Abstract:
The Sri Lankan Apparel Industry at present is in the forefront in adapting current
methodologies in relation to process improvement. Many organizations have successfully
implemented lean concepts, six sigma methodologies and various other philosophies.
However, it appears that the implementation of such tools and techniques have often been
done in specific areas without taking a holistic view into consideration. Business Process
Management (BPM) is an emerging powerful concept which proposes a holistic approach for
business process improvement. This research focuses on guiding the implementation of
BPM principles to the Sri Lankan Apparel Industry. It targets on three BPM concepts;
process orientation, performance improvement and structured approach. The BPM
implementation framework proposed by the study executes in three phases where each phase
guides in implementing at least one of those principles. Comprehensive literature review
followed by industry surveys assist in developing the proposed framework. The proposed
framework offers direction to the Sri Lankan apparel manufacturing organizations in
transforming the business from functions to processes. The framework further delivers a set
of performance improvement best practices suitable for the Sri Lankan Apparel Industry
while presenting a lifecycle to follow, when implementing them. The proposed lifecycle
encompasses a set of techniques which can be used in executing each step of the lifecycle.
The BPM maturity measuring framework embedded with the BPM implementation
framework acts as an assessment tool in evaluating the level of BPM maturity that
organizations have achieved after the implementation of BPM initiatives. The validation
survey proved the effectiveness of the proposed framework against the existing industry
approaches in improving and managing business processes, in terms of accuracy,
adaptability and performance. The proposed framework focuses on delivering methodical
guidance about how process improvement and management efforts should be done, by taking
Business Process Management principles into consideration.
