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.
Share and Cite:
Lekamge, R. and Ekanayake, N. (2021) Internal Quality Failures of Apparel Industry: A Case from Sri Lanka.
Open Journal of Business and Management,
9, 2389-2406. doi:
10.4236/ojbm.2021.95129.