When my husband and I started exploring lean, we had vigorous discussions about what Lean “looked like” in different industries. It seems that Lean is mostly applied in industries with a high engineering component; the inputs and control processes of their products being highly quantifiable. However, in apparel, inputs are not so highly quantifiable and are much more variable. Similarly, I’ve argued that other industries such as agriculture and building are likewise dissimilar to what we commonly think of as a lean industry. Lumber -just like fabric- cannot be smelted to specific parameters to enhance waste reduction. Regarding pull, it will remain unlikely that a serving of corn can be produced at will upon demand. The idea that you can’t hire 9 women for one month and get a baby applies to our industries both literally and figuratively. You can’t pull corn like cars or computers and the inherent differences between quantifiable manufacturing and the comparative of industries closer to the dirt will compel variant differences in lean manufacturing.

Industries relying on natural limitations cannot implement lean as currently dictated. There are some advantages and disadvantages to this. For example, the building trades will (largely) remain impervious to import pressures; it remains an impossibility to construct a home in China and import the thing here. In apparel, our advantage is cycle time; we are not constrained by long product development cycles. With an interchangeable block system, we can go from concept to approved prototype in two days. Production can process the lot in another two days. Which brings me to another concept; in many respects, batching will remain unavoidable in “dirt” industries.

Lean doesn’t look the same in every industry. While you can’t pull corn or coats like cars, that doesn’t mean the same concepts can’t be brought to bear.

If I haven’t bored you witless by now, perhaps my previous entries on lean manufacturing (be sure to click through to older entries) would be better explanations for the exceptions you cite. I have been writing on this topic for a very long time and in much greater specificity than this singular post would lead one to believe.

I wonder if our definition of “batch production” differs, or if it could differ or be deemed more/less between different trades.

To use your above examples of handmade items (home-sewn items and pottery), it should be clear that the latter of the two utilizes batch production. No potter I’ve ever met would fire one item at a time or glaze one item at a time. Further, some sewn items that are produced to order take considerably longer than one or two days start-to-finish. As a corsetiere, I do varied tasks such as cutting, filing and tipping steel bones. These steels then sit whilst the tipping fluid cures. Do I sit and do nothing whilst this is happening? Or do I maximise the time by tipping steels for other orders or moving onto another task?

Should a one-woman bespoke historical dressmaker spend 100+ hours on embroidering a bodice, 9am – 5pm, day-after-day all in one go? Or would this be counter-productive in terms of maintaining a high level of quality, enthusiasm and energy (the key joys of buying hand-made)?

To me, it would seem that I fit into your definition of batching tasks (as a means of managing workload) and that this would be “bad”. I am, however, a one-woman home-based business producing items to order. I am the only one responsible for the quality of my work, and I am the only one responsible for the production time (excepting the mail, of course!). Is it only when tasks are split between workers that it becomes “batching”. I have a small set-up for space and equipment and working on each item start-to-finish would involve spending a good deal of time packing and unpacking equipment for each small task, and another chunk of time just twiddling my thumbs.

I merely point this out as I wonder if the aims and intentions, and the type of craft involved, alters the meaning of the term “batching” with regards to the definition “handmade”? It seems to me that not all home-based sewing businesses fit the ideal mold that you have described, nor should they.

I was told by a manufacturer – and by that I mean he is a part of a company that can mass produce handbags for designers, so manufacturing is what they do mainly – that I couldn’t do this. (I plan to write you to get a little advice about his exact comment.)

First, thanks for clearing things up about definitions. No one is every clear on them. But before I gush further how is something not handmade if made by two hands and a sewing machine, basic non-electric tools by two people? Quality, standardization, and whatever aside, is it really not hand made? I do understand why handmade by two people wouldn’t be as favorable and quality, but not yet clear on why it is not handmade, unless this makes it cross over into batching or something similar.

OK back to the gushing. You have just (or when you wrote this) vindicated and justified me (and my love, tehe – making my bags is one of my loves). I decided not to go with outside manufacturing (more than once) not because of costs but because I truly love this part but more so because I want total control over my vision and also standardization. I want my quilting to align perfectly in the center, etc. Also, I can do this. I am thrilled with my work and genius ideas. Also things like skill mean more if it’s mine. If I quilt a bag including underneath a pocket (it’s easier that way but looks more expensive) and if I quilt the outside of a pocket and then pleat that – it looks impressive but why do I care about impressive sewing if it’s not mine?! I could lose much skill and vision not being a part of the whole process. There’s learning with all the sewing (even cutting), in many different ways not just about sewing itself.

But I had no idea this really was the best way, yet it does make sense! And I had previously gotten the idea this was completely NOT what you or your book thought, and I am very excited to purchase it (when the car surprise break-down issues allow us to buy it and not save it for emergencies – a lot is on hold, as we are also moving).

Also, from Etsy I heard a lot about the speed of batching. I can NOT batch. Or rather I will not, I would hate to do the work and it would ruin the feel for me. I detest it! I might be able to cut a little extra for the follow up part to be sewn, but then I must move back to the part I cut and work with it, etc. I want to “grow” my bags from the beginning to the end. I am not positive yet how batching lowers quality but wahoo! I am not necessarily surprised, and I’ll need to think about it when I have some time to ponder, or perhaps in bed tonight.

So yes back to my detest. I lose the love if I try to batch. There’s no joy, or that *organic* feeling, as I like to use that word a lot about abstract concepts, not just foods and fabrics, etc.

I didn’t know it was better!

I wrote some info for the upcoming website about my joy and how I am thrilled to work my fingers to the bone (ahh nearing 30) working. Could be happier from no other work but this and many parts of it.

And that 4 person company making 7 figures is terrifically inspiring.

Thanks for these posts Kathleen, they couldn’t be more timely for my operation.

Very nice definition of handmade, but I have to disagree with one small point which is that even if something is made by one person from beginning to end it does not guarantee quality. The quality depends on the skill level of the person who made it by hand.

I say this because here in L.A. there seems to have been a handmade trend going on for the past couple of years which in some cases seems to glorify amateur level craft. Nothing wrong with it when you’re giving your handmade from home items away but questionable when it is being sold in “boutiques”. A handmade cosmetics bag made by one of my clients comes to mind, very pretty fabric on the outside, on the inside 3/16″ SA and no finishing. No overlock, not even pinking. Ouch. I was given one of those, and it took about 2 days before it started ripping apart.

Also on the issue of batching, I think you mean that batching is problematic when spread around between several sewers. Am I getting this right? Im not sure I agree that batching is always bad, I do it on the very rare occasions I have agreed to do small production, or when I do dupes. I am very confident that there is no difference in quality when I batch my dupes and it definitely speeds things up. Unfortunately because dupes are usually made in several colorways I dont get to do that very often.

I think maybe sometimes there are other problems that are bundled together that makes batching look problematic. In other words, you do batching when the goal is to be very fast. Zippers f. ex. may look bad when bundling but perhaps the problem is that the sewer used only one zipper foot to save time. In my experience you need to use both, its very rare that anyone is so good that they can put a zipper in evenly with only a right (or left) foot. So the problem in that case is not bundling, its too much hurry. The more experience I get, the more convinced I am that slow is fast when it comes to sewing.

Lean manufacturing attempts to optimize the cost of production and efficiency at the expense of the capital cost of extra machines.

If you are performing all operations on a single (or small set) of machines that require color changes or other maintenance in between operations, then you will have difficulty with lean.

A lean operation would figure out the minimum set of machines required to allow construction of a full item from start to finish with no downtime between operations.

When we moved from batch to lean, we had to more or less double the amount of machines we had. But, the tradeoff was that we got roughly a doubling of productivity from our sewers. So, for a one time capital cost, we got twice the production efficiency – forever.

The quality level is typically higher on lean as well. Mistakes are caught almost immediately and fixed immediately. If a mistake is made in a batch, you may find that the entire batch has the same error that isn’t discovered until all of the pieces move to the next step of the process.

As far as operator satisfaction, we passed along some of the efficiency our workers have under lean in the form of production bonuses. Their hourly rate went up between 15% if they work at a moderate pace. If we have enough work available and they are personally motivated, I’ve seen them earn 35% more than they used to.

–Mike C

My experience has been that limited batching in home manufacturing does work. Frex: washable bird puppets of three fabrics (shell, contrast, interior stay), six pattern pieces. All the same size. Runs of different color combinations. There were templates for placement or notches to match to confirm things were going together correctly.

This was a decade before Kathleen’s book was available.

The pattern pieces were traced around on doubled fabric, as it came from the bolt (!), all one pattern piece in turn (I’d used Escher-like fussing to get the pieces to fit with little waste), using a grid to tally so the right number of each piece was cut. Hand-cut (losing the lines!). I’d sew all the contrast feet, stuffing them as each was finished, and toss them in a box. With the same color on the machine, I’d applique the beaks on the head piece. Change thread. Sew and stuff the wings. This preset the pieces to make a finished bird. It was hand-stuffed and hand-finished.

If I were still making puppets, with all I’ve learned in the interim, I’m not sure where or how to un-batch or otherwise make the manufacturing leaner. I’m honestly wanting to know.

With single-needle construction, if I’m making belt loops, I’m better to use a long strip, do the seaming in several long passes, then cut it into sections, trimming the weird ends. I would never be able to get a clean, true piece doing each little section.

I love The Machine That Changed the World and Lean Thinking. My copies are packed right now, but as I remember it, one machine and a skilled operator to recalibrate it is better than five machines each custom-set.

The variables would be:
1. How long does it take to reset the machine?
2. Do the units need to be sorted out, processed, and rematched to their original set? Batching the collars on three sizes of garments cut from five different kinds of fabric would NOT be good.

Back to the puppets. Eventually I had several women doing them as piece work. When they took work home, they always took complete sets and returned complete birds, which gave huge satisfaction. How they assembled them was up to them – one woman made each complete bird start to finish. It took her considerably longer. The others gravitated back to the method above because they could make more. They were responsible for the quality of their work, and fixed mistakes as they occurred, something that doesn’t happen when you do only one part and pass it along to another.

My conclusion is that batching is sometimes appropriate. You have to consider the trade-offs, and the satisfaction of the operator has to be factored in.

I have had many people suggest I move to batching as I get bigger, however I want to stay forever handmade!!!