APPLYING VALUE STREAM MAPPING TECHNIQUE IN APPAREL INDUSTRY

Lean production focuses on eliminating waste and increasing the effiency of system continuously. Value, the starting point of lean production, is a property of a product or service that customer is willing to pay and it provides the needs of customer at a specific time and price. Value stream mapping is one of the important tools of lean production. It is a pencil and paper tool that helps to see and understand the flow of material and information as a product makes its waythrough the value stream. In this paper, a value stream mapping study was carried out in a apparel company which produces jeans. First, the current state was introduced. Then by using lean techniques and methods future state map was created. The results of this study, outlining improvements and expected benefits, were proposed.