DHU in Apparel Manufacturing

The demand for higher value garments at lower price is increasing day by day. In apparel manufacturing it is very common to have some rejected garments after shipment. Reworks is very common in the garment manufacturing units but it hampers the smooth production rate which ultimately impact the overall economy of the factory.

DHU stands for Defects Per Hundred Units. In layman’s language, the number of defects detected on inspection of every 100 garments is called the DHU. The formula to calculate the DHU is as follows:

DHU% = (Total defects found x 100)/ Total number of garments.

?If there would be any defect in a stitched garment there would be various processes to repair/mend the same too, which would evidently increase the production cost and reduce the quality of the products too. Hence, defects minimisation is the first condition of reducing production cost and improving the quality. Minimization of reworks is a must in quality and productivity improvement.

To improve the quality as well as productivity of the garment industry, various techniques can be used. However, the most important step would be to re-skill or upskill the manpower. Supervisors, who happened to be the first-line managers in a garment unit and also the first point of contact for the operators, must be trained to develop soft skills and communication skills.

They should be trained to understand the fundamentals of Industrial Engineering viz., OB, skill matrix, line balancing, advance planning etc. Similarly, operators, who is the most valuable resource in apparel manufacturing, should be trained properly and regularly. A proper training of the operators increases their skill level which ultimately reduces the defects and increases line output. There is nothing better motivating factor for an operator than some extra rewards, so some performance-based incentive schemes must be devised for their extra efforts.

Some digital systems should also be incorporated in the production floor for Real Time Tracking of Quality Parameters. System based on RFID (like Pro-RFID, Pro-Con etc.), or cloud based Mobile App like Pro-X 4.0 can help in identifying the defects in a garment on real time basis and can help the supervisors to take a corrective measure on Real Time to reduce the DHU percentage

Good Quality, lower DHU percentage, increases the value of a product or service, establishes brand name, and builds up good reputation for the garment manufacturer, which in turn results into consumer satisfaction, high sales, and higher profitability for the company. Hence, the apparel manufacturers need to improve their operations through-Producing right first-time quality and waste reduction.

By

Ms Sunaina Khanna

Director, Methods Apparel Consultancy India Pvt Ltd?