Faridabad-based Genus Apparels, formerly known as L M Sagar Exports initiated implementation of Lean manufacturing in mid of 2011 and already results have been recorded. “Many operational processes from cutting to finishing were improved with an average of 35 per cent improvement in terms of time saving,” informs Sanjeev Garg, CEO, Genus Apparels. The company manufactures and exports knitted high-fashion garments for women and men and the objective of lean implementation was to inculcate a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organization.
With a workforce of 500+ people and a production capacity of 4000 garments per day, Genus Apparels is targeting growth of 25 per cent CAGR over next five years. “It was important to become lean to ensure that our company registered year-on-year growth,” says Sanjeev. Before implementation, an assessment of current business and operational processes was done to understand gaps and potential areas of improvements with the help of external resources. Assessment was made on lead time, inventories and WIP, stock turnover ratio, cut to ship ratio, machine breakdown, order changeover, idle time, unnecessary activities, wasteful motions, over-processing and underutilized space.
After assessment, one week training program on lean manufacturing was organized so that everyone in factory should understand lean manufacturing concept and whole factory should be on one page. Supervisors, in-charges and managers were trained to identify wastes in processes and also on how to remove the same in their sections. Since then the company has standardized lot of common operations in sewing room. “Currently we are implementing 5S principles which teach employees to do self discipline and maintain their workstations tidy and clean,” informs Sanjeev.
The company is now focusing on removal of wastes from every process including merchandising and supply chain hence they conducted few training sessions by external resources, which has reduced our merchandising and supply chain lead times substantially.
