Lean Management: the key to operational performance for clothing manufacturers

Supported by IFTH and the European Union and the Pays de la Loire region as part of the Feder-FSE operational program, the Innofabmod project imagines the industry of the future in the sector. With six pilot companies (Getex, Macosa, Confection Fléchoise, Femilux, Société Choletaise de Fabrication, Textile du Maine), tangible and intangible projects have been set up from 2018 to 2023 to improve the competitiveness of garment making manufacturers.

One of the first, Lean Management, has been very unifying.

"Started in 2018 and responding to a real expectation, this initial project involved all six pilots and was very useful for the projects that followed: when you're well organized, it's easier to set up other projects" explains Clément Gourlaouen, Mod'Innov's animator. This cluster, now supported by Mode Grand Ouest, is responsible for spreading the culture of innovation/CSR within companies, notably via Innofabmod teaching.

"The aim of Lean Management was to provide an agile organization and improve communication between all departments, overall workshop performance and develop managers' skills in the role of leading their teams", explains Lorette Buys, Managing Director of Cubik (formerly Pop), the service provider selected to train and support companies in Lean Management.

Four stages

The deployment of Lean Management by Cubik took place in four stages. The first (1 to 2 days) consisted of training company managers at the Usine-Ecole in Nantes, "a very important phase, as it was necessary for them to be convinced by the approach they would be carrying" emphasizes Lorette Buys.

For the second stage, a diagnosis was carried out in situ at each company, via interviews with the teams, to identify the levers for progress and build a roadmap of actions to be taken (streamlining production, tidying up materials, optimizing the Product development unit...).

The third stage concerned support for priority projects. Lorette Buys classifies them into two types: "cultural" or "performance". The former "consisted in developing a culture of continuous improvement, via visual indicators and daily management animation rituals lasting a few minutes around key elements; this in order to escalate and resolve problems more easily and quickly". The latter "were aimed at optimizing certain high-stake processes for the company (product development, sales, quality...)", with a central objective: to set up two-way information flows (ascending and descending).

Finally, in the fourth stage, Cubik coached managers towards a facilitation dimension to increase the skills of all teams.

This approach bore fruit: "teams noticed a real improvement in communication and less wasted time. It really improved the links between managers and their teams", notes Lorette Buys. As a result, productivity has been optimized, field irritants and non-quality have been reduced.

Photo credit :© Mod'Innov">

Significant results

At Société Choletaise de Fabrication (SCF), CEO Olivier Verrièle has seen an 80% reduction in non-conforming products since 2010, thanks to Lean.

This entreprise du patrimoine vivant (EPV), specializing in narrow textile accessories (cords, laces, straps...), had already initiated the approach before the Innofabmod project. Convinced of its virtues as a former banker, Olivier Verrièle deployed it as soon as he bought SCF in 2010. First goal: to respond rapidly to a customer order in made-to-measure fashion, with no minimum order, from 10,000 references available in 2,500 colors.

"Beyond that, our main concern was to gradually develop our employees," explains the CEO. Lean is 80% about changing internal mindsets, and 20% about techniques. The idea is to make everyone aware of the need for a continuous improvement process. An error or malfunction is an opportunity to improve processes. By working on the cause of the problem, we ensure that it doesn't happen again".

SCF thus completed four initial Lean "loops" from 2011 to 2016 with consultants and the support of its region (Dinamic program), facilitating in particular the reorganization of its plant and its relocation in 2015. In 2020-2021, the company benefited from Innofabmod support, then continued the project on its own in 2021-2022.

Photo credit :© Société Choletaise de Fabrication">

Very participative management

The key: an MVP (Visual Performance Management) tool introduced highly participative management.

Every morning, employees from each production or administrative team meet to examine various indicators for five minutes (for production, firstly safety, good mood and compliance, then indicators specific to each team). When a problem is detected, another Lean tool, the FAI (Immediate Improvement Sheet), is used to improve a point in the process.

"Thanks to Lean, we've changed people's mindsets," says Olivier Verrièle with satisfaction. There's no longer the mistrust of the early days, which sometimes led an employee to hide a problem or keep quiet, to avoid what he saw as tattling if the subject concerned another team". The CEO admits that there are still a few stumbling blocks, with some people wrongly deeming a point too benign to talk about.

While with Lean Management, "we're never done improving", SCF is pursuing its approach with, for the first time, a project run without a consultant.

For his part, Clément Gourlaouen (Mod'Innov) notes that in the six pilot companies, "Lean Management has brought an undeniable gain in maturity. There has truly been a before and after for their internal relations".

No wonder Lean is so appealing. Since the pilot project, relayed via videos on Youtube and the IFTH website, Cubik has supported some fifteen companies in the clothing sector in the approach.