer. In our
experience, garments arriving on the line in the traditional way often exhibit an efficiency
factor of 50 percent, as compared to 90 percent as the starting point for those items
brought along in a lean-based approach.
The traditional garment manufacturer exemplifies a world where expectations are
developed outside any relationship with the floor-bound "value adders." In contrast, the
world of lean places primary emphasis on those value-adders, trying their success to the
organization's success with a supportive multi-person organization. The industrial engineer
is key to this environment, responsible for creating the basic work interactions, meeting the
needs of the value adder and building trust and respect along the way.
Leadership (is all the rage). The lean transformation requires leadership. This can be
found at the very apex of the organization, as we encountered with the dynamic leadership
of one garment manufacturer chairman, or farther down the hierarchy in the roles of the
company lean champion or plant manager. Regardless of its source, successful leadership
typically exhibits four critical characteristics.
First, the leader is a person of vision. This means seeing beyond the obvious and
remaining consistently dissatisfied with the obvious and remaining consistently dissatisfied
with the status quo. Second, the leaders exhibits a willingness to learn and understand.
Those unwilling to learn are generally unwilling to change, and change is a prerequisite to
transformation. Third, the leader demonstrates a willingness to devote personal time to the
change effort. Delegating participation to others not only sends the wrong message to the
organization, it undermines the leader's ability to comprehend the complexity of the effort
and provide meaningful input. And fourth, the leader has patience. There is a willingness
to let people learn, take risks and sometimes fail.

These characteristics are not frequently found in an industry that has a history of
controlling environments where labor was considered a resource, a factor of production
rather than an investment to solicit more participation. But the garment industry reflects our
wider commercial and military experiences; lean leaders are rare in any traditional
production environment. But if we begin with someone who possesses the seeds of an
enthusiastic lean vision and a willingness to act decisively and assume controlled risk,
these can be nurtured into a disciplined understanding of lean and accountability to the
system as a whole.
One final characteristic is revealed in the necessary transition from "boss" to "leader."
Many bosses are examples of society's best and brightest with good ideas and the
company's interests at heart. But often they push these ideas in the form of changes upon
those that add value, and the ideas often fail. The hallmark of lean leaders and a lean
system in general is involvement. Lean leaders solicit and value participation, and this
feeds buy-in and commitment from the entire organization. They encourage problem
solving and value-consistent, incremental change over time. They rely on the expert
knowledge of those who add value, and in so doing inspire and drive change in those
around them.
The garment industry is a challenging and rewarding environrnent to implement lean. It
has chased low labor rates only to find that this cannot mean low quality. It has played a
major role in the world market and clearly understands the meaning of world class. It
contains some of the best people capable of making needed changes and providing
innovative solutions.
However, the garment industry has allowed inventory to expand, made quality variable at
times and allowed itself to be defined by the low-cost provider. Its problems are not unlike
those of other industries, and so like other industries, it finds its solutions in lean. Lean is
about process, not product, and about people participating in that process. Lean is about
discipline, teamwork and the refusal to perpetuate the status quo. The systems approach
to garment production provides an environment where competition flourishes.
In time, the systems approach will free the industry from its compulsion to chase low labor
rates and allow it to focus on providing the highest quality garments at the lowest cost with
the shortest lead-time. Soon, the industry will strike a balance between carefully studied
jobs, support from qualified IEs and invigorated operators constantly striving for continuous
improvement. Throughout its evolution, committed, flexible industrial engineers will play a
critical role translating and embedding this into the workplace. The role is set and the
demand is great.
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.