Apparel Online India Magazine May 1st Issue 2018 | Page 47

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
working on improving his factory.
“Once our lean implementation is
complete, we will be able to produce
20,000 pieces per day while earlier
we were producing 12,000 pieces
per day. Our space, infrastructure
and manpower, is same but the only
difference is lean implementation.
Gayan’s team is pioneer in the
operations and systems, so they
are teaching the best of the
operations and systems which are
happening in Sri Lanka and China
these days. Firstly, we did complete
changeover in infrastructure; then
the second part was implementing
different kinds of systems in all
the departments, wherever needed.
Thirdly and finally, we have hired
ladies whom we train in our
facility. We have also identified 16
to 18 different areas of training
not only for SMO (Sewing Machine
Operations), but also for training
them in quality, packing, cutting,
and printing.” Vivek further added
that the company also introduced
the reward system and the
incentive system. The consultant
has given job description to each
and every member. This job
description is very important as it
helps new recruits to understand
what exactly he or she has to
perform. Similarly, there are
lots of other tasks that they have
accomplished which will benefit
them in the long run. This is why
they are hiring GM and CEO in the
upcoming months and they are
going to maintain it. Their buyers
are also very happy to see this
change.
Fashion Futures, a Delhi-
based leading training and
consultancy company in the field
of fashion, apparel & leather,
also implemented lean in some
of the factories of Kolkata and
that too into the leather sector.
To name a few, Orbit Leathers,
Chemgems, Trio Trend Exports
and C&R Leather Fashion, etc.
It has done lean implementation
in association with Indian
Leather Products Association
(ILPA). Support of Ministry of
MSME’s ‘Lean Manufacturing
Competitiveness Scheme’ was also
ESSENTIALS
Lean is a
continuous
process. Almost
5 years ago,
Ludhiana-based
three companies
– Superfine
Knitters,
Rider Exports
and Knitwell
– engaged
Chandrajith
Wickramasinghe
(popularly
known as CJ), a
Sri Lankan expat,
to shore up their
processes. On
the other hand,
there are still
many companies
in this hub,
having turnover
of more than
Rs. 80 crore and
using advanced
infrastructure, but
they don’t want
to implement
lean just because
of high cost of
consultants.
The other few
of them want
to implement it
using their years
of experience
on the shopfloor
rather than by any
outside expert.
Vivek Lakra, Director, Superfine Knitters Ltd.
instrumental for this initiative.
“Focusing on replacing the
factory management techniques
of yesterday with more efficient
methods that greatly minimises
waste, reduces costs, lead time
and improves quality, bringing
in maximum value to the
customers,” explained Pooja
Makhija, Director of Fashion
Futures. “There were some
initial issues like there was no
consultancy exposures to the
management, missing middle-
management culture as most of
the factories have only a top boss
and workers. Working systems
are also quite different there,
as most of the work happens
in group-based or piece-rate
system but we managed all this
with proper communication and
convinced that lean will definitely
help them,” shared Pooja.
This cluster was set up
almost two years ago with 8
participating members. The
project for lean cluster extended
over 18 months, covering 5
phases of equal duration and it
was started off with a diagnostic
study to find out the current
strengths and shortcomings, as
they exist in each department
of the organization today. Based
on the diagnostic report, a
future roadmap was drafted to
cover the 18 months project with
regard to specific requirements
of the SMEs along with various
projects that were handpicked
Kiriti Roy, Founder, Legend Strategies
for implementation at the
participating units. Following
this roadmap, solutions have been
offered in each phase to provide
a framework of efficiency and
continuous improvement in order
to make work more efficient,
thus creating better systems and
making workers happy.
In such hubs, not only lean or
consultancy in operation is
growing, but project consultancy
(factory construction and
allied services to become fully
operational) is also getting
attention. Kiriti Roy, Founder of
Legend Strategies and working
in the garment industry from
last 22 years, is in Kolkata from
last one year and has worked
with 5 apparel companies.
Having specialisation in project
consultancy, Kiriti shared, “When
we are at the helm, projects get
completed both in a planned
schedule and also in the required
budget, while normally 60 per cent
of projects that don’t have any
consultant supports, get delayed
and accordingly production too
gets delayed which means big
losses. Factories conceptualised
and developed with our support
are more organized, systematic,
according to compliance and are
used properly be it space or any
other resources.” Kiriti is also
of the view that with the expert
support, initial project cost may be
little higher but it reduces running
cost which is a big gain.
www.apparelresources.com | MAY 1-15, 2018 | Apparel Online India
47