LEAN MANAGEMENT Submitted and Presented By-

Athira Ravikumar
CASE STUDY ON GOKALDAS Shreya Sharma
Siddharth Jha
EXPORTS LTD. (GEX) Vaishnavi Prabhu
INDIA-BASED APPAREL MANUFACTURER ADOPTS
LEANSIGMA ®  AND INCREASES ON-TIME DELIVERY,
ENHANCES PRODUCTIVITY AND GROWS SALES
DURING GLOBAL RECESSION.

Founded by the late Jhamandas H. Hinduja in 1970 and—until recently—tightly

controlled by his family, Gokaldas Exports Ltd. (GEX) has embarked on a plant-by-
plant cultural transformation based on lean principles in response to heightened
competition and customer expectations.
Their attitude pretty much was that it would not work in the garment industry, but now
it is the most important thing in the company, even though it did take almost two years
to get to that point. And they also feel that this is the way forward.
Confident of GEX’s future in the global apparel market, U.S.–based private equity
firm, The Blackstone Group, became a partner by investing in a 50.1% stake in the
company in 2007. GEX’s commitment to lean process improvement as a high-level
strategy attracted Blackstone.
Jeff Overly, executive director of The Blackstone Group also said “Lean
implementation is very important to GEX and will be a key enabler for their future
continued success in profitably, growing their top-line sales revenue and being a
world-class quality global garment supplier.”
IMPLEMENTATION OF
LEAN SIGMA
TBM and GEX launched their Lean Sigma journey at GEX’s Euro
Clothing Company (ECC). This implementation went so well that it
was spread to rest of the company very soon. Lean Six Sigma is the
system preferred by businesses around the world to streamline,
improve, and optimize any and every aspect of their organization. Lean
Six Sigma is the fusion of Lean Manufacturing with Six Sigma to
create a complete system that removes waste and reduces process
variation for streamlined manufacturing and optimal product output.

The first kaizen event took place at a pilot plant in May 2007. That
fall,GEX executives attended a “CEO boot camp” hosted by TBM at
which they learned of many successful lean implementations outside
of heavy industry.
Lean implementation in the production line

Initially, GEX established a best-piece flow, within cellular line designs, to

seriously address recurring quality and equipment issues and monitor all
output hourly at ECC.
WIP was fixed at key interface points by incorporating packing at the end of a
production line and a renewed vigilance to quality assurance.
This led to a significant reduce in the lead time and a significant increase in
the ‘first time right’ production and improved on-time delivery to the
customers.
The 60 percent drop in WIP inventory contributed to a substantial reduction in
lead time, something that apparel customers greatly value because it helps
them meet their business goals.
One of the major challenge faced was absenteeism. To overcome high
absenteeism GEX created the lean fund. It allows employees to earn and save
a bonus when their production line exceeds the 70 percent efficiency target.
Another challenge was that the tradition of bosses holding power and dictating
instructions to workers remains. At the employee level, training of mid-
managers planted lean thinking at the group-leader level because it was
apparent the new practices would have to be accepted among mid managers
before plant-level employees could be properly trained.
Additionally, GEX appointed dedicated continuous improvement officers to
each site. The company now has 65 such officers at 15 locations. The officers
have helped to bridge the gap between the ultra-traditional workplace cultures
of India and lean management’s emphasis on employee empowerment.
LEAN TOOLS USE
1 kaizen – the philoshophy of continuous improvement was introduced at
production department
2 5s
Removing unneeded items from each work area (Sort)
Customizing each unique work area to maximize efficiency (Set)
Cleaning each work area after every shift to help find and eliminate issues
before they become major problems (Shine)
Documenting improvements so they can be more easily applied in other work
areas (Standardize)
Making sure each step is repeated to ensure continuous improvement (Sustain).
Kanban- A method of regulating the flow of goods both within the factory and with
outside suppliers and customers. Based on automatic replenishment through signal cards
that indicate when more goods are needed was also introduced as handling time and
inconsistent delivery was sore point in the manufacturing setup .
pdca - The Plan-do-check-act cycle is a four-step model for carrying out change. Just as a
circle has no end, the PDCA cycle should be repeated again and again for continuous
improvement. Alongside kaizen pdca was introduced to manage inventory JIT system was
implemented .
Smed - SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Dies) is a system for dramatically reducing
the time it takes to complete equipment changeovers it was used in changing of folders
threads needle and various equipment that requires regular changeovers .
TPM- TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) engages operators to improve equipment
effectiveness with an emphasis on proactive and preventative maintenance. It was
introduce to maintain the machines which are acquired after huge investment and so that
the production remain hassle free hence increased efficiency.
VSM
VSM - as a fundamental tool to identify waste, reduce process cycle
times, and implement process improvement. It was also indroduced
to keep every process on check .
Takt Time- The pace of production that aligns production with
customer demand. Calculated as Planned Production Time /
Customer Demand.it helped to provide efficiency goal to the
production floor .
TRAINING AT BOOT
CAMP
BEFORE THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF LEAN
Before the lean implementation ,did not believe in the Lean manufacturing as they felt
that it wouldn’t work in the garment industry as it was expensive to them at that time.
slim margins in an increasingly competitive environment due to inefficiency in the
industry
Most of the assembly lines were left idle and hence had no movement which led to
inefficiency
Operational efficiency was also low
By the mid-2000s, pricing pressure was on the rise while productivity was declining and
quality slipping.
Several orders were rejected due to delayed delivery as they found it hard to meet their
deadlines.
Competition from the Chinese producers also led to a huge decline in the profit margin of
the Gokaldas exports.
Average management in quality due to the poor managing firms.
 Struggled with shipping the orders due to the raw materials delivered late
and also the workers were told to work overtime to meet the demands which
let to poor quality in the garments due to the reduced efficiency and also due
to the incompetency of the workers.
high rates of absenteeism and labour turnover
Followed batch and queue and created an overcrowding ambience in their
work space.
Inefficiencies due to handling since the same unskilled workers were hired to
do the same work again and again
Lead-time for the production of garments was high
CONCLUSION
With the help of lean implementations Gokaldas exports ltd. Were able to increase their profit
margin and revive their company’s finances tremendously
Productivity increased.
On time delivery improved by 80-90%
Overcame cultural challenges that lead to absenteeism by implementation of lean funds
A 60% drop in WIP inventory contributed to a substantial reduction in lead time, something that
GEX’s customers greatly value because it helps them meet their business goals.
Trainings for lean were given to their workers which led to higher involvement and the urge to
complete the work with improved quality
Implementing a cellular design was a significant step toward improving first-time
quality and balancing flow to takt.
Efficiency was increased.
Due to the introduction of piece flow , quality of the garment was not compromised and
also was able to detect any defect in the quality in the earlier stages
 BEFORE THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF LEAM

AT THE ASSEMBLY AT THE CUTTING DEPARTMENT

LINE OF
PRODUCTION
 AFTER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LEAN SIGMA

AT THE ASSEMBLY LINE OF PRODUCTION AT THE CUTTING DEPARTMENT

LEAN SIGMA TRAINING GIVEN TO IT’S EMPLOYEES