[Field Report] "We Meet Even Japanese Buyers' Exacting Standards"... Hansae's "Quality Obsession" Production Hub

Inside Hansae's Vietnam TG Subsidiary

The Transformation of a Labor-Intensive Apparel Industry

Boosting Quality Competitiveness Through Digitalization and Automation

10 Fabric Inspection Machines for Japanese Buyers Alone

Proac

[Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam = Kwon Jaehee, The Asia Business Daily] On Oct. 29, local time, we arrived at Hansae’s Vietnam TG subsidiary after driving about an hour and a half southwest from Ho Chi Minh City. At Factory No. 7, which produces garments for U.S. buyers, dozens of sewing lines were running nonstop. A worker placed fabric on a computerized sewing machine and pressed a button, and the machine began stitching according to the programmed pattern. In the past, this task relied on the hands-on skills of experienced workers.

Hansae has digitized tasks once performed by skilled workers with more than three years of experience and introduced smart factories, enabling unskilled workers to produce items of the same quality. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam = Reporter Kwon Jaehee.

Noh Jaemin, team leader of the Lean Team at Hansae’s Vietnam TG subsidiary, explained, “This work generally requires more than three years of experience, but if a program is entered into a computerized sewing machine, workers with less experience can also do it.” Workers operate the machines, while the machines handle the precise stitching. The sewing industry, once dependent on low-cost labor, is being transformed by automation technology. Hansae is incorporating digital technology throughout the entire process, from receiving fabric to cutting, sewing, inspection, and shipping, to boost both productivity and quality.

Established in 2010, the TG subsidiary is a key production hub on a site of about 110,000 pyeong, where more than 4,300 employees produce 40 million garments a year. It handles orders from Target, Walmart, Carter’s, Carhartt, and MUJI, among others. Hansae’s three production subsidiaries in Vietnam account for about 52% of its total output.

Automation Replicates the Hand Skills of Workers with Three Years’ Experience... Sewing Factory Makes Its Own Machines

The impact of automation is reflected in the numbers. According to Hansae, hourly output in a particular sewing process rose about 79%, from 34 pieces to 61, after the introduction of computerized sewing machines. The number of workers required fell from 2.2 to about one. In addition to reducing labor costs, the change helps narrow quality gaps caused by differences in workers’ skill levels. Processes that once depended on the individual judgment of experienced workers are being standardized with machines and data.

In 2020, Hansae established a research and development (R&D) center at its TG subsidiary to study process standardization and automated equipment. On the factory floor, the company conducts “10-minute activities,” measuring output over 10 minutes to identify and improve bottleneck processes. This can involve assigning multiple processes to one worker or combining separate tasks into a single machine. When a problem cannot be solved with existing equipment, the company develops the machinery itself. Small improvements on the factory floor can become the starting point for transforming the entire production system.

Hansae's self-developed RFID (radio-frequency identification) inspection system, designed to reduce errors. It automatically checks whether the quantity, sizes, colors, and product numbers of boxes containing finished garments match the order information, and sounds an alarm if it detects an error. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo by Kwon Jaehee.

One notable example is a self-developed RFID (radio-frequency identification) inspection system. It automatically checks whether the quantity, sizes, colors, and product numbers of boxes containing finished garments match the order information, and sounds an alarm if it detects an error. Team Leader Noh said, “We developed it to prevent errors before shipment, such as putting 11 garments in a box that should contain 10 or leaving one out.”

The equipment, developed from an idea by a factory-floor manager, costs $4,200 to $4,500 per unit to build. That is far less than the $20,000 to $30,000 cost of commercial systems cited by the company for comparison. The system omits unnecessary functions to accommodate each buyer’s packaging method and RFID specifications, and uses robotic process automation (RPA) to automatically enter information from label suppliers. It is being rolled out in stages for orders from Target, Walmart, and Sam’s Club. The company is also pursuing plans to expand it to production hubs in Central America, including Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. In effect, an idea from a factory in Vietnam is being expanded into a global quality-control system.

10 Fabric Inspection Machines for Japanese Buyers... Rigorous Quality Checks Are a Competitive Advantage

Factory No. 1, which we visited that day, specializes in producing garments for Japanese brands. About 780 employees make 4.1 million garments a year across 13 lines. What stood out were the 10 fabric inspection machines used to check for defects. That is five times the number at Factory No. 7, which produces garments for U.S. buyers and has two machines. The fabric is also moved more slowly during inspection to detect even the smallest flaws.

Before cut fabric is sent to the sewing lines, every piece undergoes inspection, requiring 20 to 30 more workers than at other factories. Finished garments are also inspected more rigorously: while orders for U.S. buyers typically undergo one or two rounds of inspection, those for Japan are checked three times. In particular, in the final round, an inspector designated by the buyer randomly selects 10% of the products that passed the previous inspections and checks them again.

A worker at a factory operated by Hansae's Vietnam TG subsidiary checks for errors in the manufacturing process. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam = Photo by Kwon Jaehee.

Why meet the demands of Japanese buyers when doing so requires more equipment, workers, and time? Team Leader Noh explained, “The high quality standards set by Japanese buyers are themselves a competitive advantage for Hansae.” A track record of meeting rigorous standards, he said, helps earn the trust of other global buyers in the United States and Europe. The cost of additional inspections is not simply a burden; it is an investment that demonstrates the company’s competitive strength in quality.

Hansae also invests its own funds in quality improvements for processes that buyers do not require. For products made for U.S. workwear brands, the company uses preshrinking equipment to prevent fabric from deforming after washing. This process reduces the width of the fabric, meaning more fabric is needed, but Hansae covers the additional cost. Production and inspection data are managed centrally through the company’s proprietary smart factory system, “HAMS (Hansae Advanced Management System).” The system displays real-time updates on factory-floor monitors for every stage, from the arrival of raw and auxiliary materials to cutting, sewing, and quality inspections, enabling the company to quickly identify processes where problems occur. Team Leader Noh emphasized, “When it comes to quality, we adhere to a principle of ‘zero tolerance.’”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.