Improvement of Labour Productivity and Line Efficiency by Yamazumi Chart: A Case of Leather Products Industry in Bangladesh

Abstract: Leather products are highly fashionable items and the second export earning sector of Bangladesh. Many operational tasks are involved during leather products manufacturing. Higher productivity, good quality products, and lead time efficiency are burning issues for this industry. Top management of this industry is striving for higher productivity to gain competitive advantages than other industries. Yamazumi chart is a popular tool to achieve higher productivity; it is used for line balancing through the optimum distribution of workloads among work stations. In this study, the Yamazumi chart technique was applied to improve productivity through line balancing in a leather product manufacturing factory in Bangladesh. The results unveiled that line efficiency was significantly increased from 36% to 72%. Therefore, it can be inferred from this study that top management of any manufacturing industry can apply this Yamazumi chart technique to improve their firm's productivity.

Keywords: Layout, Leather Product Industry, Line Balancing, Line Efficiency, Productivity Improvement, Work Measurement