Barriers for lean implementation in apparel industry

Abstract

Lean manufacturing is one of the most widely used tools in the contemporary manufacturing industry to improve the business performance via achieving higher efficiencies at reduced cost structures. However, the apparel industry has not yet been able to realize the full potential benefit scheme of this change initiative. Thus, this research is formulated to identify key barriers faced by the apparel industry which hinder the utilization of the full spectrum of lean benefits. A comprehensive literature review was conducted along with the feedback from the industry professionals to identify key barriers of lean implementation which were categorized under six lean tools. A pilot study was conducted targeting lean practitioners and identified three lean tools (TPM, 5-S and Kanban) as the most decisive tools for further investigations. A detailed survey questionnaire formulated on those prioritized lean tools was distributed to lean practitioners (executives and managers) in lean implemented Sri Lankan apparel factories. Quantitative feedback was obtained using ‘1-5 Likert Scale’ and prioritized using ‘Relative Importance Index’ to identify the most critical barriers pertaining to the feasibility of lean implementation and continuation. A comprehensive list of recommendations was developed using the findings of the literature and the qualitative feedback from the survey.