APPAREL QUALITY

MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT II

SUBMITTED TO – MR. SUMIT KUMAR (ASST. PROFESSOR)

NIFT BHUBANESWAR

SUBMITTED BY – NIKITA RATISH (BFT/17/143)

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CONTENTS

TOPIC PAGE NUMBER

Social Compliance Audit 3-6

Shahi Exports Pvt. Ltd., Knits Division 7-8

Social Compliance followed by the Company 9

Total Quality Management 10 – 11

Quality Tools followed by the Company 11 – 14

References 15

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SOCIAL COMPLIANCE AUDIT
A social compliance audit, also called a social audit or an ethical audit, is a way to gain
clarity into a business to verify that it is complying with socially responsible principles. Audits
are usually conducted by an independent auditor. Auditors usually conduct these audits on
external facilities, such as production houses, factories, and farms or packing houses.

GOAL OF A SOCIAL COMPLIANCE AUDIT

A facility audit serves to verify and document that a facility is complying with prescribed
standards of employee safety, health, freedom of movement, and correct pay along with
local regulations and laws. As part of a long-term auditing program, audits verify that
facilities are on a path to continuous improvement in working conditions. Audits may identify
opportunities for improvement in the following areas,

 Underage labour
 Collective bargaining
 Discrimination
 Document review
 Dormitories
 Environment
 Freedom of association
 Harassment and abuse
 Health and safety
 Prison or forced labour
 Wages
 Excessive work hours

TYPES OF SOCIAL COMPLIANCE AUDITS

There are two types of social compliance audits: official audits by government and unofficial
audits by an independent thirty party. Unofficial but consistent audits can ensure your
company maintains compliant. For external audits in particular, a variety of formats exists.
Some brands pay for audits, but the logic behind making a facility pay for their audit is that,
ideally, the facility in question takes ownership of the resulting report. Depending on your
circumstances or your facilities’ countries of operation, your brand may choose any of the
following courses of action regarding types of auditing,

 Staff your own internal audit teams and accept only their audits.
 Use third-party audit firms but accept audits only from a handful of approved audit firms.
 Choose the SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit), which permits a range of
audit firms to conduct the audit.
 Use the SMETA format but specify which firms you will accept.

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 Allocate an audit firm to a facility, and give the facility a deadline for scheduling the audit
with the contracted firm and for paying the fee. For allocated audits, the brand usually
negotiates the rate so that all the facilities in a particular country pay the same amount.

STEPS TO CONDUCT A SOCIAL COMPLIANCE AUDIT

In order to ensure that your company meets standards of social compliance, it may be
necessary to conduct a social compliance audit with the following steps,

 Review your company’s code of conduct and its code of ethics.

 Define your company’s “stakeholders” by identifying every individual or group that is
affected by the performance or success of your business.
 Identify the social needs that affect all of your company’s stakeholders, including clean
streets, crime and vagrancy reduction.
 Devise a system for identifying social targets, gathering data on addressing an issue
and implementing strategies to positively affect the situation and reporting the results of
those efforts.
 Contract with an independent auditing firm that specializes in social responsibility
programs; meet with representatives of the audit firm to discuss your efforts and your
need for an independent review.
 Allow the auditor to complete the independent verification process and then compare his
results with the internal observations of the functional group leading your social
responsibility effort.

THE SOCIAL COMPLIANCE AUDIT REPORT

When the social compliance audit is finished by ethical auditor, a report will be issued which
documents the findings and includes pictures. With this report you obtain a clear picture of
whether everything is in place for your company to all social compliance requirements.

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL COMPLIANCE AUDITS

Social Compliance Audit includes evaluations of your supplier’s compliance with,

 Child labour - Under SA8000, child labour is considered any work performed by a child
younger than 15 years old, unless the minimum age for work is higher by local law. The
standard also sets requirements for the employment of “young workers” who are
younger than 18 but older than 15 years old as specified above.

 Forced labour - SA8000 forbids suppliers from employing forced or slave labour, as well
as withholding personal documents, salary or benefits from workers. Withholding
workers’ documents could make it difficult for workers to leave at will. SA8000 also
requires that staff have the right to leave the workplace at the end of each workday and
the right to terminate their employment with reasonable notice.

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 Health and safety - A supplier is required to provide a safe and healthy workplace
environment for workers under the SA8000 standard. This section has many areas in
common with the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Act of 1970. Under the SA8000
standard, the supplier must:
 Minimize or eliminate the causes of all safety hazards in the workplace environment,
wherever reasonable
 Assess health risks for new, expectant and nursing mothers
 Provide effective health and safety training to staff
 Provide staff with appropriate protective equipment (e.g. hardhats, gloves,
respirators) at its own expense
 Provide staff with free access to clean toilet facilities, potable water and sanitary
facilities for food storage

 Freedom of association - SA8000’s freedom of association and collective bargaining

requirement allows workers the right to organize trade unions of their choosing and to
bargain collectively with their employer. It also protects workers belonging to unions
from discrimination, harassment or intimidation.

 Discrimination - The SA8000 standard protects workers from discrimination based on

race, origin, caste, gender, religion, political affiliation and many other attributes. The
supplier should have a written anti-discrimination policy that is followed in the
recruitment, employment and termination of employees.

 Disciplinary practices - The SA8000 standard requires that suppliers treat staff with
“dignity and respect”. This is a short requirement that forbids inhumane treatment,
corporal punishment, mental or physical coercion or verbal abuse of employees.

 Working hours - SA8000 requires suppliers to allow at least one day of rest following six
consecutive days of work. And the normal work week should not exceed 48 hours. The
standard also sets requirements for overtime. Suppliers must make overtime voluntary,
and overtime cannot exceed 12 hours per week.

 Remuneration - An audit of your supplier using the SA8000 standard will also
investigate whether your supplier is paying a living wage to workers. Wages must cover
the basic needs of staff and allow for discretionary spending. The standard dictates that
the supplier cannot withhold or deduct wages for disciplinary reasons, unless permitted
by national law or a collective bargaining agreement. The supplier must also reimburse
workers for overtime at a premium rate defined by national law or collective bargaining
agreement. The supplier must also comply with local requirements for mandatory
income withholdings, such as taxes, social security and housing funds.

 Management system - Factory management must take several additional steps

regarding corrective actions, preventative measures, policies and documentation for full
SA8000 compliance. Some of the main points outlined in SA8000 are as follows,
 Senior management must inform staff of their intention to comply with SA8000 with a
written policy statement

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  The supplier must appropriately document conformance and implementation of the
standard
 The supplier must set up a Social Performance Team (SPT) to oversee
implementation of the SA8000 standard, as well as identify and assess risks
 The supplier must develop a written grievance procedure that is confidential and non-
retaliatory; and
 The supplier must train staff to implement the SA8000 standard.

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SHAHI EXPORTS PVT.LTD, (KNIT DIVISION) BANGALORE
Established in 1974 by Mrs. Sarla Ahuja at Delhi, Shahi has grown to become India’s largest
apparel manufacturer, operating 65 factories and 3 processing mills across 9 states. Shahi
Industry opened another unit in Bangalore on 1st July 1988 with 250 associates and 104
machines. In the last 32 years, Shahi went up to expand by 60 times.

Headquarters New Delhi Area India

Founded 1974

Industry Apparels & Fashion

Type Privately held

Status Operating Company

Size 35000 employees (Knit alone has 12000

employees)

Manufacturing capacity 4 million pieces/month (1.5 m/m knit)

Website http://www.shahi.co.in

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SHAHI – KNITS DIVISION
Shahi, Knits Division is vertically integrated and manufacturing most of its fabrics starting
from yarn. Their success in fabrication being they start selecting the right fiber coupled with
dedicated spinning mills to cater to their specific requirements. Their stringent quality
controls starting from 100% fabric inspection at 4 Point system to on-line inspection in
garmenting, end-line inspection and supported by independent TQA team ensures the best
of its quality of the product they manufacture. Shahi has implemented the latest ERP System
"MOVEX" which connects all the supply chain starting from yarn till the shipment and
facilitates to monitor and adhere the TNA to meet the delivery schedules.

MISSION
To provide the best quality product and to exceed customer expectation through
uncompromising quest for perfection.

VISION
Always to be number one in the knitted garment business.

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SOCIAL COMPLIANCE FOLLOWED IN THE COMPANY
SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY 8000

As a corporate citizen and a business entity that is evolving through continual improvement
in ethical business, employee welfare and adherence to local and international laws has
been certified SA – 8000, by Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI).

The certification is widely accepted in the Europe & the US as a sign of a corporate body
that has definite ethical business practice. It not only ensures better work environment, equal
pay, grievance handling mechanism, definite disciplinary procedure, mechanism to check
and address sexual harassment and healthy employee-management relationship at the
Premise of manufacturing that is certified but also takes care of the supply chain, and ensure
that starting from raw material supplier, accessory supplier to shipment of final product,
ethical business is practiced. This is ensured in the form of Supplier Compliance. SA - 8000
has a definite audit process conducted by BVQI every six months, where associate interview
is done & relevant document is reviewed, which in turn ensures that all the clauses of the
SA-8000 Standard is followed. The following are the standards,

 Child labour laws

 Forced labour laws
 Discrimination laws
 Minimum wage laws
 Worker living standards
 Working hours
 Overtime wages
 Social benefits
 Safety and health
 Protection of the environment

SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN CHARGE

A responsible person is appointed as social accountability in charge to ensure that the

requirement of the Clauses of SA-8000 is met at all times.

GRIEVANCE HANDLING IN CHARGE:

A qualified person is dedicated to addressing the grievance of the associates and is

available during the working hours through the month.

HEALTH & SAFETY IN-CHARGE

A qualified and experienced person is appointed as Health & Safety In charge to ensure that
healthy and safe work environment is maintained in the factory premise.

The top management, including the CEO of the company actively involves in ensuring that
all the clauses of the SA – 8000 is followed strictly and sustained.

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TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN SHAHI INDUSTRIES

INTRODUCTION
Total quality management (TQM) is the continual process of detecting and reducing or
eliminating errors in manufacturing, streamlining supply chain management, improving the
customer experience, and ensuring that employees are up to speed with training. Total
quality management aims to hold all parties involved in the production process accountable
for the overall quality of the final product or service. TQM was developed by William Deming,
a management consultant whose work had a great impact on Japanese manufacturing.

TQM is a comprehensive management system which,

 Focuses on meeting owners’/customers’ needs by providing quality services at a cost

that provides value to the owners/customers
 Is driven by the quest for continuous improvement in all operations
 Recognizes that everyone in the organization has owners/customers who are either
internal or external
 Views an organization as an internal system with a common aim rather than as
individual departments acting to maximize their own performances
 Focuses on the way tasks are accomplished rather than simply what tasks are
accomplished
 Emphasizes teamwork and a high level of participation by all employees.

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT BELIEFS

 Owner/customer satisfaction is the measure of quality
 Everyone has owners/customers; everyone is an owner/customer
 Quality improvement must be continuous
 Analyzing the processes used to create products and services is the key to quality
improvement
 Measurement, a skilled use of analytical tools, and employee involvement are critical
 Sources of quality improvement are ideas and innovations
 Sustained total quality management is not possible without active, visible, consistent,
and enabling leadership by managers at all levels
 If we do not continuously improve the quality of products and services that we provide
our owners/customers, someone else will

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STEPS IN IMPLEMENTING TQM
1. Obtain CEO Commitment
2. Educate Upper-Level Management
3. Create Steering Committee
4. Outline the Vision Statement, Mission Statement, & Guiding principles
5. Prepare a Flow Diagram of Company Processes
6. Focus on the Owner/Customer (External) & Surveys
7. Consider the Employee as an Internal Owner/customer
8. Provide a Quality Training Program
9. Establish Quality Improvement Teams
10. Implement Process Improvements
11. Use the Tools of TQM
12. Know the Benefits of TQM Continuous Improvement

QUALITY SYSTEMS FOLLOWED BY SHAHI EXPORTS

 SIX SIGMA
 KAIZEN
 PCMM(People capability maturity model)
 SA-8000(Social Accountability)
 5S
 ISO -9001-2000
 TPM (Total productive maintenance)
 AM(Autonomous maintenance)
 VSM (Value stream mapping)
 SPF (Single piece flow)

SIX SIGMA
Sigma - A term used in statistics to represent standard deviation, an indicator of the degree
of variation in a set of measurements or a process.

Six sigma – It is a statistical concept that measures a process in terms of defects. At the six
sigma level, there are only 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Six Sigma is also a
philosophy of managing that focuses on eliminating defects through practices that
emphasize understanding, measuring, and improving processes. Achieving six sigma means
your processes are delivering only 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO)—in other
words, they are working nearly perfectly.

In its business use, it indicates defects in the outputs of a process, and helps us to
understand how far the process deviates from perfection. A sigma represents 691462.5
defects per million opportunities, which translates to a percentage of non - defective outputs
of only 30.854% which is really poor performance. If we have processes functioning at a

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three sigma level, this means we’re allowing 66807.2 errors per million opportunities, or
delivering 93.319% non - defective outputs.

Most organizations in the U.S. are operating at three to four sigma quality levels which mean
they could be losing up to 25% of their total revenue due to processes that deliver too many
defects, defects that take up time and effort to repair as well as creating unhappy customers.

The central idea of Six Sigma management is that if you can measure the defects in a
process, you can systematically figure out ways to eliminate them, to approach a quality
level of zero defects. Six Sigma is several things,

 A statistical basis of measurement: 3.4 defects per million opportunities

 A philosophy and a goal: as perfect as practically possible
 A methodology
 A symbol of quality

SIGMA LEVEL (PROCESS CAPABILITY) DEFECTS PER MILLION OPPORTUNITIES

2 308,537

3 66807

4 6210

5 233

6 3.4

THE SIX SIGMA STRATEGY

To achieve Six Sigma quality, a process must produce no more than 3.4 defects per million
opportunities. An “opportunity” is defined as a chance for non conformance, or not meeting
the required specifications. This means the company needs to be nearly flawless in
executing our key processes.

Six Sigma is a vision Shahi Industries strive toward and a philosophy that is part of their
business culture

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KAIZEN
Kaizen means improvement. Moreover it means continuing improvement in personal life,
home life, social life, and working life. When applied to the workplace Kaizen means
continuing improvement involving everyone - from top management to managers and
workers. The Kaizen strategy is the single most important concept in Japanese
management. It is the key to Japanese competitive success. Because of Japan’s success,
the Kaizen philosophy has been implemented in organizations around the world as a way to
improve production values while also improving employee morale and safety.

IMPLEMENTATION OF KAIZEN IN SHAHI INDUSTRY

After attending an initial Kaizen event hosted by TAO Solutions, Shahi Industry plunged into
turning the company production line into a Single Piece Flow. In simple terms, this meant
that instead of the typical batch processing of garments, each garment went through all the
stages of processing, one by one, until the finished product was created. Immediately, they
began to see higher quality products, less accumulation of garments, and less WIP. The
result was so successful that it led to a culture shift on the shop floor; all lines moved to
single piece flow, and the director himself took ownership of one of the lines making it a role
model to replicate across the several divisions of the industry.

The knits division worked on a Back-to-Back operation, which they turned around. By
replacing this operation with a Face-to-Face, the knit division gained immense space on the
shop floor which led to 66 lines expanding into 133.

Another practice that was implemented was Cut-to-Pack. This practice brought together all
the different processes in garment manufacturing into the same space, which resulted in
drastic improvements in quality and production and minimized delays in movement.

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5S
5S is a set of techniques providing a standard approach to housekeeping within Lean
Manufacturing.

 5s Seiri (Sort) - Seiri is the identification of the best physical Organisation of the
workplace.

 5s Seiton (Set) - Seiton is the series of steps by which the optimum organisation
identified in the first pillar are put into place.

 5s Seiso (Shine) -The principle here is that we are all happier and hence more
productive in clean, bright environments. There is a more practical element in that if
everything is clean it is immediately ready for use.

 5s Seiketsu (Standardisation) - This is best described as Standardised cleanup, but

other names adopted include Standardisation.

 5s Shitsuke (Sustain) - The final stage is that of Discipline often listed as Sustain or Self-
discipline.

IMPLEMENTATION OF MINI DUSTBIN

The use of the mini dustbin the wastages are utilizing proper in a manner. In the floor area,
the mistake wastages such as threads, mistake labels, size-wise defects are of proper
checking and thrown to the mini dustbin.

The benefits of the mini dustbin such as,

 The wastages and the dust particles are placed in the mini dustbin.
 It’s save workplace good in a manner.
 The dust, wastages are not applied to the other garments in the production line and
inspection table.

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REFERENCES

 https://www.slideshare.net/surendratripathi8/a-study-on-total-quality-management

 https://www.hqts.com/our-services/factory-audits/social-compliance-audits/

 https://www.smartsheet.com/social-compliance

 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/total-quality-management-tqm.asp

 https://www.shahi.co.in/

 http://www.flametaoknoware.com/case-studies/revolution-apparel-manufacturing

 https://www.scribd.com/document/291706519/5S-Implementation-in-Apparel-Industry

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