TQM CONSULTANTS CO. LIMITED 
Largely Reduced Production Time of Samples with SMED
South Sea Leatherwares Limited (SouthSea) is a well-known manufacturer of fashionable bags, which headquarters in Hong Kong and has more than 3,000 employees in China Mainland. SouthSea aims at improvement in different departments, including the producing department and the industrial system in the whole factory. Challenging with the economic crisis, SouthSea invited TQM to provide a series of improvement to enhance the productivity and its marketing competence.
Objectives
- Reviewed on the daily operation of its operation department, improved the productivity and effectiveness
- Integrated the production department and improved the efficiency of sample room
- Strengthened the quality testing mechanism
- Used SMED technology to reduce the production time of sample
- Redesigned the production process and the testing methods of production efficiency
Achievements
- Emerged the Production, PIE and Sample Room and eliminated the unnecessary waiting time, transportation and storage among them
- Introduced transparent reporting system for management and improved the effectiveness of I.E. department by 50%
- Largely reduced the production time of samples from 9 days to 3 days, which fastened the promotion time of new products
- Resolved the bottle-neck problem of production line and improved the quality and efficiency by semi-automation
- Set up the plan of labour efficiency improvement, to achieve the 30-50% reduction on labour hour.
