Productivity Analysis and Recommendations: Culture Clothing

This report, submitted by a student, analyzes the productivity of Culture Clothing, an online apparel business in Sri Lanka. The study investigates the business's operations, focusing on labor and machine productivity within a family-owned structure. The report includes a literature review on productivity management, observations of the production process, and analysis of key metrics. The author identifies knowledge gaps and irregular work timings as contributing factors to productivity issues. Based on these findings, the report offers specific recommendations, such as training for employees and implementing a proper work schedule, to enhance efficiency and output. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and a list of cited references. This document is available on Desklib, a platform for AI-powered study tools and resources.

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Managerial Diploma in HRM
PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT
Student Name : Laxman Ajendra
Student ID : 21/GD-BM/CH02/0012
Submission Date : 23/02/2022
word count : 2000
Lecturer’s name : Mr. Frank Miskin

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
Literature 3
Observation and Analysis 6
Recommendations 8
Conclusions 8
REFERENCES 9

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INTRODUCTION
A manufacturing firm’s ability to be productive and reliable is one of the defining factors that
enable the first to gain any form of competitive advantage and maximize profits (Coetzee,
1997; Madu, 2000; Fleischer, Weismann and Niggeschmidt, 2006). Productivity, in broad
terms, is a measurement of output in comparison with the input utilized in the production
process (Husband and Ghobadian, 1980). Improved productivity can directly influence an
organization’s ability to produce more and produce better. Different schools of thought have
been introduced into the process of productivity management and many tools have been
developed for this purpose, such as Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Kaizen, 5 S, Lean,
and Six Sigma (Swanson, 2001).
This report will be focusing on and investigate the productivity of Culture Clothing, an
apparel company that has recently entered the market. The organization focuses primarily
on producing T-Shirts that go in line with the contemporary trends, targeting the younger
audience. This is a family-owned business. The proprietor, Gladness Fernando launched the
business in 2019 with the help of four of his family members. Since the business was
launched as a small-scale start-up with limited means, they have not employed anyone as a
salaried employee, and have agreed to share the profits amongst themselves. The business
is currently producing short-sleeved and long-sleeved V- neck, and crew neck T-shirts.
Through this report, the author hopes to review the production process of the business in
line with concepts that relate to productivity, find out any pain areas that need special
attention, and offer recommendations to improve these issues where necessary.
LITERATURE
Productivity can be defined as a measurement of the efficiency displayed in the production
of goods or services (Burton and Kaliski, 2001). It can be further described as a ratio
between the measurable volume of output and the input (OECD, 2022). An organization
would be interested in measuring its productivity due to the following factors.
Technology – The methods that are presently available and can be utilized to convert inputs
into outputs. The effect that technology has on productivity is quite big, but not
straightforward (Griliches, 1987).
Efficiency – This can be defined as the ability of a firm or a process to achieve the highest
output that is physically possible under the contemporary levels of technology and fixed
levels of input. This is one of the most common ways of maximizing profits (Diewert and
Lawrence, 1999).
Real cost savings – The production process can be recalibrated in many ways. Various
aspects of efficiency changes, technical changes, and economies of scale can be identified

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theoretically and reviewed in hindsight. However, it would be very difficult to accurately
target and focus on these things in a practical sense. A thorough review could reveal the
real savings achieved via increased productivity (Harberger, 1998).
Benchmarking production processes – Various production processes come with different
levels of efficiencies, and a thorough review can enable a manager to compare and contrast
these techniques and even create hybrid techniques (OECD, 2022).
The productivity of an organization indicates how effective an organization is at extracting
the highest possible benefit from its resources (OECD, 2022). Increased productivity can
increase the quality and the quantity of the output, and in turn, increase the real income
and economic well-being of the organization (Swanson, 2001). Some of the benefits of
increased productivity can be listed below (Dilanthi, 2013).
 Higher profitability.
 Lower operational costs.
 Optimization of resources.
 Better customer service.
 Possibilities of organizational growth.
 Minimization of wastes.
 Improved working environment.
 Competitive advantage.
 Minimizes employee burnout.
Considering the above, one could conclude that the productivity of an organization is one of
the key determinants of its performance, and increasing the level of productivity is certainly
in the best interest of the organization.
Whilst a simplistic understanding of productivity focuses on the equation between inputs
and outputs, a more thorough look at the concept would reveal that productivity can be
measured in three different ways, namely: single-factor productivity, multifactor
productivity, and total productivity (OECD, 2022).
Single-factor productivity: When only one type/ class of resources is taken into consideration
for the measurement of productivity, it is known as single-factor productivity. Productivity
measures such as labor productivity and capital productivity are examples of this (Sumanth,
1997).

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Labor productivity = Total output/ Total labor input
Capital productivity = Total output/ Total capital input
Multi-factor productivity: When more than one factor is taken into consideration for the
measurement of productivity, it is known as multi-factor productivity. Labor and capital
productivity is an example of this measurement (U.S. Department of Labor, 2022).
Labor and capital productivity = Total output/ Total Labor and Capital input
Total productivity: When all the resources included in the production process are considered
for the measurement of productivity, it is known as total productivity (OECD, 2022).
Total productivity = Total output/ total input (ie: labor, capital, and other intermediate
inputs)
Productivity is driven by many factors. One of the most obvious factors would be the
technology available at the time (OECD, 2022). However, the many processes employed by
an organization and their evolution through time also play a key role in driving productivity.
Organizations let go of less productive practices and embrace more productive practices
based on the knowledge that they have gained (Field, 2006). Further, historically speaking,
major trends and shifts such as mass production, automation, and electrification of the
production processes, have played a role in driving productivity (Ayres et al, 2006). Proper
time management, too can drive productivity (OECD, 2022). According to the Office of
National Statistics of the UK (2022), the following factors too can drive productivity in the
long run.
- Investment in physical capital (ex: machinery, equipment, buildings
- Innovation
- Upskilling the employees
- The entrepreneurial spirit of the heads of the organization
- Competition

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OBSERVATIONS AND ANALYSIS
Culture Clothing is an online business that specializes in custom-made crew-necked/ V-
necked short-sleeved and long-sleeved t-shirts. The business was established in 2019. The
business’s mission is to integrate modern clothing trends with regional traditions and culture
in terms of design. They primarily operate and accept orders via their Instagram account.
They undertake orders for printed and solid-colored t-shirts. Their t-shirts are made of locally
sourced, 100% cotton material. They only offer 3-4 color variants for their t-shirts at a given
time. These options are switched or updated Avery two months (ie: their offering for
November and December 2021 were ocean blue, swamp green, wine red). Due to this
exclusive nature of their business, t-shirts are only stitched upon receipt of orders. The
customers can choose from the following options when placing an order.
1. Solid plain coloured t-shirt
2. Printed t-shirts designed by Culture Clothing
3. Personalized printed t-shirts as per the customer's requirements.
The organization is made up of its founder and four of its family members. Due to the small-
scale nature of the business, they have elected not to hire any external help. Instead, the
founder and the family members handle the designing, production, and customer relations.
The delivery function is outsourced to a local vendor. The business mostly handles relatively
smaller and individualized orders. Their inventory includes 4 “Juki” sewing machines and 2
“Kingjet” heat press T-Shirt printers.
The author visited the organization and observed their production process and made the
following observations over a week.
- They do not have fixed working hours. All five of the involved partners take turns
sewing t-shirts as per requirement.
- Only one of the partners has formal training in sewing/ tailoring. And the others
mostly consult him and carry out their work.
- Only the founder and one other partner are skilled in operating the printing machine.
- An order takes approximately 5-7 days to complete.
- The founder handles the social media handle and customer relations.
- Accounting is handled by both the founder and one other partner.

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For this research, the author, when calculating productivity, focused only on labor
productivity and machine productivity. Also, only the production of solid color t-shirts was
taken into consideration. After monitoring the number of hours contributed by each of the
partners, the findings are as follows.
Total labor hours = 800 hours
Total sewing machines = 4
Total t-shirts produced within a week = 150
Value of a t-shirt = Rs. 1000 /-
Labor productivity = 150000/800
= Rs. 187.5 per hour
Machine productivity = no. Of garments/ no. of machines
= 150/4
= 37.5 per machine per week
Per day/ shift productivity = 37.5/5
= 7.5 per machine per day/ shift
The industry average machine productivity ranges at 10 shirts per machine per shift (Bheda,
2002). The business is currently producing T-Shirts at a rate lower than the industry
average. It was also observed that the one partner who has formal training in tailoring
produced twice as much as the rest of the partners. So, it is safe to assume that there is a
knowledge gap that is preventing the rest of the partners/ employees from effectively using
the sewing machines. The relatively unskilled partners often rely on the advice and guidance
of the skilled partner. This causes delays and hang-ups in the production process. Similarly,
they also displayed a general lack of confidence and ease in utilizing the machines which
also slowed the process, and consequently, limited their output.

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The total number of labor hours contributed by 5 employees/ partners over 5 days amounts
to 800 hours. If we were to assume that the average duration of a shift is the right hours,
then the total number of man-hours contributed should be 1000 hours. This clearly shows
that the number of actual hours worked is not sufficient to run a production-based business.
The primary reason for this was identified as the lack of clearly designated working hours.
No proper records are maintained to track the number of hours worked. This also leads to
longer and irregular breaks. All of this further hampers the speed and the overall
effectiveness of the production process.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Having reviewed the circumstances of the organization and the nature of the production
process, the author would make the following recommendations.
- All the partners should receive proper training in handling the sewing machines. This
would drastically improve the output generated per machine.
- A proper roster system needs to be implemented, as this would ensure that the
partners work on time and also work the appropriate hours.
- Breaks need to be taken only at designated times and not at the whim of each
partner. Many partners appear to be idling and this can be avoided by properly
regulated brakes.
CONCLUSION
This study was conducted within the purview of Culture Clothing, an apparel business based
in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and operating online via Instagram. The author studied the
production process of the business in the hopes of identifying any productivity issues. A
literature review was conducted to gain some understanding of productivity and the
underpinning theories. Based on this, the author identified that the business has issues with
knowledge gaps and irregular work timings which has caused productivity issues.
Appropriate recommendations were made.

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REFERENCES
- Ayres, Robert U. Warr, Benjamin (2006). "Economic growth, technological progress, and energy use in the
U.S. over the last century: Identifying common trends and structural change in macroeconomic time
series". INSEAD Business in Society Centre. Available at:
[https://sites.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=2156] [Accessed on 20 February 2022]
- Bheda, R. 2002. Productivity in Indian Apparel Industry: Paradigms and Paragons. JTATM. Vol. 02. [ebook]
Available at: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://textiles.ncsu.edu/tatm/
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lCPAQFnoECAUQBg&usg=AOvVaw3WaomgPP9IKHnIb33voF0K [Accessed 20 February 2022].
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- Coetzee, Jasper, L. (1997). Maintenance. South Africa: Maintenance Publishers.
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Working Paper 99/5, Available at: http://www.treasury.govt.nz/workingpapers/99-5.htm. [Accessed on 13
February 2022]
- Dilanthi, M. G. S. 2013. IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY WITH MAINTENANCE FUNCTION IN MANUFACTURING
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