TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN

READY MADE GARMENTS INDUSTRY OF

BANGLADESH: A STUDY ON SOUTHEAST
SWEATER LTD COMPANY
Term paper

SUBMITTED TO
SABRINA SHARMIN NISHAT,
LECTURER
Department of management
Bangladesh university of professionals Submitted by
Zarin tasnim 18241013
Afia shanjida doll 18241051
Iajajul islam lajuk 18241023
Farhana islam bristy 18241015
Sabrin saba 18241005
 Title
Total Quality Management Practices in Ready
Made Garments Industry of Bangladesh: A
Study on SOUTHEAST SWEATER LTD
Company

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Letter of transmittal

26-10-2021

Sabrina Sharmin Nishat

Lecturer
Department of business administration in Management Studies
Bangladesh University Of Professionals
Subject: Submission of term paper of strategic management

Respected faculty,
With due respect. We would like to inform you that, it is of great pleasure for us to be able to
submit your report on the topic “Total Quality Management Practices in Ready Made Garments
Industry of Bangladesh: A Study on SOUTHEAST SWEATER LTD Company of our last(8 th)
semester, we have wholeheartedly participated in making this paper. It would be very impolite
without giving you credit for inspiring and supporting us throughout this period.
We have put our best effort to make this report a successful one. It has been a privilege & an
enlightening experience for us to work on this report. This has been obviously a great source of
learning for us to conduct similar types of studies in the future.
Therefore, we hope that you would be kind enough to excuse us if you come across any form of
minor flaws in our report.

Sincerely yours
Zarin tasnim 18241013
Iajajul islam lajuk 18241023
Farhana islam bristy 18241015
Afia shanjida doll 18241051
Sabrin saba 18241005

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 Acknowledgment

We are very grateful to our respective course teacher Sabrina Sharmin Nishat (lecturer) Ma’am.
Without her relentless efforts and guidance, it would not have been possible to accomplish this
task that we were assigned to do so. We would like to thank you for helping us throughout this
journey and learning something new and practical in every class. Thank you for bearing with us
and may the almighty Allah bless you throughout your life.

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 Table of content
NO TITLE PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
3. METHODOLOGY
4. COMPANY OVERVIEW
5. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
6. CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
7. APPENDIX

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 Chapter 1

Introduction

“The Industrial Revolution was another of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story
of civilization.”
This statement over the paper explains a lot of industrial revolution which was given by
Stephen Gardiner.75% of the ready-made garments industry is going 4th industrial revolution.
We are seeing continuous total quality management and most of the export-oriented garments
industry is thinking of incorporate AI (Artificial Intelligence) for their future efficient work. This
can change work environment and no longer attach with employee retention. This will be
happening because Bangladesh will be no longer in GSP after 2027 and that time they have to
compete with others like China, Philippine and Thailand of various country of Asia. As quality
of product almost same from Asia it’s a really tough compete.
Bangladesh's garment manufacturing business is growing at a pace of 20% per year, and the
RMG sector accounts for around 76 percent of the country's export revenues. There are now 4.2
million people employed in this industry, which includes 4490 manufacturing units. At the same
time, Bangladesh's garment sector is labor-intensive rather than technology-driven, as the
country has the cheapest labor costs in the world, with an average hourly wage of $0.3. The
RMG industry makes a significant contribution to Bangladesh's economy, focusing only on the
ideology of cost reducing regardless of productivity. It's worth noting that Bangladesh's RMG
industry has grown at a phenomenal rate since 1985, thanks to a few advantages and chances
such as MFA, Quota, and GSP. Meanwhile, in the clothing industry, all Bangladeshi garment
manufacturers are manufacturing at the bottom end of the market. They mostly engage in cutting,
manufacturing, and trimming (CMT) tasks. As a result, processing an order in this business takes
the longest time possible. According to Rahman & Rahman, the lead time for garment export in
Bangladesh is 90-120 days, but the duration for identical items in Sri Lanka is 19-45 days, China
40-50 days, and India 50-70 days.
While the Bangladesh Ready-Made Garments (RMG) industry, according to the BGMEA, has
experienced amazing growth and has made a substantial contribution to the country's economic
development, quality remains a critical issue to address. The cost of low-quality Bangladesh
ready-made clothing accounted for 18% of operational expenses. Sharmin Akhter noted in this
respect that the principle of quality management is new in the Bangladesh RMG industry, and
the government has a limited knowledge of it. Few businesses, on the other hand, have seen an
overall increase in corporate performance after using quality management principles.
TQM firms, according to Mamun and Islam, experienced better employee relations, higher
productivity, higher customer satisfaction, increased market share, and enhanced profitability in
virtually all situations. Quality has been regarded a key aspect for obtaining competitive
advantage in today's global competitiveness and economic liberalization, according to

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Heatshield, Reinhardt, and Gartner. In the instance of Bangladesh ready-made clothing
industries, rather than tackling the entire process, most local governments focused on only a few
activities to save money. In the case of Bangladesh's RMG industry, TQM practices are always
the most understudied area of study.
Background of the Study: As we have followed so many research papers of this RMG
sector on TQM. This research result will make a significant contribution to promoting and
facilitating TQM adaption in Bangladesh's RMG industry. Customers in Bangladesh were not
always satisfied with the level of service provided by ready-made clothes firms. However,
because of the increasing competitiveness and the application of many new laws and regulations
in the global business arena, this research is extremely important for Bangladesh Ready-Made
Garment firms. This study's need may be demonstrated. To begin with, practically every
business must create a quality atmosphere in order to assure high performance.
Objective of the Study: The Bangladesh Ready-Made Garments (RMG) sector has
experienced extraordinary growth and has made a substantial contribution to the country's
economic development; however, product and service quality remain a serious concern. The
consequences and value of Total Quality Management (TQM) adoption are not well understood
by RMG enterprises in Bangladesh. Actually, they place a lot of focus on implementing ISO
9000, and studies suggest that doing so simply exacerbates difficulties. According to the
researchers, successful adoption of TQM techniques is a key criterion and predictor of business
sustainability. Three, firms must include and earn commitment from all employees in order to
cope with changing market conditions and ensure great performance. Four, customer happiness
is a prerequisite for corporate success and long-term viability. The necessity of group
collaboration and interdisciplinary research was emphasized in number five. The findings of this
study will be useful to the government and other organizations in Bangladesh that are currently
implementing TQM practices, as well as those who are looking to implement TQM practices
within their systems with the goal of improving performance and gaining a sustainable
competitive advantage for their businesses. Because of its management importance, the current
study provides great value for practitioners. At the same time, this study will be crucial in the
Bangladesh garments industry since it will provide fresh insights into different TQM and HRM
activities. The findings of the study will allow buyers and consumers to purchase items from
Bangladesh without worrying about product and service quality. Clearly, this study's theoretical
contribution is crucial, as the research model will create theoretical and practical factors to link
TQM, HRM practices, and long-term competitive advantage.

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 Chapter 2
Literature review

Total Quality Management is a vision which the firm can only achieve through long-term
planning, by drawing up and implementing annual quality plans which gradually lead the firm
towards the fulfilment of the vision (Brun, 2010). TQM involves management, workforce,
suppliers, and even customers, in order to meet or exceed customer expectations. The common
TQM practices are cross-functional product design, process management, supplier quality
management, customer involvement, information and feedback, committed leadership, strategic
planning, cross-functional training, and employee involvement. (Aized, 2012). As the end of the
20th century approaches, TQM appears to be a well-accepted system of management (Angel R.
Martínez-Lorente, 2006). Total quality management (TQM) is a management philosophy that
focuses on constantly improving the quality of products and processes. Quality products or
services need not only to conform to consumers requirements; the product/service must be
acceptable. Effective TQM strategy entails that the product/service must go beyond acceptability
for a given price range. For example, rather leaving customers/clients satisfied that nothing went
wrong with the product or service, a product/service should give the customers/clients some
delightful surprises, or provide unexpected benefits (Collard, 2001). The premise is that
everyone involved in the development and/or usage of the products or services is responsible for
the quality of the items and processes. The philosophy underlying the implementation of a TQM
strategy is to see organizational customers and clients as the vital key to organizational success.
Organizations with TQM strategy see their business through the eyes of their customers and
clients and then measure their organizations performance against customer/client expectations
(Fran, 2002). It therefore follows that organizations that want to be successful with the
implementation of TQM strategy must evaluate its operations through the eyes of its customers
by strengthening and exploring all avenues including the people (employees)that make up the
organizational structure(Stah,2002). A firm’s success in the long run is dependent upon how its
customers‟ needs are satisfied effectively and efficiently on a continuous basis (Sila, 2007). To
create a value for the customer is the main principle Also, customer expectations often vary from
one customer to the next (C. Mele, 2006). Companies need to continually gather information by
means of focus groups, market surveys, and customer interviews in order to stay in tune with
what customers want. They must always remember that they would not be in business if it were
not for their customers (Sanders, 2010).

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TQM gurus
TQM GURUS
Walter Andrew Shewhart (pronounced like
"shoe-heart", March 18, 1891 – March 11,
1967) was an American physicist, engineer
and statistician, sometimes known as the
father of statistical quality control and also
related to the Shewhart cycle.
Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher FRS[5] (17
February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British
polymath who was active as a mathematician,
statistician, geneticist, and academic
Joseph Moses Juran was a Romanian-born
American engineer and management
consultant. He was an evangelist for quality
and quality management, having written
several books on those subjects.
Kaoru Ishikawa was a Japanese
organizational theorist and a professor in the
engineering faculty at the University of
Tokyo noted for his quality management
innovations
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MAIN CONTRIBUTES
Developed the PDSA cycle for learning and
Improvement.
Developed control chart theory with control
limits, assignable and chance causes of
variation, and rational subgroups
Created a solid foundation of statistical
methods, such as design of experiments
(DOE) and analysis of variance
(ANOVA) in the 1930s.
The Juran Trilogy for managing quality is
carried out by the three interrelated processes
of planning, control, and improvement
Borrowed the total quality control concept
and adapted it for the Japanese
Developed the quality circle concept where
working groups were trained in SPC
concepts.
 Chapter 3
Methodology

All the data are collected from different documents and reports of Southeast Sweater Ltd. Some
data are collected by observing different section of this garments. This research employed both
primary and secondary sources. A systematic and open-ended questionnaire concerning
southeast sweater ltd.’s quality management processes was used to acquire primary data. We
interviewed southeast sweaters ltd.’s CEO ( MAHBUBUR RAHMAN LUCKY ). Secondary
data was collected though their different daily/monthly/yearly reports and documents.

Limitations
The report has some limitations:
1. To assess the TQM practices in garments factory of Bangladesh is gigantic task. Simply
analyzing one garment factory is not appropriate to represent whole industry as there are
different types of factories in terms of production of goods, capacity, and size.
2. The research is conducted only by interviewing the CEO and one manager responsible for
quality of Southeast Sweater Ltd. The research could bring on more facts on quality management
if more personnel could be interviewed.

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 Chapter 4
Organizational Overview

Southeast Sweaters Limited is 100% export-oriented sweater manufacturing company of

Deshbandhu Group. The factory is situated only 3 km away from Hazrat Shahjalal international
airport, Dhaka, and is the nearest complaint factory from Dhaka city. This company is exporting
most of its products to the world-renowned buyers in Europe and north America while
generating of more than 3000 workforces.
 Export Focus: Australia, Canada, India, Russian Federation, United Kingdom
 Ownership Status: LLC (Limited Liability Corp)
 Production Lines: 3
 Research Team Size: Fewer than 5
 Contract Services: OEM Service Offered
 100% Compliance Group
As it is a 100% compliance group, they are maintaining rules for that some of the most important
aspects of social accountability in Bangladesh's clothing business have been addressed in this
study.
o Social Accountability: In today's fast-changing global market, merchants and
manufacturers value not just the quality of clothing, but also the working conditions of
the organizations where the items are created. These are equally crucial in order to
develop and strengthen customer confidence as well as to establish more trustworthy
vendor partnerships. To put it another way, a specific code of conduct that safeguards the
basic human rights of trade workers must be followed in order to please customers and
give social value to the product. Understanding and monitoring the compliance portion of
social responsibility in maintaining the image of a particular brand of goods requires a
basic understanding of social accountability.
In order to accomplish so, reputable and leading market participants in the garment trade
have made it a condition of the export contract for the linked factories to meet those
goals. In the case of non-compliance with such concerns, shipments were either withheld
or terminated abroad.
o Code of Conduct (COC):Social Accountability standards have been developed by
the international organizations such as Fair Labor Association (FLA), Worldwide
Responsible Apparel production (WRAP) , Council on Economic Priorities
Accreditation Agency (CEPAA), The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and Business
for Social Responsibility(BSR).

Reputed brand buyers in large supply chain have taken the guideline from those
organizations and formulated their own standard of COC and also the acceptance
criteria.

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 The basic principles of COC have been derived from the principles of international
human rights norms as delineated in International Labor Organization Conventions,
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
It has nine core areas to be addressed upon. These are as follows:
1. Child labor
2. Forced labor
3. Health and Safety
4. Compensation
5. Working Hours
6. Discrimination
7. Discipline
8. Free association and collective bargaining
9. Management system
Social compliance audits conducted as per the COC of different brand buyers of USA and
Europe were basically based on the following steps:
1. Opening meeting with the factory management (informed the scope of audit)
2. Factory Tour (observed working condition)
3. Document Review (payroll, timecard, personal file, age documentation etc.)
4. Employees Interview
5. Closing meeting with factory management (discussed audit findings and recommended
necessary improvements).

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 Chapter 5
Finding and analysis

TQM FRAMEWORK

TQM
principles

Improving
management’s
responsibility

Leadership Product
and service Customer
Customer
realization
satisfaction

TQM gurus Employee

involvement

Supplier
partnership

Shewhart
Deming
Juran
Tools and
Figenbaum technique
Ishikawa

PERFOMANCE MEASURE
Benchmarking
Reduce number of defective products
Six sigma
Prioritize Customer feedback
PDCA cycle
Try to increase sells
Check list

Pareto analysis
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 Findings

 Quality control in raw materials and managing supplier quality:

They collect raw materials generally from China or according to their buyer’s demand. If buyer
want raw materials from India, then they collect raw materials from India. Collecting raw
materials totally depends on the buyer’s demand.

 Quality control in cutting sections:

Because the appropriate measured cutting is necessary to produce the right form of garments
product, quality control of the garment’s cutting section is critical. Cutting is the first step in the
garment manufacturing process.
In cutting section quality is insure in two stages.
a) Spreading quality control: Following the point are checked during spreading
I. Table marking. II. Ends III. Leaning IV. Narrow Goods V. Counts VI. Ply height VII.
Remnants VIII. Fabric flaws IX. Market placing
b) After cutting quality control: After each cutting blocks and bundles are checks on the
following points.
I. Mis cut II. Ragged cutting III. Pattern checks IV. Matching Plies
V. Light checking
They have final measurement table to recheck if products cutting measurements is correct or not.
If there any defect identified the products is sent again to cutting section for recutting

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 Figure: cutting section

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Figure: Final measurement table
 Process quality control
Basically (Md. Mahbubur Rahman Lucky- Managing Director & CEO) of southeast sweater’s
ltd mention to us some process for controlling quality:
Layer checking: They always focus on Lay length and lay height that need to be checked for
every lay and must be recorded by the quality checker. Lay length should not be less than the
marker length and lay height standard. This report should be monitored by the cutting in-charge
(who is well known as a inspector in southeast sweater’s) and the quality supervisor of the
cutting section on daily basis.
Marker checking: Here include new individuals database, Marker should be checked for length,
number of cut parts, pattern, and grain line. Every new marker should be checked by the quality
checker and the record must be kept the same which should be monitored by cutting in-charge
and quality supervisor on a daily basis.
Fused part checking: The best important part of southeast sweater’s ltd is daily machine
maintenance report. This is an important area that is generally missed by many factories. The
bonding strength of fused parts must be checked randomly at least twice a day. Also, machine
parameters like temperature, pressure, and speed must be checked against required parameters
after every two hours and data must be recorded.
Cut Parts Checking: Their inspector and supervisor checked cut parts through layer-wise with
patterns for shape, notches, and drill marking. Checkers should maintain a report of the same and
this report should be checked by the quality supervisor on a daily basis.
Audit: In southeast sweater’s ltd primary audit is conducted by quality supervisor and quality
manager this is a random audit of ready-to-issue bundles for numbering, shade, pattern, bundling

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errors. This can be done by a quality supervisor and the report must be maintained and checked
by the quality manager monthly.
Embroidery/ Printing
Southeast sweater’s ltd maintains zero tolerance about embroidery/printing. If there is any
process of embroidery or printing on cut panels then 100% of panels must be checked and
reports should be maintained on a daily basis. Embroidery and printing quality should be
checked by the quality and production supervisor. It will help in eliminating any major causes of
defects if any.

 Quality control in the stitching process

Md. Mahbubur Rahman Lucky (Managing Director & CEO) said to us that Sewing section in the
heart of a garment factory. It involves the conversion of cut panels into their garments as per
customer requirements (almost all the customers of southeast sweater’s ltd are foreign brand).
This area is very much labor intensive with less or mild use of technology or automation. It is so
dynamic in nature that everyone should be on their toes otherwise chances of rework will
increase. Production and quality person's involvement is very much critical to the process. The
correct method, machine setting, and quality standards must be followed to reduce rework and
increase efficiency.
Following are some of the control systems which need to be implemented to ensure the correct
quality of the product:
Parts checking: They conduct regular basis primary audit and audit is required by the quality
supervisor to ensure the quality of the output. They tell us that all the parts must be audited
hourly and a report should be made and reviewed by the sewing and quality in-charge on daily
basis. A practice of self-checking must be incorporated in sewing operators so as to ensure
quality at the needlepoint.
Inline checkpoint: They used inline checkpoint and they suggest that there should be at least
one inline checkpoint in the sewing line. This can be placed at the most critical operation which
is most prone to defects. Quality in-charge along with production in-charge can decide at which
operation this checkpoint must be kept.
Final checkpoint: This is the most important checkpoint for a sewing line in Southeast sweaters
ltd . 100% products of itself checked at the final stage and defective ones should be returned
back for rework. The report should be analyzed by quality and sewing floor in-charge on daily
basis. This report should contain number of products checked, passed, defected, name of defect,
and name of the operation.

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  Quality control in washing section:
According to Mr. CEO, Cutting is the most critical area which needs to be closely monitored.
If one wrong cutting happens, the rejection quantity will be huge. This department also deals
with the most important raw material like Fabric which holds the largest value of the cost. So,
they can’t just afford to waste fabric by wrong cutting. Southeast Sweater LTD. Company is
maintaining their quality very highly. They have very expensive machines, and they keep
many machines for different colors. If they wanted, they could have kept few machines and
refill different color in same machine. But to keep up the good quality they bought many
machines for separate color, and they refill the same color in the same machine. After the
paint job is done, they send the raw colored sweater cloth for washing. Washing process of
garments is done to create wash look appearance. Washing technique create new fashion such
as tagging, grinding, destroy, blasting, whispering, permanent wrinkle, deep dye, pp, spray,
hand crapping, pp. spoon zing etc, which is also seems the best touch of garments. The main
important function washing is to reduce size materials as a result the garment become size free
and become soft hand feel. Due to washing, shrinkage occurs in the garments. The is no
possibility of further shrinkage of wash garments. Any dirt, spot or germ if added in the
garment’s during manufacturing is also removed due to washing
Quality control in washing section:
• Uneven check
• Shade variation check
• Maintain time schedule for each process

 Quality control in finishing section:

After light checking process if they found any defect in the final products like small hole or
sewing related fault, they try to fix it by the employees. Like they have specific group of female
employees who are expert in hand embroidery. They try to fix it by sewing. The employees do
this work very clearly that nobody found it as a defect product. If the products have other defect
which they can't fix by sewing they have special bar code which help to find out the defect
reason like which Machine is responsible for this defect, then they send to that sector to fix the
problem to do this they have a employees named QA(Quality Assurance).QA report to the
supervisor.
Mr. CEO told us that it is the most critical area of their factory. The workload in this section will
always be high. So to ensure quality in finishing is not an easy task. Following control measures
can be implemented to maintain the required level of product quality:

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Final checkpoint: 100% of their ordered products are checked for pressing, stains, and other
visual defects. This is the last checkpoint of the process. Reports should be made and should be
monitored on a daily basis by finishing and quality in charge. After checking measurement must
be done to ensure nothing is out of tolerance.
Poly pack checkpoint: After poly packing, all their products are checked for packing
presentation. Also, barcodes, packing trims, and price stickers are checked to ensure everything
is ok. A report should be maintained for the same.
Quality audit: They also mention to us that as we audit in the sewing section, the same must be
done here also. The AQL level can be set as per buyer requirements. Pass lots can be sent for the
carton packing. This audit must be done in the same way as our customer does the final
inspection. A report must be made on a daily basis for audit and should be monitored by a
quality head. This report also serves as the factory's internal inspection report which is required
by many customers.
Carton Audit: After all products are packed and the packing list is generated, they ensure 100%
of the cartons audit is done for correct packing. The auditor must tape the carton after the audit
so that no one could access the carton again without permission. This will ensure that they don't
get any shortage complaints about the shipment. Reports should be maintained for the same and
must be monitored by the quality heads daily.

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 Analysis

 PDCA cycle:
The plan–do–study–act (PDSA) cycle describes the activities a company needs to perform in
order to incorporate continuous improvement in its operation. The circular nature of this cycle
shows that continuous improvement is a never-ending process. Let’s look at the specific steps in
the cycle.
 Plan: The southeast sweater’s ltd is a developed PDSA diagram for the issue: Cracks on
the products. Foe this problem Mr. CEO creates a team, and the team uses the first Why
question to define the major causes like transportation, storage, and packaging. With each
major category, additional whys questions are used until finding out the root cause.
Normally, the finish goods after checking quality and packaging, they are stored in
inventory then finally delivered to customers. Cracks can happen due to incidents related
to human or machine factors during the storing time or on the delivery way. Or the effects
caused by poor packaging method. The real arrangement in the warehouse is not followed
by regulation. In one pallet, there are different kinds of products. They are not arranged
with the same quantities and sizes. The overloaded container is one of the reasons to cause
carton box failure. These arrangements are the result of insufficient training. Careless
handlings in the warehouse when loading or unloading pallets are caused by untrained
employees. For the second major group causes which relates to transportation, the bad
road conditions and truck driver steering habit are also possible reasons. The third major
group related to the packaging method brings many possible causes of cracks on products.
They are inadequate cushions, low-quality carton box, a poor fixing level between product
edges and box, and ineffective separations.
 Do: In the Do phase, the action plan in the previous stage is carried out. They create
especial team, and the team firstly finds new material or better-quality material for
packaging which is biodegradable and recyclable. Cardboard and honeycomb are viable
materials to replace Styrofoam. However, they may create more costs, especially with
honeycomb material. After doing the market research for new viable material, price, and
available suppliers, the design team decides to use corrugated cardboard which has three
to five layers. The more layers a cardboard has, the more expensive it is. The five-layer
corrugated fiberboard is used in packaging heavy fragile products.
 Study: At the study stage, the team analyzes and compares experiment results with the
target goals stated in the plan step. The check step is essentially important in decision
making and defining further steps. The package must resist drag, stretch, torn, and drop
conditions by manufacturer’s standard. Then, when it is delivered from the production site
to the customer’s hand, the product inside still remains its function and appearance. In

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 packaging protection aspect, these factors are mandatory and considered as main
requirements to an individual package:
 a. Size of the box
 b. How the box can resist forces impacting on all sides.
 c. How it absorbs vibration and shocking condition during transporting; and
 d. What is the maximum protection level when the package is damaged, and whether it
still retains the original product.
 Based on these factors, the team developed a drop method to test the efficiency of the new
packaging design.
 Act: In the Act phase, the team documents the results and makes the decision on adopting
or refusing the changes. Be noted that PDCA is applied for continuous improvement;
therefore, it is not a start-end process. At the Act phase, another plan to look for an even
better-improved way should be continued. The new packaging design will be widely
implemented for mid-weight and round shape products.

 Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a methodology that is used to search for best practices. According to our visited
(Southeast sweater’s ltd) garment’s CEO said that they follow some specific benchmarking
policy and in their benchmarking policy they consider minimum 3000-piece order quantity.
Southeast sweater’s ltd used some technical tools for selecting this specific number of quantities
considering their competitors and they also found that lower amount of order increase more
overhead cost. Also, in their benchmarking policy they consider 10-piece major defect in 200
pieces quantity and consider 14 piece minor defects in same amount number of quantity.
Benchmarking can be applied to strategies, policies, operations, processes, products, and
organizational structures. By finding and adopting best practices that can improve the
organization’s overall performance. Best practices can be found either within your own
organization or within other organizations. It usually means identifying organizations that are
doing something in the best possible way and then trying to emulate how they do it. Increasingly,
benchmarking is being adopted by organizations that are striving for continuous improvement
because it offers an external perspective in the quest for service quality.

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  Team approach:
Southeast sweater Ltd. assure quality of their products like a team.

SUPERVISOR

QA(QUALITY
ASSURANCE)

QI(QUALITY
INSPECTION)

QI Assure quality of products after every process and every individual product then they have a
QA who assure quality of every of every department and they have a supervisor to assure quality
of the product. They have three steps of quality assurance process. It’s a team process if QI
found a defect, then inform to QA, then the supervisor then the quality manager. Everyone is
responsible and have right to take decision about quality assurance
They have another team Approach of quality assurance to fix special problem. If they
found defect products above their expectations, then they found a team with member from
every sector to find the reason and fix the defect products.

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  Check list: They use checklist to check their machine daily to ensure that they can
produce quality products and make sure there will be no error in machine. If they find any
error in their machine, they immediately fix it. They also use check list to check products
quality is okay or not.

FIGURE: MACHINE CHECK LIST

 Pareto analysis
Md. Mahbubur Rahman Lucky- Managing Director & CEO mention to us that they implement
some parts of Pareto tools of action. He said that Pareto analysis is a technique used to identify
quality problems based on their degree of importance. The logic behind Pareto analysis is that
only a few quality problems are important, whereas many others are not critical. He also added
that most of the defects of their production process comes from torn yarn that’s 5% of total

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productions considering 3000 pieces quantity. Though the defects rate of their company is very
low, but they always try to identify problems after analyzing they find some errors that impact on
their production process and defects creates by torn yarn, measurement, schedule maintenance,
machine breakdown, waiting for the material, power failure. One way to use Pareto analysis is to
develop a chart that ranks the causes of poor quality in decreasing order based on the percentage
of defects each has caused. For example, a tally can be made of the number of defects that result
from different causes. Percentages of defects can be computed from the tally and placed in a
chart. They generally tend to find that a few causes account for most of the defects.

 Six sigma:
Six Sigma is a statistical, disciplined technique and methodology for eliminating defects
(driving to six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in
any process, from manufacturing to transactional, and from product to service. Six Sigma is a
statistical representation that quantifies how well a process is performing. A process must not
produce more than 3.4 failures per million opportunities to earn Six Sigma certification. Any
deviation from the customer's standards is classified as a Six Sigma defect. Six Sigma is a
statistical unit of measurement that reflects the capabilities of a process.
Certain quality related problems, often seen in garment manufacturing like sewing, color,
sizing, or garment defects should never be overlooked.

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 A. Sewing defects: Open seams, wrong stitching techniques, non-matching threads, missing
stitches, improper creasing of the garment, improper thread tension etc. are some of the
sewing defects.
B. Color defects: Variation of color between the sample and the final garment, wrong color
combinations and mismatching dyes.
C. Sizing defects: Wrong gradation of sizes, difference in measurement of various parts of a
garment like sleeves of XL size for body of L size garment can deteriorate the garments
beyond repair.
D. Finished garment defects: Broken or defective buttons, snaps, stitches, different shades
within the same garment, dropped stitches, exposed notches, fabric defects, holes, faulty
zippers, lose or hanging sewing threads, misaligned buttons and holes, missing buttons,
needle cuts, pulled or loose yarn, stains, unfinished buttonhole, short zippers, inappropriate
trimmings etc.
Southeast sweater ldt’s manager use some steps to reduce defective rate of production.
I. Define
In this phase Six sigma team gets a chart of defective products. If there any sizing
defects they make a chart of defective products it helps them to identify which parts size is
not okay according to desire size.
II. Measure
During this step, they use Quality Function Deployment (QFD). It will enable the
organization to convert the voice of customer prioritized technical requirements. Six sigma
identifies measures for each of the technical requirements identify through Quality Function
Deployment (QFD). They should also define the performance standards. the expected
performance of the new process or products. In this phase they measure total defects per
units, how many defective sizes products are produced per unit.
III. Analyze
In this phase the team has design the concepts or top-level design for the new
projects. They generate various designs options. They evaluate and finally select the right
option. In this phase they take corrective actions. Then after the corrective actions are
implemented, process is re-evaluated to determine if the result is acceptable.
IV. Improve
This stage, a suitable Quality Manual was prepared for the unit. After that Quality
Awareness Program was conducted for Operators and Checkers.
V. Control
This is last steps. In this stage they create control Chart and control plan

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 Quality council:
Maintaining Quality, they often solve their problem at team based. It helps and motivates
employee psychology. Eventually any big work or sample work they are trying to focus on
employees and employer’s productive rate. For doing quality check they have Quality and
Technical Manager which is total 10% from the employee. They are divided into each segment
of quality check.

l.Quality and Technical

Manager

2.Quality Inspector

3.Quality Assurance

Then come Quality Inspector who are working through root level for assuring flaws of the
product. Lastly come Quality Assurance who ensure quality product. Here is one employer for
30-40 employee.

 Waste management:
They sell the unused pieces of clothes to the local buyer which is use to make bed foam and the
sample products they sold the sample products with the main delivery if the buyer don’t want to
take the sample products then they use it as a gift for the employers or donate to the poor in
winter season as CSR activity.

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 Major findings of implementing TQM in Southeast Sweater LTD
 Several garment factories in Bangladesh, including southeast sweater ldt, use various
quality management tools, but not in an organized manner. They employ these instruments
randomly as needed.
 They make high-quality items with jacquard machine. Despite the fact that this machine is
quite expensive, they use it to boost their production and ensure that their products are of
high quality.
 To see if there are any flaws, they employ light checking techniques.
 Certificates they have certificate of compliance, standard 100 by OKEO-TEX
 Communication gap between different parties of within organization and beyond.
 The majority of human capital does not comprehend TQM tools such as six sigma,
Kaizan, PDCA, and so on.
 They wash their sweaters in color-coded washing machines to avoid staining different
colored sweaters.
 They focus on continuous improvement policy
 Lack of Motivation to contribute into TQM
 Lack of workers Commitment to implement TQM.
 According to the CEO, they use six sigma to reduce the number of defective products.
 Southeast sweater ldt’s defect rate is below 5%. They focus more on not producing
defective products
 They maintain track of all defective product data and attempt to pinpoint the source of the
problem. For example, if the source of a defective product is discovered at the eighth stage
of production, all stages one through ten are notified.
 They produce extra 1% goods to avoid any problem.
 They have a quality inspector who is in charge of properly applying Tqm.
 According to their pressing and packing SOP all finished products must be checked
against an approved size chart
 All finished goods must go through a systemic AQL process prior to the shipment.

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 Southeast sweater ldt faces some problem to implement proper total quality management
practice in their garments because of:

Failed to make a
Lack of knowledge Lack of continuous
proper planning
about the cost of training and
for implementing
quality education
TQM

Not keeping the

Inability to cope up High labor
quality cost report
with new culture turnover
consistantly

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 Conclusion

Implementing TQM has no limit and endless possibilities for any industry. The concept of
quality is always changing. With increased competition and the implementation of the idea of
"whole quality," it appears that businesses that operate according to the notion of "acceptable
quality level" will fare better (AQL). There has no option but to implement a "zero defect" (ZD)
policy. The concept of AQL is replaced with the concept of "100% quality" or "zero defect." In
the past, customers would accept goods with 1 percent, 2 percent, or even 5 percent defects.
They satisfy their needs with companies whose production error levels are measured in ppm
(parts per million), ppb (parts per billion) or ultimately ZD. To guarantee 100 percent quality
through examination is impossible.
As we are assuring export quality product for garments industry and their demand is higher all
over the world. We have dreamt we will be making it to serve for ourselves.

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 Recommendation
 All employees and supervisors should receive training from the garment so that they can
spot problems and propose solutions.
 The garment factory should implement different tools like 5’S, cause and effects etc for
perfect quality management.
 Every test should be done as per international standard as well as buyer’s requirement.
 The proper training should be provided for quality related people once in a weak.
 Quality inspector should more focus on decreasing defective rate and identify root cause
of defective products. Quality inspector can use six sigma to decrease defective rate.
 More and integrated use of TQM tools and techniques
 General cleanliness, free from dust practices should be maintained in the factory, which is
also one of the pre-requisite conditions for production of quality products.
 They should focus on increasing of labor motivation by increasing facility or reward etc
 Use modern machinery in the place of old machinery and to increase light, fan machine
and skill labor in the factory.
 They need to shift manual report from digital report. They can use google sheet to record
daily activities. If they shift from manual to digital report, it will help manager to easily
identify whose worker is efficient for ensuring quality products
 Managers need to implement kaizan to bring small changes in these garments.
 Lower-level suggestions need to be accepted by higher authority
 They need to focus on just in time system it will helps to reduce wastage

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 References:
[1]Siddiqi, H.G.A. (2005) The Ready Made Garment Industry of Bangladesh. 2nd Edition, The
University Press Limited, Dhaka.
[2]Rayhan, S.J., Saha, S. and Hassan, M.M. (2014) Factors Affecting the Customer Buying
Behavior in Relation to Readymade Garments in Bangladesh. International Research Journal of
Marketing, 2, 36-42.
https://doi.org/10.12966/irjm.05.03.2014
[3]BKMEA (2014) Export Performance of RMG of Bangladesh for 2011-12 and 2012-13.
Annual Report of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Export Association.
http://www.bkmea.com/facts-figures.html
[4]Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (2015) Annual Report of
BGMEA. www.bgmea.com
[5]Seddiqe, I.S. and Basak, A. (2014) Importance of Human Resource Management and the
Competitive Advantage: A Case Analysis on Basis of the Textile Industry of Bangladesh. Global
Journal of Management and Business Research: A Administration and Management, 14, 93-115.

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 Appendix

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