Alem gemechu (1)

ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

DEPARTEMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN ETHIOPIAN GARMENT

INDUSTRIES

By: Alem Gemechu

Advisor: Dr.-Ing. Daniel Kitaw

Co-Advisor: Ato Amare Matebu

A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University in

partial fulfillment of the Degree of Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering

(Industrial Engineering Stream)

September, 2009

Quality improvement in Ethiopian garment industries

By: Alem Gemechu Page ii

Addis Ababa University

School of Graduate Studies

Faculty of Technology

Mechanical Engineering Department

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN ETHIOPIAN GARMENT INDUSTRIES

By: Alem Gemechu

Approved by board of examiners

______________________________ ______________ ___________

Chairman, Department Signature Date

Graduate committee

____Dr.-Ing Daniel Kitaw_________ ______________ ___________

Advisor Signature Date

_____Ato Amare Matebu_________ ______________ ___________

Co-Advisor Signature Date

______________________________ ______________ ___________

Internal Examiner Signature Date

______________________________ ______________ ___________

External Examiner Signature Date


By: Alem Gemechu Page iii

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the work which is being presented in this thesis entitled,

“QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN ETHIOPIAN GARMENT INDUSTRIES” is

original work of my own, has not been presented for a degree of any other university and

all the resource of materials uses for this thesis have been duly acknowledged.

_______________________ _________________

Alem Gemechu Date

This is to certify that the above declaration made by the candidate is correct to the best of

my knowledge.

_______________________ _________________

Dr.-Ing Daniel kitaw Date

_______________________ _________________

Ato Amare Matebu Date


By: Alem Gemechu Page iv

ACKNOWLEDEMENT

With sincerity, I extend my warm and deep appreciation and gratitude to my advisor, Dr.-

Ing. Daniel Kitaw and my co-advisor Ato Amare Matebu for their unreserved guidance

and support to come up with this research work. Above all, I praise the Almighty Father

and Lord Jesus Christ who gave me His enabling grace to successfully complete this

research work within the given time. I would also like to thank all who responded to my

questionnaires and interviews, which helped me in coming up with this research. Finally,

I thank my father Dr. Gemechu Demissie, my mother Sr. Dinknesh Admassu and my

husband Ato. Chanyalew Taye for their continuous support, ideas and love during my

studies.


By: Alem Gemechu Page v

ABSTRACT

This research work makes an assessment on quality related problems in Ethiopian

garment industries in order to develop an applicable quality improvement model so that

the overall performance of the sector can be improved. A brief introduction is given on

the fundamental concepts of quality with reference to recent literature in the area so as to

help readers follow the model developed. To undertake this research, a sample size of 11

garment industries representing 40% of the total garment industries in the country was

taken considering the expected response rate, requirements for performing statistical

analysis, available time and survey cost. Moreover, the selected garment industries

produce different ranges of garment products in the country. Primary and secondary data

were collected and analyzed to indentify quality-related problems of the sector using a

well structured questionnaire, interviews, personal observations and review of previous

research works. Then a quality improvement model is developed along with primary

steps to implement the model to attain the goal. Finally, a number of recommendations

are given for the garment industries. This paper can be used as a lead for future research

works in the field.


By: Alem Gemechu Page vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDEMENT ........................................................................................................iv

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ v

TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................vi

LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ viii

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................ix

LIST OF ACRONYMS .......................................................................................................... x

1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1

1.1. Research Background ......................................................................................... 1

1.2. Problem Statement .............................................................................................. 4

1.3. Research Objective ............................................................................................. 7

1.4. Significance of the Study .................................................................................... 8

1.5. Scope of the Research ......................................................................................... 9

2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 10

2.1. Evolution of Quality ......................................................................................... 10

2.1.1. Inspection .................................................................................................... 11

2.1.2. Quality Control ........................................................................................... 12

2.1.3. Quality Assurance ....................................................................................... 12

2.1.4. Total Quality Management ......................................................................... 12

2.1.5. State of the Art ............................................................................................ 13

2.2. Quality Standards .............................................................................................. 15

2.3. Quality Improvement ........................................................................................ 16

2.4. Quality Costs ..................................................................................................... 19

2.5. Self Assessment ................................................................................................ 20

2.6. Garment Production Process ............................................................................. 21

3. METODLOGY, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS ........................................ 26

3.1. Methodology ..................................................................................................... 26

3.1.1. Survey Questionnaire .................................................................................. 27

3.1.2. Structured Interviews .................................................................................. 28

3.1.3. Direct Observation ...................................................................................... 28

3.2. Data Collection and Analysis ............................................................................ 28


By: Alem Gemechu Page vii

3.2.1 Gap Analysis ............................................................................................... 33

3.2.2 Benchmarking ............................................................................................. 37

3.2.3 COQ in NovaStar Garment PLC ................................................................ 38

3.2.4 Application of SQC tools in NovaStar garment PLC ................................. 41

4. PROPOSED QUALITY IMPROVEMENT MODEL .................................................. 50

4.1. Leadership ......................................................................................................... 51

4.2. Supplier Improvement ...................................................................................... 52

4.3. Self Evaluation .................................................................................................. 53

4.4. Garment Design ................................................................................................ 55

4.5. Quality Control ................................................................................................. 57

4.6. Education and Training ..................................................................................... 58

4.7. Customer Focus ................................................................................................ 59

5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ............................................................ 65

5.1 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 65

5.2 Recommendation .................................................................................................... 66

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 68

APPENDIX 1 ........................................................................................................................ 71

APPENDIX 2 ........................................................................................................................ 74

APPENDIX 3 ........................................................................................................................ 79


By: Alem Gemechu Page viii

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1. 1 Distribution of Ethiopian garment industries by first reason for operating at part

load capacity in year 2007 [6] ..................................................................................... 7

Fig. 2. 1 Quality Evolutions [15] ...................................................................................... 11

Fig. 2. 2 Development process of Six Sigma in quality management [17] ...................... 13

Fig. 2. 3 Quality and Competitiveness [19] ...................................................................... 17

Fig. 2. 4 Deming’s PDCA cycle [21] ................................................................................ 17

Fig. 2. 5 The European quality award model [15] ............................................................ 21

Fig. 2. 6 Garment production process [25] ....................................................................... 23

Fig. 3. 1 Obstacles to improve quality in the companies .................................................. 29

Fig. 3. 2 Cause of poor quality products in the companies ............................................... 30

Fig. 3. 3 Pareto analysis for quality related problems in the companies .......................... 31

Fig. 3. 4 Performance gap of Ethiopian garment industries with best practice country ... 38

Fig. 3. 5 Percentage of quality cost elements in NovaStar garment PLC ......................... 40

Fig. 3. 6 Pareto diagram of defective shirts ...................................................................... 43

Fig. 3. 7 u-chart for the number of defects per shirt ......................................................... 46

Fig. 3. 8 Pareto diagram of defective shirts of day 1 ........................................................ 48

Fig. 3. 9 u-chart after significant causes during day1 is avoided. ..................................... 49

Fig. 4. 1 Supply chain of textile and garment sector ........................................................ 53

Fig. 4. 2 Inspection loop ................................................................................................... 57

Fig. 4. 3 Quality improvement model for Ethiopian Garment Industries ......................... 60

Fig. 4. 4 Quality improvement implementation model for Ethiopian Garment Industries 64


By: Alem Gemechu Page ix

LIST OF TABLES Table 2. 1 Apparel manufacturing Methods [26] .............................................................. 25

Table 3. 1 Qualitative interpretation of questions ............................................................. 34

Table 3. 2 Preliminary Gap Analysis for ISO 9001: 2000 ................................................ 34

Table 3. 3 Analysis table ................................................................................................... 36

Table 3. 4 Benchmarking of Ethiopian garment industries [12] ....................................... 37

Table 3. 5 Estimated COQ in NovaStar garment PLC ..................................................... 40

Table 3. 6 Types and number of defects (day 1-15) ......................................................... 41

Table 3. 7 Types and number of defects (day 16-31) ....................................................... 42

Table 3. 8 Data sheet for pareto diagram .......................................................................... 42

Table 3. 9 Data sheet for the construction of u-chart for defective shirts ......................... 45

Table 3. 10 Evidence of causes of variations in the u-chart ............................................. 47

Table 3. 11 Determination of the causes of variation in day 1 ......................................... 47

Table 4. 1 COQ of Ethiopian garment industries ............................................................. 55


By: Alem Gemechu Page x

LIST OF ACRONYMS

AATCC- American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists

AGOA-African Growth Opportunity Act

ASTM- American Society for Testing and Materials

CAD- Computer Aided Design

CAM- Computer Aided Manufacturing

CMT-Cut-Make-Trim business

COQ- Cost of Quality

CSA- Central Statistics Agency

EBA- Everything But Arms

EFQM- European Foundation for Quality Management

EQA- European Quality Award

FDI- Foreign Direct Investment

FOB- Free On Board

GSP- Generalized System of Preferences

ISO- International Standards Organization

LDC- Least Developed Countries

MBNQA-Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

PCDA-Plan-Do-Check-Act

QC-Quality Control

QFD- Quality Function Deployment

QMS- Quality Management System

SPC- Statistical Process Control

TQM- Total Quality Management

WRAP- Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production Principles


By: Alem Gemechu Page 1

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Research Background

The globalization of the market and the rapid improvements in information flow has

made competition in manufacturing industries to be fierce worldwide. As a result,

industries such as the garment industry are facing the greatest challenge in history

because of the rapidly changing business environment with respect to global competition,

market performance, and changing technology [1].

Garment is a fashion product that is influenced by social trends and global economic

environments. The garment industry has specific market characteristics, such as short

product life cycle, high volatility, low predictability, and a high level of impulse purchase,

making quick response of paramount importance [2].

In today’s world, garment industries make a significant contribution to many national

economies especially in the developing world. Many countries are exploiting this

industry for reasons of economic growth. The high amount of labor involved in garment

production has caused garment producers to seek locations with lower wage employees

for reduced production costs. Garment producers in developing countries have labor-cost

advantages compared to industrialized countries [1]. Because of its large labor pool

(Central Statistics Agency estimated to be above 30 million persons in 2005), Ethiopia

has a comparative advantage in producing garment. The increased salary levels in Asian

countries, closing of factories particularly in China and dissatisfaction of EU and US

importers provide an opportunity for new entrants such as Ethiopia into the global market

[3].

Ethiopia has a long history for traditional garment manufacturing, which is endowed with

profound national culture up to this date. Cottage industries have been the main style for

traditional garment and have satisfied the demand of the people for centuries. The

industrialization process of Ethiopia’s garment manufacturing started in the 1950’s. In

1958, an Italian took the lead to establish the Addis garment factory, which was

nationalized in 1975. The public Akaki garment factory was founded in 1963, followed



by the Gulele garment factory in 1983 and the Nazereth garment factory in 1992. These

four state-owned garment factories have dominated Ethiopia’s garment sub-sector for a

long time [4]. At present, the garment sector consists of only 2.22 % of the country's

manufacturing industries.

Currently, there are 28 garment factories and 17 more are on project phase [3]. 22 of the

existing garment factories are located in the capital, Addis Ababa [6]. These industries

produce different kinds of attires including uniforms, work wears, knit wear products like

sports wear, under wears, polo shirts, clothing products and suits. Ownership structure of

Ethiopian garment industries is a mixture of diversified ownerships including public,

share company, private limited company, partnerships and individual ownership.

The Ethiopian government has defined the textile and garment sector as a top priority

sector in the industrial development package of the country. This is because textile and

clothing market is always demanded next to food commodities. The sector also utilizes

more labor which is available abundantly at low cost in the country. The garment sector

has a large potential for creating employment opportunities. The sector has strong vertical

linkages with the textile industry that have the potential to increase the development of

agriculture. It has a vast potential to manufacture goods for export, thus earning highly

demanded foreign exchange [5].

Recently the Ethiopian garment sector has opportunities in the global market such as

African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) giving quota and duty free access to the USA

market for sub-Saharan African countries [7]. However, Ethiopia has been exporting a

limited quantity of garments to the world market. Out of the total 1.4 billion USD dollars

earned from the export of goods in the year 2007, textile and garment export is only 1%

having a small impact on national revenue [6]. This shows that the country did not

succeed in making use of this valuable opportunity. The Ethiopian garment industry is

still at its infancy stage even when compared to that of other developing countries. It is

unable to compete in the global market due to inability to produce quality products.

The quality of garment products is associated with the extent to which it satisfies the

consumer’s needs. Quality of garment products have two dimensions, namely, a physical



dimension, specifying what the garment item is and a behavioral dimension indicating

what the item can achieve [ 8]. Physical characteristics include the intrinsic factors of the

item such as the design, textile construction and finishes that cannot be changed without

changing the item itself. The behavioral characteristics of apparel products can be divided

into functional as well as aesthetic behavioral characteristics. Functional behavioral

characteristics refer to properties such as the durability and comfort of the item. Aesthetic

behavioral characteristics refer to the prettiness or aesthetic experience that the apparel

item can bring about, whether sensory level, emotional, or cognitive.

According to David Garvin, a Harvard expert on quality, there are eight dimensions of

quality: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability,

aesthetics and perceived quality [9]. Another commonly used definitions of quality that

originated from one of the quality pioneers; Juran uses the idea of fitness for use. Fitness

for use should be judged from the customer’s point of view and not from either the

manufacturer’s or seller’s perspective. This concept can be applied for garments as well.

For a garment to be fit for use, provided that the style is acceptable it must be [10]:

• Free from defects such as stains, fabric defects, open seams, untrimmed threads,

misaligned buttons and buttonholes and defective zippers

• Fit properly for the labeled size

• Perform satisfactory in normal use, meaning that a garment must be able to

withstand like normal laundering, dry-cleaning, pressing cycles without color

loss or shrinkage. Seams must not come apart and fabric must not tear

Customer needs are a moving target and it is widely recognized that quality goals must

keep shifting to respond to the changes that keep coming over the horizon [11]. As a

result, continuous improvement of quality is needed in the garment industry since there is

competition pressure.



1.2. Problem Statement

Ethiopia did not use the advantage of its large labor pool in the garment sector because of

quality problems. The reasons for these are manifold, and extend vertically through the

supply chain from poor quality raw materials to poor finishing. There are external and

internal factors that can directly or indirectly affect the quality of Ethiopian garment

industries. The external factors are those which are beyond the control of the individual

garment industry while the internal factors are those within its control.

External Factors

The Ethiopian government has declared to give the textile and garment sector a priority

area for industrial development and export. During the past years, the government has

already intervened in support of the sector in order to make it competitive in the global

market. Expectations have been high, but have not been fulfilled so far by the industry [3].

Despite many well-intended efforts of the government, Ethiopian garment industries

posses many challenges on the external environment.

The absence of significant backward linkages of domestic suppliers is the major negative

feature of the Ethiopian garment industry. This not only concerns fabric, but also most of

the accessories that are required. Currently, there are limited accessories manufacturing

factories in the country for the garment sub-sector [3]. Accessories needed in garment

manufacturing such as buttons, zippers, lacework and liner cloth have to be imported.

The quality of the Ethiopian garment industries is further hindered by the poor quality of

fabric produced by the local textile industries. Most of the domestic fabric available to

the apparel manufacturers is of poor quality. Garment industries deal with this issue by

importing textiles, which is time consuming and increases lead time of order fulfillment.

The garment industries are affected even more dramatically as high duties prevent them

from importing high quality fabric.

The other problem is the lack of exposure to foreign best practice (FDI) which has a

significant impact on quality in Ethiopian garment industries. The FDI market can boost

labor skills, transfer technology and thereby increases quality of products. Ethiopia did



not have the opportunity to gain much exposure to foreign best practice methods. There

has been very little FDI especially in the garment sector. The major reasons that are

considered to be deterrent to FDI are the unavailability of quality fabric in the country.

All things being equal, an investor will choose to produce in a country with readily

accessible supply of textiles to cut down turn-around-time and minimize problems with

customs clearance. Also, poor infrastructure limits Ethiopian garment industries’

exposure to foreign best practice. The lack of foreign investment in the apparel sector is

an enormous hindrance to competitiveness in the global market.

Furthermore, the existing textile and garment training institutions also do not have the

capacity to give adequate skill upgrading training which have drawbacks on workers’

performance.

Internal Factors

There is a large gap between customer requirement and the products of the Ethiopian

garment industries. The degree of communication with the customers to understand their

requirement and translating into products is not satisfactory. Customers do not involve in

product development which results in poor quality products that will ultimately affect the

market share and profitability of the sector.

Most of the Ethiopian garment industries have a short-term view on business which

focuses on quantity and profit rather than quality. Quality is regarded as a technical issue

managed by the quality department. Because of poor management commitment on

quality, most of the garment industries don’t have a culture to support total employees

involvement in quality improvement. Thus quality vision, mission, documentation

systems and relative measures do not exist.

These companies spend most of their time in detecting the defects of the products rather

than preventing the defects. As a result, the quality control activities are inspection-based

rather than prevention-based. Even the existing inspection techniques are visual methods

which are not effective. There is also no awareness and application of statistical process



control tools. As a result, the industries are not able to continuously monitor their

processes and determine whether the processes are in or out of control.

Most of Ethiopian garment industries don’t have self evaluation activities such as cost of

quality, quality audit, employee's performance and satisfaction evaluation, and

benchmarking. Therefore, the existing problems are not identified and not solved. The

sector cannot achieve lessons on how best-in-class competitors perform and improve

their quality. As a result, the sector is lagging behind international competitors.

Majorities of Ethiopian garment industries are not strong financially and do not have

funds to invest in personnel training and purchase of modern equipments. Since the level

of automation of the machines used is very low, the operators need to perform more

actions resulting in higher work content. Therefore, the quality of the finished product

depends more on the skill of the operators. Due to poor skill of operators, the probability

of defects is greater and the need for re-working garments is higher. As a result, the

industries are forced to incur additional cost because more inspectors are required to

identify the defects.

Today, while advanced garment processing equipments such as automatic cutting

machines, computer controlled lock-stick sewing machines, virtual garment system and

stereo iron-ordering machines are widely used in overseas garment factories, most of the

Ethiopian garment factories are still using medium speed lockstitch sewing machines and

overlook sewing machines. Most of them also lack CAD/CAM system, spreading

machines, centralized steam system which help to increase quality and productivity. The

absence of embroidery machines and adequate washing and drying facilities further

hinders customer satisfaction.

The garment industries are also impacted by the supply of poor fabric and accessories

from external suppliers as well. There is minimum flow of information and cooperation

with external suppliers. The major criterion for purchasing raw materials is based on

price rather than quality. Ethiopian garment industries do not use any mechanism to

evaluate raw material suppliers prior to shipment.

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Furthermore, the research targeted to achieve the following specific objectives:

• Develop a conceptual understanding about quality and show the need for quality

improvement in Ethiopian garment industries

• Critically examine and identify the quality associated problems of the sector

• Perform a gap analysis with respect to ISO 9000 system

• Identify the potential areas for improvement

• Propose appropriate measures to improve the quality of products

1.4. Significance of the Study

In recent years the Ethiopian government has implemented a raft of economic reforms to

boost the economy of the country. Privatization and tax incentives have helped Ethiopia

to achieve 10% annual growth across all sectors over the past five years and 32% growth

in exports in the past year [5]. Exports of textiles and clothing, primarily to Europe and

the United States increased only by US$ 1.6 million, from US$ 11 million in 2005/2006

to US$ 12.6 million in 2007/08. However, this figure is below the expectations, which

should have reached US$500 million [6]. To encourage investors, the Ethiopian

government is waiving taxes for both exports and the import of raw materials and

machinery. Despite such incentives, Ethiopian garment industries cannot compete in the

global markets because of poor quality products. Compared to other developing countries,

like China, Ethiopia is lagging behind in quality, especially in the garment sector [5].

Therefore, there is a need for in-depth study to improve the quality of the Ethiopian

garment sector. Unfortunately, only limited numbers of researches have been done at

national level on quality-related topics in Ethiopian garment industries. This study aims

to identify the quality related problems of Ethiopian garment industries and propose

appropriate implementation model. The research has a great benefit to overcome the

stated quality problems so that the sector can be competitive in the global market. It is

hopefully believed that the Ethiopian garment industries will implement the model and

have a remarkable improvement. Government bodies such as Ministry of Trade and



Industry, Quality and Standard Authority of Ethiopia and other interested sectors can also

draw important concepts out of the study.

1.5. Scope of the Research

This research work makes an assessment on quality related problems in selected 11

Ethiopian garment industries (which represent 40 % of the total garment industries in the

country) and provides concrete and applicable solutions. An applicable quality

improvement model is developed so that the overall activities of the industries can be

improved and the sector can be competitive in the global as well as domestic market.



2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Evolution of Quality

The quality movement can trace its roots back to medieval Europe, when craftsmen

began organizing into unions called guilds in the late 13th century [13]. In the early

1950’s, quality management practices developed rapidly in Japanese plants, and become

a major theme in Japanese management philosophy, such that, by 1960, quality control

and management had become a national preoccupation. By the early 1970’s Japan’s

imports into the USA and Europe increased significantly, due to its cheaper, higher

quality products, compared to the Western counterparts. The quality revolution in the

West was slow to follow, and did not begin until the early 1980’s, when companies

introduced their own quality programs and initiatives to counter the Japanese success [14].

Since the turn of the century quality improvement has matured significantly. New quality

systems have evolved from the foundations of Deming, Juran and the early Japanese

practitioners of quality, and quality has moved beyond manufacturing into service,

distribution, healthcare, education and government sectors. During the last three decades,

simple inspection activities have been replaced or supplemented by quality control,

quality assurance and now most companies are working towards Total Quality

Management (TQM) [15]. In this progression, four fairly discrete stages can be identified:

inspection, quality control, quality assurance, and TQM as shown in Figure 2.1.



Fig. 2. 1 Quality Evolutions [15]

2.1.1. Inspection

At one time inspection was thought to be the only way of ensuring quality. Inspection

with reference to the garment industry can be defined as the examination or review of

raw materials (like fabric, buttons, zippers and sewing threads), in-process components

and completely finished garment in relation to some standard specifications, or

requirements. The inspection activity can be carried out by staff employed specifically

for the purpose or by self-inspection. Products which do not conform to specification may

be scrapped, reworked, modified or passed on concession. In some cases inspection is

used to grade the finished product. The system is an after-the event screening process

with no prevention content. Simple inspection based systems usually do not directly

involve suppliers or customers in the activity.



2.1.2. Quality Control

Quality control is concerned with the operational techniques for detecting, recording, and

taking actions to eliminate quality problems. Quality control focuses on finding and

eliminating sources of defects and monitoring the manufacturing process. With quality

control there is some development from the basic inspection activity in terms of the

sophistication of methods, systems, tools and techniques employed. While the main

mechanism for preventing off-specification products and services from being delivered to

a customer is again screening inspection. Quality control measures help increase process

control and to lower incidence of non-conformances. Quality control will not improve

quality but just highlight when products and services do not conform to requirements. An

over emphasis on quality control will result in people relying on their work to be checked

and tends to stop them from taking responsibility for improving the processes for which

they are responsible.

2.1.3. Quality Assurance

Finding and solving a problem after a non-conformance has been created is not an

effective means of eliminating the root cause of a problem. Continuous improvement can

only be achieved by directing organizational efforts towards planning and preventing

problems occurring at source. This concept leads to the third stage of quality management

development which is quality assurance. In short, more emphasis is placed on advanced

quality planning, improving the design of the product, process and services, improving

control over the process, and involving and motivating people.

2.1.4. Total Quality Management

The fourth and highest level of quality management is TQM. TQM is a management

philosophy, a paradigm, a continuous improvement approach to doing business through a

new management model. TQM expands beyond statistical process control to embrace a



wider scope of management activities of how to manage people and organizations by

focusing on the entire process, not just simple measurements. This involves the

application of quality management principles, these are: continuous improvement,

customer focus, honesty, sincerity and care to all aspects of the business, including

customers and suppliers. TQM is composed of three paradigms:

• Total: Involving the entire organization

• Quality: conformance to requirements (meeting customer requirements)

• Management: Science and art or manner of planning, controlling, directing and

the like

2.1.5. State of the Art

The history of quality management, from mere inspection to TQM, and its modern

branded interpretations such as Six-Sigma, has led to the development of essential

processes, ideas, theories and tools that are central to quality improvement. Six-Sigma is

a new strategic paradigm of management innovation for the survival of a company in the

21st century, which implies three things: statistical measurement, management strategy

and quality culture [16]. It is regarded as a fresh quality management strategy which can

replace quality control, TQM and others. In a sense, we can view the development

process of Six-Sigma as shown in Figure 2.2

Fig. 2. 2 Development process of Six Sigma in quality management [17]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management

http://www.businessballs.com/sixsigma.htm



A garment production process faces numerous kinds of problems leading to quality

defects and subsequent alterations and rejections of the product. The Six-Sigma

methodology is a structured program for improving garment quality through Define,

Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) methods [18 ]. DMAIC phases consist

of the following steps:

Define: This is the first phase of the process improvement effort. During this phase, the

Six-Sigma project is defined. Planning for the garment production and collection of

information pertaining to the customer requirements is done.

Measure: In this phase the key internal processes that influence critical to quality (CTQ)

are identified and the garment defects are measured.

Analyze: This phase involves the data analysis for identification of parts of process

which affect the quality of the garment. There are a number of statistical tools available

such as Hypothesis Testing, Regression Analysis and historical Design of PFMEA, Box

Plot, ANOVA, Correlation, Regression.

Improve: This phase finds a permanent solution to the problem. This may involve better

forecasting, better scheduling, better procedures or equipment.

Control: In this phase, tools are used to ensure that the key variables remain within the

maximum permissible ranges continuously.

Currently there are analytic software for Six-Sigma programs that provide all necessary

data management, analysis, and graphics capabilities to determine the most important

factors, and perform data-driven decision-making [16].



2.2. Quality Standards

Quality standards are frameworks for achieving a recognized level of quality within an

organization. Achievement of a quality standard demonstrates that an organization has

met the requirements laid out by a certifying body. There are at least four different

sources of product standards: company standards, industry standards, national standards,

and international standards [10]. International standards are increasingly important for

doing business in a global environment. International Standard Organization (ISO) has

developed a set of standards for quality systems that is required for quality certification.

The ISO 9000 family of standards represents an international consensus on good

management practice. Its primary aim is to give organizations guidelines on what

constitutes an effective quality management system, which in turn can serve as a

framework for continuous improvement. ISO 9000 is not a product quality label or

guarantee. Compliance with the standards verifies product repeatability such that

products produced under a specified standard will have similar dimensions of quality.

Some garment industries view ISO certification is only necessary as a factor for exports.

Implementation of ISO helps the garment industries to enhance their product and process

quality, minimizes defective supplies and reworking. As it is a well recognized standard

for quality, it shows the customers that the industry takes quality seriously. ISO certified

companies focus more on the quality of their products and operations. It also motivates

the employees in improving quality. The cost of implementing ISO is comparatively

cheaper to the benefits derived out of it. Many ISO certified companies positively assert

that their total costs went down to a considerable extent after the implementation of ISO

[18].

There is no industry or government-mandated standards for textile or garment

performance, but voluntary standards are available for many products. These standards

are used by many textile mills and apparel firms to determine performance of materials.

Two government and trade supported organizations have developed standard

performance specifications for textiles and many other products. The American Society

for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the American Association of Textile Chemists and



Colorists (AATCC) have established standard test methods related to performance

characteristics and physical parameters of textile products [18].

ASTM is the world's largest source of voluntary standards for different types of products,

including textile and apparel categories. ASTM annually publishes books of standards for

many products. ASTM published a series of recommended standards that can serve as

guidelines for purchasing fabrics with performance acceptable for forty-two apparel

product categories. These standards are used as guidelines in specifying fabric

requirements and negotiating purchase contracts.

AATCC is internationally recognized for its standard methods for testing dyed and

chemically treated fibers and fabrics. These standards are established to measure and

evaluate performance characteristics such as colorfastness to light and washing, durable

press finishes, shape retention, flammability, and the many other conditions to which

textiles may be subjected. The standards and test methods provided by ASTM and

AATCC often become a part of the materials standards and specifications used by

manufacturers.

2.3. Quality Improvement

Inspecting every product is costly and inefficient, but the consequences of shipping non-

conforming product can be significant in terms of customer dissatisfaction [11]. As a

result, the underlying aim of quality improvement is to ensure in a cost efficient manner

that the product shipped to customers meets their specifications. Higher product quality is

required for a company to become more competitive, both locally and in international

trade as shown in Figure 2.3. Improved quality increases productivity, hence, many

world-class firms and nations use quality as a powerful competitive tool [19].



ImprovedCompetitiveness

Increased MarketShare

IncreasedRevenues

Improved Quality

Reduced Cost ofProduction

ImprovedProductivityReduced Waste

Fig. 2. 3 Quality and Competitiveness [19]

Continuous improvement of quality is needed since there are competition pressures and

customer needs are a moving target. Therefore, quality goals must keep shifting to

respond to the changes that keep coming over the horizon i.e. new technology, new

competition, threats, and opportunities [20]. The Deming’s plan-do-check-act (PDCA)

cycle is the most widely used tools for continuous improvement as shown in Figure 2.4

Fig. 2. 4 Deming’s PDCA cycle [21]

Plan: Identify an opportunity and plan for change.

Do: Implement the change on a small scale.

Check: Use data to analyze the results of the change and determine whether it made a

difference.

Act: If the change was successful, implement it on a wider scale and continuously assess

the results. If the change did not work, begin the cycle again.

Plan

Do

Check

Act



A wide range of tools and techniques are used for identifying, measuring, prioritizing and

improving a process which are critical to quality. The basic quality improvement tools are

Check sheets, Histograms, Pareto diagram, Cause-and-Effect diagrams, Scatter diagrams

and Control charts.

A Check sheet is a paper form on which items to be checked have been printed already so

that data can be collected easily and concisely. Its main purposes are to make data-

gathering easy and to arrange data automatically so that they can be used easily later on.

A Histogram is a bar chart showing a distribution of variables. This tool helps identify the

cause of problems in a process by shape of the distribution as well as the width of the

distribution. The histogram clearly portrays information on location, spread, and shape

regarding the functioning of the physical process. It can also help suggest both the nature

of and possible improvements for the physical mechanisms at work in the process.

A Pareto Diagram is a bar graph used to arrange information in such a way that priorities

for process improvement can be established. Pareto diagram is used to display the relative

importance of data and to direct efforts to the biggest improvement opportunity by

highlighting the vital few in contrasts to the useful many.

A Cause-and-Effect Diagram is a tool that helps identify, sort, and display possible

causes of a specific problem or quality characteristic. The diagram graphically illustrates

the relationship between a given outcome and all the factors that influence the outcome.

It is used when we need to identify the possible root causes, the basic reasons, for a

specific effect, problem, or condition, sort out and relate some of the interactions among

the factors affecting a particular process or effect and analyze existing problems so that

corrective action can be taken.

A Scatter diagram is used to study the relation of two corresponding variables i.e. a

quality characteristic and a factor affecting it, two related quality characteristics, or two

factors relating to a single quality characteristic.



A Control chart is a graphical method for displaying control results and evaluating

whether a measurement procedure is in-control or out-of-control.

2.4. Quality Costs

A proper understanding of the cost of quality (COQ) is vital for a garment industry to

develop quality conformance as a useful strategic business tool to improve quality.

Quality costs are the costs associated with preventing, finding, and correcting defective

work [21]. Research shows that the costs of poor quality can range from 15%-40% of

business costs [22]. Many of these costs can be significantly reduced or completely

avoided.

There are four types of quality costs: prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure

costs, and external failure costs [23].

i. Internal Failure Costs: Costs from product defects prior to shipment to customer.

These include scrap, rework, retest, downtime, etc.

ii. External failure costs: Costs associated with defects found after shipment to

customer. They include complaint adjustment, returned material, warranty

charges, allowances, etc.

iii. Appraisal Costs: Costs associated with discovering the condition of products

and raw materials. They include incoming material inspection, inspection and test,

maintain accuracy of test equipment, materials and services consumed, evaluating

of stocks etc.

iv. Prevention Costs: The costs of all activities to prevent poor quality of products.

These include quality planning, new products review, training, process control,

quality data acquisition and analysis, quality reporting, improvement projects etc.



Total Cost of Quality

Total Cost of Quality is the sum of four types of costs i.e. Prevention Cost + Appraisal

Cost + Internal Failure Cost + External Failure Cost.

In today's business environment reduction of total cost of quality increases the

competitiveness and facilitates survival and further growth of a garment industry [23].

2.5. Self Assessment

Three most frequently used self-assessment models have been Japan’s Deming

Application Prize, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNA), and the

European Quality Award (EQA). Each award is based on a perceived model of total

quality management. They do not focus solely on either product or service perfection or

traditional quality management methods, but consider a wide range of management

activities, behavior and processes which influence the quality of the final offerings [20].

The model of the European Quality Award is divided into two parts: enablers and results.

The enablers are leadership, people management, policy and strategy, resources and

processes [15]. These five aspects steer the business and facilitate the transformation of

inputs to outputs. The results are people satisfaction, customer satisfaction, impact on

society and business results which are the measure of the level of output attained by the

organization. The model consists of nine primary elements which are further divided into

a number of secondary elements as shown in Figure 2.5



Fig. 2. 5 The European quality award model [15]

2.6. Garment Production Process

Garment production process is fragmented and labor-intensive. With low capital and skill

requirements, it is ideally suited to the early stages of industrialization [24]. The

Ethiopian garment industry is segmented into tailors, domestic manufacturers and

exporters. Tailors undertake the bulk of production of the domestic market. A typical

tailoring shop consists of a tailor who deals with customers (helping with design and

measurement) and 3-4 workers who stitch the clothes. Consumers generally provide the

fabric; therefore, tailors have low fixed costs and pay lower wages. Generally, most tailor

made clothing are cheaper than ready-made apparel. Domestic manufacturers and

exporters produce western style ready-made apparel for either domestic or export.

This research focuses only western style apparel ready-made apparel. The traditional

style garments such as Abesha Lebse (Ethiopian traditional cloth) are excluded since they

are unique to Ethiopia and, therefore, not comparable across countries.



Apparel production process

The production of a final garment consists of the consecutive steps shown in Figure 2.6.

[25]

Pattern Making: Patternmaking is the process of creating all the correctly sized pieces

needed to make a complete garment. The traditional method of pattern making includes

creation of hard paper patterns. The modern garment making system has adopted the

digitization of pattern making process. Most of Ethiopian garment industries are still

using the traditional method because the cost of computerized systems is prohibitive.

Pattern Grading: Pattern pieces must be increased or decreased geometrically to create

a complete range of sizes. The process of resizing the initial pattern is called grading. The

grade rules are developed keeping in view the market segment for which the product is

intended such as men, women, youth, children, etc.

Marker Making: Fabric is the most important basic material for apparel making and it

accounts for around 50 per cent of the cost of a garment. Thus, material optimization or

maximizing fabric utilization is the fundamental factor for every garment firm. Marking

refers to the process of placing pattern pieces to maximize the number of patterns that can

be cut out of a given piece of fabric. Marker making considers fabric width, length, fabric

type and subsequent cutting method used. Although markers can be made manually or

using CAD software, the computerized method is more efficient.

Garment Cutting: Once the marker is made, pattern pieces must be cut out of the

specified fabric. Apart from using traditional tools, nowadays, computerized cutting

systems are widely used for garment cutting. Pattern specifications are kept into

consideration while cutting which ensure that the constructed garment is exactly similar

to the sample produced.

Garment Sewing: This is the main assembly stage of the production process where

fabric is stitched together and a garment is assembled. Computerized sewing machines

can be programmed to sew a specific number of stitches. However, sewing remains

largely labor-intensive.

By: A

Press

exam

scree

M(depa

lem Gemech

sing and F

mined, presse

en printing to

Trim

Marker making etermine layout of atterns on fabric)

Order fa

Quality im

u

Finishing: A

ed, tagged an

o a garment a

Fig. 2

Inspect

Sew

Spread (lay tab

P

abric/accessories

provement i

After the se

nd bagged.

are also adde

2. 6 Garmen

Finishi

Wash

Assemb

E

Pre-assem

cloth on the ble)

Production p

Garment d

Creating pa

n Ethiopian g

ewing opera

Special deta

ed.

nt production

ing

P

bly

Ensure the pieces f

mbly

cut

planning

Schedu

design

attern

garment indu

ation, the c

ailing such a

n process [25

Press

fit together at the eprocess

Buddle pieces fr

ule production pro

ustries

onstructed g

as pleats, em

5]

Pack

end of the sewing

(ensure a pattern from same ply of

fabric)

ocess

Page 2

garments ar

mbroidery an

23

re

nd



Garment production techniques are divided into make through, assembly line and

modular methods [26]. The method used depends on the product type, quality level, order

quantity, level of technology and skills available as shown Table 2.1

In make through method a single operator undertakes the whole process. Therefore, little

supervision and organization are required. In addition, this method has a very low

throughput time because only one unit has to be finished at a time to complete the order.

The disadvantage of this system is that operator needs to conduct all the operations

required to produce the finished good and cannot learn any specialization.

Assembly line method is based on extreme division of labor. Its major advantage is that

both workers and machines are specialized, allowing for a dramatic increase in

productivity. In addition, the individual skills required by operators are greatly reduced.

However, this method of production needs excellent organizational ability so as to avoid

idle time. Factors like variations in individual operator performance, absenteeism and

machine breakdowns can easily upset the working schedule. In addition, this makes it

harder to handle style variations and dramatically increases the lead time associated with

a finished batch of products.

Modular: Modular formation consists of grouping tasks and assigning them to module.

These workers are cross-trained and can, therefore, easily move across tasks.

Compensation is based on the module’s output instead of that of the individual worker.

The key benefit of this method is the reduction in throughput time. However, the costs of

the switching to this method are very high as extensive training is required. It is

commonly used for high value-added, high fashion product.



Table 2. 1 Apparel manufacturing Methods [26]

System Description Characteristics Quality Control

Ease of style

change

Operator skill

required

Investment required

Make through

Whole garment is made by one operator

• Short runs • Little

supervision

Low High High Low

Assembly line

Extreme division of labor

• Long runs • High

supervision • Standard

products

High Low Medium High

Modular Employees are organized in groups to carry out complete operations for a family products

• Short runs • High

supervision • High value

products

High High High Medium



3. METODLOGY, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

3.1. Methodology

To undertake this research, a sample size of 11 garment industries (Wossi Garment, Unis

Garment, Oasis Abyssinia Garment, Mulat Garment, Haile Garment, GMM, Feleke

Garment, Ambassador Garment, Garment Evolution, Novastar Garment and Knit to Finish)

was selected out of a total 28 garment industries in the country. Detail list of these garment

industries are attached in Appendix 1. The sample size was decided after considering the

expected response rate, requirements for performing statistical analysis, available time and

survey cost. Moreover, the selected garment industries cover most types of products-

knitted and woven, T-shirts, polos, trousers, suits, jackets of different sizes. Although

the selected samples were limited to firms in Addis Ababa and Oromia Region where the

majority of the national garment industries (95%) are located, it is assumed that the

samples from these regions can give directions on the whole situation of garment industries

in Ethiopia. In order to obtain important information about the performance of Ethiopian

garment industries, the following organizations were contacted.

• Quality and standards Authority of Ethiopia

• Ministry of Trade and Industry

• UNIDO

• Ethiopian Garment Association

• Ethiopian Textile and Leather Industry Development Center

• Central Statistics Agency

In order to assess the quality related problems of the sector, primary and secondary data

were collected using a well structured questionnaire, interviews, personal observations

and review of previous research works.



3.1.1. Survey Questionnaire

The questionnaire was pilot-tested with a small sample of garment industries in order to

refine before distribution. Personal visits as well as phone calls were used to increase

response rate.

The type of questionnaire used to collect data is presented in Appendix 2. The survey

questionnaire contains 60 questions requiring four types of answers:

• The first type uses a nominal scale, Yes or No

• The second type uses an ordinal scale, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor

• The third type of scale is Very high, High, Moderate, Low and Nil

• The fourth type requires brief answer for subjective questions

The questionnaire in this survey is categorized into five different sections with reference

to the Ethiopian garment industries. The first category of questions (1to7) was designed

to explore the general quality awareness of the industries. These set of questions were

based on the philosophy of one of the quality gurus, Crosby.

The second category of questions (8 to 10) is related to the causes of poor quality in the

factories. The objective of these questions is to evaluate the impact of factors such as

skills, technology, management commitment and supplier relation.

The third category of questions (11 to 25) were designed to assess the quality

improvement efforts made by the management such as trainings, teamwork and customer

satisfaction.

The last category questions (26 to 60) deals with quality performance to understand the

current quality standards in Ethiopian garment industries. These questions deal with

quality planning, quality design, quality control, quality improvement, quality assurance,

quality documentation and cost of quality.



3.1.2. Structured Interviews

The design of the interviews was based on the research objectives. Interviews were

conducted with top management of the garment industries. The interviews were used to

cross check the reliability of the response to the questionnaire. It is also used to gather

additional information to compare the current QMS with respect to ISO standard.

3.1.3. Direct Observation

In this research direct observation is used as a means to assess the techniques used in

documentation and production processes as well as the existing facilities of the industries.

Important documents of the respective industries such as annual reports, company profile

brochure, and inspection data have been also used to perform quantitative analysis.

3.2. Data Collection and Analysis

A total of 110 questionnaires were distributed out of which 53% were completed by the

respondents. The most common reasons for non-response were low educational level and

unwillingness. The result of the statistical analysis of the questionnaire is presented in

Appendix 3. According to the first category of questions, the general understanding of

quality concept in the industries is higher at the top of the organization and gets lesser as

it goes down.

The second category of the questions reveals the causes of poor quality products in the

industries. As shown in Figure 3.1, the system of the organization such as policies, rules

and procedures are the primary obstacle to improve quality in the industries. Lack of

required knowledge and skill of employees is the second major contributor.



Fig. 3. 1 Obstacles to improve quality in the companies

A- The system of the organization (like policy, rules and procedures)

B- The internal working environment

C- Lack of consistency in the action being taken

D- Fear and resistance of the management

E- Lack of the required knowledge and skill

Figure 3.2 shows that poor quality of raw materials is the major cause of poor quality

products in the industries and inadequate training of workers in the industries also has a

great impact.

A B C D E

Series 1 40% 8.80% 19% 11.10% 21%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%



Fig. 3. 2 Cause of poor quality products in the companies

A- Poor quality of raw materials delivered from suppliers

B- Inadequate training of workers in the company

C- Lack of top management commitment to quality

D- Low quality awareness of workers in the company

E- Unavailability of proper technology

Referring to the subjective answers, the quality related problems faced by the industries

are manifold and include:

1. Lack of quality awareness

2. Lack of proper training

3. Lack of skilled manpower

4. Lack of motivation of workers

5. Low technological level

6. Customer dissatisfaction because of late delivery

7. High rate of rework/rejects

8. Low quality fabric

9. Unavailability of Quality Management System

10. Lack of proper inspection techniques

A B C D E

Series 1 27.27% 23.63% 18.17% 20% 11%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%



11. Poor understanding of customers’ requirements

From the above responses, a Parteo diagram is constructed as shown in Figure 3.3 to

reveal the major causes of the problems.

Fig. 3. 3 Pareto diagram for quality related problems in the industries

A- Low quality fabric

B- Lack of quality awareness

C- Lack of skilled manpower

D- Low technological level

E- Managerial problems

F- Lack of proper inspection techniques

Others

The analysis of the Pareto diagram shows that poor quality of the raw material (fabric) is

the major cause of poor quality products in Ethiopian garment industries.



According to the respondents for the third category of the questions, the frequency of

trainings given to employees is very low as a result the overall skill of the employees is

low. Usually the industries give training only on hiring. The existence of strong

cooperation and teamwork is not satisfactory. 65% of the respondents agree that the

response of the industry to market change is low. The quality of products of the

respondent companies is not compatible with the quality of the products manufactured by

the market leaders. About 67.5% of the respondents say that the rate of rework in the

industries is high. 73% of the respondents agree that the biggest concerns of the

management are cost and schedules instead of quality.

According to the last category of respondents, most of the garment industries do not

identify customer requirements. There is a large gap between customer requirement and

the products of the industries. The degree of communication with the customers to

understand their requirement and translating into products is not satisfactory. About 52%

of the respondents agreed that the existence of favorable system for customers to express

their feelings is very low.

These industries don’t have quality improvement programs and they spend most of their

time on detecting the defects of the products rather than preventing the defects. As a

result, the quality control activities are inspection-based instead of prevention-based.

They use visual inspection techniques which are not an effective method and there is no

awareness and application of the statistical process control tools.

Because of poor management commitment to quality, most of the garment industries

don’t have their own business culture to support total employees involvement in quality

improvement. Therefore, the quality vision, mission objective statement and relative

measures do not exist.

68% of the respondents agree that the garment industries do not have self evaluation

techniques. As a result, the industries don’t have internal/external quality audit system

and also do not calculate their cost of quality. Therefore, they are unable to identify the

existing problems and take necessary measures.



According to 72% of the respondents, the garment industries do not have any mechanism

to evaluate the performance their fabric and accessory suppliers. The industries focus on

price instead of quality in the selection of suppliers.

According to the information from Ethiopian Garment Association, all garment factories

in Ethiopia are not ISO certified. But, four garment industries i.e. NovaStar Garment,

Maa Garment, Addis Garment and Nazrethe Garment are in the process of WRAP

certification. The Worldwide Responsible Garment Production Principles (WRAP) is

core standards for production facilities participating in the Worldwide Responsible

Garment Production Certification Program. The Program’s objective is to independently

monitor and certify compliance with these socially responsible global standards for

manufacturing, and ensuring that manufactured products are produced under lawful,

humane and ethical conditions. These industries want to use WRAP for marketing

purposes under AGOA export benefit.

3.2.1 Gap Analysis

One of the first steps in quality improvement is to compare the current Quality

Management System (QMS) to the requirements of the ISO 9000:2000 standard. This is

most commonly called a Gap Analysis. A Gap Analysis is used to assess an

organization’s scope, readiness, and its resources for building an ISO system [27].

Therefore, in this research a quality management preliminary gap analysis for Ethiopian

garment industries is done based on the data collected from the questionnaire, interview

and personal observation. The possible responses of the questions and their qualitative

interpretations are shown in Table 3.1. The preliminary gap analysis for ISO 9001:2000

in Ethiopian garment industries is shown in Table 3.2. Benchmarking for the analysis

result is shown in Table 3.3.



Table 3. 1 Qualitative interpretation of questions

Table 3. 2 Preliminary Gap Analysis for ISO 9001: 2000

0 The company does not know what is required or believe it is necessary 1 The company does not perform this activity 2 The company understands this activity is a good thing to do but do not do it 3 The company does this sometimes 4 The company does this but not very well 5 The company does this quite well.

Quality Management System Preliminary Gap Analysis Score

Decide on a number from 0 to 5 for each item below 1 to 5

1 Establishing, documenting, implementing and maintaining a QMS to any system including

ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 9003

1

2 Identification of the processes needed for QMS i.e.

a. The sequence of the production and service delivery processes

b. The criteria and methods needed to ensure the processes are effective, and

c. Have the resources and the information needed to support the processes

1

3 Availability of:

a. Quality Manual including Quality Policy and quality objectives

b. Written procedures and work instructions

1

4 Do the records provide evidence that the business processes are effective? 1

5 Commitment of Top Management to the development and implementation of a QMS 1

6 Communicating the importance of meeting customer and other business requirements to all

the employees by top management

3

7 Commitment of top management to ensure that customers’ requirements are top priority 2

8 Do quality objectives include requirements for production and delivery? 1

9 Are quality objectives measurable? 1

10 Have the responsibilities and authorities of managers and employees been defined and

communicated to them?

3

11 Does the management have the drive and resources needed

a. To implement, and maintain a QMS and continually improve its effectiveness,

1



and

b. To enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements

12 Procedures to select competent personnel for work activities 3

13 Provide training or take other action to help develop people 2

14 Adequate provision of:

a. Buildings, workspace and utilities

b. Process equipment

c. Supporting services such as transport or communication

2

15 Review customer order for:

a. Requirements specified by the customer, including the delivery and post-delivery

activities

b. Requirements not stated by the customer but necessary for specified use or known

and intended use

c. Statutory and regulatory requirements related to the product

3

16 Inform customers concerning

a. Product information

b. Enquiries, contracts or order handling, including changes

c. Channels for customer feedback and complaints

3

17 Planning and controlling product design and development activities 1

18 Maintain records of design or development review, verification and validation activities

and resulting action?

1

19 Inspection or confirmation of purchased products, materials, components and services

conform to the specified purchase requirements

3

20 Selection of suppliers depending on how important the purchased product is for production 2

21 Evaluation of suppliers (subcontractors or vendors) based on their ability to satisfy the

companies requirements

2

22 Ensuring that production has

a. The information that describes the characteristics of the product

b. The necessary work instructions,

c. Suitable equipment, and

d. The monitoring and measuring devices needed

3

23 Confirming regularly that production and service processes are capable of consistently

meeting the companies requirements

2

24 Proper handling of products during both production and delivery to the customer, by

providing suitable identification, packaging, storage, preservation and handling

3

25 Availability of instructions needed to identify inspection or monitoring activities to be

done during production or service delivery and the devices to be used

3



Table 3. 3 Analysis table

The analysis of table 3.2 shows that the total scoring of Ethiopian garment industries is

66 which is below 50%. Therefore, we can conclude that Ethiopian garment industries

have a wide gap compared to an ISO 9001: 2000 system.

26 Measuring equipment are:

a. Calibrated or verified at specified intervals, or prior to use

b. Adjusted or re-adjusted as necessary

c. Identified to enable the calibration status to be determined

d. Safeguarded from adjustments that would invalidate the measurement result

e. Protected from damage and deterioration during handling, maintenance and

storage

1

27 Monitoring customers’ information to assure customer satisfaction 2

28 Conducting internal quality audits at planned intervals 2

29 Use of suitable methods to monitor and, where practical, measure the performance of

processes

2

30 Inspection of finished products and record the results 2

31 Identifying nonconforming products and reviewing them for disposition 3

32 Collect and analyzing data to assess the suitability and effectiveness of the QMS 1

33 Using data to evaluate or identify where continual improvement of the QMS can be made 1

34 Continually improving the effectiveness of the QMS 1

35 Taking corrective action to eliminate the causes of problems and to prevent their

recurrence

1

36 Determining and eliminating potential nonconformities in order to prevent their occurrence 1

130-180 75% - 100% The company is almost ready to complete ISO 9001 QMS and apply for

certification/ registration.

80 -129 50% - 74% The company is ready to implement the QMS. This will likely improve

its business results.

0 -79 0% - 49% The company has a lot to do but should begin. You could consider

seeking help from a consultant or specialist.



3.2.2 Benchmarking

For further analysis this research work has referred to the benchmarking done by UNIDO

taking selected reference countries and competitor countries as shown in Table 3.4 [12]

Reference countries

Romania: An important EU supplier of high quality garments mainly on Cut Make Trim

(CMT) basis using imported fabrics.

Turkey: 2nd major supplier of garments in EU after China. Turkey is well known for its

capabilities to deliver Free On Board (FOB) garments made from local fabrics.

Competitor countries

Bangladesh: An important FOB supplier for EU and US where 75% the country’s export

is textile and garment.

Egypt: An African country which has a policy to attract textile & garment companies.

Table 3. 4 Benchmarking of Ethiopian garment industries [12]

Ethiopia

Reference countries Competitor countries

Turkey Romania Egypt Bangladesh

1 Availability of technology 1 5 5 3 3

2 Average employees skills 2 5 5 3 3

3 Marketing abilities 1 5 4 3 3

3 Product development 1 5 4 2 3

4 Business environment 1 5 5 3 4

5 Certifications & testing labs 1 5 4 2 4

6 Technical flexibility 3 5 5 4 3

7 Productivity 1 4 5 2 3

8 Quality level 2 5 5 3 3

9 Management abilities 2 5 5 2 2

10 Value added 1 5 4 3 3

11 Availability of raw materials 2 5 3 4 4

12 Price competitiveness 1 5 2 5 5



Based on Table 3.4, this research work compares Ethiopian garment industries with

international best practice country (Turkey) and makes a performance gap analysis as

shown in Figure 3.4

Fig. 3. 4 Performance gap of Ethiopian garment industries with best practice country

From the benchmarking analysis, we can see that the gap between Ethiopia and best

performance country (Turkey) is very high.

3.2.3 COQ in NovaStar Garment PLC

This research work tries to look the total COQ in one of Ethiopian garment industries,

NovaStar garment PLC. Although the industry does not calculate its cost of quality, this

research work estimates its COQ for the fiscal year 2007/2008 based on the data collected

from document review.

Based on the components of COQ discussed in section 2.4, the total COQ is calculated as

follows:

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Ethiopia

Turkey Mean

Ethiopia Mean

Gap = ‐3.4



Internal failure cost

Scrap: For the fiscal year 2007/2008 the industry consumed 285,000 m of fabric which

costs 285,000 m X 15 Birr = 4,275,000 Birr.

The amount of scrap was on average 175 m X 12 months=2,100 m

Therefore, the cost of scrap is = 2,100 m x 15 Birr = 31,000 Birr

Rework cost: The rework cost is the cost of re-processing the defective garments after

inspection. The industry produces on average 50,000 pcs of clothes per month and the

monthly production cost is 742,400 Birr.

Taking an average of 20% defective garments per month and the cost of reworking

defective garments per year is 1,776,000 Birr

External failure cost

Returns: According to the fiscal year 2007/08 the industry has lost a total of 332,000 birr

due to returned material.

Appraisal cost

Inspection cost: The industry has 8 inspectors with an a rage salary of 750 Birr

Therefore, the total inspection cost for the fiscal year 2007/08 is 750 Birr x 8 persons x

12 months = 72,000 Birr

Quality audit cost: The industry has 2 internal auditors with an average salary of 1,200

Birr

Therefore, the total quality audit cost for the fiscal year 2007/08 is 1,200 Birr x 2 persons

x 12 months = 28,800 Birr

Prevention cost

Quality related training: The industry does not have training cost and relies on training

given by MoTI



Total cost of quality

Total cost of quality = Internal failure cost + External failure cost + Appraisal cost+

Prevention cost

Therefore, the total cost of quality for the fiscal year 2007/08 is 2,239,800 Birr

Table 3. 5 Estimated COQ in NovaStar garment PLC

Quality cost element Total cost (Birr) Percentage

1 Prevention cost - -

2 Appraisal cost 100,800 4.5%

3 Internal failure cost 1,807,000 80.68%

4 External failure cost 332,000 14.82%

Total cost of quality 2,239,800 100%

From the analysis of total cost of quality in Table 3.5, the percentage of quality cost

elements is analyzed in Figure 3.5

Fig. 3. 5 Percentage of quality cost elements in NovaStar garment PLC

4.50%

80.68%

14.82%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

Appraisal cost Internal failure cost External failure cost

Qulaity cost elements



The analysis of Figure 3.5 shows that 80.68% of the total cost of quality is the result of

internal failure cost and the industry does not incur any prevention cost.

3.2.4 Application of SQC tools in NovaStar garment PLC

Statistical Quality Control (SQC) tools are used to monitor the existing process in the

manufacturing of women’s shirt in NovaStar Garment PLC. Table 3.6 and 3.7 show the

defect data collected during the inspection of style # 37500 for 31 days.

Table 3. 6 Types and number of defects (day 1-15)

Style #: 37500

Types of defects 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Fabric defects 7 3 -- - 4 1 - 17 4 - 5 5 2 - 1 Oil spots & stains - 3 2 6 3 4 6 9 - - - - - - - Pocket misalignment 14 18 5 8 11 6 6 25 71 18 17 8 - - - Seam pucker 18 4 - 14 12 9 5 18 21 40 12 11 7 12 2 Label setting 4 6 - 1 -- - - 19 24 - - 20 - 5 - Staggered stitches 13 6 8 8 3 4 - 13 12 19 7 24 3 4 1 Broken stitches 9 7 3 5 5 3 8 25 22 7 6 10 5 13 4 Skipped stitches 11 9 12 6 10 5 3 22 15 9 13 17 5 9 3 Size problems 6 - 1 - 4 2 7 4 5 2 3 9 6 4 1 0thers 7 5 8 10 9 11 5 9 26 17 11 11 4 11 6 Checked quantity 197 200 200 150 160 205 200 311 411 322 154 329 69 158 135Defect quantity 89 61 39 58 61 45 40 161 200 112 74 115 32 58 18



Table 3. 7 Types and number of defects (day 16-31)

Types of defects 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Fabric defects 1 - - - 2 3 1 - - 1 1 - 1 5 - - Oil spots & stains - 1 - - 7 - - - 2 2 1 - 3 - 3 1 Pocket misalignment - 1 1 4 2 1 - 6 7 5 8 6 9 10 10 1 Seam pucker 3 4 6 10 3 4 3 12 9 14 7 11 11 5 9 7 Label setting - - - - - - - - 2 7 3 9 7 4 6 1 Staggered stitches 1 2 4 5 3 4 5 11 9 8 3 2 5 3 - - Broken stitches 3 3 6 7 5 7 4 9 12 7 4 13 7 8 7 5 Skipped stitches 4 2 7 9 8 6 3 7 9 11 2 11 4 10 6 3 Size problems 2 3 5 2 3 2 1 3 7 5 1 22 3 5 10 4 0thers 5 9 7 9 6 5 8 4 12 6 5 10 6 11 12 7 Checked quantity 167 133 192 177 172 142 120 147 178 234 187 247 194 226 244 137Defect quantity 19 25 36 46 39 32 25 52 69 66 35 84 56 61 63 29

Based on the Pareto data sheet in Table 3.8, a Pareto diagram is constructed in Figure 3.6

so that priorities for process improvement can be identified by highlighting the vital few

in contrast to the useful many.

Table 3. 8 Data sheet for Pareto diagram

Type of defects Number of

defects Cumulative total Percentage of overall total

Percentage cumulative total

Seam pucker 303 303 15.95 15.95 Pocket misalignment 278 581 14.63 30.58 Skipped stitches 251 832 13.21 43.79 Broken stitches 239 1071 12.58 56.37 Staggered stitches 190 1261 10.00 66.37 Size problems 132 1393 6.95 73.32 Label setting 118 1511 6.21 79.53 Fabric defects 64 1575 3.37 82.89 Oil spots & stains 53 1628 2.79 85.68 0thers 272 1900 14.32 100.00



Fig. 3. 6 Pareto diagram for defective shirts

The analysis of the Parteo diagram shows that seam pucker and pocket misalignment are

major defects during the 31 days.

U-Chart

A u-chart has been constructed to understand the distribution of the number of defects per

shirt during the 31 days period and to evaluate whether the process is in or out of control.

The data sheet for the u-chart is prepared in Table 3.9

303 278 251 239 190132 118 64 53

27215.9%

30.6%

43.8%

56.4%

66.4%73.3%

79.5%82.9% 85.7%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800N

umbe

r of

def

ects

Types of defects



The process average defect per shirts is calculated as:

3115.060981900

===samplestheallinshirtofnumbertotalsamplestheallindefectsofnumbertotalu

The value of standard deviation is given as:

niui =σ

From σandu values, we can determine the different control limits during each day

as follows:

UCLi = iu σ3+

iuUWLi σ2+=

iuUZCi σ+=

uiuCLi =+= σ0

iuLZCi σ−=

iuLWLi σ2−=

iuLCLi σ3−=



Table 3. 9 Data sheet for the construction of u-chart for defective shirts

Days Number of shirts

inspected

Defective shirts

Proportion defective

Standard deviation UCL UWL UZC CL LZC LWL LCL

1 197 89 0.4518 0.0398 0.4309 0.3911 0.3514 0.3116 0.3514 0.2321 0.1923 2 200 61 0.3050 0.0395 0.4300 0.3905 0.3511 0.3116 0.3511 0.2327 0.1932 3 200 39 0.1950 0.0395 0.4300 0.3905 0.3511 0.3116 0.3511 0.2327 0.1932 4 150 58 0.3867 0.0456

0.4483 0.4028 0.3572 0.3116 0.3572 0.2204 0.1749 5 160 61 0.3813 0.0441 0.4440 0.3999 0.3557 0.3116 0.3557 0.2233 0.1792 6 205 45 0.2195 0.0390 0.4286 0.3896 0.3506 0.3116 0.3506 0.2336 0.1946 7 200 40 0.2000 0.0395 0.4300 0.3905 0.3511 0.3116 0.3511 0.2327 0.1932 8 311 161 0.5177 0.0317 0.4066 0.3749 0.3433 0.3116 0.3433 0.2483 0.2166 9 411 200 0.4866 0.0275 0.3942 0.3667 0.3391 0.3116 0.3391 0.2565 0.2290

10 322 112 0.3478 0.0311 0.4049 0.3738 0.3427 0.3116 0.3427 0.2494 0.2183 11 154 74 0.4805 0.0450 0.4465 0.4016 0.3566 0.3116 0.3566 0.2216 0.1767 12 329 115 0.3495 0.0308 0.4039 0.3731 0.3424 0.3116 0.3424 0.2501 0.2193 13 69 32 0.4638 0.0672 0.5132 0.4460 0.3788 0.3116 0.3788 0.1772 0.1100 14 158 58 0.3671 0.0444 0.4448 0.4004 0.3560 0.3116 0.3560 0.2228 0.1784 15 135 18 0.1333 0.0480 0.4557 0.4077 0.3596 0.3116 0.3596 0.2155 0.1675 16 167 19 0.1138 0.0432 0.4412 0.3980 0.3548 0.3116 0.3548 0.2252 0.1820 17 133 25 0.1880 0.0484 0.4568 0.4084 0.3600 0.3116 0.3600 0.2148 0.1664 18 192 36 0.1875 0.0403 0.4325 0.3922 0.3519 0.3116 0.3519 0.2310 0.1907 19 177 46 0.2599 0.0420 0.4375 0.3955 0.3536 0.3116 0.3536 0.2277 0.1857 20 172 39 0.2267 0.0426 0.4393 0.3967 0.3542 0.3116 0.3542 0.2265 0.1839 21 142 32 0.2254 0.0468 0.4521 0.4053 0.3584 0.3116 0.3584 0.2179 0.1711 22 120 25 0.2083 0.0510 0.4645 0.4135 0.3626 0.3116 0.3626 0.2097 0.1587 23 147 52 0.3537 0.0460 0.4497 0.4037 0.3576 0.3116 0.3576 0.2195 0.1735 24 178 69 0.3876 0.0418 0.4371 0.3953 0.3534 0.3116 0.3534 0.2279 0.1861 25 234 66 0.2821 0.0365 0.4211 0.3846 0.3481 0.3116 0.3481 0.2386 0.2021 26 187 35 0.1872 0.0408 0.4341 0.3932 0.3524 0.3116 0.3524 0.2300 0.1891 27 247 84 0.3401 0.0355 0.4182 0.3826 0.3471 0.3116 0.3471 0.2406 0.2050 28 194 56 0.2887 0.0401 0.4318 0.3918 0.3517 0.3116 0.3517 0.2314 0.1914 29 226 61 0.2699 0.0371 0.4230 0.3859 0.3487 0.3116 0.3487 0.2373 0.2002 30 244 63 0.2582 0.0357 0.4188 0.3831 0.3473 0.3116 0.3473 0.2401 0.2044 31 137 29 0.2117 0.0477 0.4547 0.4070 0.3593 0.3116 0.3593 0.2162 0.1685



Based on the data sheet in Table 3.9, a u-chart is constructed in Figure 3.7

Fig. 3. 7 u-chart for the number of defects per shirt

Analysis of the pattern of the u-chart

The u-chart indicates an out of control condition either when one or more points fall

beyond the control limits, or when the plotted points exhibit some non-random pattern of

behavior. Therefore, Table 3.10 shows the evidence of causes of variations in the u-chart.

0.000

0.100

0.200

0.300

0.400

0.500

0.600

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Def

ects

per

shir

t (u)

U

Average

UCL

+2 Sigma

+1 Sigma

-1 Sigma

-2 Sigma

LCL

Zone C

Zone C

Zone B

Zone A

Zone B

Zone A

Days



Table 3. 10 Evidence of causes of variations in the u-chart

S.N Evidence of special causes Points (Days)

1 Points falling outside ±3σ 1,8,9,11,15,16,26

2 Seven successive points on the same side of the central line 8,9,10,11,12,13,14

15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22

3 Seven successive points that increase or decrease -

4 2 of 3 successive points are on the same side of the central line and are outside ±2σ

4,5,6,7

5 4 of 5 successive points are on the same side of the central line and are outside ±1σ

-

6 Oscillatory trend -

7 Linear trend -

8 Avoidance of Zone C

9 Run in Zone C

Table 3.10 shows that 71% of the points are out of control. Therefore, the industry does

not control its production. In order to determine the causes for these problems during the

identified particular days, defect data of each day is used and analyzed. For instance a

Pareto diagram is constructed for day 1 from the data sheet in Table 3.11

Table 3. 11 Determination of the causes of variation in day 1

Types of defects Number of

defects Cumulative total Percentage of overall total

Percentage cumulative total

Seam pucker 18 18 20.27 20.27 Pocket misalignment 14 32 15.72 35.99 Staggered stitches 13 45 14.60 50.59 Skipped stitches 11 56 12.35 62.94 Broken stitches 9 65 10.11 73.05 Fabric defects 7 72 7.86 80.91 Size problems 6 78 6.74 87.65 Label setting 4 82 4.49 92.14 0thers 7 89 7.86 100.00



Fig. 3. 8 Pareto diagram of defective shirts of day 1

From the Pareto diagram we can analyze that the major cause of defective shirts in day 1

is seam pucker which constitutes about 20% of the total defects. Hence, Figure 3.9

shows that after removing the significant cause of the defect (seam pucker) during day 1,

the process will be in control. Figure 3.10 shows the Cause-and- Effect diagram of seam

pucker.

1814 13 11 9 7 6 4 7

20.2%

36.0%

50.6%

62.9%

73.0%80.9%

87.6%92.1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80N

umbe

r of

def

ects

Types of defects

By: A

Def

ects

per

shir

t (u)

lem Gemech

Fig. 3. 9 u

Inc

Unskilled op

0.000

0.100

0.200

0.300

0.400

0.500

0.600

1 2

p(

)

Quality im

u

u-chart after

correct operator handling

Unsuita

perator

Elastic thre

Fig. 3.10

2 3 4 5 6 7

provement i

significant c

Tight tthr

able thread

ead

High fe

Cause and e

8 9 101112

n Ethiopian g

cause of var

tensionread

Problem fabric feed

eeding speed

effect diagram

21314151617

garment indu

iation during

inding

High stitch density

m of seam-p

18192021222

ustries

g day1 is avo

Seam puck

Feed dog teethproblems

pucker

23242526272

Page 4

oided.

ker

28293031

49

U

Average

UCL

+2 Sigm

+1 Sigm

-1 Sigma

-2 Sigma

LCL

ma

ma

a

a



4. PROPOSED QUALITY IMPROVEMENT MODEL

There are a number of methods and techniques employed by different companies in the

world to initiate a quality improvement program. As a result, the quality improvement

model developed for Ethiopian garment industries considered the specific nature of the

garment industry, present technology, culture, financial ability, organizational structure

and personnel involved.

There is good evidence that the full implementation of TQM increases competitiveness

and customer satisfaction, reduces waste and improves the working lives of employees

[28]. However, as Japanese industries have demonstrated, provision of quality requires

continuous improvement grounded in culture and founded on practices conducive to such

changes. Different countries have different cultures. Some of them are inborn from their

tradition and ethical values system, and these often influence their organizational

structure [29]. TQM by itself is a culture and it should be adapted to different economies.

Therefore, when trying to implement TQM in Ethiopian garment industries, we must

consider culture and organizational structure.

For successful TQM implementation, some studies argue that a cross-functional matrix

organizational structure would expedite and coordinate across cross-functional interfaces.

A flatter organizational structure is often preferred with less social distance between

manager and workers [20]. From the survey result, it is more difficult to achieve in

Ethiopia because dominant Ethiopian culture reflects concentration of power, paternalism

and personalization.

An ISO implementation can also serve as basis for a TQM implementation. Where there

is an ISO system, about 75% of the steps are in place for TQM [30]. The requirements for

TQM can be considered ISO plus. However, the cost of ISO implementation and

certification by third party systems is a major factor for Ethiopian garment industries.

Most of these industries are not strong financially. Therefore, the cost of upgrading their

infrastructure to meet international standards and the cost of certification is unbearable.



Taking these into consideration, in this research we developed a hybrid model that has

the potential to overcome the stated problems. Based on the assessment of these

industries, we indentified seven major potential areas for quality improvement. These are:

leadership, supplier improvement, self evaluation, garment design, garment quality

control, education and training activities and external customer focus. The details of the

components may vary for different garment industries depending on the size and

complexity of products.

4.1. Leadership

In a country like Ethiopia where power is traditionally centralized, the role of

management is vital for quality improvement. Therefore, the management of Ethiopian

garment industries has the responsibility of defining how the requirements for quality will

be met. There is no way that Ethiopian garment industries can implement quality

improvement activities if the top managers are bystanders.

Top management should make quality improvement plans to establish the objectives and

requirements for quality and the application of quality system elements. The plans should

be made in such a way that they can be implemented in practice, and should focus on

eliminating the major problem areas. When quality improvement plans are drawn up,

how to implement them should be well developed. Therefore, Ethiopian garment

industries need to arrange sufficient resources in order to ensure that the quality

improvement plans can be implemented.

Quality system documentation is one of the essential components for quality

improvement. However, most of Ethiopian garment industries do not have quality system

documentation. Therefore they shall implement and maintain a documented quality

system as a means of ensuring that garment products and services conform to specified

requirements. This documented system shall include quality manual (quality policy

manual, quality procedures manual) and work instructions supported with detailed

procedures and specifications of the industry. In Ethiopian garment industries, top



management is responsible for developing and communicating the quality policy and the

importance of meeting customer requirements to the employees. The quality policy

should be brief, clear, and believable. It should be used as a criterion for all employees to

measure whether actions are in conformance with the standards. Ethiopian garment

industries should set quality goals based on their quality policy. Hence, top management

shall ensure that it is understood and applied to the daily work of the organization

through the establishment of goals and quality objectives.

Top management should also strongly encourage employees’ involvement in quality

improvement activities, attach great importance to employees’ suggestions, take

responsibility for employees’ actions and be open and willing to listen to the voices of

employees. The responsibilities and authorities of different functional departments should

be clearly defined by system procedures. Quality system procedures should cover all the

applicable elements of the quality system standard. They should describe the

responsibilities, authorities, and interrelationships of the personnel of the garment

industries.

4.2. Supplier Improvement

The primary cause of poor quality products in Ethiopian garment industries is poor

quality fabric. Garment industries must obtain from their fabric and accessory suppliers

sufficient information to judge whether they have the capability to provide products and

services that meet all fitness-for-use requirements. The selection of suppliers must be

based on the reputation of the supplier, the investigation of its manufacturing facility, and

other relevant information about the supplier. Product quality should be regarded as the

primary factor in selecting suppliers.

Garment industries should frequently evaluate the performance of products and services

that they receive from fabric and accessories suppliers and give feedback on the

performance of suppliers’. In order to conduct supplier performance evaluation, the

garment industries should have a supplier information system that stores detailed



performance information about different suppliers. Supplier rating can be used in supplier

performance evaluation which is an index of the actual performance of a supplier in terms

of its product quality, service quality and delivery performance.

Figure 4.1 demonstrates the customer-supplier relationship in Ethiopian textile and

garment industries

Fig. 4. 1 Supply chain of textile and garment sector

4.3. Self Evaluation

In order to have a continuous improvement, it is essential that Ethiopian garment

industries monitor their performance on regular basis. Self-assessment allows the

garment industries to discern clearly their strengths and weakness. As a result,

improvement areas can be identified and proper actions can be taken.

One of the self-assessment techniques used is quality auditing which is a systematic and

independent examination to determine whether quality activities and related results

comply with planned arrangements and whether these arrangements are implemented

effectively. Through quality audits, Ethiopian garment industries can identify their

problems and take necessary measures to solve them. The outputs of quality audits are

very valuable for quality improvement activities.

Ethiopian garment industries should also use benchmarking which is an effective catalyst

for change and an effective tool for continuous improvement. Through benchmarking, the

garment industries will be able to compare their practice and performance against that of

international competitors. As a result, the industries will understand their gap and can

improve their overall performance.

Cotton farming Ginning Spinning Weaving

& KnittingDyeing & Finishing

Garment Production Distribution



It was noted that most of the Ethiopian garment industries do not measure their COQ.

COQ data is useful a measurement tool for Ethiopian garment industries. This data can be

used very effectively to identify and prioritize improvement opportunities. The strategy

for using COQ data for improvement is to attack the failure costs and drive them to zero.

Implementing this strategy results in problem solving and improving the processes that

produce a garment product. The cost of investigating and correcting the problems that

result in failure costs are prevention costs.

Appraisal costs activities should be minimized, as they are non-value adding. They are

defined as non-value adding as they do not change the quality of the garment. The more

inspectors or verifications conducted the less likely poor quality will be shipped to the

customer; however these activities do not prevent the poor quality from being produced.

By spending more money on prevention activities, appraisal activities can be reduced and

this leads to lower failure costs.

With reference to the garment industries COQ are classified into four as shown in Figure

4.2

Prevention Cost: The costs of all activities specifically designed to prevent poor quality

garment or associated processes.

Appraisal Costs: The costs associated with measuring, evaluating garment products or

auditing related production factory to assure conformance to quality standards and

performance requirements.

Internal Failure Costs: Failure costs that arise before a garment industry supplies its

product to the customer i.e. prior to delivery or shipment of the product. These are due to

deficiencies discovered before delivery and are associated with the failure (non-

conformance) to meet the needs of customers. If internal quality failures of defective

merchandise are identified before shipping then optimistically there may be no external

failure costs.



External Failure Costs: These are typically due to errors found by customers. Failure

costs arise after a garment product is supplied to the customer. These costs can be much

higher than internal failure costs. Table 4.1 shows the external failure costs of Ethiopian

garment industries and the departments incurring the costs.

Table 4. 1 COQ of Ethiopian garment industries

Types of COQ Quality cost elements

Prevention cost Education and training costs Continuous improvement efforts Process control Market research Preventative maintenance

Appraisal cost Quality audit Fabric and accessories inspection In-process and final garment inspection Salary of quality administration staff Supplier evaluation cost

Internal failure cost Scrap Rework Re-inspection Overtime cost due to non-conforming product

External failure cost Returned garment Warranty charges Processing customer complaints Loss of good will

4.4. Garment Design

The garment industry is a consumer-oriented industry that exhibits interactive and

dependent relationships. Consequently, consumer behavior deeply influences the

operations of the garment industry. Garment designers should cooperate with

manufactures, so that they can design and manufacture products that meet customers’

needs. The integration between new product development and consumer support



requirements should also to be considered. Therefore, Ethiopian garment industries

should use concurrent engineering and quality function deployment (QFD) systems

during the design stage in order to translate the customer requirements into final product.

QFD should be used to link manufacturing techniques and market demand from the

consumer’s perspective. QFD uses matrix charts to define and prioritize customer wants

and needs, and to focus efforts on meeting the customer’s true desires. The QFD method

can eliminate unnecessary redundant designing and manufacturing by subsuming

consumers’ demand in designing procedures. Therefore, Ethiopian garment industries

should use QFD to improve the quality of garment design.

Concurrent engineering emphasizes the establishment of cooperative relationships

throughout the garment design process. Representatives of different garment departments

as well as external suppliers and customers should meet with the design staff to articulate

the details of product design. At planning meetings, designers should use concept boards

to present their ideas to the management teams. These concept boards should be typically

collages of color and fabric swatches, fashion sketches, and magazines photos that

capture the theme or mood of the design ideas. Previous season’s sales figures, sales

forecasts for the new season, and the overall outlook of upcoming seasons should also be

discussed in these planning sessions. After the design team reviews the line, designers

transform those final designs destined for actual production into sample garments. If the

product meets customer requirements, the final designs are translated into garment

specification sheets. A garment specification sheet consists of all the important

information required to complete a pattern and prototype of the design.

Concurrent engineering can ensure that fewer problems occur during the subsequent

production or assembly process. The skills of the pattern designers are critical to the

success of new garment design. Garment designers should also have marketing

experience so that they need to go out into the marketplace and acquaint themselves with

customers’ needs and expectations.



4.5. Quality Control

Most of Ethiopian garment industries spend most of their time detecting the defects of the

products rather than preventing the defects. As a result, the quality control activities are

inspection-based instead of prevention-based. However, inspection actually does not

build quality; quality is built into the process. Inspection itself is not a value-adding

process, but a waste of human resources and cause of extra cost. If quality can be ensured,

it is not necessary to implement inspections. In fact, defective products cannot be reduced

merely by making improvements at the inspection stage, although such improvements

may eliminate defects in delivered goods. When a defect shows up, the information

should be sent back to the work stage so that processing can be corrected. Thus, defects

occurring are prevented in the first place. For inspection to be effective, the entire

inspection loop shown in Figure 4.2 must be completed.

Fig. 4. 2 Inspection loop

Garment inspection should be done at three stages i.e.

1. Raw material inspection: The inspection of fabric and accessories delivered from

suppliers.

2. In-process inspection: The primary purpose of the in-process inspection is to

identify problems as early as possible

3. Final inspection: The inspection of finished garment.

Inspection

Detection of defects

Feedback of these defects to appropriate

personnel

Determination of causes of

defects

Correction of the defects



Ethiopian garment industries should continuously use quality control tools for measuring,

prioritizing and improving their processes. Therefore, the applications of the seven

quality control tools – flow chart, pareto diagram, cause and effect analysis, scatter

diagram, check sheet, histogram, and process control chart, statistical process control is

mandatory.

4.6. Education and Training

It was noted that the general awareness of quality in the garment factories is low.

Therefore, quality awareness education should be provided to ensure that employees have

a common understanding of the importance quality. The quality awareness program

should aim to ensure that employees know their roles within the firm, and build a desired

organizational quality culture.

The frequency of trainings given to Ethiopian garment employees is very low. As a result

the overall skill of the employees is poor. Training is the critical for the success of

Ethiopian garment industries. It enables the workforce to acquire the skills needed to

improve and maintain the quality of the production process.

Education and training should be given in the garment industries on continual basis to

improve the performance of workers. Job training is specific training for different

employees to meet the requirements of their jobs. Every employee in the garment

industries needs to accept necessary job training so that they can perform their jobs better.

Different employees need different skills and should accept different training. Therefore,

the garment industries need to develop criteria for job requirements and identify

characteristics and skills needed by employees. The development of employees’ skills

and capabilities should be harmonized with the development of technology in the

industries. In order to make the Ethiopian garments more productive and competitive,

managers should invest further in training employees, as this can result in more

competent and committed employees.



4.7. Customer Focus

There is a large gap between customer requirement and the products of the Ethiopian

garment industries. This is because the degree of communication with the customers to

understand their requirement and translating into products is not satisfactory. Hence,

Ethiopian garment industries should make faster and more flexible response to their

customers.

Market investigation can obtain various suggestions for improving the quality of the

products of Ethiopian garment industries. The garment industries should be sensitive to

changing and emerging customer and market requirements, competitors’ offerings, and

the factors that drive customer satisfaction. Through market investigation, the strengths

and weaknesses of their products and their competitors can be identified. Such

information can be used for benchmarking so as to determine the improvement areas.

Hence, obtaining valuable information through market investigation is vital to the success

of the garment industries.

Ethiopian garment industries must also make frequent customer satisfaction surveys to

obtain the customer satisfaction level with the products and services that they provide.

Methods used to conduct the customer satisfaction survey include questionnaire surveys,

formal and informal feedback from customers, personal interviews and telephone surveys.

Regular customer satisfaction surveys can track customer perceptions of the quality of the

industries and their competitors. This information can be used to improve the quality of

products of Ethiopian garment industries.


Fig. 4. 3 Quality improvement model for Ethiopian Garment Industries




The proper implementation of the proposed quality improvement model in Ethiopian

garment industries will result in cultural transition to an atmosphere of continuous

improvement. The process of implementing the suggested quality improvement model

depends on the size of the garment industry, the available human resource, complexity of

the processes, financial ability and the organizational structure.

There are 8 stages which must be considered in the implementation of the proposed

quality improvement model as shown in Figure 4.4.

Step 1: Top Management Commitment

Top management of the garment industries should demonstrate a commitment and a

determination to implement the proposed quality improvement program. Without top

management commitment, no quality initiative can succeed. The top management should

provide evidence of its commitment to the development and implementation of the

continuous quality improvement program by communicating to the organization the

importance of meeting customer requirements.

• Defining the organization's quality policy and make this known to every

employee

• Ensuring that quality objectives are established at all levels and functions

• Ensuring the availability of resources required for the development and

implementation of the quality management system

• Appointing a management representative to coordinate quality management

system activities

• Conducting management review

Step 2: Establish Implementation Team

The next step is to establish implementation team to plan and oversee implementation. Its

members should include representatives of all functions of the organization - marketing,

design and development, planning, production, quality control, etc. The members of the

implementation team should be well trained.



Step 3: Provide company-wide training

Quality awareness programs should be conducted to communicate to the employees the

aim of the quality improvement, the advantage it offers to employees, customers and the

organization. It also shows the roles and responsibilities of the employees within the

system. A top-to-bottom briefing exercise is often the best way to explain about quality

within the garment industries. The awareness program should emphasize the benefits that

the garment industry gets through quality improvement. The programs could be run either

by the implementation team or by experts hired to talk to different levels of employees.

At the completion of the awareness program it is necessary to measure the effect. This

can be done by the simple expedient attitude survey test. This is because of the fact that

surveying people increases the awareness of the issues in question.

Step 4. Formulate a quality planning

Ethiopian garment industries should plan before they do anything so that they don’t get

mixed up when they do it. From the initial outline plan, there should be a series of

projects, which have to be identified. These should cover education and training on a

more extensive scale as well as the actions needed. For each project, there should be a

time-phased plan identifying targets and milestones, resources required, costs and

projected benefits.

Step 5. Implement quality improvement plan

Once the plans are prepared, it is the task of the team is to prioritize them and to allocate

resources. It is a good idea to put into effect some projects, which will show quick and

clearly visible benefits. This helps to build up enthusiasm.

Step 6. Observe and check of results

The implementation of the improvement plan needs to be continually monitored to

understand whether things are going according to the plan and causing the expected

change. This process also includes checking immediate results by implementing the

improvement plan in order to understand whether the system is functioning. If necessary,



corrective measures should be taken to ensure that the plan is effectively implemented.

The effects of implementing the improvement plan on overall business performance

should be checked.

Step 7. Investigate and analyze results

After the implementation of the quality improvement practices are checked, the garment

industry can obtain a great deal of information about its implementation and its effects on

overall business performance. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the results obtained

from the check stage. The analysis of results shows whether the implementation of the

plan effectively improves the overall business performance.

Step 8: Implement the result on a wider scale:

If the analysis concludes that the implementation has not been effective, the PDCA cycle

returns to the plan stage to search for other improvement plans that may have better

effects. If the implementation of the improvement plan has produced the desired results,

the firm should consider how to consolidate the results. Hence, the PDCA cycle

continues forever in the never-ending improvement.



Fig. 4. 4 Quality improvement implementation model for Ethiopian Garment Industries



5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

Based on the survey from 11 Ethiopian garment industries, this research work addresses

the current situation of quality related problems in Ethiopian garment industries. The

surveyed industries are located in Addis Ababa and Oromia region which represent 95%

of the total national garment industries. Therefore, it is believed that the samples from

these regions can give directions on the whole situation of garment industries in Ethiopia.

The data analyses revealed that there are a number of quality related problems in

Ethiopian garment industries. These problems can be broadly summarized as: poor

supplier relationship, lack of proper education and trainings, poor leadership, weak

external customer focus, unavailability of self evaluation techniques, poor quality control,

poor quality design, low technological level, lack of teamwork and lack of recognition

activities. Though, most of these problems are potential areas for quality improvement,

problems pertaining to technological upgrading and teamwork may not be feasible to the

Ethiopian garment industries for various reasons. These industries have financial

constraints to renovate their technology in order to improve the quality of their products.

On the other hand the current Ethiopian dominant work culture does not encourage

teamwork.

In order to overcome the stated problems of the sector, a quality improvement model

consisting of seven components is developed. These components are improving supplier

relationship, provision of education and trainings, improving leadership, proper external

customer focus, implementing self evaluation techniques, proper quality control,

implementing quality system activities and improving quality design which are identified

as potential areas for quality improvement in Ethiopian garment industries. The proper

implementation of the proposed quality improvement model is believed to make the

sector competitive in the global market. This research work can serve as a basis for future

research works in areas such as quality improvement in Ethiopian textile industries,



supply chain of Ethiopian textile and garment sectors and quality improvement in

Ethiopian garment training centers.

5.2 Recommendation

To be competitive in today’s market, it is essential for Ethiopian garment industries to

provide more consistent quality and value to their customers. Now is the time to place

behind the old adversarial approach to management style. It is time to develop better and

more direct relationships with customers, initiate more teamwork and produce better

quality work. Continuous quality improvement can definitely keep Ethiopian garment

industries at the leading edge in the marketplace.

All the garment industries should be engaged in the implementation of the proposed

quality improvement model as soon as possible. The implementation process requires the

commitment of top management and continuous trainings. These will result in profound

achievement such as reduction in cost of production, better relation with customers and

suppliers, more committed and motivated workforce which will make the sector

competitive in the global market. Government and non-governmental organizations

should also play a vital role in the support of the implementation process. These bodies

can be involved in financial supports, upgrading the domestic textile industries,

improving the quality of garment training institutes and so on.

This research work recommends the following points in order to adopt the proposed

quality improvement model:

• Top management should sustain their commitment to quality improvement

initiatives and take an active role in all quality management activities. The high

level of visibility of top management will reinforce the organization’s

commitment to quality and provide the much needed motivation to lower level

employees.



• A program of on-going, on-the-job education and training needs to be developed

and implemented. This will require substantial resources to be allocated both in

terms of people and facilities. Top level managers must first learn the philosophy

and methods of quality improvement and then teach these to lower level

employees.

• A culture of teamwork and cooperation must be developed throughout the

organization. Education and training will play a key role in this respect. An

atmosphere of trust and sharing must be developed where all employees respect

each other and willingly participate in activities.

• The application of the appropriate tools and methods of quality control must be

encouraged by all employees. The positive effects of the use of these tools and

methods on both operational and financial performance must be demonstrated to

all employees.

• ISO 9000 registration must be encouraged for export oriented garment industries.

In addition going through the certification process helps identify potential areas

for improving quality and efficiency. Acquiring a better understanding of the

internal quality management process



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[1] Shu-Hwa Lin, 1994, Productivity and Production in the Apparel Industry,

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 20-27

[2] Y.Y. Huang and Bertram Tan, 2007, Applications of quality function deployment

to apparel design in Taiwan, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol.

11 No. 2, pp. 215-237

[3] Promoting the Ethiopian Textile and Garment Sector, 2009, Project Document,

ecbp

[4] Yu Ronggeng, 2004, Study report on the development strategy of Ethiopian

Cotton/Textile/Garment sub-sectors, China Textile Planning Institute of

Construction

[5] Paul Cochrane, 2008, Ethiopia struggles to meet textile expansion plans

[6] Central Statistics Agency, 2008, Addis Ababa, Report on Large and Medium

Scale Manufacturing and Electricity Industries Survey

[7] Rahel Abebe, , 2007, Opportunities and Challenges of Development for Africa in

the Global Arena, AGOA: The Case of Ethiopian Textile Sub-Sector, African

Economic Conference

[8] Helena M.De Klerk and Stephna Lubbe, 2008, Female consumers’ evaluation of

apparel quality: exploring the importance of aesthetics, Journal of Fashion

Marketing and Management, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 36-50

[9] G. Raj Kumar and V. Krishnaveni, 2009, Coimbatore, Apparel Quality Inspection,

Kumaraguru College of Technology

[10] Pradip V. Mehta, Satish K. Bhardwaj, 1992, New Delhi, Managing Quality in the

Apparel Industry, National Institute of Fashion Technology

[11] Joseph M. Juran and A.Blanton Godfrey, 1999, USA, Juran’s Quality Handbook,

MCGraw-Hill

[12] Razvan Ionele, 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Garment Sector Assessment,

UNIDO, Project no: YA/ETH/08/002

[13] http://www.asq.org, The History of Quality – Overview

http://www.asq.org/



[14] http://www.dti.gov,uk/quality/evolution, The Evolution of quality, Department of

Trade and Industry

[15] A van der Wiele, 1997, ISO 9000 series registration to total quality management:

the transformation journey, International Journal of Quality Science, Vol. 2 No. 4,

pp. 236-252

[16] www. netsigma.com

[17] P. Aravin Prince, B.Tech, 2008, Application of Six-Sigma concepts in garment

manufacturing, A.J.K.K.S.A. Polytechnic College, Gobi, Erode, T.N

[18] http://www. fibre2fashion.com

[19] Adedeji B.Bandiru and Babatunde J.Ayeni, 1993, London, Practitioner’s Guide to

Quality and Process Improvement, Chapman & Hall

[20] Daniel Kitaw and Fasika Bete, 2003, Addis Ababa, Quality Management: Efforts

and problems in Ethiopian Manufacturing Industries, Journal of EEA, Vol. 20,

pp 55-73

[21] http://www.logigear.com

[22] http://www.asq.org,

[23] www.fibre2fashion.com, Subrata Das, February 2009, Importance of Cost of

Quality in Apparel Sector, Apparel Views

[24] Veeri Arumugam and Keng-Boon Ooi, 2008, TQM practices and quality

management performance, The TQM Magazine Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 636-650

[25] Dan and JoCeal Urbaniak, 2002 , Introduction to the Apparel Industry, Fashion

Forward, Los Angeles

[26] www.indiantextilejournal.com , Garment production systems: An Overview

[27] David Hoyle and John Thompson, 2002, ISO 9000: 2000 Auditing Using the

Process Approach, Elsevier Science, USA

[28] Ana Reyes Pacios Lozano, 1997, ISO 9000 and the total quality management

models, Library Management Volume 18 · Number 3,pp. 148–150

http://www.dti.gov,uk/quality/evolution

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/

http://www.logigear.com/

http://www.asq.org/

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/

http://www.indiantextilejournal.com/



[29] A.B. Ngowi, 2000, Impact of culture on the application of TQM in the

construction industry in Botswana, International Journal of Quality & Reliability

Management, Vol. 17 No. 4/5, pp. 442-452.

[30] Ton van der Wiele and Barrie Dale, 2000, Business improvement through quality

management systems, MCB University Press, pp. 19-23

[31] Djoko Setijono, 2008, The value of quality improvements, International Journal of

Quality & Reliability Management Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 292-312

[32] Amare Matebu, 2006, Addis Ababa, Model development of quality management

system for Ethiopian textile industries, AAU, Technology faculty

[33] Nathan Williams, 1997, ISO 9000 as a route to TQM in small to medium-sized

enterprises: snake or ladder?, The TQM Magazine Volume 9, Number 1, pp, 8–

13

[34] Production Facility Handbook, USA, Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production

(WRAP) 2200

[35] AS/NZS ISO 9001:2000, GAP ANALYSIS CHECKLIST

[36] Jelka Gersak, 2002, Development of the system for qualitative prediction of

garments appearance quality, International Journal of Clothing Science and

Technology, Vol. 14 No. 3/4, pp. 169-180.

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[38] www.just-style.com, 20 May 2008, Ethiopia struggles to meet textile expansion plans

http://www.just-style.com/



APPENDIX 1

LIST OF ETHIOPIAN GAREMENT INDUSTRIES

No Company name Location Region Telephone No Status

1 Adei Abeba yarn

S.Co.

Saris Addis Ababa 011-4423455

011-4420618

Operational

2 Addis Garment

S.Co.

Old Air Port Addis Ababa 0113712200

011-3711791

Operational

3 Akaki Garment

S. Co

Akaki kaliti Subcity Addis Ababa 011-4340154

011-4340693

Operational

4 Ambassador

Garment

Yerer Addis Ababa 011-6461427

011-6461448

Operational

5 Concept

International

Ethiopia

Addis (Saris)

Industry Village

Addis Ababa 011-6615586 Operational

6 Edget Garment

factory

Addis Ababa 011-1236300

011-1236320

Operational

7 Elthabet Garment 011-5523691

0115512106

Operational

8 Feleke Garment Lafto Industry

Village


0911-669923

Operational

9 GG Super

Garment

Debrezeit Oromia 0116292329

0116292330

Operational

10 GMM garment

plc

Lafto Industry

Village

Addis Ababa 0114197374

0114197375

Operational

11 Gullele Garment

S.Co.

Gullele Addis Ababa 0112702101

0112702266

Operational

12 Haile

G/Egzthiaber

Garment

Lafto Industry

Village


13 Kebire Enterprise

P.L.C.

(Ma'a garment)

Mekele Tigray 034-4420502

034-4420501

Operational



14 Knit to finish

PLC

Gelan Oromia O114450036

O114450037

Operational

15 Lusi Garment 0115525285 Operational

16 Meloyem General

Clothing

PLC

0115506578

0113770439

011-5507979

Operational

17 Mulat Garment Addis(Saris)Industry

Village


0114403616

Operational

18 Nazareth Garment

S. Co

Nazareth Oromia 0221113361

Operational

19 NovaStar

Garment PLC

Gelan Oromia 0116638280

0116638282

Operational

20 N and N Garment Gelan Oromia 0116638280

0116638282

Operational

21 Oasis Abisinia

PLC

Addis(Saris)Industry

Village


011-4422074

Operational

22 Progress

Garment PLC

011-6460917

011-6613904

Operational

23 Soney Garment

PLC

0114404898 Operational

24 Spectrum

Business

Group

0115557328 Operational

25 Tays Garment

P.L.C.

011-5517733

011-5531994

Operational

26 Unis Grament Addis(Saris)Industry

Village


Operational

27 Wossi Garmnet Addis(Saris)Industry

Village


28 Wow

International

Garment

Gelan Addis Ababa 011-1157756

011-6520218

Operational

29 Abdurehiman

Nure

0911222377 On project

phase



Garment Factory

30 Abreham Molla

Garment Factory

0911217093

0911201153

On project

phase

31 Alemgasha PLC 0113205057

0911618031

On project

phase

32 Axum garment

industry Plc

0116187460

0911215251

On project

phase

33 Birihanu sahillie

Garment Factory


phase

34 EAE family PLC 0112755451

0911209667

On project

phase

35 Hagay plc 0115526922

0911204405

On project

phase

36 Kedija Ahmed

Garment Factory

0115524428

0911222197

On project

phase

37 Mekonen Betru

Garment Factory


phase

38 Mulugeta Adugna

Garment Factory

0911665293

0911207726

On project

phase

39 Rekik Girma

Garment Factory


phase

40 Saftomaz

Interlational

PLC


phase

41 TAAS

International PLC


phase

42 Tariku Argaw

Garment Factory


phase

43 Tiruwork Kere

Garment Factory


phase

44 Wudinesh

Shimekit

Garment Factory

0116454871

0911803670

On project

phase

45 Yabets Garment

Factory


phase



APPENDIX 2

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SURVEY

ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTEMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

GRADUATE PROGRAM IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Acknowledgement

With sincerity we would like to extend our deep appreciation to your company and the staff for the

willingness and cooperation in undertaking this valuable research. This questionnaire is developed to

conduct a scientific research by one of our students, Alem Gemechu on Quality Improvement in

Ethiopian Garment Industries. Therefore, we assure you that the information obtained from this

questionnaire will be kept confidential and will not be transferred to other parties for any other purpose. In

case you need, please feel free to verify these statements from us personally. For other questions pertaining

to this project, please contact Addis Ababa University, Faculty of Technology, and Department of

Mechanical Engineering Tel: +251111232414

Yours Sincerely

Thank you for your assistance!

By: A

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c. Lack of consistency in the action being taken.

d. Fear and resistance of the management.

e. Lack of the required knowledge and skill.

9. What are the causes of poor quality products in your company? (Mark all that are applicable).

a. Poor quality of raw materials delivered from suppliers.

b. Inadequate training of workers in the company.

c. Lack of top management commitment to quality.

d. Low quality awareness of workers in the company.

e. Unavailability of proper technology.

10. In your view, what are the quality related problems faced by your organization?

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

1 2 3 4 5

11 How high is your role and participation in quality activities?

12 Employee job satisfaction

13 Frequency of training given to employees

14 Overall skill of the operators in the company

15 Placement of the right person in the right job

16 Frequency of feedback provided by managers to employees about their work

17 Existence of strong cooperation and teamwork in the company

18 Motivation of workers

19 Incentives/ recognition for best performance of workers

20 Response of the company to market change

21 Compatibility of the quality of your products with the products

manufactured by the market leaders in the global marketplace

22 Technological level of the company

23 Rate of rework

24. Is there a quality circle in the company? Yes No

25. What seems to be management's biggest concern?

a. Cost

b. Schedules

c. Quality



5 4 3 2 1

26 Degree of identification of customer requirements

27 Level of linkage of the objectives of the company to customer needs and

expectations

28 Incorporating customer expectations into the design of new products and

services

29 Consideration of customers' satisfaction in strategic planning of your

company

30 Degree of communication of your company with its customers

31 Existence of favorable system for customers to express their feeling about

your products

32 Extent of handling customer complaints quickly and positively

33 Understanding customers' expectations concerning your products

34 Customers' satisfaction with the quality your products

35 Follow up of product sales to determine customers’ satisfactions

36 Degree of availability of proper inspection techniques for fabrics, sewing

threads, zippers, buttons and so on

37 Level of availability of in-process inspection techniques

38 Degree of availability of proper inspection techniques for finished

products

39 Extent to which inspection, review or checking of work is automated

40 Extent to which quality data are used as tools to manage quality

41 Level of recognizing and solving quality related problems in the company

42. Does the company use statistical control charts for process control? Yes No

43. Are data for cost of quality available in the company? Yes No

44. Does the company plan for quality? Yes No

45. Does the company have quality policy manual? Yes No

46. Does the company have quality objectives? Yes No

47. Does the company set its goals and targets? Yes No

48. Does the company establish its clear vision of the future? Yes No

49. Does the company have documentations of quality procedures, inspection

systems, and quality analysis?

Yes No

50. If yes, are the records properly filed and easily retrievable? Yes No

51. Does the company evaluate its activities? Yes No

52. Does the company have an internal/external audit system for its overall Yes No



activities?

53. Does the management take timely action on deficiencies found after auditing? Yes No

54. Does the company have a procedure for evaluating raw material suppliers? Yes No

55. Is the company taking action for continuous process improvement to improve

the way things are being done?

Yes No

56. Is your company certified for ISO 9000 standards? Yes No

57. If not, is there a plan to be certified in the near future? Yes No

58. Is your company implementing total quality management, BPR or any other

improvement programs?

Yes No

59. In your view, has the quality of the products of your company improved

during the last one to two years?

Yes No

60 Do you propose for quality improvement? Yes No



APPENDIX 3

SURVERY RESPONSES SUMMARY TO QUESTIONNARIES FOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT

PRACTICES IN ETHIOPIAN GARMENT INDUSTRIES

General Information

Total number of questionnaires distributed 110

Number of respondents 58

Response in percent 53%

1. Quality is a measure of goodness of a product that can be defined as fair, good, excellent.

Yes 80% No 20%

2. The economics of quality require that management establish acceptable quality levels as

performance standards. Yes 91.4% No 8.6%

3. The cost of quality is the expense of doing things wrong. Yes 37.14% No 62.85%

4. Inspection and test should report to the concerned body so that the body can have the proper tools

to do job. Yes 80% No 20%

5. Quality is the responsibility of the quality department. Yes 31.42% No 68.6%

6. Workers attitude about quality are the major cause of defects. Yes 71.4% No 28.57%

7. The biggest problem today is that customers have low understanding about quality. Yes 65.7%

No 34.28%

8. Which of the following are the obstacles to improve quality in your company? (Mark all that are

applicable).

f. The system of the organization ( policy, rules, procedures, etc) 40%

g. The internal working environment. 8.8%

h. Lack of consistency in the action being taken. 20%

i. Fear and resistance of the management. 11.11%

j. Lack of the required knowledge and skill. 20%

9. What are the causes of poor quality products in your company? (Mark all that are applicable).

f. Poor quality of raw materials delivered from suppliers. 27.27%

g. Inadequate training of workers in the company. 23.63%

h. Lack of top management commitment to quality. 5.45%

i. Low quality awareness of workers in the company. 18.17%

j. Unavailability of proper technology. 20%



10. Summary of quality related problems in the company

• Lack of quality awareness

• Lack of proper training

• Lack of skilled manpower

• Lack of motivation of workers

• Low technological level

• Customer dissatisfaction because of late delivery

• High rate of rework/rejects

• Low quality fabric

• Unavailability of Quality Management

1 2 3 4 5

11 How high is your role and participation in quality activities? 10% 53.7% 36.3% - -

12 Employee job satisfaction 15% 26.25% 35% 23.75% -

13 Frequency of training given to employees 10% 8.75% 22.5% 35% 23.75%

14 Overall skill of the operators in the company - 23.75% 51.25% 13.75% 11.25%

15 Placement of the right person in the right job 18.75% 45% 33.75% 12.5% -

16 Frequency of feedback provided by managers to employees

about their work

8.75% 45% 33.75% 12.5% -

17 Existence of strong cooperation and teamwork in the

company

36.25% 28.75% 35% 23.75% -

18 Motivation of workers - 22.5% 15% 38.5% 23.75%

19 Incentives/ recognition for best performance of workers - 12.5% 30% 35% 22.5%

20 Response of the company to market change - 16% 18.75% 34% 31.25%

21 Compatibility of the quality of your products with the

products manufactured by the market leaders in the global

marketplace

3.75% 11.25% 67.5% 17.5% -

22 Technological level of the company 6.25% 23.75% 38% 32% -

23 Rate of rework 67.5% 20% 12.5%

26. Is there a quality circle in the company? Yes 80% No 20%

27. What seems to be management's biggest concern?

d. Cost 53%

e. Schedules 20%

f. Quality 27%



5 4 3 2 1

26 Degree of identification of customer requirements 6.25% 8.75% 40% 45% -

27 Level of linkage of the objectives of the company to

customer needs and expectations

- 40% 50% 10% -

28 Incorporating customer expectations into the design of new

products and services

8.75% 28.75% 35% 27.5% -

29 Consideration of customers' satisfaction in strategic planning

of your company

13.75% 40% 22.5% 23.75% -

30 Degree of communication of your company with its

customers

23.75% 43.75% 15% 17.5% -

31 Existence of favorable system for customers to express their

feeling about your products

7% 11% 30% 52% -

32 Extent of handling customer complaints quickly and

positively

18.75% 53.75% 12.5% 15% -

33 Understanding customers' expectations concerning your

products

21.25% 33.75 31.25% 13.75% -

34 Customers' satisfaction with the quality your products 43.75% 28.75 13.75% 15% -

35 Follow up of product sales to determine customers’

satisfactions

15% 33.75% 28.75% 8.75% 13.75%

36 Degree of availability of proper inspection techniques for

fabrics, sewing threads, zippers, buttons and so on

8.75% 28.75 62.5% - -

37 Level of availability of in-process inspection techniques - 7.5% 27.5% 65% -

38 Degree of availability of proper inspection techniques for

finished products

18.3 63.7 11.8 6.2% -

39 Extent to which inspection, review or checking of work is

automated

6.25% 22.5% 33.75% 8.75% 28.75%

40 Extent to which quality data are used as tools to manage

quality

- 22.5% 28.75% 13.75% 35%

41 Level of recognizing and solving quality related problems in

the company

3.75% 26.25% 50% 20% -

60. Does the company use statistical control charts for process control? Yes 3.75 % No 96.25%

61. Are data for cost of quality available in the company? Yes 13.75% No 86.25%

62. Does the company plan for quality? Yes 32% No 68%

63. Does the company have quality policy manual? Yes 23% No 77%

64. Does the company have quality objectives? Yes 52% No 48%

65. Does the company set its goals and targets? Yes 32% No 68%



66. Does the company establish its clear vision of the future? Yes 41.25% No 58.75%

67. Does the company have documentations of quality procedures, inspection systems, and quality

analysis? Yes 22.5% No 77.75%

68. If yes, are the records properly filed and easily retrievable? Yes 17.75% No 82.5%

69. Does the company evaluate its activities? Yes3 % No 68%

70. Does the company have an internal/external audit system for its overall activities? Yes 15%

No 85%

71. Does the management take timely action on deficiencies found after auditing? Yes 56% No 44%

72. Does the company have a procedure for evaluating raw material suppliers? Yes 28% No 72%

73. Is the company taking action for continuous process improvement to improve the way things are

being done? Yes 77.5% No 22.5%

74. Is your company certified for ISO 9000 standards? Yes 0% No 100%

75. If not, is there a plan to be certified in the near future? Yes 66.25% No 33.75%

76. Is your company implementing total quality management, BPR or any other improvement programs?

Yes 13.75% No 86.25%

77. In your view, has the quality of the products of your company improved during the last one to two

years? Yes 60% No 40%

78. Do you propose for quality improvement? Yes 93.3% No 6.7%

Alem gemechu (1)

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