LEAN MANUFACTURING AND THE APPAREL INDUSTRY: AN ASSESSMENT MODEL FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Abstract

Lean manufacturing is a management model not directly focused on the study of work (Taylorism), but a management that focuses on analyzing the relationship of employees with their work and their purpose with the company. Thus, the research has a general objective to identify the application of lean manufacturing in the activities of the clothing manufacturing industries and to understand the level of execution that companies are carrying out of lean. For this, a descriptive qualitative methodology was developed with content analysis, carried out through semi-structured interviews to analyze the work experiences of employees about lean. Therefore, the results showed that the industries have applied lean manufacturing, but in a still flawed way, because they do not have an administration by objectives, training of employees continuously, as well as environmental criteria such as requirements for hiring suppliers; however, modern technologies applied to LM for production control (software and machinery) remain one of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs because they have a high acquisition value.