http://www.allaboutlean.

com/all-posts/

http://www.apparelscience.com/index.php/80-apparel-science/115-lean

https://www.industryforum.co.uk/category/resources/case-studies/

http://textilelearner.blogspot.com/2015/05/lean-manufacturing-in-apparel-
industry.html
What is Apparel Lean Manufacturing? How
New Tech Can Streamline Your Garment
Business

Apparel lean manufacturing holds the promise of increasing productivity, reducing cycle time,
reducing lead time, eliminating manufacturing waste, improving product quality and ultimately
improving profitability. Yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the labor productivity
index for the Apparel Manufacturing industry declined year-over-year in 2014 and in 2015.[1] So
how can apparel, fashion and footwear companies achieve lean manufacturing?

Sewn products manufacturers must constantly improve upon product quality, production speed
and operational efficiency to keep pace in a competitive industry. Apparel lean manufacturing,
which results in lower production costs, increased output and minimized production times, may
be the answer.
What is lean manufacturing?

Lean manufacturing, also referred to as lean production, is a systematic approach to achieving

highly efficient factory or plant operations through eliminating waste. The original seven types
of waste are defined as:

 Transport (moving products that are not actually required to perform the processing)
 Inventory (all components, work in process, and finished product not being processed)
 Motion (people or equipment moving or walking more than is required to perform the
processing)
 Waiting (waiting for the next production step, interruptions of production during shift
change)
 Overproduction (production ahead of demand)
 Over Processing (resulting from poor tool or product design creating activity)
 Defects (the effort involved in inspecting for and fixing defects) [2]

This strategy, which was borne of the Japanese Toyota Production System, requires a continuous
pursuit of performance improvement by defining “value” as any action or process that a
customer is willing to pay for.[1] Operational and cost efficiency can be achieved through several
means:

 Eliminating unnecessary waste, including but not limited to time loss, excessive raw
material inputs and preventable defects
 Reducing lead and cycle times
 Reducing inventory levels at every stage of production
 Improving workforce productivity
  Optimizing use of equipment and space [3]

The goal is to improve plant or factory systems by eliminating manufacturing waste and
inefficiency.

Lean manufacturing principles

The approaches for implementing lean practices in the apparel, fashion and footwear industries
vary, but the main principles of lean manufacturing are based on 5S and Kaizen.

5S is a workplace organization method comprised of five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso,
seiketsu, and shitsuke. The 5S methodology describes how work spaces should be organized for
efficiency and efficacy. Standardization of manufacturing items used, how they should be stored,
and how the items and area should be maintained help sustain the new order among workers and
management alike.

5S can be translated as:

 Sort
 Set
 Shine
 Standardize
 Sustain [2]

Kaizen is the Japanese word for “improvement.” In this case, it refers to the continuous
improvement of all business and workforce functions at every level.[4] In garment manufacturing,
every level of production can be improved from raw materials handling to inventory.

Tools and technology

Apparel lean manufacturing requires a lean culture and the use of lean tools. Value-added
activities are anything that transform materials into the product that the customer wants, and
waste should be eliminated at every level from reducing work in process times, to minimizing
production costs to reducing time loss. The entire plant culture needs to be involved in
discussions to understand the approach and order, and certain technologies may need to be
applied.

Manufacturing Shop Floor Control technology has been utilized by many of the world’s leading
apparel and garment manufactures to streamline and optimize factory operations. Shop Floor
Control increases labor productivity while standardizing processes and reducing time loss.
Recently, there have been several new development in Shop Floor Control software that make
the technology even more accessible, accurate and useful. In response to the rapid advancement
in technology and the digital transformation of business, next-gen Shop Floor Control solutions
are adding wireless operator apps for increased accessibility and mobility. Additionally, there is
an increasing focus on providing dashboards that offer actionable intelligence; the distillation of
big data and complex analytics into information that can be immediately applied to improve
manufacturing operations.

Implementing lean manufacturing

Apparel and garment manufacturers may stand to gain from implementing the lean
manufacturing methodology. Individual manufacturers will determine whether the shift towards
lean manufacturing makes sense for their business after an initial assessment of the plant and its
financials. Organization-wide discussions should be opened up regarding any systematic changes
because buy-in at every level of the organization – from the executives to the line operators – is
critical for the success of any change initiative. Then manufacturing goals can shift towards the
systematic elimination of waste for increased productivity and improved production.

References

[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Apparel manufacturing: NAICS 315,” [Online].

[2] Wikipedia, “Lean manufacturing,” [Online].

[3] M. Uddin, "Study on Lean Manufacturing Process in Garments Production," [Online].

[4] Wikipedia, “5S (methodology),” [Online]

Profitability through Lean Initiative in apparel sector

Garment production system is a suitable avenue for Lean Initiative, which when implemented
throughout the entire value chain can result in 35% - 65% improvement in terms of
productivity, assert B Senthil Kumar and Dr V R Sampath.

Garment industry in India accounts for more than 40% of

total textile products of India. After phasing out the multi
fibre agreement (MFA) the textile & apparel business became
open. At this stage onwards, Indian apparel industry has been
facing so much challenges to compete with global market due
to higher labour cost, lower productivity and lower factory
efficiency. Lean manufacturing is one of the approaches
every manufacturer in India is trying to implement by which
they can minimize the cost of production. However, very little research work was carried out
towards the implementation of Lean Initiative on textile and garment sector. This article
focuses on how the garment industry can function with the support of Lean Manufacturing
Initiative to meet the global challenges.

This article will provide the complete feasibility report for implementation of Lean to
garment manufacturing process. Since the garment construction process contains so much
internal as well as external process variation, customisation towards the process will enrich
the productivity, ultimately the profitability.

Overview of Lean Initiative

Lean is the Pull-based Manufacturing approach, also known as the Toyota Production
System, which was established in 1970s by Taichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo at Toyota Motor
Company (Rajab Abdullah Hokoma, et al 2010). Toyota was the first company implementing
the lean manufacturing system for minimizing the inventory, improving the production and
quality. This resulted in an integrated and efficient manufacturing environment [Mc Muller
Patrict R].

Lean Initiative has been developed and defined as elimination

of waste (Womack et al 1990). In Lean Philosophy, "value"
is determined by customer point of view. It means what the
customer is willing to pay for, what creates value for the
product, which the customer is getting. So Lean always
optimises the manufacturing process from the customer point of view. Value stream mapping
towards the Value added and non value (NV) added activity is very much essential for
manufacturing a product from raw material to finished product (Rother and Shook1999).
With this understanding one can find out the way to minimize the non-value added activity
towards the value chain instead of replacing the useful value added activity. In a Lean
organisation people try to minimize the NV continuously (Womack and Jones 1996;
McDonald, et al 2000).
 Benefits of Lean

Sizable portion of Literature (Billes bach, 1994) (Nystuen, 2002) supported the benefits of
Lean through empirical research evidence. Sohal and Egglestion (1994) suggested through
their research that two thirds of the companies say a strategic advantage had been generated
through Lean system with the great improvement in market competitive position, customer
relationship and quality constraints. Lean System (Womack, Jones, 1996) helped them
understand the process, waste elimination and generating the smooth process flow. A survey
towards the benefits of Lean System for garment manufacturing conducted by Farhana
Ferdousi and Amir Ahmed at a Garment Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Bangladesh with
more than 45 companies are involved in this survey. The results are as follows:

In addition to this, the following benefits were reaped due to Lean Manufacturing Practices:

• Lean allows the decentralised decision making process (Hines & Taylor, 2000).
• Effectively remove the process waste reduction.
• Minimize the cost of inventory.
• Motivate the employees.
• Improve the factory condition.

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) in garment industry

Value is physical and necessary conversion activity

happening in the product to transform a complete product,
which will reach the customer. Value stream mapping
(Mehmet c Kocakulah et al) is a visual way of representing
the flow of information and material in the production and
products. This helps the manager to see the product value
addition as well as identify the process waste.

1. Overproduction: The production is more than what is required for the internal as well as
external customer. Generally between the product line high WIP is practised, whereas this
Lean techniques suggest minimising the product waiting time.
2. Unnecessary movement: This is movement of product within the production process
without producing any value addition (VA). Progressive bungling system will stretch
unnecessary bundle movement between the processes.

3. Excess inventory: Which includes excess WIP inventory as well as finished product
inventory

4. Unnecessary motion: Unnecessary motion between the processes without any VA.
Generally poor work process layout creates such a kind of problem.

5. Unnecessary waiting time: Unnecessary product waiting time between the workstation.

6. Defects: Any undesired characteristic that affects product fit, form & functions, etc

7. Over-processing: It define the unnecessary processing on the product

These manufacturing wastes are readily apparent in garment manufacturing process. Some of
them are unavoidable. Those companies who identify those waste can minimize the cost of
production

Tools & techniques for Lean Implementation

Key tools and techniques for implementation of Lean System (Melton T, 2005) are as
follows:

• Kanban - It describes the pull-based production system.

• 5S – A visual housekeeping tool, which devolved control to the production environment.
• Poka Yoka -- An error proofing tool.
• Push System.
• PDCA Cycle - Continuous improvement cycle.
• Cellular layout -- It is U shaped production layout, which minimizes the product waiting
time as well as the work-in-progress.
Kaizan – This tools deals about the continuous improvement in the production process.

Based on the product nature, Lean tool can be selected and utilised. In apparel manufacturing
it is concerned mostly with cellular-based layout, 5S, Kaizan is effectively utilised.

Comparison between the mass production systems with Lean Production

system

The machine that changed the world (Womact et al, 1990), compared the mass production
system with Lean production system.

Mass Lean
Factor
production production
 Skill level Narrow Multi
of work skilled skilled
force professional professional
Machine Single Multi
Layout purpose purpose
High Customer
Production volume focused
method standardized production
product process.
Large Minimum
Inventory Buffer in process
Stock inventory
Product Single
Mixed flow
Flow product
Lead time Very high Less

Lathin D in his research, revealed that Lean Manufacturing system reduces the lead time by
90% and inventory by 90%, cost of quality by 90%, and raises labour productivity by 50%
against the traditional mass production system.

Cellular layout: This is a typical layout developed for process oriented manufacturing
instead of product based manufacturing with systematic waste reduction, each cell being
dedicated to a specific task (Nicolette et al, 1998, Askin et al, 1993, Buffa et al, 2002).

A typical cellular layout

A cell contains equipment and workstations that are arranged to maintain the smoothness of
product without much of waiting time (Farwaz A Abdulmalek et al). The advantage of this
cell based layout is achieving the single piece flow. When high variety of products are
demanded by the customer, it is important to have flexibility in the process to accommodate
their needs. This can be achieved by grouping the similar process together for developing
cellular based layout.

The primary advantage of this system is to reduce the time for changeover, throughput time,
improve the productivity & quality (Burbidge, 1979, Singh, 1993). The Research jointly
carried out by London Business School, Salford and Bradford University on cellular layout
revealed that the reduction of WIP and throughput time are 63 % and 70% respectively and
output of the employee is increased by 33%. Vijitha Ratnayake & James Marsh have
revealed in their research article that in typical garment industry in Sri Lanka cellular layout
has minimized the WIP by 27.7%.

Kaizan: The continuous improvement philosophy is called kaizan. Which is rather focusing
on small continuous improvement in the process that have a major impact over the long term
(KZN CTC Manufacturing Vol 1 No# 1) Further more, Kaizan incorporates continuously
involving everyone in the organisation from the senior executive to worker level. This
creates the motivated employee in the manufacturing floor .A South African Garment factory
called GZN clothing and textile manufacturing firm wanted commit to increase the global
competitiveness in the market by implementing Kaizan in their factory with the worker
participation with in three years time more than 70% of their worker involved in this process
by self motivation.

5S: This methodology is very much essential for plant floor improvement (Mehmet C
Kocakulah et al). 5S was originally developed by Toyota to describe the proper method of
housekeeping. This word refers to the Janpanese term called Seiri, Seiton, Seiko, Seiketsu,
Shinseki. 5s is the lean perspective on floor layout, which affects the bottom line through
greater efficiency by the standardised layout, reducing the production cycle time, and
eliminating unnecessary waste movement.

Poka Yoka: In a garment industry mistake proofing is the essential tool, because as study
says more than 30% of industry is not at all producing any new product whereas they are just
reworking the earlier mistake. (Mehmet C Kocakulah et al). If products are designed in such
a way that assembly process cannot be done incorrectly, then true mistake proofing has taken
place. Standardised work aids tools that help to maintain the Lean achievement.

Conclusion

Lean Production system reduces all forms of non-value added activity .It is understood that
most of the apparel firms in global level have implemented this system & found significant
level of process improvement. (Lal sudhakaran, et al 2011). Madura Garments, which has
implemented Lean System at its factory found 35% - 65% productivity improvement in the
value chain with the support of a few Lean implementation tools. But at this juncture most of
the Indian garment manufactures are hesitating to implement Lean Manufacturing tool in
their production process due to lack of knowledge about the Lean tool, lack of direction, lack
of adequate project sequencing, evidently cocktail of common ingredients are viewed
indispensable for successful customised implementation towards garment manufacturing
setup. As research says most of garment manufacturers have adopted larger varieties of Lean
Tools such as Kaizan, Cellular layout & 5S, pull system.

References

1. AskinR G, and Standridge C R (1993): Modelling and Analysis of Manufacturing

Systems, Hamilton Printings, USA, pp 163-165.

2. Billesbatch T (1994): Applying Lean Production Principles to a Process Facility,

Production & Inventory Management Journal, Vol 35, pp 3-14.

3. Burbridge J (1979): Group Technology in Engineering Industry, Mechnaical Engineering

Publications Ltd, London, pp 60-68.
4. Farwaz A Abdulmalek and Jayant Rajgopal: Analysing the Benefits of Lean
Manufacturign and Value Stream Mapping via Simulation: A Process Sector Case Study, Int
J Production Economics (2007) 223-236.

5. Farhana Ferdousi and Amir Ahmed: An Investigating of Manufacturing Performance

Improvement through Lean Production: A Study on Bangladeshi Garment Firms,
International Journal of Business & Manegement, Sep 2009.

6. Latin D (2001): Lean Manufacturing, American Society for Quality Journal, December, pp
2-9.

7. Lal Sudhakaran, Srinivasan Raviee and Rivyanganapeh: Madura Clothing, Lean Initiative
Reducing Manufacturing Cost -- Stich World, Mar 2011.

8. Mc Muller Patrick R: An Ant Colony Optimisation Approach to Addressing a JIT

Sequencing Problem with Multiple Objectives, Journal of Artifical Intelligence in
Engineering, Vol 15, pp 309-317, 2001.

9. Melton T: The Benefit of Lean Manufacturing –What Lean Thinking has to Offer the
Process Industry, Institute of Chemical Engineers –June 2005.

10. Nicoletti S and Nicosia G: Group Technology with Flow Shop Cells, University of
Roma, Itally (1998).

11. Nystuem T (2002): Big Results With Less, Quality Progress, October, pp 27.

12. Rajab Abdullah Hokoma: The Current Awarness of JIT Technique with the Libyan
Textile Private Industry, A Case Study, pp 60, 2010.

13. Shoal A, and Eggleston A (1994): Lean production Experience Amongst Australian
Organisation, International Journal of Operation & Production Management, Vol 14, pp-1-
17.

14. Sanjay Bhasin: Lean Viewed as a Philosophy, Stoke College, Shelton,UK and Peter
Burcher Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK, Journal of of
Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol 17, No.1, 2006.

15. Singh N (1993): Design of Cellular Manufacturing Systems, European Journal of

Operational Research, pp 84-291.

16. Srinivasar (2002): Increment cell Formation Considering Alternative Machine,

International Journal of Production & Research, Vol 40, No. 14, 3291-3310.

17. Thomopoulos N. (1986): Mixed Module Line Balancing with Smoothed Station
Assignment, Management Science, pp 593-603.
18.Vijitha Ratnayake and James Marsh: University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, Cellular Lean
Model to Reduce WIP Fluctuation in Garment Manufacturing by 20: Hines P Taylor D
(200), Going Lean, Lean Enterprises Research Centre, Cardiff, pp 3-43.

19. Womack, J P and Joes D T: Lean Thinking Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your
Corporation (1996, Simon & Schuster, New York, USA).

20.Yang-Hua Lian, and Hendrik Van Landeghem: An Application of Simulation & Value
Stream Mapping in Lean Manufacturing, Department of Industrial Management, Ghent
University, Proceedings of the 14th European Simulation Symposium.

Note: For detailed version of this article please refer the print version of The Indian
Textile Journal February 2012 issue.

B Senthil Kumar
Asst Professor,
Department of Rural Industries & Management,
Gandhigram University, Dindigul,
Tamil Nadu.
Email: senthil.b1980@gmail.com.

Dr V R Sampath
Principal of Nandha Engineering College,
Erode,
Tamil Nadu.
Lean operations for apparel

March 10, 2015 by Marty Lariviere

Fast Company named American Giant one of its most innovative companies of 2015 (American
Giant Guns For Gap By Doubling Down On The USA, March 2015). American Giant is
purveyor of T-shirts, sweatshirts, and (most famously) hoodies. We have posted about them
several times before. Part of American Giant’s pitch is that they make everything in, well,
America. They cut and sew all of their items in facilities in California and North Carolina. This
TechCrunch video offers a tour of their Brisbane, CA, facility.

Now one of the challenges of producing sweatshirts in the US instead of overseas is the
increased labor cost. Check out this graphic from the New York Times (U.S. Textile Plants
Return, With Floors Largely Empty of People, Sep 19, 2013)

Assembling garments in the US roughly triples the labor costs. These are partially offset by
lower duties and logistic costs, but they remain the primary reason why a US-made costs about
20% more than an Asian one.

But what can be done to make an American sewer more productive to reduce the labor cost gap?

That gets to the interesting part of the Fast Company article. It describes what Eagle Sportswear,
one of American Giants supply chain partners, is doing to increase output at one of its North
Carolina facilities.

Traditional garment manufacturing works like this: A worker sits at a sewing machine all day
long, making the same seam over and over. When she fills up a bin, someone comes along and
moves the batch to the next seamstress, who adds on her piece, a process that continues until the
garments are complete. Because some operations take more time than others—and people work
at different paces—garments naturally tend to pile up. Seamstresses spend roughly 80% of their
time performing tasks other than stitching.

In the Team Sew approach, adapted from Toyota’s manufacturing process, the seamstresses
work on their feet, performing multiple operations and collaborating on the fly. “This is like an
elegant dance,” Winthrop says. Actually, a more apt Tarheel metaphor came to my mind: If the
old system looked like basketball’s four-corners offense, plodding and methodical, Team Sew
resembles Phil Jackson’s fluid triangle system. The seamstresses, wearing beige American Giant
branded aprons, move along a horseshoe-shaped bank of workstations, seemingly in constant
motion. When one falls behind on an operation, a teammate comes over to help her catch up.
Above the team, a scoreboard displays how many items they complete and how that compares to
efficiency targets.

Team Sew is still in the implementation phase; most of the workers in the factory when
Winthrop and I visit are still using the old approach. But Morrell says that the results have been
encouraging: Each worker produced roughly 60% more than before, and some of the factory’s
savings have gone back into performance bonuses.

So in terms of lean operations, this is replacing a batch operations (in which inventory move in
fits and starts) with a cell (in which inventory moves in a nice smooth flow). If workers are
cross-trained, they can keep work moving forward and minimize wasting time from hunting
around for the next item to work on. A significant boost in productivity is the result.

A couple of things are worth noting here. First, applying lean operations to apparel
manufacturing isn’t terribly new. I once had the COO of O’Neill in an executive MBA class 15
or so years ago and he claimed that even then there were consulting firms pitching these schemes
for apparel production.

Second, the same guy also claimed that in a human-based system such as apparel assembly there
was no substitute for output based compensation of some sort. That gets to the last paragraph in
the quote above. In may ways, this Team Sew format means working a lot harder. Workers are
on their feet all day and are (likely) under greater scrutiny. In the old system, they got to sit down
and if they throttled back for a half hour, no one could likely tell. Now they are on their feet and
are supposed to be constantly moving. That means there is really no way to high and they have to
maintain a high level of output all day. That’s great for the firm but a raw deal for the workers if
they don’t get some reward for their higher output.
Lean Manufacturing and the ERP Inventory
Management Software Solution

Written by: Dustin Alexander

Since the introduction of the lean system of continuous improvement manufacturing (CI), the
desire has always been for inventory management that minimizes stock on hand, if not fully
eliminating it. True to lean principals, by eliminating waste at every turn in the manufacturing
process quality is improved while production time and costs are reduced. As one of the
�seven wastes� in lean philosophy, inventory proves to be inefficient when a plant
maintains more on-hand inventory than is minimally required to produce products in the
immediate time frame. Rather than the batched, push-production system where large
inventories are maintained for the potential of future sales or supply chain problems, lean
methods employ a pull-production system where orders are pulled from customers and raw
material as inventory is maintained only long enough to be swept into production�just in
time (JIT), so to speak.

Certainly, manufacturers today are seeking to be more productive and less wasteful with
regards to inventory management. For example, there is a train of thought that by decreasing
randomness in the manufacturing process, you also decrease inventory. From this thinking
has emerged the notion of total enterprise resource planning (ERP). Here concepts such as
system flow, quality of performance, labor productivity, purchasing and materials
management, inventory, and shipping are all integrated in terms of procedure and
communication. With the real-time data available through ERP software, plant departments
are integrated and coordinated toward the goal of decreasing randomness in the production
process.

With a robust ERP software package, lean inventory management is facilitated in all aspects
of the operation and should include the important functions of: cycle counting, supply &
demand, and turnaround/turnover. In essence, it is this sort of inventory management and
efficiency tool that is at the heart of the building and utilization of successful CI systems
today.

For example, in the cycle counting mode, inventory managers can run inventory audit lists
tagged to any period of time to answer the question of why there are discrepancies in
inventory numbers. As for turnaround/turnover, ERP inventory management software is
suited as an assessment tool for gauging how JIT any manufacturing system really is through
the number of turns the inventory takes; and of course, increased turns is the desired result of
a lean system eliminating waste by the reduction of on-hand inventory.

Regarding supply and demand chains, inventory management through ERP software is able to
review key time-critical data to balance the time phasing requirements of materials, parts, and
tools. That is to say, with a robust ERP manufacturing solution, inventory managers are in the
position to make informed decisions concerning demand chains and supply chains. This is
especially true in the newly emerging vendor managed inventory systems (VMI) that are
increasingly seen as the logical extension of lean manufacturing methods and JIT inventory
management.

These aspects of inventory management are vital elements for inclusion into any robust ERP
software package seeking the leaning of manufacturer operations. With the knowledge gained
through the real-time data available in ERP, inventory management becomes a central point
of analysis for finding additional efficiencies in the system flow. It is in this way that
efficiencies in manufacturing eliminate waste in the process. By offering the user a complete
inventory management package that interconnects with all other shop areas in the production
process, integrated ERP software builds a CI environment that enhances both productivity and
profits.

About the author :

Dusty Alexander is the President of Global Shop Soultions. Global Shop Solutions is the
largest privately held ERP software company in the United States
http://globalshopsolutions.com/
Lean Manufacturing in Apparel Industry
Lean Manufacturing in Apparel Industry

R.S. Balakumar
M.A.(SOCIOLOGY ), M.L.M.(Labour Management), Pursuing MBA (EXECUTIVE) in
(FASHION-TECH), MISTE.,
Chennai, India
Cell: +91-9283182955
Email: rsbalakumar1953@gmail.com

Lean Manufacturing
The Lean Manufacturing concept in the Apparel Industry can reduce the operational cost in
manufacturing by eliminating the process waste, empowering people with greater communication,
increasing the higher productivity in the execution process and turning the organization into a
learning organization.

Lean Manufacturing
However, for lean to deliver meaningful change to an organization, the implementers should first
understand the organization and then introduce lean where it makes sense rather than the other
way around.

There are several key lean manufacturing principles that need to be understood in order to
implement lean. Failure to understand and apply these principles will most likely result in failure
or a lack of commitment from everyone in your organization. Without commitment the process
becomes ineffective.

Elimination of Waste
One of the most critical principles of lean manufacturing is the elimination of waste (known as
MUDA in the Toyota Production System). Many of the other principles revolve around this
concept.

There are 7 basic types of waste in manufacturing:

 Over Production
 Waste of Unnecessary Motion
 Waste of Inventory
 Production of Defects
 Waste of Waiting
 Waste of Transportation
 Waste of Over processing

Although the above mentioned types of waste were originally geared toward manufacturing, they
can be applied to many different types of business. The idea of waste elimination is to review all
areas in your organization, determine where the non-value added work is and reduce or eliminate
it.

Continuous Improvement
(Commonly referred to by the Japanese word kaizen) is the most critical principle of lean
manufacturing. It should truly form the basis of the lean implementation. Without continuous
improvement your progress will cease. As the name implies, Continuous Improvement promotes
constant, necessary change toward achievement of a desired state. The changes can be big or small
but must lend itself toward improvement (often many small changes are required to achieve the
target). The process truly is continual as there is always room for improvement.

Continuous Improvement should be a mind-set throughout your whole organization. Do not get
caught up in only trying to find the big ideas. Small ideas will often time lead to big improvements.

Lean Manufacturing is a systematic approach for achieving the shortest possible cycle time by
eliminating the process waste through continuous improvement. Thus making the operation very
efficient and only consisting of value adding steps from start to finish. In simple words lean is
manufacturing without waste.

Below are the few steps which are required to implement the Lean manufacturing :

1. Identifying the fact that there are wastes to be removed.

2. Analyzing the wastes and finding the root causes for these wastes.
3. Finding the solution for these root causes.
4. Application of these solutions and achieving the objective.
Apparel Manufacturers are now a days facing intensive global competition. The key to competing
in the international market place is to simultaneously improve both quality and productivity on
continual basis. The major purposes of the use of lean production are to increase productivity,
improve product quality and manufacturing cycle time, reduce inventory, reduce lead time and
eliminate manufacturing waste.

To achieve these, the lean production philosophy uses several concepts like,

 Kaizen,
 Kanban,
 5’s, OEE,
 Just in Time (JIT) etc.

The lean concepts, its principle, importance and benefits. This article also clearly approaches to
implement lean practices in apparel industry.

Lean Manufacturing is a systematic approach for achieving the shortest possible cycle time by
eliminating the process waste through continuous improvement. Thus making the operation very
efficient and only consisting of value adding steps from start to finish. In simple lean is
manufacturing without waste.

Lean manufacturing = half the human effort in the company + half the manufacturing space + half
the investment in tools + half the engineering hours =to develop a new product in half

Lean Manufacturing, also called Lean Production, is a set of tools and methodologies that aims for
the continuous elimination of all waste in the production process.

The main benefits of this are lower production costs; increased output and shorter production lead
times.

More specifically, some of the goals include: Defects and wastage - Reduce defects and
unnecessary physical wastage, including excess use of raw material inputs, preventable defects,
costs associated with reprocessing defective items, and unnecessary product characteristics which
are not required by customer. Cycle Times - Reduce manufacturing lead times and production
cycle times by reducing waiting times between processing stages, as well as process preparation
times and product/model conversion times.

Inventory levels - Minimize inventory levels at all stages of production, particularly works-in-
progress between production stages. Lower inventories also mean lower working capital
requirements.

Improve labor productivity, both by reducing the idle time of workers and ensuring that when
workers are working, they are using their effort as productively as possible (including not doing
unnecessary tasks or unnecessary motions); Flexibility - Have the ability to produce a more
flexible range of products with minimum changeover costs and changeover time.
Output – Insofar Utilization of equipment and space - Use equipment and manufacturing space
more efficiently by eliminating bottlenecks and maximizing the rate of production though existing
equipment, while minimizing machine downtime; -as reduced cycle times, increased labor
productivity and elimination of bottlenecks and machine downtime can be achieved, companies
can generally significantly increased output from their existing facilities. -Another way of looking
at Lean Manufacturing is that it aims to achieve the same output with less input – less time, less
space, less human effort, less machinery, less material, less cost.

Lean is most widely used in Apparel industries that are assembly-oriented or have a high amount
of repetitive human processes. These are typically industries for which productivity is highly
influenced by the efficiency and attention to detail of the people who are working manually with
tools or operating equipment. For these kinds of companies, improved systems can eliminate
significant levels of waste or inefficiency.

Examples of this include wood-processing, garment manufacturing, automobile assembly,

electronics assembly and equipment manufacturing. Since Lean Manufacturing eliminates many
of the problems associated with poor production scheduling and line balancing, Lean
Manufacturing is particularly appropriate for companies that don’t have ERP systems in place or
don’t have strong material requirements planning (MRP), production scheduling or production
allocation systems in place. Lean Manufacturing is also appropriate in industries for which it is a
strategic priority to shorten the production cycle time to the absolute minimum as a source of
competitive advantage for the company.

Traditional Garment Manufacturing Process, Effective utilization of capacities which results more
products were produced by lesser number of worker & infrastructures. (Progressive system) .Work
in process is very high around 3000 pcs /line. Workers & Machines need not wait for the product.
Product spends more time in manufacturing just waiting. Garment defects are very high. This
system is not suitable in today’s competitive business trend.

Lean manufacturing concepts Value Creation and Waste: In Lean Manufacturing, the value of a
product is defined solely based on what the customer actually requires and is willing to pay for.
Production operations can be grouped into following three types of activities:

Value-added activities are activities which transform the materials into the exact product that the
customer requires. Non value-added activities are activities which aren’t required for transforming
the materials into the product that the customer wants. Anything which is non-value-added may
be defined as waste. Anything that adds unnecessary time, effort or cost is considered non value-
added. Another way of looking at waste is that it is any material or activity for which the customer
is not willing to pay. Testing or inspecting materials is also considered waste since this can be
eliminated insofar as the production process can be improved to eliminate defects from occurring.

Advantages of the lean system in apparel industry

1. Waste Elimination
2. Work place Standardization
3. Effective plant layout.
 4. Quality will be enhanced at source level.
5. Increase the Productivity by 30% from the existing level.
6. Reduction of Production cost & other Overheads.
7. Reduce the Risk of non-compliance and
8. Late Delivery.

Principles of lean manufacturing

1. Production of value
2. Optimizing the Value Stream
3. Converting the Process to Flow
4. Activating the Demand Pull
5. Perfection of All Products, Processes and Services

Tools and Techniques Involved in Lean Manufacturing

 Quality control Tools
 5S
 Just in time
 Kanban
 Kaizen

Quality control Tools involved in lean manufacturing process:

 Pareto Chart
 Fish Born Diagram
 Histogram
 Control charts
 Scatter Diagram

5 S System:
These 5 Tools are utilized for Workplace Standardization

 Seri (Sort)
 Seiton (Straighten)
 Seiso (Shine)
 Seiketsu (standardize)
 Shitsuke (Sustain)

Competitive advantage generally last several years Possess clear best require leadership
commitment from top Management have elements that are not at all easy.

Conclusion:
The concept of lean manufacturing is new in some of the UN developed countries, and proactive
organizations have already been observed to implement this tool in their functional departments.
This is primarily due to the multitude of cost advantages which arise from having lean
manufacturing processes.

Sources:

1. Production and operation management (text and cases) Author-upendra kachru.

2. Clothing Production management-A.J.CHUTTER.
Tools for the apparel industry to lean on
Written by: Fibre2Fashion.com

Apparel manufacturing industries require functioning in time and making timely

deliveries. Failing to do so, results in increase in the cost and time of production, which
any apparel company cannot afford. Hence applying various lean manufacturing tools
helps streamlining the process of production, by eliminating or reducing possible
wastages.

The process of lean manufacturing attempts

to identify and eliminate waste through
continuous improvement to make the
production activities efficient. The system
focuses not just on a systematic production
flow, but also requires changes in the layout of
the operations, time taken by employees to
finish a task, and the movement of a garment
from start to finish. By implementing such
tools, apparel companies can measure
performances and take active steps to improve
them. According to Taiichi Ohno, father of the
Toyota production system, "Lean Manufacturing is all about looking at the time line from
the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash."

Principles of lean manufacturing

The lean manufacturing system abides closely to the following five principles:

1. Value: To indentify and specify what generates value from the customer's /clients
perspective.

2. Mapping the value stream: Understanding the entire product life cycle to eliminate waste
in single every step of operation.
3. Flow: To maintain a flow in the production process from the sourcing of raw materials to
the delivery of the products. In order to minimize waste, the flow needs to be cautiously
designed.

4. Pull: Let the customer pull the value and start working only once the orders are received.

5. Perfection: Eliminating unnecessary steps in different levels of operation and achieving

perfection.
6. Types of wastes in an apparel industry
7.
8. Since lean manufacturing emphasizes on reducing wastages, there are common
types of waste that occur in every garment industry, which can be eliminated. The
following are the different kind of wastes:
9.
10. 1. Overproduction: One of the most prevalent problems in apparel industry is
overproduction. Excess inventories will require more labor, time, storage, and
ultimately remain unproductive garments.
11.
12. 2. Waiting: When workers remain ineffective while waiting for instructions and
raw materials or due to machine breakdowns and lack of know-how, a lot of
productive time is wasted which can be avoided.
13.
14. 3. Transport: Shifting any kind of material from one place to another also leads to
waste of time.
15.
16. 4. Over-processing: concentrating and give more than necessary time to a piece of
garment than required due to inappropriate tools or improper processing can be
waived to increase productivity.
17.
18. 5. Excessive raw material: More than required raw material or excess stock of
finished goods results in occupying storage space and increasing the inventory
cost.
19.
20. 6. Defects: Repairing and replacing defective garments leads to loss of time and
effort.
21.
22. 7. Unused employee creativity: When employees lack required skills and do not use
their creativity at work, the time taken to perform an operation consumes more
time.
23.
24. Lean manufacturing tools and benefits
25.
26. There are many lean manufacturing tools available, and with the help of lean
experts, apparel and garment companies can implement them to suit their needs.
The following are some of the widely used lean tools in the apparel industries:
27.
28. 5S - This methodology helps in managing the workplace of the company. It
provides easy access of all required tools and materials. The five Ss stand for Sort,
Set in order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain which translates into sorting tools,
arranging them in order, keeping them clean, meeting the required the norms, and
following the above instructions to continue to keep things in place on a daily basis
respectively.
29.
30. Poka - Yoke - This tool helps in mistake proofing and eliminating errors at a very
initial stage of operations. It helps detecting errors and correcting them before it
reaches the next step of operations. Poka Yoke helps in preventing damages to the
product and machineries used in garment manufacturing.
31.
32. Kanban - It is a workflow system tool, which improves clarity of work and limits
the work in progress of employees. There are two main types of kanban,
withdrawal kanban and production kanban. The tool prevents overproduction in
manufacturing units and thereby reduces waste.
33.
34. Kaizen - Another lean manufacturing tool that comes from the Japanese word kai
meaning continuous and zen meaning improvement, is a process that requires no
investment. Beginning from the worker at the bottom level to the highest level of
management are required to make small changes, in all kinds of operations on a
regular interval, to keep improving constantly. A commitment to make steady
changes on routine basis can help increase the performance of employees and
increase the productivity of the company.
35.
36. By implementing lean manufacturing tools, industries can deliver quality
performance with lesser defects and waste. Customer satisfaction and employee
morale can also be improved. The tools ensure to provide higher levels of
efficiencies and fewer machine and process breakdowns, which result in higher
profits and increase business. Lean manufacturing tools help the company excel
by minimizing waste, maximizing value, and pursuing perfect.
37.
38.
39. References:
40.
41. 1. Indiantextilejournal.com
42. 2. Pubilcations.theseus.fi
43. 3. Blogspot.in
44. 4. Maskell.com
45.
46.
47. Image Courtesy:
48.
49. 1. Msstegall-consulting.com
50. 2. Customcable.ca
The Correct Way to Implement Lean [Part-1]

This is a guest contribution from Zakir Husain.

A large survey conducted by Industry Week magazine and found that only 2 percent of
companies that have a lean program achieved their anticipated results.

More recently, the Shingo Prize committee, which gives awards for excellence in lean
manufacturing,
went back to past winners and found that many had not sustained their progress after winning the
award.

The award criteria were subsequently changed.

Why is the pursuit of excellence through lean so difficult?

As per my understanding, biggest cause is that management doesn't understand the basic fact that
LEAN is a thinking system that includes tools not a system of tools.
Implementing these tools in a factory without specific just-in-time purpose is a common form of
“lean implementation. Toyota has developed these tools to meet their requirements, not every
factory's requirements. These tools were developed for the automobile industry, not for every
industry. Copy-paste is the main reason for failure.

Lean is a process of learning and improving continuously, most companies fails because they
quit learning and return to the previous stage (their comfort zone) where they were before doing
lean.

The company doesn't need to 'DO' lean, they need to 'BECOME' lean.

To BECOME lean organization needs to change its ‘Corporate Culture’ first, then improve (or
change if required) its working system.

What is culture?

 The way things are done by the people

 Culture refers to behavior patterns that people express during any decision making and
implementation of decision

Culture and People: Culture is simply behavior that is:

 Supported
 Expected
 Reinforced &
 Valued by a group of people over a long period of time

Elements of Behavior: Four elements of behavior

 Action
 Thought
 Emotion
 Physiological changes

What is Corporate Culture?

Corporate Culture is the amalgam of shared values, beliefs, attitudes, behavior patterns, the
customary way of thinking and conduction the business.

Corporate culture is social energy that drives (or fails to drive) the organization towards its
vision and goals.

Corporate culture is more than its products and services, it differentiates it from other
organizations.
Characteristics of Corporate Culture

 Culture is rooted in traditions of the organization

 Culture is shared by the people
 Culture is learned by the individuals
 Culture is trans-generational
 Culture is cumulative

Functions of Corporate Culture

 Creates unique identity

 Generates commitment to a common objective
 Develops sense of pride to be a member of the organization
 Social binder to keep people together
 Control mechanism to guide attitudes and behaviors of employees

Elements of Corporate Culture

 Shared values – vision, mission, goals

 Emotion for participation – mindset, attitude, behavior
 Knowledge and wisdom – knowledge, skills, training, experience
 Management proves – path finding, decision making, implementation
 Structure – organizational structure, business processes
 Systems & - reward & recognition, information management, learning, communication,
business management
 Leadership – all above elements

Also read: Building right culture in the workplace

When to change the corporate culture?

As the needs and expectations of customer’s changes, quality of products and services of the
competitors improve, market forces of national and international trade realign the social and
economic policies of governments changes, the mood of people changes. The excellent
companies, those who want to attain and constantly retain their market leadership, renovate
reform, revamp - in short changes their corporate culture.

Changing your organizational culture is the toughest task you will ever take on. Your
organizational culture was formed over years of interaction between the participants in the
organization. Changing the accepted organizational culture can feel like rolling rocks uphill.

Perhaps the current culture matches the style and comfort zone of the company founder. So we
will see that is it really necessary for a change in the organizational culture.

Does your organization need to change corporate culture:

 Factors Yes No
Do you want to make a significant improvement in quality?
Do you want to enhance the commitment of employees?
Do you want to accelerate the speed of your business growth?
Is the competition intensifying in your product market?
Are the customer’s expectations increasing from your company?
Do you want to attain and retain leadership in your market?

How to change corporate culture:

 Assess your organizational culture

 Create an inspiring vision of the company
 Change the mindset of the people
 Enhance competence of employees
 Establish effective management process
 Rationalize the organizational structure
 Provide effective leadership

Assess Your Organizational Culture:

Assess your current organizational culture through culture interviews (interview your employees
in small groups and hear what they say about the culture) & culture surveys (written surveys can
be taken by the employees)

 Sample questionnaire for interview/survey, you can custom design your own
questionnaire,
 What would you tell a friend about the company
 What is the one thing you would most like to change about this organization?
 Who is a hero around here? Why?
 What is your favorite characteristic that is present in our company?
 What kinds of people fail in our organization?

Create an inspiring vision of the company:

Ask yourself what do you aspire to become or achieve as an organization, or what is the most
meaningful thing you want to achieve as an organization. After deciding your vision, ask
yourself -

 Is your vision future-focused?

 Does it inspire?
 Does it align with your values?
 Or is it a set of goals and objective?
To have an inspiring vision requires clear purpose. Why do you get up and work every day?
What drives you? Why does your company exist? Making money is a basic need of business, yes
it is just a need not a vision.

Below paragraph about vision statement is taken from So-young Kang’s article.

Do you want to build a great organization or are you satisfied with a good one?

Great companies are led by great leaders who inspire and help people imagine the unimaginable.
They have inspiring visions and a very clear purpose that guides their decisions. When leaders
dream the unimaginable, their visions are broad, universal and…global.

Change the mindset of the people:

Real cultural change only happens when mindset changes. Begin with how stressed your
employees are, as it affects everything else. Recognize why they are excessively stressed. When
you find the reason you can provide the solution.

In any industry excessive pressure is the main reason for the negative mindset. There can be
many reasons for pressure, which need to be identified and eliminated to create positive mindset
and culture.

Enhance competence of employees:

Why increase competency?

A skilled and well-trained workforce is critical to a company’s success. Improving competencies

allow an organization to remain productive and competitive. Improving employee competencies
is an opportunity every company should embrace.

For cultural change employee’s cultural competency is also be enhanced as their skill
competency.

Also read: Building right work culture in the workplace

Things can be done to increase cultural competency:

 Develop an understanding of the cultural change within the organization

 Increase the organizational and individual understanding of how the various dimensions
of culture impact the organization and the staff that works with them.

Establish effective management process:

Without an effective management system, even highly talented employees will be failed.
Cultural change is a complex process, which varies factory to factory. There will be different
approaches can be taken depending on the change objectives and the external environment to
develop an effective management process.

For your further reading on How to Build an Effective Management System.

Provide effective leadership:

Leadership drives the workplace but effective leadership drives the effective workplace. Self -
assessment is required here to analyze how effective you are.

I will discuss the following points to emphasise the improtance of bringing change and the
change management.

 The law of mind

 Difference forces that contrl our mind and thinking
 Solution to change menagement
 When we talk about change - what to change and making the chane happen
 How one can begin the change

The Law of Mind

 If you always do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten.
 If you want something new, do something new, especially when there are so many
alternatives
 To keep pace with the changing environment, every organization has to bring change in
its way of thinking, feeling and working

Yesterday
Natural resources defined power
Leaders commanded and controlled
Shareholders came first
Production determined availability
Everyone was competitor
Value was extra
Today
Knowledge is power
Leaders empower and coach
Costumers come first
Quality determines demand
Everyone is customer
Value is everything

Had a great past?

You might have a great past but can it guarantee a great future also. The forces which forcing
you to change to maintain your great past includes -
External forces:

 Globalization
 Competition
 Customer demands
 Rising prices of inputs
 Technology
 E-commerce

Internal forces:

 Increasing complexity
 Demand speed
 Quick decisions
 Aging technology
 Employee expectations
 Profit margins
 Traditional systems

What is solution?
Solution is change management.

 What to change – identify the problems

 What should be the content of change – develop solutions
 How to make change happen – implement the solution
 How to sustain the change – transform your culture

What to change?
Improvements can be made only through Change Management. There are four essential steps to
bring permanent change.

To bring change in performance of any process or system we have to change the casual factors
such as inputs, resources, activities, tasks, operating conditions etc.

To make improvement the very first step is to identify: “what to change?”

It is a diagnostic journey to discover the constraints or problems, which are restricting the desired
outcome from the processes.

Problem diagnosis

The real problems are generally invisible. What we see is the effect of problems in form of
symptoms. We can reach to the true problem through its symptoms only. (Here lean tool 5 why
works which will be explained in upcoming parts)

Mostly people define the problems based on their experiences or instructions of their seniors. To
detect the real problem we require scientific and effective tools such as

 Business process waste assessment

 Cost of poor quality assessment etc.

What should be the content of change?

After identification of problem, the next step is developing solutions.

Detailed investigation of the problems (project-by-project) to detect the root cause, which need
to be eliminated to solve the problem. (Here lean tool Root Cause Analysis works which will be
explained in upcoming chapters)

Making the change happen

Problem solving tools are used to develop solutions.
Change is made through implementing the solutions

Implementations tools

 Project teams
 Action plan
 Education and training

Sustaining the change

Resistance to change is the most common human nature. Unless people’s resistance to change is
overcome, there cannot be gain of the change.

 Sustenance tools
 Empowerment
 Cultural transformation

How to begin the change?

The very first step is - Change the way of thinking.

About the author:

Zakir is an industrial engineer and a lean practitioner. He worked as a project manager in lean
implementation projects. He has successfully implemented the online finishing system in an
apparel manufacturing company. Currently, he is working at Richa & company and doing
projects on improving sampling and pre-production activities to maximize PCD hit rate.
How to Build an Effective Management
System
Imagine what a professional football team would be like without an Effective Management
System focused on a regimen of practice drills. Now take away their playbook and player
statistics. What you have in this extreme scenario are highly talented (and perhaps overpaid)
individuals participating in organized chaos. They might actually win a game or two, but in the
long run, this team is doomed.

I offer this illustration to drive home the point of why any organization needs to examine the
existence and effectiveness of its management systems. If there are weaknesses or holes in your
documented procedures (playbook), or benchmark measurements (stats), then you will want to
take corrective action.

When first taking a management position in an organization, it can be difficult to fully grasp
exactly what your role is and how to fulfill it. The sad truth is that many of us have seen mostly
negative examples of management and management styles, and few positive ones. Without
proper role models it is difficult to step into those shoes and build an effective management
system.

1. Discover What is Important

The most important thing to understand when leading a team or a department is to figure out
exactly what needs to be done in order to be considered “successful.”• This information,
unfortunately, often isn’t made clear to department managers (see reference to negative
management examples above). You may have to figure it out for yourself.

Once you understand your organization’s stated and unstated goals, then you can start creating
effective management systems to fulfill them. Rarely do good things just happen by chance, and
lack of a plan usually results in wasted efforts and poor results.

Involve your team members:

 Communicate and clarify the goals of the department with them

  Be honest about what is stated and unstated in the organization. You can gain respect
with an honest approach.
 A plan based on a consensus as a starting point gives the department direction.

2. Plan to Fulfill Important Elements

Planning should include aspects like:

 What documentation is needed (policies, procedures, forms, and records)

 Necessary meetings
 Who should attend and the typical agenda
 Considerations of timing and responsibilities are all key elements of planning

Most importantly, what aspects of performance should be measured and reviewed regularly.

The next step is to develop action models:

 Flesh out the plan with more specific details

 Highly specific elements of processes and tasks should be documented in procedures,
work instructions, and training materials
 They should include key elements for success and accepted best practices.

Part of this phase is to regularly audit and review documentation so that it reflects the actual
practices and preferred methods. Developing procedures and other documents that that only
reflect blue sky thinking means, in the end, there is a good chance they will be ignored and soon
grow outdated and useless. Avoid this pitfall by being realistic to start, but plan to continually
improve. Then follow up the creating of documentation with training and auditing. Ensure that
team members are aware of what documents and forms/records apply to them, and they know
where to find them and how to use them.

Another key element in this phase is to ensure the team members have the resources they need.
Do they have the needed skills and training? A plan that ensures everyone receives periodic
training encourages a learning environment. This is especially true with technology and software
applications. People become complacent and comfortable with the way they are doing things,
when some simple changes could allow a more automated approach that would actually make
their job easier. Training and education can foster innovation.

3. Regularly Review Process Performance

Finally, regularly review what is going on with every process:

 Is the plan working and does it align with overall organization goals?
 Are your process activities fulfilling the plan?
 Do internal audits show that procedures are being followed and that they are kept up to
date?
  Do your performance measurements really give insight into how your department is
doing?

This type of management review puts you right back at the discovery phase (do you really
understand what is going on?) and the cycle starts all over again. And each time you move
though the cycle you should be able make at least small improvements.

Now you are managing by objectives, measuring what is important, reflecting on it, and then
trying to find ways to be better (while understanding that no one will ever be perfect). That
sounds like the formula for an effective management system, and success overall. So now let’s
look at building the management system.

Five Phases to Building an Effective Management System

It is my experience that when a company attempts to establish an Effective Management System

for the first time, it takes longer than expected, involves more people than planned, and grows in
complexity. To control this trend, I advocate dividing the process into five (5) distinct phases,
each with clear objectives:

1. Discovery
2. Planning
3. Development
4. Implementation
5. Rediscovery

Phase I – Discovery

Think of this initiation phase as all the things the coaching staff does up to and including the first
pre-season team meeting. It is where the overall missions and goals are set, with clear
effectiveness criteria established. Certainly the team may set it sights on the championship, but
what about the kicking team or linemen? Each part of your organization must have meaningful
and measurable performance criteria mapped out in this phase of building an effective
management system.

Management Goals
Establishing objectives and criteria requires close scrutiny by management of what really
contributes to the overall company mission. Departmental goals must be aligned with company
goals. To illustrate with our football analogy: running backs may propose a goal of 5,000 total
yards rushing in a season. This may or may not be beneficial to the team goal, whereas an
aligned goal might be to achieve an average of +5 yards per run. The latter may be more
appropriate for a highly pass-oriented offense.

In your discovery phase, once your objectives and effectiveness criteria are agreed upon, you can
create your action plan. This step is simply the broad roadmap covering the remaining 4 phases
of building your management system.

The Discovery Phase generally takes from 2-4 weeks, and represents approximately 12% of the
total process. Onto the next stage;

Phase II – Planning

Have you ever had the opportunity to watch the construction of a large building? The daily
progress from foundation to top floor is truly amazing, and if you’re like me, you wonder “how
does it all happen?” The answer: it takes a lot of planning.

A complex construction job clearly requires project planning in excruciating detail to orchestrate
materials and manpower. Inadequate project planning can result in waste, delays and a shoddy
end-product.

Building an effective management system is equally dependent on executing a strong planning

phase.

Planning the Management System

The planning stage is arguably the most important step in any large-scale project. If you fail to
plan properly, everything else will likely follow this failure.

Just as a construction contractor wouldn’t dare start ordering materials or pounding nails without
a plan, your firm must avoid moving too quickly into the actual development phase of writing
procedures that are the basis of an effective management system.

Business Assessment

Using the construction analogy, the first step is typically a survey of the parcel of land on which
to construct your building. You’ll examine such conditions as utilities, roads, property grade and
soil. In a management system development project, we call this step a GAP Analysis, or
Business Assessment, because it articulates what the “gap” between current reality in your
organization and your stated objectives. Recall that the objectives and measurable effectiveness
criteria were established in Phase I – Discovery.
The results of the Gap Analysis, or Business Assessment, are used as inputs to produce a project
plan.

Project Management

The Project Plan details the materials and tools that will help management control the project as
well set budgets and schedules. Most of us are familiar with the components necessary to
manage the conversion of a bare piece of land into the architect’s vision: drawings, bids, permits,
contracts, work orders, and inspections. But what is required to develop an effective management
system?

The Complete Process

Your project planning phase includes producing these components that will greatly ease the
Development and Implementation Phases (III and IV, respectively) and make for an overall solid
structure:

 Project roles and responsibilities

 Organization chart
 Activities, resources, dates
 Reviews structure
 Status reports
 Document control and format
 Process map
 Compliance requirements
 Training, implementation, testing and audit plans

Process Map Review

Before concluding the Planning Phase, a review is conducted of each component with emphasis
on the process map and effectiveness criteria to ensure alignment with identified organizational
goals. This check will help eliminate project drift in the coming phases.

The Planning Phase takes from 2-4 weeks, and leads us to the Development phase.

Phase III – Development

Now, I’m no entertainment mogul, but The Development Phase reminds me of producing a
Hollywood movie. When we sit in a theater and watch the latest blockbuster, we see a finished
product and assume it was made pretty much as it looks. But we would be wrong. Making a
movie, much like the process of building a strong policy and procedure system, is a non-linear
process with a tremendous amount of “behind the scenes” support.

Management Systems and the Development Process

Just as every great movie is guided by a talented Director; your effort to build an effective
management system requires a skilled Project Manager. The role is especially critical in the
Development Phase because it is during this stage that the time, effort and expense of the entire
project cast is involved, and much like the actual shooting phase of a film production, it can
consume up to 50% of your project cost.

Policy and Procedures Expertise

What skills make a strong Project Manager? Besides the obvious qualities of good
organizational, communication and time management skills, I include policy and procedure or
process development expertise. Depending on your staff, this may require an outside resource.

Related Development Processes

You might be surprised to learn that movies are seldom shot in “linear sequence”… that is, from
start to finish. For a number of reasons, the director will organize scenes into groups that are
filmed “out of sequence,” then edited into their correct place. Similarly, your firm will want to
conduct the Development Phase by organizing related processes into a grouping and then
completing these before going on to the next set.

Policy and Procedure Document Control

Your development work will begin by establishing a policy and procedures document control
flow and format (Think of these as setting the stage). Next your assigned writers will craft the
actual documents from base materials (Refining the script). Document control is best managed
using an online procedure management software product.

Then a process walk through is performed and tested for a) compliance and b) effectiveness
(Dress rehearsal). Once this process grouping is completed, you move on to another set.

Supporting Documents for the Process

At the end of a film, I’m always amazed at the long scroll of credits after the actors’ names. It
takes a tremendous amount of resources to make it all happen, and your development process is
no different. You’ll rely on valuable support documents such as job descriptions, forms,
technical manuals, training programs and reference material to develop your new management
system.

Process Review for the Completed System

A motion picture can’t be released until all the scenes are shot and edited. Likewise, you will
want to complete the process documentation and a review of ALL your processes as a completed
system before moving on to the next phase of building an effective management system
– Implementation.
The Development Phase should take 2-4 months, depending on the number of processes,
compliance requirements and skills of the writers/reviewers. And now you’re ready to put your
effective management system into the action.

Phase IV – Implementation

Before we discuss Implementation, a quick recap:

In Phase I (Discovery) we learned how your organization specifies the project mission,
objectives and effectiveness criteria. Phase II (Planning) entailed setting requirements for
project tools, budgets and schedules to manage your project. Phase III (Development) taught us
about identifying and testing processes within the system.

With all of that behind us, next it’s time to learn about “learning”.

Implementing the Management System

Implementing an effective management system is much like the first day of school. When young
children walk into that big new classroom for the first time, the effect can be intimidating, even
overwhelming. New students are like blank slates: intelligent, capable, but completely untested
and unschooled in the challenges that lie ahead. By the time the final bell rings on their academic
careers (many lectures, raised hands, and exams later) those same students have grown into
talented experts in their chosen fields. The difference between “before” and “after” is training,
testing, and time.

Training and Assessment

In the same way, implementation is all about information and assessment. Your class must be
educated, indoctrinated, tested, and graded in the ways of your management system in order to
graduate to effectiveness. No one ever said it was easy, but with studying and hard work, your
organization is sure to score straight A’s.

Skills and Business Assessment

The first assignment for Effectiveness 101 is a pop quiz to see exactly where the focus of your
improvement efforts will need to be. A preliminary assessment of your employees’ skills and
competencies will help determine the training gaps your people need to close.

On-site Process Training

Once you have identified your training needs, then your lesson plan can begin in earnest. Your
training program will introduce your employees to the job descriptions, processes, and
procedures that compose the management system. Just as importantly, your employees must be
trained on the relationships between themselves and your objectives and effectiveness.
Internal Audit

Once the coursework has been taught, it’s time to do some grading. A top-to-bottom audit should
be conducted of your entire system against your objectives and compliance requirements. With
this audit completed, you will be able to graduate from where you’ve been to where you want to
be.

Total Implementation Time

No one goes from kindergarten to college overnight. You are working toward a stable system,
and it will take time. Roughly 50% of the project’s total time, in fact; implementation usually
takes a three- to six-month “semester” to complete. The exact amount of time you’ll spend will
depend on how many employees, locations, and processes you have.

Phase V – Re-Discovery

Now we turn the corner to our final phase: Re-Discovery.

Company Policy, Assessment and Improvement

The Re-Discovery Phase completes the loop of the entire project, and then overlaps with The
Discovery Phase of the next year. Therein lies the “never-ending cycle” of the project. The Re-
Discovery Phase allows your organization to migrate from a “fix it and done!” mentality to one
of continuous improvement. Because in Re-Discovery/Discovery Phases you will always be
reviewing and assessing your organization for ways to improve performance, compliance, and
effectiveness.

Re-Discovery

When we pass down a street for the first time, our minds are focused on reaching the destination.
Upon returning, we are able to notice things that were previously missed. Returning allows us to
go through the same path of the original Discovery Phase in this different light.

Process Cycles

This will involve reviewing audit results, process measures and customer satisfaction to
determine possible adjustments to the mission, objectives and action plans as well as
effectiveness criteria. You will want to assess the appropriateness of these elements now that you
have completed your “outbound journey” through the Planning, Development and
Implementation Phases. What will you see differently? How will you prepare for the cycle to
begin again next year?

The Re-Discovery Phase culminates a project that started 6-12 months ago. As in all Phases it is
wise to identify a Project Leader to manage document controls, lead the audits, and report to
management. After all, your project goal is to build effective management systems.