Why Measure WIP in a Clothing Industry?

In the manufacturing industry, work in progress (WIP), also known as work in process, is inventory that has begun the production process and is no longer included in raw materials inventory but has not yet been transformed into a finished product. Work in progress is treated as an asset on a balance sheet since money has been spent in the process of creating a finished product.

In the garment manufacturing industry, work in progress (WIP) is typically expressed as a quantity of garments. Production work in progress (WIP) is measured on a daily basis in a garment factory by either the production department or the industrial engineering department.

Reason of measuring WIP

A certain level of work in progress (WIP) at each sewing workstation is required to provide workers with continuous activity. In contrast, neither a high nor a low work in progress (WIP) is beneficial to a manufacturing operation.

Here are a few reasons for which the factory needs to produce WIP.
✔ Measuring WIP is important to know how much in-process garments have in the line.
✔ To determine whether a line (or a workstation) has a high or low WIP level in comparison to the targeted/planned WIP level
✔ If any line fall below the WIP label then line will be hampred in next day, so need to know the WIP every day.
✔ To reduce unnecessary WIP and keep up minimum WIP.
✔ High work in progress (WIP) is the root cause of a wide range of problems, including poor quality, low productivity, and unnecessarily long production delays. So need to know the current WIP to make it minimum.
✔ The factory can plan for the amount of work that will be required the following day by measuring the WIP.