Abstract:
On time delivery with quality and quantity is important for any manufacturing industry. At
present, lead time is decreasing day by day and customer requirements also continuously
changing. To fulfill customer demand whole production system should be more capable and
efficient. For this reason productivity is important for manufacturing industries. Productivity can
be defined as a ratio between output and input.
Manufacturing industries are always having lots of production processes for desired products.
Out of these processes some are not essential and do not add any value to the product. Most of
time, management is not quite aware of the non-value-adding processes. If we observe a
garments production line we will see that there were lots of In-process inventories and waiting
time between almost every sequential operation. No strict and precise work distribution was
followed by many workers. Material’s used to travel large distance from input receiving to
needle check and cartooning. Many of these movements and handlings are totally unnecessary.
Sometimes reworks are increasing the total completion time. As a result, the productivity was
hampered. So, a smooth, streamlined and continuous flow is really necessary to avoid all such
unexpected occurrence.
The objective of value stream mapping is to identify value-added activities and non-value-added
activities. Value stream maps should reflect what actually happens rather than what is supposed
to happen so that opportunities for improvement can be identified. Value Stream Mapping is
often used in process cycle-time improvement projects since it demonstrates exactly how a
process operates with detailed timing of step-by-step activities. It is also used for process
analysis and improvement by identifying and eliminating time spent on non-value-added
activities.
The present study focuses on improving the overall productivity of cutting, sewing and finishing
sections through value stream mapping (VSM). Different techniques like process integration, job
sharing, multitasking etc. will be implemented to improve the current state situation. Three
different product lines (Jacket, Polo shirt, and tee shirt) will be considered to implement this
study, and the productivity as well as line efficiency will be compared before and after
implementing the technique.
