LEAN & The Role of Planning - FR MGMT Brief

FR SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT BRIEFING
Fast React Systems - Specialist Planning & Sourcing Solutions

for the Apparel, Textile & Footwear Industry
LEAN PART 1 - LEAN, ‘Barriers’ To Achieving ‘LEAN’

And The Essential Role of Planning (PPC)
Table of Contents
1. Background………………………………………………………… 1.
2. So What Exactly is LEAN?........................................................ 1.
3. Steps to Becoming LEANER……………………………………... 1.
4. Examining the Causes of Waste…………………………………. 2.
5. JIT (Just in Time), PULL System & Kanban…………………….. 2.
6. Fundamental Barriers to LEAN…………………………………... 3.
7. The Vital Role of Planning in the LEAN Environment…………. 4.
8. LEAN Needs Standard Procedures And Processes…………... 5.
9. Additional LEAN Concepts……………………………………….. 6.
10. Planning & LEAN - The FastReact Approach…………………. 8.
11. Summary & Customer Testimonials……………………………. 9.
To find out more about how Fast React Systems can help your business, contact:
UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

USA: Info@fastreact-usa.com
ASIA: info@fastreact-asia.com
WEBSITE: www.fastreact.com
LEAN PART 1 - LEAN, ‘Barriers’ To Achieving ‘LEAN’

And The Essential Role of Planning (PPC)
1. Background
As competition and pressure on profit margins grow, Fashion Manufacturers are increasingly looking wider for
inspiration on how to maintain a competitive business. With its roots in automotive manufacturing and largely
developed from the Toyota Production System (TPS), “LEAN Manufacturing” is one of the current strategies being
adopted in our industry.
A number of companies, such as Sportswear giants Nike and adidas have been promoting LEAN in their supply
chains since the late 1990s.
In this document, we consider ‘LEAN’ concepts, some of the fundamental barriers to achieving LEAN and the vital
role of planning in achieving the required levels of visibility and coordination to support LEAN.
2. So What Exactly is LEAN?

Through time and continuous improvement, LEAN has become a collection of evolved process management
principles and tools.
LEAN as a broad concept aims to ensure all resources used (the 4 ‘M’s’) i.e.:
 man
 material
 methods
 machines
all add "value" to the finished product and, as such, that all actions or processes performed are something that a
customer would be willing to pay for.
Simply put LEAN is about creating more value with less work by eliminating waste from the business
process.
3. Steps to Becoming LEANER

For many LEAN followers the first steps are to identify and eliminate waste (MUDA in Japanese) from the
manufacturing process.
WASTE becomes a very broad concept and can fall into 8 categories:
3.1. Defects - Making products that are not suitable for sale, or require reprocessing to bring them up to standard –
This is the conventional ‘narrow’ definition of waste.
3.2. Transport - An activity that moves materials or products more than is required.
3.3 Waiting- Non-productive time, people waiting for processes to finish or material to arrive at their workplace.
3.4. Inventory - Raw materials or Work in Progress (WIP), standing, waiting for further actions to be carried
1.

5. Extra Processes - Activities carried out on materials/products that do not add value
6. Movement - Unnecessary movement of people to get materials or tools
7. Over-production - Producing items that have not been ordered or that are made earlier than the required
delivery date
8. Knowledge disconnection - When suppliers and customers are not linked with information to support their
interaction - waste occurs as businesses are unable to adjust to each other’s requirements.
It can be seen from the different categories of waste that companies must look at a much bigger picture,
not just the factory-floor, in order to become leaner.
Once waste has been identified, it can be measured and this helps in prioritising the areas to tackle first.
Then through a combination of common sense, industrial engineering and ‘lean tools’ the process can be
modified to reduce waste.
4. Examining The Causes of Waste

Many experts believe that businesses carrying out LEAN projects are often too quick to look directly at MUDA or
waste.
The Toyota system (TPS), instead of focusing immediately on waste, starts by looking at improving the "flow" or
smoothness of work and thus eliminating imbalance or unevenness (MURA in Japanese).
The 3rd key concept of TPS is MURI, which is all the unreasonable work that is required due to poor organisation,
product/process design or systems. Unreasonable work is almost always a cause of waste because people are
working under pressure or without defined guidelines/methods.
TPS logic states that reducing the time and amount of activity required to finish a process from start to finish is one
of the most effective ways to eliminate waste and lower costs.
So:
MURA - Imbalance or unevenness in the manufacturing cycle caused by a lack of smooth ‘flow’ of work.
MURI - All unreasonable work that is required because of poor organisation, product/process design or
systems
MURA and MURI both lead to MUDA (waste)
5. JIT (Just In Time), PULL System & Kanban?

Various established techniques are used to reduce inventory and throughput time. Most people have come across
at least some of these including:
 Value Stream Mapping
 Balancing (Yamazumi)
 "Pull" Production/JIT (Just In Time)
 Heijunka Scheduling
and
 Kanban (WIP control) 2.

These concepts all work on the principle that by reducing the safety net of excess inventory and WIP, waste
such as quality problems, over production and waiting become clear very quickly, because they disrupt work
‘flow’ and must be dealt with rapidly.
Therefore waste reduction happens naturally… i.e. if work flows perfectly, there is no inventory!
Many apparel factories suffer significant imbalances between consecutive production processes.
To be ‘LEANER’ requires a more effective balance between each process and the next. Ideally each process
should make only what is required by the next process.
Because different processes, each operating in a productive manner do not have exactly the same output, then
some ‘balancing’ of manpower/resources between processes is required, a small but controlled buffer (Kanban)
may be allowed between each process to help smooth the flow.
In a ‘LEAN’ garment manufacturing process, the focus would be to sew JIT to meet the agreed delivery date
and to ‘pull’ earlier processes such as cutting, embroidery, printing, also material and trims to arrive JIT, as
needed.
To implement LEAN, we have to start to reduce our ‘safety net’ of material inventory, WIP and producing
ahead of the Buyer delivery date.
6. Fundamental Barriers to LEAN

Take away the ‘safety net’ of materials inventory and work in progress and a business is forced to respond more
quickly to issues. Unless that business has excellent visibility to see and respond to changes and to issues
arising, then even more fire-fighting and inefficiencies will result.
Yet in most apparel businesses visibility is a real problem. Planning processes are fragmented across
departments with production, purchasing and merchandising each controlling their own part of the total picture,
typically on many different spreadsheets.
Visibility is often very poor and coordination is a HUGE challenge. Both staff and management spend many
hours every week in meetings or going through endless reports, emails and spreadsheets to clarify the status of
orders, identify problems and find possible solutions.
Does any of this this sound familiar...?
For many businesses, existing manual methods are major causes of MURI (fire-fighting), MURA (unevenness of
flow) and MUDA (waste).
The benefits that can be achieved through a LEAN project are usually limited by the constraints of poor visibility
and coordination.
3.

7. The Vital Role of Planning In The LEAN Environment

An analysis of the causes of waste (detailed in Section 3) quickly shows that inefficient planning, difficulties in
communication and coordination, plus poor speed of response when things change, either directly or indirectly
cause waste in at least 7 out of the 8 waste categories.
7.1 DEFECTS
Most apparel factories are expert fire-fighters and have great stamina to “somehow, anyhow deliver on time”.
They make up for poor planning and coordination in the execution phase. Inevitably, such pressure means
workers and management look for ‘urgent fixes’ to problems, which often result in waste and excess cost,
including higher risk of quality defects.
7.2 TRANSPORT
Subcontracting, switching of factories at the last minute, air freight of materials or finished goods are all
examples of transport waste, often caused by unreliable planning or the inability to see problems early enough.
7.3 WAITING
Non-productive time on the production floor is routinely caused by:
 Materials & trims not available
 Capacity bottlenecks in production, embroidery, printing, washing etc.
 Not enough twin needle machines for this product mix
 Cutting manager did not realise this order had to be cut earlier (communication & coordination)
7.4 INVENTORY
In order to ensure that delivery deadlines are met and WAITING time (waste) is minimised, businesses usually
have:
 High Levels of WIP often 2-3 weeks or more, when less than 1 week is typically considered good.
 Materials received weeks rather than days before they are required for cutting.
7.5 EXTRA PROCESS

Difficulties in balancing demand vs. capacity often means orders have to take alternative production routes i.e.
Knits made in woven lines or orders are subcontracted instead of being produced in-house. This often
increases cost over the standard route.
7.6 OVER-PRODUCTION
In order to avoid air freight and late delivery, orders are completed before the expected factory date. Many
businesses have 2 delivery dates; the real one (Buyer) and another that is 7 to 10 days earlier and given to the
factory as a target - this causes waste.
 Capacity is used for orders not yet required, when this could be more profitably used for repeat or
replenishment orders.
 Inventory of finished goods is built up in the warehouse.
4.

7.7 KNOWLEDGE DISCONNECTION

Use of available capacity can be improved with better awareness and communication of information e.g. high
and low season, months with an easy or difficult product mix.
Many companies struggle to identify true pre-production priorities, when many orders have the same delivery
date. This is another example of knowledge disconnection.
So effective planning and good visibility can be seen to be fundamental to LEAN progress
If you would like to understand how Fast React can help reduce the above areas of waste email us for copies of the
Fast React Management briefings. Topics available include Planning & Productivity, Work in Progress (WIP)
Control, Critical Path Management & Management of Material Demand & Supply.
8. LEAN Needs Standard Procedures And Processes

Manual planning and critical path methods usually suffer from a complete lack of standardisation. Many different
formats exist, as each spreadsheet is adapted to suit the users own working needs. Quite often, only each user fully
understands their own working documents.
This leads to a high risk of ‘knowledge loss’ if a user leaves; staff replacement and adoption of standard working
methods are very difficult. These factors, together with a complete lack of any real management level visibility,
make the required coordination and speed of response to support LEAN incredibly challenging.
By adopting a visual, networked planning and critical path management tool, visibility and co-ordination can be
improved dramatically.
Through this approach responsive and standardised operating methods can be achieved.
Example of a highly visual planning board with visibility of all orders:
Red Border = Production Below Target

Yellow = Pre-production problem
Grey = All ok
Blue = Likely Late Delivery
5.

9. Additional LEAN Concepts

9.1 Automation, People Power Or Autonomation
As we all know only too well, the variables we have to deal with in the apparel industry are already much more
challenging in some ways, than other industries. What other industry has to deal with producing 30+ new and
different styles every month??
So why can’t we automate the whole process? We could... but Toyota also have another core belief something
they call JIDOKA or “autonomation”.
That is not a wrong spelling of automation! It is a translation of the concept that means ‘automation with a
human touch’.
To be fully automated, machines must be able to detect and correct their own problems. This is rarely possible
in a cost-effective way. Toyota believes that ninety percent of the benefits of full automation can be gained by
autonomation.
Originally, JIDOKA was applied to production machines, by stopping them when a fault was detected. But the
concept should now be considered in a much wider context i.e. machines and systems which ‘help’ the process
and allow humans to do what they do best. This typically means the system tells us when we have a problem
and we only have to focus on the best solution and prevention of future cases.
Autonomation for the Fashion Manufacturing Industry
Load on Supporting Processes (Print, Wash

etc.) and Specialist Machines
Immediate view of process and machinery
requirements in line with the lastest sewing
plan. Drill down to look at alternative solutions
where overloads occur e.g. subcontract, OT etc.
Full Material Visibility

Production plan can be rotated to show material
cover - immediate information for better planning
decisions. Recalculates in seconds during the
planning process
FastReact Planning Material Status Colours

Dark green—Material in stock
Light green—Will arrive on time
Yellow—on order, but not arriving soon enough
Red—Material shortage—not yet ordered 6.

9.2 KPI & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Finally, a fundamental concept of LEAN is Kaizen or continuous improvement. LEAN is a journey and a
LEAN Project has a start but no end!!
In order to measure the success of our LEAN project we must record and review our KPI (Key Performance
Indicators).
However, care must be taken as often our old KPI may not match with our lean goals… for example, if the
embroidery section produces 5,000 pieces a day at a 90% efficiency we may view this as a great success…
BUT
If we are LEAN and we only need 4,000 pieces to feed to sewing then we have over-produced and caused
inventory to build up… two forms of WASTE!!
KPI’s are also essential to improve CUSTOMER AND SUPPLIER CONNECTIONS. By having accurate data
measuring the key KPI (such as OTDP, Standard Hours produced, actual lead times achieved, WIP levels,
order fulfilment performance, 1st time sample pass % etc.) businesses can face the reality; that is plan more
accurately for the next season based on actual past performance and also monitor the effectiveness of their
continuous improvement programs.
A Management level overview of performance with

FastReact KPI’s:
‘drill down’ for more information
On Time Delivery (OTDP) %
Order Fulfillment
Lead Time Analysis Etc...
7.

10. Planning & Lean - The FastReact Approach

The best possible Planning & Coordination is essential for LEAN success. FastReact software and the whole
FastReact project approach employ fundamentally LEAN principles:
A LEAN factory and its low levels of WIP, 1 piece flow, short lead times and reduced material inventory demands
that managers must quickly identify problems, then make fast & accurate decisions.
10.1 JIT/Balancing/PULL System
The FastReact approach:
 Plan the main process (typically sewing) to achieve as close as possible JIT delivery, while balancing
capacity constraints.
 ‘Pull’ exact requirements (phased in line with the main sewing plan) for all other processes (cut, embroidery)
with clearly defined WIP or Kanban level, according to process requirement.
 ‘Pull’ exact material requirements (to support the latest schedule) from the appropriate process, for example,
fabric is linked to the cut plan, hangers linked to the ‘off line’ plan.
 ‘Pull’ Pre-production events i.e. sample approval, marker making etc. to create clear priorities for all
departments based on the sequence of production.
FastReact uniquely allows the coordination and balancing of key constraints for all production process capacity
(i.e. cut, embroidery, sew, wash etc.).
10.2 AUTONOMATION
 Identify problems quickly and clearly.
 Visual tools – ability to see and take appropriate action.
 Simulation of different situations and solutions to problems
Management don’t waste their time calculating reports or analysing. Use their valuable skills to problem solve
and continuously improve.
10.3 CONNECTION WITH CUSTOMERS & SUPPLIERS
 Quick and easy assessment of free capacity.
 Accurate prioritisation of pre-production and material priorities, approvals etc.
 Accurate assessment of capacity needs and schedules for subcontracted processes.
Much improved access to information on latest order status and supplier performance measurement.
10.4 KPI - MEASURING
 KPI can be analysed from the normal daily plan updates
 WIP level
 JIT analysis
 Lead Time analysis
Measuring current performance accurately is an essential requirement of continuous improvement.
10.5 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT (CI)

 Constant FastReact product development
 Ongoing end user CI support by the FastReact team of planning experts 8.

11. Summary & Customer Testimonials

If you are considering embarking on a LEAN project or are mid project and meeting the constraints of visibility and
coordination in your existing manual systems, then FastReact is a practical tool to help your business achieve its
LEAN goals.
FASTREACT HAS ALREADY HELPED THESE BUSINESSES GET LEANER:

INVENTORY
“FastReact has directly resulted stockholding on materials reduced by 40-50%“
DEWHIRST MENS TAILORING, UK
“Lead times and work in progress levels reduced by over 30% year on year.”
AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY SPINNERS, Australia
“We have been able to significantly reduce our material stockholding, whilst still being able to meet planned
deliveries.”
GINA SHOES, UK
“Direct, operational cost savings include an immediate £80K Sterling per annum saving, in addition to significant
reductions in stock levels.”
FOGARTY FILLED PRODUCTS LTD, UK
WAITING
“We have also reduced non productive time enabling us to increase productivity by as much as 20%.”
DEE CEE EXPORTS, INDIA
“In 2008.a 3.5% improvement on factory efficiencies due to… avoiding unnecessary line idling… 2009… a further
3% improvement… FastReact… has been key to managing this process more effectively.”
CRYSTAL MARTIN, Sri Lanka
“We have been able to reduce bottlenecks in feeding the sewing lines resulting in improved productivity.”
WHITEHOUSE, India
TRANSPORT
“Better coordination has meant our On Time delivery performance has improved”
DEE CEE EXPORTS, India
”This has enabled us to make real improvements in OnTime Delivery and reductions in air freight”
VT GARMENT, Thailand
WASTE OF UNUSED HUMAN TALENT
“As demand for much greater product complexity and dramatically shorter lead-times increases, we realised that
our existing, excessively manual methods would simply not cope with these new conditions. “FastReact was the
only tool on the market which we found capable of meeting all of our requirements”
MAS ACTIVE, Sri Lanka
“Clarity in priorities has enabled us to communicate more effectively between departments meaning less time spent
in meetings and on the telephone chasing deliveries”
WHITEHOUSE, India
READY TO GET LEAN? GET THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB... FASTREACT 9.


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FR SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT BRIEFING

Fast React Systems - Specialist Planning & Sourcing Solutions

LEAN PART 1 - LEAN, ‘Barriers’ To Achieving ‘LEAN’

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

LEAN PART 1 - LEAN, ‘Barriers’ To Achieving ‘LEAN’

2. So What Exactly is LEAN?

3. Steps to Becoming LEANER

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

6. Movement - Unnecessary movement of people to get materials or tools

4. Examining The Causes of Waste

5. JIT (Just In Time), PULL System & Kanban?

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

6. Fundamental Barriers to LEAN

Does any of this this sound familiar...?

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

7. The Vital Role of Planning In The LEAN Environment

7.5 EXTRA PROCESS

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

7.7 KNOWLEDGE DISCONNECTION

8. LEAN Needs Standard Procedures And Processes

Example of a highly visual planning board with visibility of all orders:

Red Border = Production Below Target

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

9. Additional LEAN Concepts

Autonomation for the Fashion Manufacturing Industry

Load on Supporting Processes (Print, Wash

Full Material Visibility

FastReact Planning Material Status Colours

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

9.2 KPI & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

A Management level overview of performance with

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

10. Planning & Lean - The FastReact Approach

10.5 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT (CI)

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

11. Summary & Customer Testimonials

FASTREACT HAS ALREADY HELPED THESE BUSINESSES GET LEANER:

UK, Europe: info@fastreact.com

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