Effects of statistical process control (SPC) practices on quality performance of the apparel firms

Abstract

Manufacturing industries worldwide identified that quality is a major strategy for gaining the competitive advantage in their businesses. Therefore, Statistical Process Control (SPC) has become one of the most popular and widespread organizational interventions in the quality improvement. Although numerous empirical studies pertaining to textile and apparel industry have been published, relatively little is known about SPC of apparel firms that implemented total quality management (TQM) and lean techniques. The preliminary investigations led to identify that apparel firms that have implemented TQM and lean manufacturing techniques use the SPC practices. Therefore, this study is designed to empirically examine the level of the implementation of SPC practices and to establish the relationship between the implementation of SPC practices and quality performance in the TQM and lean implemented Sri Lankan apparel companies. The population of the study consisted of apparel companies operating in Sri Lanka that have implemented the TQM and/or lean manufacturing techniques. Twenty apparel companies fulfilled the sample selection criteria set for the study. The self-administrated survey questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire was pilot tested prior to distribution. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS. Results show that the lean and TQM implemented apparel companies in Sri Lanka apply higher level of SPC practices. The quality performances in terms of rework, rejections and customer complaint shows negative relationship and audit pass rate shows positive relationship with higher levels of SPC practices. This implies that the implementation of SPC practices has reduced the level of rework, rejections, customer complaint and increase audit pass rates. Therefore, SPC implementation has improved the quality performance of the Sri Lankan apparel firms