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Utah Fashions Ltd .
A conglomerate of ‘ LEAN ’ and ‘ AUTOMATION ’
‘ Educate workers to minimise the waste on the shopfloor ’; ‘ Improve efficiency and cut the cost ’; ‘ Invest in automation ’…, these are the statements one can hear often from the top management of any garment manufacturing unit . However , these SHOULDs and HAVE TOs are just talks and not taken as a serious threat to competitiveness by the factory owners . Two of the best proven ways to achieve what has been stated above are the implementation of lean tools and investment in automation . Utah Fashions Ltd . ( UFL ), a unit of Utah Group ( Bangladesh ), has delivered meaningful changes in the working atmosphere through its expertise in both ‘ Lean ’ as well as ‘ Automation ’. Apparel Online digs out the methods Utah follows in order to grow in this highly challenging era .
Incepted in 1984 , Utah Group is one of the leading verticallyintegrated apparel manufacturing companies of Bangladesh with spinning , knitting , dyeing and washing , printing and embroidery facilities and having 13,000 workforce within the group Utah ’ s Group concern produces 37 million garments a year including 24 million knit garments and 13 million woven garments per annum . Catering mainly to kidswear category , around 40 % out of the total capacity , UFL has a stronghold in providing complete set-packs for the buyers . “ Complete set of kidswear is our strength as we are capable of producing both knit and woven garments . This keeps us ahead in the race of competitiveness besides our thrust to improve and innovate ,” shares WANIGABADUGE SUJEEWA INDIKA , Chief Operating Officer , Utah Fashions Ltd .
LEAN is way forward
However , keeping the head above tide is a challenge until one knows how to swim in an unevenly soaring water level . Connecting the rising cost-competitiveness with the same
Pocket attachment and pocket setting process in jeans are entirely automated with Euromac machines in UFL . The machines can be handled by the basic operators eliminating the need for skilled operators . principle , Indika discloses that every year Utah has to have its costreduction plans such as reducing energy wastage , reduction of NPT , 5S & red tag zone implementation , weekly ‘ Ohno ’ circle circulation , autonomous maintenance , reduction in DHU & rejection percentage by using red tag tools and identification of top 3 defects on an hourly basis and on-time problem solving , preventive maintenance , enhancement in multi-skill level , etc … “ In the challenging retail scenario where buyers constantly put
WANIGABADUGE SUJEEWA INDIKA , Chief Operating Officer , Utah Fashions Ltd ., Bangladesh pressure on reducing the unit prices , we are reducing our operational cost as well as improving efficiency with the aggressive use of lean tools throughout the unit ,” says Indika .
According to UFL , the process of establishment and implementation of LEAN METHODOLOGY and TPS Mechanisms is ongoing and it ’ s identifying areas which need to be improved by SWOT and PESTEL analysis . UTAH achieves significant improvements in operational efficiency using key performance indicators effectively known as SQDCM .
Each of these performance indicators are being implemented and monitored through the documents which are maintained by Utah operational team on the five rotating display pillars owned by each indicator at the start of each production line . “ Safety Cross , Daily DHU , Hourly Production Data , Efficiency , Absenteeism & Migration and related data are always updated and maintained on the display pillars to further strengthen the SQDCM indicators ,” asserts Indika .
Of all the tools , the first and foremost concept which UFL follows is the
24 Apparel Online Bangladesh | APRIL 2018 | www . apparelresources . com