Bangladesh is one of the largest Asian countries by population graduating thousands of production engineers every year. They are the future talents upon which to build a competitive apparel manufacturing industry which few countries can boast. However, for over the past two decades, despite loud cries to unleash Bangladeshi engineers to lead continuous improvement initiatives, most of their efforts have been limited to work study projects. These work studies do not require engineering knowledge any secondary level student could carry out the required functions. In fact, in today’s apparel industry in Bangladesh, whatever Lean applications are present are driven by non-engineering skills learned from workshops led by so-called Lean gurus or from books on TPS. The improvement initiatives are limited to connecting processes, leveling WIP and inventories, enforcing visual displays and non-aligned 5S daily activities. Little has been done around methods, processes, systems and concepts to effectively manage frequent order changeover and optimize manufacturing resources. Optimization is an engineering goal in the manufacturing environment. In fact, every kind of manufacturing, Lean or otherwise, is always about value engineering. TPS was also built on ideas and solutions generated from and based on engineering thinking (ohno and shingo). Where then is the engineering thinking in Bangladesh’s apparel industry? Senior management and owners of apparel companies must trust and believe in the capacity of their national engineers. They need to cultivate their talents providing them with directives, strategic objectives and the necessary authority to engage in and articulate solutions to the organization’s decision makers. Based on my nearly three decades working in the apparel industry in Bangladesh, I am very confident that Bangladeshi engineers can play a crucial role in the evolution of the apparel manufacturing sector. They are qualified, talented, innovative and able to drive change. In short, they are capable of engineering thinking. The question remains, will senior management lead and guide Bangladeshi engineers to unleash their potential.
