The project Overcoming barriers to improving Occupational health and safety in Myanmar offers training to SMEs to improve efficiency and sustainability (OHS) in Myanmar's apparel production and research the effects. Initially, the project aimed at paying more attention to OHS knowledge spillover effects between companies but due to mobility restrictions the project was changed toward paying more attention to effects and knowledge sharing in general.
The project has conducted lean interventions aiming at improving occupational health and safety and productivity in 15 supplier factories. The interventions lasted approximately in each factory and involved collaboration between SDU, a local consultancy company (earlier in the project an NGO and Yangon Technical university) and the local companies including employees at various levels.
The effects of the interventions have been assessed at the various factories for both qualitative and quantitative effects. The effects can be summarized in the following way: The interventions have led to significant improvements. Based on the evaluation of 11 factories, there was, on average, a 24.2% increase in production outputs, 0.2% a decrease in defects, and a 10.4% increase in efforts to narrow the gap between the production target and actual outputs. Furthermore, 32% of these factories have independently up scaled the integrated solutions to the rest of their production line partially or fully after six months of intervention.
In addition, the project has conducted survey with close to 500 participants regarding leadership, Lean, OHS, and productivity.
The project has disseminated the effect and how to organize Lean interventions at various sites and is planning to conduct yet another event to be held in the end of the month. Initially, we had aimed at conducting events with numerous types of stakeholders but change in regime prevented this. We have therefor had to focus on supplier/factories as main participants.
The project participants are currently finishing a book in Myanmar about design of Lean interventions and their effects.
The participants in the project are currently involved in finishing eight different papers.
PI Prof. Jan Vang
Exploring the impact of university-driven supplier development interventions on supplier performance: a case of the garment industry
Paper from Seyed Pendar Toufighi, Jan Vang, Kannan Govindan, Amanda Bille, Min Zar Ni Lin. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management
Grand challenges and supplier development in the Global South: why experiment with new (ethnographic) intervention research methods
New paper from Jan Vang and Helene Balslev Clausen (Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark)