Abstract
The study explores the use of DMAIC methodology ofsix sigma to minimize the defect rate in MAA Garment.This is a systematic approach towards defects minimization through five phases of DMAIC methodology named Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control which focuses on reduction/elimination of four basic types of defects such as stain, skip stitch, broken stitch, and slip out in sewing section of MAA-garment. Different six sigma tools were used in different phases.The define phase rolls out the tools such as SIPOC which clearly show the process map that includes suppliers, inputs, outs, customers and based on this the entire quality is judged. The measure phase process capability was done.In analyzingphase, continuous assessment of sewing process, with intense brainstorming sessions for the cause and effect diagram.Root causes of those defects were detected by cause and effect analysis and Pareto analysis was done to identify the major types of defects, the vital root causes that impact the defects by using regression, ANOVA, why-why. The improve phase concentrates on optimizing the vital root causes which impact the defects with their factors and levels, results of experimentation had been analyzed by using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and regression for studying the variation and where does the variation came from? In control phase, control chart has been used to control the variation within acceptable levels in the process.Finally some potential solutions are suggested to overcome those causes. The result of the proposed solutions of the defect level in the section has been reduced as well as the result found to be very significant because the average amount of broken stitch before optimization where 3.51852 and has been reduced to 1.51852 after optimization. At the same time the prediction value of skip stitch also reduced from 14.8125 to 3.8125 as the result from the prediction shows.
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Keywords: Garment, Defects, Rework, DMAIC, ANOVA, SIPOC DPMO, Cause and Effect diagram, Pareto analysis