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Waste Minimization Using Lean Tools in a Selected Ready Made Garments Factory in Bangladesh

Ready Made Garments (RMG) industry plays an important role for the economic development of Bangladesh. This industry has promoted our country in the world through the motto ‘Made in Bangladesh'. But this sector has got a number of formidable challenges for the sustainable future growth. The phase out of export quota system has made the trading environment severely competitive. Moreover, in today's fast fashion, customer wants to get products of low cost and short lead time. To sustain in this competitive market, there is no alternative to adopt lean philosophy in every sphere of apparel industry for the sustainable development. The concept of lean is to eliminate the wastes that don't add value for the products and to reduce the lead time. This study focused on the reduction of lead time by minimizing the wastes that are responsible for longer lead time by using lean tools. Data was collected using time study method. Some data were also collected from interviewing with management. Then the current state of the value stream mapping was drawn. Wastes were identified by using value stream mapping. Pareto analysis was used to rank the wastes which were playing significant role for long lead time. Then root cause analysis was used to identify causes behind the wastes. Lean tools like Kanban, Single Minute Exchange of Die and Total Productive Maintenance were used to minimize the wastes. Then the future state of the value stream mapping was drawn that depicted the improvement. Finally, this study suggested some recommendations for minimizing wastes and making their processes more efficient and leaner. This study extracts the common scenario of the garments sector of Bangladesh by depicting the existing pictures of the value stream. It is high time apparel industry of Bangladesh fully absorbed lean philosophy and walked through the path of continuous improvement.