儿童服装公司(3/4)

They say they're faced with unreasonable demands all the time,

like having to learn to operate several machines instead of just one or two.

Many of them think they could get an easier job for the money,

because there are plenty of other jobs on offer locally.

The reasonably healthy state of our order books gives them a certain amount of job security,

but they just don't seem to care.

How's their work organised?

We've changed to a "sectionalised flow" approach, which means the the machinists work in teams.

Rather than each machinist being assigned a complete item of clothing,

the work is divided into batches involving various operations,

each of them undertaken by one machinist.

As that person finishes, the work is passed on to the machinist responsible for the next stage.

Has that had any impact on what you produce?

Yes, it's enabled Catherine to introduce a policy of rapid diversification of the product range,

so the number of itemised clothes has leapt.