Internal Quality Failures of Apparel Industry: A Case from Sri Lanka

Abstract

Apparel industry in Sri Lanka has recorded a consistent development advancing from the customary low-wage driven model into mind bogging worldwide recognized apparel hub in South Asia. Since quality holds a significant importance in the garment exports of developing countries, this research is a case based qualitative investigation to explore factors leading to quality failures in a medium-scale export oriented apparel manufacturing company located in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka. The study has employed thematic analysis to explore and analyze the inner experience of participants with regards to the quality aspects of garment manufacturing. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from ten employees through purposive sampling whom are directly responsible in the product line operations and for quality inspections. Findings suggest that the quality assurance, quality control and the operators’ skill levels are vital in minimizing the quality failures in the selected company. Beside these, workers’ absenteeism, machine problems and less awareness on quality standards contribute to quality failures. The findings further elaborate that the semi-skilled or un-skilled operators contribute to the internal quality failures of the selected apparel company. Findings of the study are beneficial to the practitioners of the apparel industry to enhance their understanding on factors which contribute to quality failures and would offer new insights on how to cater the customers with high quality apparel products.

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