Factors Influence Sewing Efficiency of Machine Operators: An Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) Approach

Abstract

Apparel industry occupies an important place in the Sri Lankan economy. It has become the largest export industry in Sri Lanka since 1986 and represents 39.7% of the total exports and 52% of industrial products exports, becoming the largest foreign exchange earner of the country today. In the apparel manufacturing process sewing is the most critical function, because it assembles what customer asks. Moreover, it is the area the efficiency problem is frequent since it is wholly labor oriented. In the sewing operation, the sewing machine operator plays the central role, because even where there is whatever sophisticated machinery only their hands can create what customers ask. Through the preliminary study the researcher was able to find that the majority of the garment factories in Sri Lanka operate below the targeted sewing efficiency level. Hence the research problem of the current study was “what are the factors that influence the poor sewing efficiency of the machine operators in the Sri Lankan garment industry”? The main objective of the study was to develop a structural model of the factors that influence the poor sewing efficiency of the machine operators in Sri Lankan garment industry. Here the researcher identified sixteen key factors that influence the sewing efficiency. Then structured interviews were conducted with 20 experts from academia and industry to identify the relationships among these sixteen variables. Then classification of factors was carried out based upon dependence and driving power with the help of MICMAC analysis. Out of sixteen factors five factors were identified as dependent variables; seven factors were identified as the driver variables and three factors were identified as the linkage variables and one factor was identified as autonomous variable. Here, the driving variables were: experience of the machine operator, garment construction variations, quality of supervision, line balancing, training and development process of the organization, corporate culture, quality of sewing materials, machines, tools and equipment. The dependent variables were: skill of the machine operators, sewing machine breakdowns, reworks in sewing lines, absenteeism of the machine operator, turnover of the machine operator and the linkage variables were: work in process inventories, physical working environment, satisfaction of machine operators. The autonomous variable was input delays. Finally, a hypothetical model of these factors was developed based upon experts’ opinions.