The Journal of Commerce, Vol. 2, No. 1 ISSN: 2218-8118 Hailey College of Commerce, University of the Punjab, PAKISTAN

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QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM– AN IMPERATIVE NEED FOR FLOURISHING KNITWEAR INDUSTRY IN INDIA.

S. Shanmugasundaram1 G. Loganathan2

Dr. N. Panchanatham3

Abstract

Till 1979, the knitwear was otherwise known as Hosiery which is mean to be only under garments such as Vest and Brief mainly used by Men in India. Later, knitwear products were identified as a fashionable product by the fashion industries of western countries, resulting in plain “T. Shirts” are made as a pioneer product of fashion in Indian Knitwear industry. In the process of evolution, the knitwear products reached different dimensions according to human anatomy, makes the knitwear products with highly fashionable, embellished and comfort to wear. At this juncture the consumers of western countries, realized that the quality of knitwear products are forced to seek and implement new techniques and methods to maintain durability, colour fastness, harmless chemicals etc,. Consequently, stringent quality policy such as ISO 9000, ISO 9002, SA 8000, TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMNT (TQM) etc., were implemented in the knitwear industry all over the world. But implementing such systems in the Indian knitwear industries are cumbersome because the textile industry in India considered as by product of agricultural industries where great lack of quality awareness was found greatly, besides many other factors such as lack of unskilled executives and workers, lack of coordination between government and knitwear industries and educational institutions stood as a bottleneck for quality awareness, which is an

1 Assistant professor, Department of Business Administration, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar. India. 2 Diector,The Imperial, An apparels sourcing Inc,. Tirupur, India. 3 Professor & Head, Department of Business Administration, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar. India

urgent and imperative need of the knitwear industries to flourish in India.

INTRODUCTION

The art of Knitting is defiantly as old as our civilization. In fact it was from India only that the art of knitting and know how’s spread very widely to the rest of the world. Incidentally it has became a matter of pride for Indian and it is to be known that not only, the knitting originated from India but even the word “KNITTING” itself has evolved from a Sanskrit word “NAHAYAT” meaning net or weave.

Recent years, “The Hosiery is meant to be worn as next to skin but was never to be seen” and this was the concept of the people all over the world. But now the scope has been widened much throughout the world. A revolution in fashions in dress is taking place entire world. The tycoon of today are no longer a prisoner of the 3 piece suits instead he enjoys it at work in some bright loose and comfortable knitwear much contrasting to the aforesaid concept.

The first technological invention of knitting machine can be traced out back from the industrial revolution in UK. The first knitting machine was invented by William Lee. The fruits of first technological knitting machine was brought and installed in India by setting of up the first hosiery factory in kiddrapore, kulcutta during the year 1893.

Till about the 60’s Bengal has produced 75 to 80% of the country’s knitwear product output. However now the textile scenario has been reversed with the south especially when Tirupur taking the lead. During the year 1927 first manually operated hosiery factory with entire installation of organized machineries was triggered in the small town called in Coimbatore district. Tirupur, the heartland of the knitwear industries of India has a supplier base which consists essentially of manufacturers who are mostly integrated forward or backward if not vertical. There are number of spinners of yarn

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integrating forward to set up knitting plant; textile process house and then further integrating forward to become makers of garments. The amount of investments in terms of plant & machinery and overheads in the integrated garment industry is quite high as compared to other knitwear clusters and thus requires efficient management for timely return on investments. In spite of the fact that the Tirupur town is reeling under due to acute infrastructural shortage, knitwear exporters are able to make a distinct mark in the international sourcing map of the textile industries for they worked as a group and helped each others for a common cause. Tirupur textile industry has units all along the value chain of knitwear starting from spinning, knitting wet processing, printing, garment manufacturing and exports. Entire Tirupur cluster generates direct employment for over 300,000 persons. During 1981 Tirupur had very meager share of 15% of the total knitwear exports from India and by the year 2000 its shares reached a formidable figure of 51%. Now the industry has spread over magnificently upto 4500 units covering 80% of total knitwear exports of India and thus earning huge amount of foreign exchange for our country. It is expected that Tirupur exports will grow much faster and higher than the rest of India’s export economy.

Quality Management

As defined by ISO 9000, "Quali ty is the total i ty of fea tures and characteris tics of a product or service that bear on i ts abi l i ty to sati sfy to s tate of service or impl ied needs". Within this defini tion we can identi fy concepts of f i tness for purpose, value for money, rel iabi l i ty, customer sati sfaction and conformance to requirements. These concepts of qual i t ies are neither new nor they restri cted to any age or culture. Tradi tional ly, however industry houses have viewed functions related to qual i ty as assessment of product fol lowed by return of what is defective and suggestions for recti f ica tion. A quality management system (QMS) can be expressed as the organizational structures, procedures, processes and resources are needed

essentially to implement Quality Management. Worldwide quality awareness and introducing concept of quality management system, in knitwear industries have been emerged during 70’s due to growing awareness and realization of the importance of needed for knitted garments. A New shape that given to the system is so called ISO 9000 series.

Need for system study

It is highly regretted to grasp and noti f ied that India 's share in the world texti le market is only about 2% which is valued at USD 177 bi l l ion while comparing China accounts for nearly 15%, South Korea 6% and Taiwan 5% respectively. The sector aspires to grow its revenue to US $85bn, its export value to US $50bn and employment to 12 million by the year 2010 (Texmin 2005).

Hens, in the event of global ization and free economy i t has become much imperative to explore and capture the world market for texti les without being confined merely to the domestic market. In the l ight of this development i t has become indispensable to evolve a sound and effective Quali ty Management System for ensuring the fulf i l lment of cer tain s tandards and achievements of certain level in the knitwear industrial world a t the beginning stage the knitwear industry catered only to the needs of the domestic market and there were no awareness at a l l amongst the consumers as to the changes in fashion and designing etc . The need for Quali ty Management System (QMS) was fel t very badly. But in the modern competi tive business world, no industry particularly no industry in knitwear can withstand the competi tion and survive in the market without having proper QMS and i ts f requent review, as the knitwear industry is prone to frequent changes and modern development.

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Reviews

For every industry or business, to get increased sales and better name amongst consumers and fellow companies it is important to maintain a level of quality. Especially for the businesses engaged in export business has to sustain a high level of quality to ensure better business globally. Generally quality control standards for export are set strictly, as this business is also holds the prestige of the country, whose company is doing the export. In the garment industry quality control is practiced right from the initial stage of sourcing raw materials to the stage of final finished garment. The process of the garment Industry, and the pros and cons of each process was analysed and it was suggested that one has to maintain the quality of the garment before and after processing in order to place it in front of the customer with an attractive look through value additions (Saumyen Mapdar, 2002).

For textile and apparel industry product quality is calculated in terms of quality and standard of fibres, yarns, fabric construction, colour fastness, surface designs and the final finished garment products. The quality is testing as an instrument for process improvement and quality up gradation (Nadiger, 2001). There are a number of factors on which quality fitness of garment industry is based such as - performance, reliability, durability, visual and perceived quality of the garment. The latest developments in processing of knitted fabric and the benefits of technologies in improving the quality of product (Edwyn Rodrigues, 2000). Quality needs to be defined in terms of a particular frame¬work of cost. The national regulatory quality certification and international quality programmes like ISO 9000 series lay down the broad quality parameters based on which companies maintain the export quality in the garment and apparel industry. Reddy (2002) attempted an analysis of SWOTs of Indian textiles and clothing industries and the requirements for quality, environment and social responsibility standards and suggested a strategy towards global competitiveness. It was focused how the companies can achieve operational efficiency and profitability by the way of implementation of standards like ISO

9000, ISO 14000 and SA 8000. Quality is ultimately a question of customer satisfaction. Good Quality increases the value of a product or service, establishes brand name, and builds up good reputation for the garment exporter, which in turn results into consumer satisfaction, high sales and foreign exchange for the country. The perceived quality of a garment is the result of a number of aspects, which together help achieve the desired level of satisfaction for the customer. Therefore quality control in terms of garment, pre-sales service, posts -sales service, delivery, pricing, etc are essentials for any garment exporter ( Gaurav Doshi, 2006).

Objectives of the study

The study is carried out with the following Objectives and determination.

a. To Analysis the di fferent levels of age group labourers about QMS development.

b. To examine the administrative frame work in knitwear industries QMS.

c. To study Government agencies and other agencies appraisal role in knitwear industries QMS.

d. To provide suggestions, recommendations and conclusion for the improvement of QMS and also scope for further studies.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study covers only Quality Management System (QMS) of the knitwear industry with particular reference to Tirupur. The study covers not only the technical aspects of the QMS but al so the administra tive side of QMS including documentation, f i l ing etc .

METHODOLOGY

The study has used both primary and secondary data . But mostly i t has been based primary data col lected through questionnaires, interviews etc . middle management and top management off icial s and other level of

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management. Strategical ly random sampling method was used for selecting samples in the case of management off icia ls for col lection of primary data.

As far as labourers were concerned the total population was 40000 out of which 2000 were selected as sample under s trati f ied random sampling method. For this the total population was s tra ti f ied into various groups l ike between the age group of 15-25, 25-35, 35-45 and above 45 . The methodology adopted is a scienti f ic and objective one without any personal bias.

INSERT TABLE-1 HERE

The overal l analysis of the above table clearly shows that a majori ty of labourers is not aware at a l l of Quali ty Management System (QMS), the percentage being 66.05%. If we analyse at micro level then i t shows that the number of labourers being aware of QMS is proport ionately higher in ta i loring/ trimming than that of those involved in other processes, because the qual i ty i s given more emphasis a t this s tage and in tai loring we have to make up and set a r ight al l the other defects which have been made in previous processes. But even in ta i loring the degree of awareness is not up to the expectations. Moreover in case of knit ting, dyeing e tc . , where there has to be increased awareness of QMS in practice i t i s to the contrary . This clearly emphasis the importance of and need for creative awareness about and educating on QMS among the labourers to achieve better results .

INSERT TABLE-2 HERE

The analysis of the above table shows that a majori ty of the labourers engaged in tai loring and trimming, the percentage being 46 out of sample 1210. Considering the present QMS as one , which victimizes or penal izes the labour for non-fulf i l lment of standards

or variations/devia tion from the standards even to very negl igible extent, because at this s tage very often the work of labourers is re jec ted and they are asked to remake the same in the name of QMS. Analysing the evaluation of QMS by labourers engaged in kni t ting, dyeing and printing, they fel t that the present QMS ignores the labour welfare in the sense that i t does not provide against pol lution and hazardous occupational diseases inherent in these processes l ike, asthma, skin disease e tc . , but instead emphasises upon the qual i ty management without looking a t the other side of the coin that is , the labour welfare and safety. So, we can conclude that apart f rom stressing upon the achievement of the ef fective QMS, the management should also looked af ter the labour welfare. After a l l , the qual i ty cannot be sustained without involving this human asset.

INSERT TABLE- 3 HERE

The overal l analysis of the above table clearly shows that the number of labourers considering their role to be the highest in the present QMS is ni l in most of the processes . In other processes the number is very meager. Except for tai loring/trimming in which most of the labourers consider their role in QMS to be the highest due to the fact that they have a major role in ensuring and sustaining qual i ty and rect i f ication of defects in previous processes/ most of the labourers engaged in other processes l ike knitting. Considering their role implementing the QMS is very l imited, the percentage being 67, 59 and 60 respectively. From the aalysis of the others we can conclude that the labourers working in different processes have not been given their respective share and proper role in achieving effect ive QMS i .e . , the QMS has been confined only to the managerial levels and i t has not

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reached the labourers . Actual ly this is not an encouraging feature. In fact the various aspects of QMS should reach the grass root level i .e. , the labourers for i ts effec tive implementation, improvement and continuation. Hence the management should take necessary steps to involve the labour more effectively and increasingly in achieving effective QMS through delegation of powers, decentral ization of authori ty educating them about their role in QMS through training, orienta tion and workshop and also through making the system more transparent and f lexible.

INSERT TABLE- 4 HERE

Table No.4 explain the respondents opinion about Quality Management System (QMS) with respect to awareness of QMS, evaluation of QMS, role of the labours in achieving effective QMS, nature of productions and labour involved based on age Criteria. One-way ANOVA has been applied to find out the variance of opinion relating to these factors based on age Criteria.

From the significant value it is observed that there highly is significant relationship between awareness of QMS and age of the respondents (.000), there is highly significant relationship between evaluation of QMS and age of the respondents (.000), there is highly significant relationship between role of the labours in achieving effective QMS and age of the respondents (.000) and there is highly significant relationship between nature of productions and labour involved and age of the respondents (.000).

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Machineries and equipments with advanced sophisticated modern technology should be used widely on a large scale by all the units in Tirupur, so as to improve quality, productivity and also to detect, rectify errors at every stage.

• The Government should evolve clear guidelines and standards especially with regard to QMS for each and every knitwear unit. The standardisation of quality at each stage should be made compulsory by the Government for every single unit, should not allow any such units to function and must comply with the required standards as specified by QMS at all stages.

• Like the ISO for consumer goods and the Agmark for agricultural commodities, the Government must also formulate standards and enforce to produce standard products and must insist upon the gate pass for every dispatch of export products by strictly following the norms and procedure stipulated as an enmark of eligibility for obtaining export clearance.

• The Government should send periodical inspection team on a regular basis to the units to ensure the proper QMS.

• The Government should also be more generous to grand sufficient financial assistance and supports to the knitwear units in the form of subsidies and provision of technical' know-how as a measure of guidance for marketing and export etc.

• The Government should also resort to develop the industries with reference to QMS by active collaboration with NIFT, other voluntary agencies like TEA and also with the local manufacturers and exporters.

• The Government agencies with the support and co-operation of voluntary agencies and exporters association shall conduct seminars, conferences, orientation programmes, training programmes for the people involved in different levels of management and also for laborers, with special focus on QMS and its importance.

• The manufacturer in Tirupur shall themselves mutually share their advanced and sophisticated system by paying the service and they shall co-operate with each other to develop the QMS with an integrated and

Quality Management System-An Imperative need to Flourish Knitwear Industry in India

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concentrated efforts to maintain uniform QMS developments at all levels

CONCLUSION

The study has ascertained that the lack of quality consciousness and awareness in the knitwear industries in Tirupur and also unawareness in the different levels of management. The Yearn of inferior quality are chosen due to the cost factor at the initial stage itself without compromising the quality aspects. Though the manual knitting has become completely obsolete in the knitwear industries in Tirupur, most of the units use indigenous machineries for their knitting in performance. As a result, the fabrics became much inferior in quality and also resulted in large wastages.

Due to want of time and mounted over pressure and urge for executing out the order on time, most of the manufacturers fail to check the quality of the fabrics at the initial stage itself. Due to this factor inferior quality fabric goes for the next stage of further processing and finishing which causes unwanted processing cost increasing the total value of the piece. The study also finds that the role of Government agencies in lending of assistance to the knitwear industry is very low, which has led to contravention and most of the manufacturers never comply the quality and standards and other specifications. They never try to attempt with the efforts for any fulfillments that are expected.

SCOPE FOR FURTHER STUDY

Though this study has deeply analysed the QMS in different dimensions, along with its importance and problems in its implementation, factors to be considered for its development, scope for its future

development etc., supported by the opinions and feedback from the personnel at different levels of management. It has not covered the buyers and customers point of view. Hence further study can be undertaken based on the fruits of the study to look at the QMS from the buyer's or customer's point of view.

REFERENCES

Apparel.indiamart.com/lib/garments/indian07251998.html

Apparel Views Report, “Are we Using Right Technology for Apparel Production?,”. Apparel views Feb. 2003:1-2.

Edwyn Rodrigues. “ Knit Fabrics Principle and Recent Developments in Processing”, Clothesline Nov. 2000 : 74.

Gaurav Doshi, “Quality Control Aspects Of Garment Exports,” http://EzineArticles.com, 2006.

Nadiger. G.S, “Testing As An Instrument for Process Improvement and Quality Upgradationm,” Textile committee Oct. 2001:99.

Official website of Ministry of Textiles,Government of India, http://texmin.nic.in, 2005.

Reddy,R.C.M. “Global Competitiveness of Indian Textiles - Perspectives on Quality and Standards,” Quality and Complaiances, Spec. Issue of Textile Committee March. 2002 : 53

Saumyen Mapdar, “Introspection into Garments Dyeing,” 3Ts A Journal of Textile Committee April – June. 2002 : 5

Shanmugasundaram S and Panchanatham N,”Export Challenges in Tamil Nadu Garment Industry”, Synthesis June 2007:67

Shanmugasundaram S and Panchanatham N,”Global Challenges in Tamil Nadu Garment Industry”, International Journal of Management Sciences dec.2007:127

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Table-1 Analysis of awareness of QMS among different level of labour Nature of work

Age group

Knitting Dyeing Printing Cutting Tailoring & Trimming

Packing & Delivery

Total

No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

%

Aware

57 2.85 37 1.85 27 1.35 82 4.1 457 22.85 19 0.95 679 33.95

Not aware

145 7.25

86

4.3

73

3.65 223

11.15

753

37.65

41

2.05

1321

66.05

Total 202 10.1 123 6.15 100 5 305 15.25 1210 60.5 60 3 2000 100

Table-2 Analysis of the evaluation of the QMS by labourers Nature of work

Age group

Knitting Dyeing Printing Cutting Tailoring & Trimming

Packing & Delivery

Total

No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

%

It is too rigid 43 2.15 33 1.65 28 1.4 54 2.7 210 10.5 19 0.95 387 19.35

It is not transparent

20

1.00

9

0.45

20

1.0

83

4.15

155

7.75

28

1.4

315

15.75

It contains idealistic and unachievable standards

44

2.2

17

0.85

18

0.9

90

4.5

160

8.00

6

0.3

335

16.75

It victimizes the labour

16

0.8

9

0.45

4

0.2

61

3.05

555

27.75

4

0.2

649

32.45

It ignores the labour welfars

74

3.7

46

2.3

24

1.2

15

0.75

93

4.65

2

0.10

254

12.7

No opinion 5 0.25 9 0.45 6 0.3 2 0.10 37 1.85 1 0.05 60 0.3

Total 202 10.1 123 6.15 100 5 305 15.25 1210 60.5 60 3 2000 100

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Table-3 Analysis of role of labourers in achieving effective QMS nature of work

Age group

Knitting Dyeing Printing Cutting Tailoring & Trimming

Packing & Delivery

Total

No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

% No.of labour

%

Highest - - - - - - 65 2.25 850 42.5 6 0.3 921 46.05

Far 8

0.4

17

0.85

13

0.65

142

7.1

175

8.75

9

0.45

354

18.2

Moderate 47 2.35 24 1.2 19 0.95 55 2.75 130 6.5 40 2 315 15.75

Very limited

135

6.75

73

3.65

60

3.0

35

1.75

55

2.75

4

0.2

362

18.1

No role at all

12

0.6

9

0.45

8

0.4

8

0.4

-

-

1

0.05

38

1.9

Total 202 10.1 123 6.15 100 5 305 15.25 1210 60.5 60 3 2000 100

Table-4 ANOVA between age and dimensions of Quality management system among labours.

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

AWARENESS OF QMS

Between Groups 208.985 3 69.662 580.574

.000

Within Groups 239.495 1996 .120

Total 448.480 1999

EVALUATION OF QMS

Between Groups 3164.855 3 1054.952 2413.689

.000

Within Groups 872.393 1996 .437

Total 4037.248 1999

ROLE OF LABOURS IN ACHIEVING EFFECTIVE QMS

Between Groups 2748.948 3 916.316 6410.673

.000

Within Groups 285.300 1996 .143

Total 3034.248 1999

NATURE OF PRODUCTIONS AND LABOUR INVOLVED

Between Groups

97.591 3 32.530 250.930

.000 Within Groups 258.761 1996 .130

Total 356.352 1999