Indian apparel exporters are forced to adopt to lean
manufacturing model due to the demands of European importers. European apparel importers
have reduced their order-to-delivery time from 12-15 weeks to 7-8 weeks in order
to reduce inventory on their end.
What is Lean Manufacturing? Lean Manufacturing is a
production practice derived from Toyota Production System. The principle of
lean manufacturing is that; spending of resources for anything other than value
creation for the customers is a waste and has to be eliminated. Value creation
depends on whether customer is willing to pay for a particular action or
process.
Lean Manufacturing has two main concepts;
Just-in-Time(JIT) and automation. Toyota approach ensures less or no inventory;
effort is more concentrated on what customer values the most. Automation is
achieved by human touch; where humans wouldn’t participate in the normal
production but focus on abnormalities or faults.
Lean Manufacturing principle improved efficiency,
increased profit, reduced time and cost and there always is room for
improvement. Owing to its tremendous success many organizations and industries
had adopted Toyota philosophy.
To meet the deadlines kept by European buyers and retailers;
Indian apparel producers have adapted to ‘Lean
Manufacturing’. This led to reduce in
waste, increase efficiency and margins.
Mr Amit Gugnani- Senior Vice-President
at Technopak, a consultancy that guides the textile industries in adopting
these principles says, “In the Indian apparel sector, the gradual increase in
operating and material costs is putting strains on profits. In this situation,
application of lean could be a greatest weapon to make breakthrough towards
maintaining the profitability and sustainability ” [1]
Implementing the Lean Principle alone wouldn’t be
enough. There should be an established organization that supports continuous improvement.
A Kaizen team has to be created. Mr Gautama
Chakravarti – Chairman of one of the biggest clothing exporter from India
reveals that “A ‘Kaizen Promotion’ team was created and trained to address
business problem solving using ‘Kaizen’ methodology across different units of
the company.”[1]
Lean Implementation is followed across
industries as well. Food service operators are applying the approach to their
operations. Due to adopting this principle; a particular operator eliminated
waste by 40%; labor cost by 15%, service times improved by one-thrid and sales
increased by 5%. This led to employees spending time influencing customers.
Can you think of a small business/
industry that could benefit from Lean Manufacturing?
Do you know any industry that has impacted
from adopting to Lean Production process?
REFERENCES:
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