In the globalizing world, fashion changes and technologies go out of date rapidly. In this regard an intense competition seems to dominate the market. The customers within the market approve to pay for the benefit they get from the product they buy. In other words they oppose the production costs to be reflected on the prices. On the other hand, customers demand faster products of better quality and in smaller amounts. Technological investment and management systems of the sector, which was created with high costs, mostly do not display a flexibility for that. The sector, in which the costs always increase and the profit rates decrease, has come across a new production system. This is called Lean Production in short. Yalçın İpbüken, President of Lean Institute, which carries out studies to promote Lean production processes and Lean philosophy in Turkey, gave information about the works of the institute and this innovative approach.
İpbüken stated that in 2002, they established Lean Institute in order to introduce the Lean production systems to the Turkish industrialists and that the institute is an education and consulting organization. “In order to make the foundations approve of Lean Transformation, and to support them and add value to them on the way to lean transformation, we serve to the sector by carrying out activities such as educational activities, workshops, publications, researches, seminars and conferences. Since 2002, we’ve provided nearly 200 small, medium and large Turkish and foreign capital businesses operating in every sector, with extensive consultancy support and more than 400 companies with educational support. Today Lean projects are ongoing in 55 different companies,” İpbüken.
İpbüken stated that Lean Institute in Turkey, is in a continuous contact with the Lean Institutes over 18 countries, America being the first place. İpbüken reminded that their institute is the solution partner in Turkey of JIPMs, in Japan, which gives TPM Awards. İpbüken stated that they are in a contact with The Union of Japanese Scientists&Engineers and have a collaboration with TEC Toyota Engineering Corp and The Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS).
Lean Philosophy Covers the Entire Process of the Companies
Yalçın İpbüken stated that contrary to the general opinion, ‘Lean’ philosophy is not based only on production and streamlining , but also a human-oriented business culture and a holistic management approach covering the entire process including human resources management, production and IT infrastructure. İpbüken reminded that Lean Institute supports the lean projects of the companies it works with in various business processes such as supply, logistics, sales, planning, product development, investment and cost management.
İpbüken stated that they contribute to the companies sustainability, profitability and growth targets in 4 main dimensions. “The first dimension is cost. Lean methods decreases the costs by helping to use the production costs such as human, machinery, material, energy, time and money more efficiently. The second dimension is sales revenue, which is the other parameter of profitability. Lean method make us focus on value for our customers and offer the high-value added products and services demanded by them. By this way, we do not waste resources for the products, services and features that are not demanded. The third dimension is the way of doing business, which is a culture. The developing employees’ perspective, creates the infrastructure that will ensure a long-term success for the company. The fourth dimension is to convince and adapt the company to a change in the existing employee and manager profile.
Textile Giants Adopts Lean Philosophy
Yalçın İpbüken emphasized that there isn’t any sector or field, in which Lean philosophy is not applied. İpbüken added that in addition to textile, the fields of IT, construction and healthcare have also been included in the process recently.
İpbüken emphasized that considering the employment, balance of payments and Turkey’s foreign trade target of $ 500 billion, textile sector is a very strategic sector. İpbüken added that textile is the most open sector to the global competition. İpbüken continued by saying; “Turkey is one of the most successful countries that export textile products to the West. In some categories we take the first place. At first, the competitiveness of Turkey was based on the fact that labor wages are competitive. Whereas the competitiveness based only on labor wages is not long lasting. The countries that pay less to its workers can get ahead of you and can seize your orders. We’re living in a world where lowness of the labor wages is not enough. The competitive conditions in the world is shaped by the global brands such as Zara, Nike, Adidas, H&M and Hugo Boss. The business model developed by Zara is based on “Fast model presenting and pricing the fashion products to make them affordable by the middle class’. Zara has become Toyota for the fashion sector. A sustainable success and profitability in the textile sector are achieved through being right and offering quality from the beginning.”
İpbüken said that as Lean Institute, they offer shot-term consultancy and educational services to many textile companies. İpbüken added that in order to achieve a sustainable soccess and profitability, certain criteria should be fulfilled. İpbüken explained these criteria by saying; “Hearing the voice of the customers very well and reflecting it on the products and services is very important. Contract manufacturing is not enough for a sustainable success. Attention should be paid to developing know-how; the agenda of the world should be followed closely. The company should be very successful at product designing, creating models and collecting. However, while doing these, it should persistently apply and focus on Lean Production and Lean Method and perform quality production in the first time, always strive to reduce costs, adapt their supply system to today’s quality and speed, be able to reduce order delivery periods to days and hours and make the complete delivery on the exact date and hour.”
İpbüken emphasized that various segments in textile sector demand different solutions. İpbüken argued that the companies that have dyehouses should always keep their energy costs under control. “A great deal of waste is created in energy and water. Likewise, a lot of machinery and equipments are used in the weaving field. In order to increase the efficiency of the machines, facilities and the equipments, much more effort should be made. Every centimeter and each single penny should be calculated,” said İpbüken and added that the apparel segment is a labor-intensive field and it is very important to continuously educate and improve the employees.
Yeşim Applies Lean Philosophy Successfully
İpbüken stated that Nike stipulated all of its suppliers to adopt Lean Philosophy and that they do not collaborate with the companies which do not adopt Lean Production and Management. İpbüken said that Yeşim Tekstil, located in Bursa, has become the most successful textil supplier in Nike’s application of Lean company. “With the advise it took from Nike, Yeşim Tekstil took its first step to its Lean Journey with Lean Institute and continued its journey with Lean Institute for a long period of time. From time to time we continue this collaboration. Yeşim Tekstil gave great importance to Lean Production and Lean Management and all the senior managers, especially Şenol Şenkaya, continues their activities as Lean Leaders. Yeşim Tekstil has been matured enough to be able to train its own suppliers about Lean Philosophy,” said İpbüken.
Hugo Boss Becomes the Operational Excellence Center
İpbüken gave Hugo Boss as another example of a lean company. “A Hugo Boss company, located in İzmir Free Zone, is a success story itself. Lean Institue contributed to the Operational Excellence Journet of Hugo Boss. We maintain the communication with Hugo Boss. The company which started the journey with the directives of Germany, managed to become the Operational Excellence Center of the global Hugo Boss,” said İpbüken.
İpbüken stated that Savcan Tekstil, located in Bursa, is an expert in women’s fashion fabrics and that Lean Production and Lean Management studies are carried out in the company’s dyehouses and apparel and weaving segments. İpbüken said that with this studies, the company gained important things and its activities increased in the European market. İpbüken stated that Türkün of Türkün Holding, which operates in the field of home textiles in Bursa, has been carrying out Lean Production and Lean Management studies and that they have a collaboration with Lean Institute.
Basic Investment is Made in Human
İpbüken remarked that the most important expenditure in the Lean Production and Lean Management carried out with Lean Institute is the investment made in humans. İpbüken added that no other technical investment is demanded. İpbüken stated that with Lean Method, a 35-45 percent reduction has been observed in the occupied areas in production and 50 percent in warehouses. İpbüken continued by saying; “A 80 percent reduction in the semi-finished stocks and raw materials in the production areas, 15-25 percent efficiency in human productivity, 25-35 percent efficiency in machinery equipments, 100 percent increase in quality and an improvement of up to 90 percent is ensured from the order to the delivery. In other words, there are significant benefits for the production resources and business capital. We achieve these results almost everywhere.” İpbüken added that these benefits are gained within 6-18 months on average and the money paid for the consultancy returns to the company very rapidly.
