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Human is the biggest resource for the apparel industry, where the majority of work is entirely dependent on them and their productivity. We are in an era where we are talking about smart factories, using high tech machines for better productivity. The term is quite reliable in factories where human intervention is less, e.g. automobile, but what about the apparel industry? Will just the introduction of these machines bring transformation to the factories?
For the apparel industry, it’s important to train the workforce for Change Management. These machines should be utilised in a manner to extract maximum productivity. Preparing your workforce for this transformation is the need of the hour. In a conversation with Apparel Resources, Anand Deshpande, Founder & CEO, Admaa Consulting, expresses his views on how the vision of Industry 4.0 can be achieved through Lean implementation.
“As per the Singapore Smart Readiness Index, to assess the readiness for Industry 4.0, there are eight pillars of focus including Process – Operations, Supply-chain, Product Life Cycle; Technology – Automation, Connectivity, Intelligence; and Organisation – Talent Readiness and Structure & Management,” commented Anand.
Integration is key for the first pillar – process, as apparel manufacturing involves many different processes. Vertical integration of operations can help better communication, transparency and real-time insights of the operations. The organisations should look at tools and software available like cloud-based PLM and other forms of modes to start communication. Using traditional forms of tools like excel sheets, WhatsApp, etc. to process information can lead to delay, and at times, be extremely data-incoherent.
Moreover, within the supply chain, the organisations should work on maintaining horizontal integration creating transparency across suppliers, stakeholders, and factories in the supply chain. Integrated product life cycle means integration of processes, people and systems across the entire product life cycle that involve stages like product design, development, customer service, etc. “Digitisation is the key to implement this initiative, and in today’s garment factories, we are at a very primitive level,” maintained Anand.
The second pillar, technology, can assist the manufacturers with greater automation, connectivity and intelligence. The right kind of technology implementation can help organisations automate facilities, plants, and enterprise across all levels and hierarchies. “Presently, only machines are automated in an isolated manner,” shared Anand. Moreover,...