On 12 September 2022 Azim Muhammad defended his PhD thesis: Designing better lean interventions in developing countries – solving organizational challenges in the garment sector. Peter Hasle was supervisor of the PhD project.
The goal of the PhD project was to find out how productivity and safety and health in the garment sector in developing countries can be improved with lean manufacturing as the tool, and in particular how the implementation can be carried out efficiently and sustainable.
The thesis covers three papers – each with a sub study.
The thesis covers three papers – each with a sub study.
The first paper covers a study of lean implementation in the garment industry in Myanmar. Azim and colleagues supported a lean intervention in six garment factories and use the experience from the implementation process and the outcome to suggest how lean can be applied in a low resource context with very limited industrial experience and lack of qualified engineers and workers.
The second papers focussed on the implementation of SMED for faster change over time in three garment factories in Bangladesh. The implementation outcome shows considerable improvements, and Azim also shows how important it is to secure related organisational changes with clear distribution of responsibility for each step in the SMED process.
The last paper looks at continuous quality improvements in two garment factories in Bangladesh. Azim has introduced Quality Control Circles (QCC) at the main tool to create the antecedents for continuous quality improvements. He shows how a number of practical mechanisms can be used to make quality improvements more sustainable in the garment industry.
The second papers focussed on the implementation of SMED for faster change over time in three garment factories in Bangladesh. The implementation outcome shows considerable improvements, and Azim also shows how important it is to secure related organisational changes with clear distribution of responsibility for each step in the SMED process.
The last paper looks at continuous quality improvements in two garment factories in Bangladesh. Azim has introduced Quality Control Circles (QCC) at the main tool to create the antecedents for continuous quality improvements. He shows how a number of practical mechanisms can be used to make quality improvements more sustainable in the garment industry.
Go to PhD Thesis Designing Better Lean Intervention in Developing Countries-Solving Organizational Challenges in the Garments Sector