Quality in Small Scale Industry:

Fashion Industry Perspective

Importance of Quality
All of us know it
Needs no debate
Most of us are here to share our
experiences on Quality
Many organizations represented
here have an ongoing Quality
program
Journey Towards Total Quality
and ISO 9000
A well-defined milestone in the endless
journey towards Total Quality
Credibility Brought in by third party
certification
Quality in SSI:
May be most used term But it is least
understood
Commonsense that is not common
It is like ten blind men describing an
elephant
Presentation by Rajesh Bheda , GMT,NIFT at WCTQ 1999
Key Concerns of International
Apparel Buyers
Product Quality
Dependable Delivery
Competitive Price
Better Quality at lower price
I ncreasing Quality Expectations Among
Apparel I mporters and Retailers
Consumers Quality Expectations have
gone up
Consumer is too busy to come back to
complain
Not Interested in Taking Special Care of the
Product
Reduced Consumer Spending on Apparel
Stores Cant Afford a Dissatisfied Customer
Working With Non-quality Vendors Costly
Consumers perception of
Quality
A recently conducted research
concludes that Quality of
Apparel sold in the US market
has declined
Presentation by Rajesh Bheda , GMT,NIFT at WCTQ 1999
Apparel Industry:
Order quantities are reducing continually
Highly labor intensive processes
Labor controlled, not machine controlled processes
Varied raw material
Seasonal products with low shelf life
Largely decentralized manufacturing
Reserved for SSI

Q: Why do you face quality
problems?
A: We have no problems but our
suppliers dont understand
quality
sub-contractors are not bothered
about quality
Key to Quality in Apparel
Industry :Process Capability
Without Process capability Quality can not
be expected
It is the responsibility of top management to
ensure the process capability of different
process groups
Presentation by Rajesh Bheda , GMT,NIFT at WCTQ 1999
PLANT & MACHINERY
TRAINING
MOTIVATED PEOPLE
KNOW-HOW
SKILLS
QUALITY
INPUT




=



RAW MATERIAL
+
SPECIFICATIONS
QUALITY
OUTPUT




=



PROCESSED
COMPONENT
OR
GARMENTS
PROCESS MODEL FOR SEWING
Presentation by Rajesh Bheda , GMT,NIFT at WCTQ 1999
Team Working: An Asset for
Process Capability
The Process Model
Organic / Flexible

Non-hierarchical

Self Learning & Self
Correcting

Knowledge Driven

Presentation by Rajesh Bheda , GMT,NIFT at WCTQ 1999
INPUT
PROCESS CHAIN
OUTPUT
=
PROCESS A PROCESS B
Output of previous process becomes input to next process.
No substandard input to be given to any process.
No process shall allow sub standard output to come out.
The Benefits
Promotes Knowledge Workers
Right first time
Reduced Inspection
Increased Flexibility
Minimum Repairs and Rejects
Increased Productivity
Reasons for Failure
Belief that Quality starts with inspection and ends with inspection
Mainly quantity driven targets for the departments
Departmental goals may not synergise with organizational goal
Have no idea about the Cost of Quality in their organization
Do not have a clear quality policy nor do they demonstrate
commitment to quality
Employees of these organizations are well aware of the Chalta Hai
approach of the management
To the extent possible they would like to blame others for the quality
problems of their merchandise
Choice is yours!
Promote Process
Capability in the Total
Supply Chain

Or

Wait for the Disaster