Production system optimization: case study of a local textile company

Abstract

The manufacturing sector in Botswana has been rapidly growing in recent times. Glam Collections used as a case study organization in this research, is an SME textile manufacturing company with its base of operations in Gaborone, Botswana. The company manufactures a wide range of products in-house and supply to the local market. The company has been growing in terms of scale of production in recent times and this has necessitated it to obtain a larger base of operations which requires an overhauling of their current processes and operations. Hence this research main objective is to demonstrate how Muther’s Systematic Layout (SLP) has been effectively used for departmental layout evaluation and facility design. Lean manufacturing tools were employed in the research together with the SLP technique in order to map and analyze the business processes before the systematic layout could be carried out so as to remove waste in the current process flows and standardize the company operations.