Int. J. Services and Operations Management, Vol. 37, No.

1, 2020 133

Lean supply chain management in garment industry

using value stream mapping

D. Vasanth Kumar*
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Dr. N.G.P. Institute of Technology,
Coimbatore 641048, Tamil Nadu, India
Fax: +91-422-2369105
Email: vasanthmech09@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

G. Madhan Mohan
Department of Production Engineering,
PSG College of Technology,
Peelamedu, Coimbatore 641004, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: gmadhanmohan@yahoo.co.in

K.M. Mohanasundaram
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
SVS College of Engineering,
Arasampalayam, Coimbatore 642109, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: kmmsundaram@gmail.com

Abstract: Value stream mapping (VSM) is an operative tool in lean

manufacturing that supports current state mapping and future state mapping
which helps to identify the possible potentialities. It increases the value
added activities in production process by eliminating non-value activities and
reducing the work-in-process. This paper signifies the implementation of
VSM in a garment industry, as a start-up to lean manufacturing. Initially, an
analysis with VSM is performed to determine the processes and material flow.
It describes the current state for existing position and future state for the
proposed development plan, particularly segregating value activities and
non-value activities. Based on the outcomes, the fulfilment of value stream
implementation are reduction in production time, inventory level and lead time.
This implementation of VSM in middle range garment industry shows
significant improvements. Hence, the understanding of this implementation is
essential to adapt in similar garment industries to identify improvements in
small and medium scale industries.

Keywords: garment industry; lean manufacturing; value stream mapping;

VSM.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Kumar, D.V.,

Mohan, G.M. and Mohanasundaram, K.M. (2020) ‘Lean supply chain
management in garment industry using value stream mapping’, Int. J. Services
and Operations Management, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp.133–143.

Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

134 D.V. Kumar et al.

Biographical notes: D. Vasanth Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the

Mechanical Engineering Department of Dr. N.G.P. Institute of Technology,
Coimbatore, India. He completed his ME from the PSG College of Technology,
Coimbatore, India. He handles classes for both undergraduate and postgraduate
programs. He is pursuing his PhD at the Anna University, Chennai. He has
attended/organised many training sessions, seminars and conferences in the
college.

G. Madhan Mohan is an Assistant Professor (senior grade) in the Department

of Production Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Peelamedu,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, since 2002. He completed his PhD from the
PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. He handles classes for both
undergraduate and postgraduate programs. He has published over 50 papers in
international journals and in proceedings of leading national and international
conferences. His research interests include manufacturing, ergonomics, lean
manufacturing and supply chain management.

K.M. Mohanasundaram is a Professor and the Director in the Department of

Mechanical Engineering, SVS College of Engineering, Coimbatore, India.
He holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering, Master’s in Industrial
Engineering and PhD in Mechanical Engineering. He has 32 years of teaching
and research experience. He has published over 90 papers in international
journals. His fields of research interests include lean manufacturing, supply
chain management, discrete event system simulation and total productive
maintenance.

1 Introduction

The manufacturing systems are experiencing the extreme changes during the
transformation while adopting lean ideas. Lean manufacturing is a standard based on the
basic objectives of Toyota production system (TPS), which is consistently aimed at
eliminating the waste to increase the production flow. Toyota with the help of
Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo formed a manufacturing system to eliminate the waste
and non-value activities from the process flow (Alukal, 2003). Lean manufacturing is
described as the system to reduce or eliminate the wastes at different levels and to utilise
the resources. It focuses on streamline the production flow, reducing the lead time and
continual improvement. Many companies are focusing only single lean tool but for the
successful implementation of the lean manufacturing requires more number of lean tools
to be implemented (Sundar et al., 2014). It helps the organisation in achieving the
excellence in terms of operational and objectives (Garza-Reyes et al., 2018) through
various areas such as reduction in production cost, improved quality (Bhamu and
Sangwan, 2014) and reduction in lead time (Chauhan and Singh, 2012). Lean production
system which enables the smooth flow of the supply chain process in an organisation, in
which value stream mapping (VSM) is one such tool shows the current state of the value
and non-value activities (Chen et al., 2013).
Lean encloses the different approaches and action plans that are easy to adopt for
industrial people. In lean implementation, the employees in the shop floor has significant
role in waste minimisation in the organisation (Raju and Mahato, 2014). It also kindles
new approaches of production planning and executing the ideas in effective mode. The
 Lean supply chain management in garment industry 135

effectiveness of the lean ideas need an enforced change in all areas such as product
design, production process, production flow, logistics and including the management.
At most five factors are considered for lean manufacturing such as production
unit, production process, number of batches, production sequence and batch size
manufacturing system. Lean tool that helps managers to visualise value adding and
non-value adding activity (Yang et al., 2015). The conceptual categorisation of lean tools
in manufacturing system is classified in major five following areas: value, the value
stream, flow, pull and perfection (Womack et al., 1990).
The value stream is the lean path towards the effectiveness in production flow and
services by providing values to the end customer. VSM stands primary as the most
relative tool to implement the lean ideas. It explicit the value and non-value activities
carried out in the organisation through current state map for improvisation (Antonelli and
Stadnicka, 2018). VSM is the proven method to analyse the process chain which helps to
derive the potential output by mapping (Meudt et al., 2017). It is a global procedure of
arranging and connecting lean activities through methodical information catch and
examination. It is a miniaturised scale level investigation of material and data flow
through the different levels of an assembling setup. VSM enables the production process
more visualised by mapping the current state map, which tracks the entire process of
manufacturing, wastages and cycle time (Murugananthan, 2014), reduces cost for the
organisation by decreasing inventory and increases the value activities (Stadnicka and
Litwin, 2017). The lean implementation is performed in a middle scale garment industry
to report the efficiency of lean. The major challenges in a garment industry are to
manufacture the different products in minimum lead time, with low inventory and
appreciable quality. So, the VSM should be analysed from raw materials inventory from
the vendors to the distribution of the finished product to the end user.
Many garment industries are manufacturing different kinds of product mix in full
throttle for exports and in house distribution (Zülch et al., 2011). They found many
constrains including the increases in number of rejection during the process. The
uncertain demand would not provide the constant process flow throughout year. So in this
work, the attempt is made to implement the lean manufacturing system using VSM as an
initiative of lean thinking in a garment industry (Dong et al., 2012). The application of
VSM initially attempts to reduce the waste, non-value activities and found possible
improvements in lead time, production time and inventory level (Vinodh et al., 2014).
Based on the existing study in the organisation, the current state map is generated. Upon
analysis of the current state map with TAKT time calculation, the future state map is
proposed with the possible improvements. The understanding of this implementation is
essential to adapt in similar garment industries to identify the improvements in small and
middle scale industries.

2 Profile of the organisations

The study on lean implementation using VSM is carried out in a ABC garment industry
located in Tiruppur, India. It is an ISO certified organisation manufacturing products for
men, ladies and children. The company manufactures normal styles, trendy styles,
night-wears and value-added styles with accessories even to their customers’ choice. The
ABC garment industry has been started in the year 1999 with ten employees. Presently, it
136 D.V. Kumar et al.

employs 300 personnel including management with annual turnover of about four crores
Indian national rupees (INR). Some of the potential exports include European countries,
Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and Portugal.

3 Methodology

The methodology followed during this research project is shown in Figure 1. The VSM
approach is different from traditional strategies as it supports in identifying the lead time,
inventory level and non-value activities in all stages. The initial step is to select the
product for analysis. As a next step, the current state map is developed. It explicit the
existing position in the organisation. By analysing the current state map, critical
problems, bottleneck process and non-value activities are identified. The next step is the
implementation of VSM. It is the development of future state map. The last step is the
result analysis. It is performed based on the results obtained upon implementation of
VSM. The quantified validation is done minimising the inventory time, lead time and
production time.

Figure 1 Methodology of implementation of VSM

Product selection for analysis

Generate current state map

• Documentation
• Process flow
• Data collection (TAKT time)

Analysis current state map and identifying the possible potentialities

Proposed future state map

• TAKT time assessment
• Establish the continuous flow by
eliminating the find audit check

Analysis of the outcomes from the future state map

 Figure 2
MERCHANDISING
Orders

Production
Planning

Customer

Production
Control
Accessories Purchasing
Fabric
Supply
Supply

Marking
Testing and
and Sewing Inspection Finishing Packing
Trimming
Cutting Final
Factory
Facility
200 pcs 200 pcs 340 pcs
90 minutes 85 minutes 85 minutes
Lean supply chain management in garment industry

Total C/T = 169 minutes

Total C/T = 24 minutes Total C/T = 3 minutes Total C/T = 5 minutes
Total C/T = 20 minutes Total C/T = 30 minutes 200 pcs Value Add: 164 minutes Total C/T = 10 minutes Total C/T = 3600 minutes
Value Add: 20 minutes Value Add: 2 minutes Value Add: 3 minutes
Value Add: 18 minutes C/O = 10 mins. 90 minutes NVA = 5 minutes Value Add: 8 minutes Defect = 15%
NVA = 4 minutes NVA = 2 minutes
NVA = 2 minutes 200 pcs Uptime = 99.2% Distance Traveled: 15 m Defect = 8% NVA = 1 minutes NVA = 2 minutes
Defect = 0% Defect = 3%
Defect = 20% 45 minutes C/O = 100 mins. Defect = 13% C/O = 10 mins.
C/O = 10 mins. C/O = 10 mins.
Distance Traveled: 0 m Distance Traveled: 50 m Uptime = 99.2% C/O = 3 mins. Uptime = 99.2%
Uptime = 99.2% Uptime = 99.2% Uptime = 99.2%
Availability: 100% Availability: 100%
Availability: 100% Availability: 100% Availability: 100%
Distance Traveled: 50 m
Distance Traveled: 10 m Distance Traveled: 50 m Distance Traveled: 10 m

169
Current state map of the selected product (see online version for colours)

20 minutes 24 minutes 45 minutes 90 minutes minutes 90 minutes 3 minutes 85 minutes 5 minutes 85 minutes 10 minutes Lead Time = 4256 minutes
18 minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes 164 2 minutes 3 minutes 8 minutes 3600 VA / T = 3845 minutes
minutes minutes In-plant Time = 3861 minutes
Trav el Transport Time = 395 minutes
0 meters 10 meters 50 meters 15 meters 50 meters 50 meters 10 meters Trav eled = 185 meters
137
138 D.V. Kumar et al.

Figure 3 Future state map showing the proposed changes (see online version for colours)
 Lean supply chain management in garment industry 139

3.1 Product selection

The initial step is the selection of product. Product data concerning all the products are
studied in terms of production volume, demand and revenue. The girls’ tees for kids are
selected as the candidate product for this study. Raw material is supplied by a vendor and
the manufacturing process from pattern making, cutting, sewing, thread trimming and
pressing, quality check and packing are made to complete this product cycle.

3.2 Development of current state map

The development of current state map is the next step to the product selection. It is
developed using the VSM software providing the required data as input is shown in
Figure 2. The purchase orders are received by the management and forwarded to the
manager to predict the demand. The girls’ tees for kids are a regular order every month
and around 8,500 pieces are required by the clients consistently every month. This
information is shared with supervisor for personnel allocation. The supervisor transmits
the guidelines to different personnel. An average of 16 processes is engaged with
assembling the girls’ tees from raw material purchase to packing. The main process is
pattern making and marking. The second process is cutting and sewing. The changeover
time between the progressive process is ten minutes. The organisation works on
three shifts for every day (each shift of eight-hour duration with 30 minutes lunch break).
Currently, progressive bundle system of manufacturing is followed in the garment
industry with a batch size of 200 pieces.

3.3 Proposed future state map

Preparation of the future state map actually starts at the generation of current state map. It
is a pull type Kanban-based production system. The gaps and possible improvements are
identified from the current state map to propose the future state map. The difference
made in the existing production cycle time 64.35 hr to 45.9 hr which is proposed in future
state map as shown in Figure 3. The inventory level is nothing but the time taken for each
item for its turn. The existing inventory time 6.58 hr is reduced in future state map of
proposed inventory time 5 hr. The lead time is the transformation of a raw material to a
finished product. The existing lead time 70.93 hr is reduced in future state map to 50.9 hr.
The changeover time is reduced from 2.38 hr to 1.91 hr in proposed future state map. The
preparation of the future state map is the understanding of the TAKT time assessment.
TAKT time describes the rate at which the production rate should satisfy the customer
requirements. It can be calculate using the following equation (Yang et al., 2015).
The available production time is calculated as follows:
Available time = Total production time − Planned down time
Available time = (60 × 8 × 3) − (30 × 3)
= 1350 minutes
140 D.V. Kumar et al.

Available working time per day

Takt time =
Customer demand rate per day
1350
=
340
= 238 sec

4 Discussions

The possible improvements are identified in the future state map upon implementing lean
activities as mentioned in the future state map. The significant changes developed in
future state map is the reduction in lead time, production time, inventory time as shown
in Table 1. The changeover time benefits the organisation in shifting the product family.
The reduction in production lead time helps to provide smaller lead times and well-timed
delivery. The excess of 18 hr value time has been obtained.
The comparison of cycle time modifications is shown in Figure 4. Based on the
possible potentials identified during the analysis of current state map, few major changes
are proposed and implemented to observe the changes made during the lean
implementation. The production process at inventory level is step down from nine days to
five days. It is achieved by regularising the proper communications among the employees
and pull system. The final inspection time per product in current state map is three
minutes which is eliminated in the proposed future state map. Instead, the stage
inspection has been introduced in every stages of process. It is achieved by modifying the
progressive bundle system to unit production system. Hence, the quality of the product is
ensured in every stages, by which the rejection quantity has been reduced.

Figure 4 Cycle time comparison for different operations

 Table 1

Production cycle time (min) Change over time (min) Inventory (min) Lead time (hr.)
Time for operations
Current state Future state Current state Future state Current state Future state Current state Future state
Raw material inspection 20 15 - 0 0 0 0.33 0.25
Reduction in each category

Testing and trimming 24 18 10 7 45 45 1.15 0.42

Marking and cutting 30 25 10 7 90 85 2.00 0.53
Sewing 169 145 100 85 90 85 4.32 3.83
Inspection 3 0 3 0 85 0 1.47 0.00
Finishing 5 4 10 8 85 85 1.50 0.20
Packing 10 7 10 8 0 0 0.17 0.25
Final delivery 3,600 2,540 - - 0 0 60.00 42.33
Total time 3,861 2,754 143 115 395 300 70.93 47.82
Lean supply chain management in garment industry

Percentage reduction 29% 21% 32% 32.58%

141
142 D.V. Kumar et al.

5 Conclusions

The VSM is a potential lean tool for implementing the lean manufacturing. It is very
recommended method of identifying possible improvements in an organisation. During
this implementation in garment industry, many potential improvements has been
identifies with the analysis of current state map. Those possible improvements are
mapped in the proposed future state map. The inspection process has been completely
modified in the future state map. Based on the outcomes achieved in this implementation,
the following results are made:
1 The significant achievement is 29% reduction in production cycle time, 21%
reduction in changeover time, 32% reduction in inventory time and 32.58% reduced
in lead time.
2 The final product inspection process has been eliminated and stage-by-stage process
is introduced. So that, the rejection of final product is reduced from 15% to 8% with
improved quality.
3 The production system has been modified from progressive bundle system to unit
production system.
VSM has been employed to identify the waste and it is well-known that VSM
implementation is limited to single product family. Further research can be extended on
implementing the VSM to rest of the product families in the organisation. The other
lean tools can be implemented which will provide even better improvements for the
organisation.

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to anonymous reviewers and editor of the International
Journal of Services and Operations Management, Dr. Angappa Gunasekaran for their
constructive suggestions which improved the quality of the manuscript.

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