Kanban in Apparel Manufacturing: A Case Study

Abstract

Pull system and Kanban are effective lean manufacturing tools. Though many companies in various manufacturing fields have successfully implemented pull manufacturing using Kanban systems, such studies in apparel manufacturing are rarely found. Kanban system was implemented in an apparel manufacturing company, which had implemented some of the lean manufacturing tools. The apparel manufacturing line was identified in four different sub sections and separate Kanbans were used in each sub section. The system was evaluated using two parameters: the number of Kanban cards in each point; the production output. Correct number of Kanban cards were found at all the time of the monitoring period of two weeks-the production efficiency has increased by 22%.