Productivity improvement through lean manufacturing tools in Ethiopian garment manufacturing company

Abstract

The major purposes of the use of lean production are to increase productivity, improve product quality, reduce inventory, reduce lead time and eliminate manufacturing waste or non-value-added activities. Case study garment manufacturing company follows the conventional production system and is facing problems concerning, long production lead times, poor line balancing, long transportation and material movement, etc. The main objective of this research is to enhance productivity by minimizing and eliminating problems and wastes found in company and increase market competency by using different lean manufacturing tools like; motion study, work standardization through time study, and line balancing. In the investigation, high work-in-process, poor line balancing, high cycle time and production lead time, unbalance work distribution/assignment, in the company have been found out. After implementation of some lean tools, results observed involve, cycle time is reduced to 32.73%, cycle time is balanced with takt time, work stations are reduced to 14, through time study; SAM of product is standardized to 41 min., production lead time is reduced by 11.8% and productivity is increased by 16.66%. The implementation of the new manufacturing practices can lead to better product quality and greater participation by workers in efforts to improve manufacturing processes, the products, and the company as a whole. It is also examined its impact on the profit of the company by producing quality products and timely delivery, as well customer satisfaction.