Case Studies

100% INCREASE IN REVENUE THROUGH HOSHIN KANRI METHODOLOGY

Industry: Apparel

Product: Industrial Workwear

Location: Vientiane, Laos


Pre-project Conditions

  • Disconnected & Misaligned Team/ Functions working in isolation

  • No clear direction setting for teams to function jointly

  • Lack of collaboration between teams leading to conflicts & misunderstandings

  • Fire-fighting & lack of prioritization

  • Lack of understanding of Daily, Weekly, operational & Strategical work methodology

  • No visibility/ planning for the upcoming months

  • Lack of structured performance analysis, monitoring & follow-up


Project Activities

  • Vision setting workshop with top, middle & shopfloor management teams to identify the Values, Vision & Mission for the organization

  • SWOT analysis to understand the shot term & long term strategy formulation

  • Hoshin Team building & leadership training for effective collaboration

  • Key Performance Indicators identified for each function & target set on company & functional levels

  • Performance dashboards for efficient vertical & horizontal communication, quick Information transfer & decision making

  • Structured team meetings (functional team reviews, project reviews, Top management reviews) for the frequency, content, presentation methods, leaders & outcomes


Results

  • 100% Revenue Growth in 5 years

  • Double digit profit with 20% increase year on year

75% Throughput time reduction through Cellular production techniques

Industry: Apparel

Product: Industrial Workwear

Location: Vientiane, Laos


Pre-project Conditions

  • 20 straight lines with conveyors spread across 2 floors

  • Centralized Cutting & Packing leading to excessive inventory & transportation

  • Multiple transportation activities between Cutting > Sewing > QC > Packing

  • Machine Workshop located on one of the sewing floors far away from the other floor


Project Activities

  • Redesigned layout for efficient flow of material & information

  • Decentralized Cutting & Packing to improve flow

  • Reduced inventory between processes to improve throughput time

  • Reduced Sewing batch size from 10 pcs to 3 pcs (Single PC Flow)

  • Modified Sewing, QC & Packing Workstations for space optimization

  • Applied 5S & Visual Management solutions for efficient & accurate communication


Results

  • 75% Reduction in Throughput Time (From 28 days to 6 days)

  • Space created from 40% additional capacity

  • Lines increased from 20 to 33

20% profit growth year on year through lean implementation

Industry: Apparel

Product: Industrial Workwear

Location: Vientiane, Laos


Project Activities

  • Decentralized layout for efficient flow of material & information

  • Modular production through reduced inventory, shorter line sizes & reduced bundle size

  • Controlled inventory through Kanban to improve throughput time

  • Modified Sewing, QC & Packing Workstations for space optimization

  • Quick Changeover for efficiency style change with lower changeover loss

  • Systematic problem solving for Quality & Efficiency improvement

  • Total Productive Maintenance for increased Machine Uptime & reduced maintenance cost

  • Hoshin Kanri implementation for organized projects execution & total employee engagement & learning

Results

  • 20% year on Year Profit increase

  • 135% increase in Production Capacity

  • 50% increase in Efficiency

200% Efficiency growth in 4-MONTHS

Industry: Leather Goods

Product: Leather Handbags

Location: Kolkata, India


Pre-project Conditions

  • Capacity: 250 pcs. per month

  • Production system: Group system in large batches

  • Manpower: 1 Supervisor, 8 operators [excluding cutting, splitting & skiving]

  • Work hours: No definite start & stop with unaccounted overtime

  • Lack of visibility of order status at different stages of production

  • Extensive dependency on Group supervisor


Project Activities

  • Developed an internal team to understand & apply the lean concepts

  • Designed factory & Cut-to-pack cell layouts for handbags including setting up of Kanban

  • Implemented concepts of Daily Work management through Visual Factory applications

  • Trained operators to work on cellular modules with lower WIP & Single piece Flow

  • Introduced culture building through Daily 5S practice, Sunrise meeting & Morale exercise

  • Developed internal Quality Circle team to conduct Systematic Problem Solving

Results

  • 200% Efficiency growth

  • 96% Quality Rate

  • 50% Reduced Cost per Pc.

90% Reduction in REWORK at Customer END

Industry: Apparel

Product: Industrial Workwear

Location: Vientiane, Laos


Pre-project Conditions

  • Disconnected production processes delaying feedback

  • Huge inventory between processes delaying identification of defects & problem solving

  • Delayed or No Feedback from End-line Inspection

  • Repeated Defects-No problem solving

  • Rework later mindset causing higher Changeover loss

  • Lack of inspection skills

  • Unclear & missing inspection standards; Missing or ambiguous Quality Standards

  • Dirty workplace causing lots of stain defects

  • Unergonomic workstations (incorrect table height & design & lighting conditions)


Project Activities

  • Cleanliness Focus Mindset to reduce stains defects

  • Physically connected processes for quicker material transfer, better communication & feedback

  • Syatematic Top Defects Problem Solving

  • Established Inspection Standards

  • QC Skill Training & Calibration

  • Defects Visibility & Ownership

  • Quality Performance Review

  • Quality Look Ahead

  • QC Workstation Redesigning

  • Rework Control System

  • Inventory Optimization

Results

  • 90% Reduction in Reworks at Customer End (from 5% to 0.5%)

  • Grown to become No.1 supplier worldwide both in terms of volume & quality (From Rank 31 to 1)

  • 60% reduction in reworks internally

  • Consistent internal Quality Rate of 96% for the last three years