To enhance the impact of the Retail–Clothing Textile Footwear Leather Master Plan 2030, the LSF supported two projects within the sector, at the Green Thread Manufacturing factory and KARMA Clothing factory. The LSF partnered with BM Analyst and Dizani Consulting to implement these projects with the aim of improving efficiency and capacity building, production line optimization, Standard Minute Value (SMV) reduction, and process reviews. These interventions were implemented as part of efforts to contribute to local manufacturers' long-term viability and sustainability within the R-CTFL industry.
Green Thread Design Studio and Manufacturers Case Study
A key obstacle to Green Thread’s growth was price competitiveness, where costings for local garments or styles have often been uncompetitive relative to the imported equivalent. Based on an initial assessment of the problem, it was established that there were two central contributors to this:
Sewing line efficiency at GTM was lower than the required performance level, with average efficiency ranging between 40% - 50%, which in turn had an adverse impact on the factory’s minute rate.
SMVs derived by GTS have yet to be simplified, optimised, and standardised in a way that ensures the labour component of product pricing is as competitive as possible.
To address these underlying issues at GTM and GTS, two specific projects were undertaken, namely the ‘Efficiency Improvement Project’ and the ‘SMV Reduction Project.’ To address these, the LSF deployed BM Analyst who had Industrial Engineers and a Garment Technologist to assist. The process followed and results of this work are attached (‘The Green Thread report’).
KARMA Clothing Case Study
The overall objective of this project was to support KARMA Clothing to scale-up capacity and to optimise their production lines to increase current output by at least 25%.
This project started with an assessment of the current production processes to ascertain the current bottlenecks and the current capacity constraints. Subsequently, an examination of product families was conducted, capturing each step in the process to enhance comprehension of the factory's workflow. This analysis provided insights into the necessary machinery and their chronological arrangement for each product. The outcome of this phase was the creation of process maps for each product type within the families, serving as foundational documentation for future project stages.
In parallel, a comprehensive time study of time required to complete each process was completed. Each process step underwent a time study for calculating resource requirements and machine utilization and through this process, the bottlenecks within the three departments were highlighted, namely: Cutting, Sewing and Dispatch.
The proposed solutions were implemented in the production floor layout, which included the re-arrangement of the machine stations. The aim was to decrease the minutes of the production time. The implemented layout also led to a reduction of the lead time per product. The findings as detailed in the attached report (‘KARMA presentation’) show that the implemented layout was able to achieve the following: Reduced walking time, Improved flow and Optimized space utilization.
This intervention by the LSF is in support of the Retail–Clothing Textile Footwear Leather Master Plan whose goal is to create local capacity and capability in manufacturing. Among other strategic pillars, the Masterplan is focused at Value Chain Localisation and Transformation and Competitiveness Advancement within the local CTFL manufacturing sector.
Comments