ABSTRACT
The apparel manufacturing industry is one of the labour-intensive industries around the world. One of the major problems/wastes generated in the apparel industry is a defective product. Even though the factories around the world trying to achieve zero defective processes, there are still huge gaps exist between the target and the current situation. The current case analysis uses the existing industry process makes use of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control) method, a sub-methodology of Six Sigma. It is a systematic approach towards the process study and defect minimization. In this study, the DMAIC approach is used in a woven shirt manufacturing apparel industry to reduce the defect generation in the sewing section. The Pareto analysis was done to identify the major defect causing operations and then root causes of those defects are analyzed. After analysis, some potential solutions are suggested to overcome those causes. The result found after the initiative taken in the implementation of Six Sigma concepts on defect management is very significant. The defect percentage, which is calculated in terms of DHU (defects per hundred units) has been reduced to less than 1% from 5.3% of the previous month. The sigma level of the department increased from 3.6 to 4.2.
