FIP’s overall results show how participating factories achieve:

• Better workplace relations.

• Increased productivity.

• Higher quality.

• Cleaner production.

• Safer working conditions.

• Better use of human resources.

The programme proves that training workers and managers together is an effective approach for improving workplace cooperation and good business practices. The first implementations in Vietnam and Sri Lanka provided the following results:

Vietnam:

• Two thirds of participating factories were able to cut end-of-line defect rates by at least 50%.

• 75% of factories provided new personal protective equipment, including mouth guards, metal gloves, earplugs, goggles and masks.

• All factories established manager/worker factory improvement teams.

Sri Lanka:

• Inline quality rejects dropped by 46%.

• End-of-line quality rejects reduced by 40%. 

• Average labour turnover dropped by 26%.

• Absenteeism dropped by 34%.

Small changes often lead to significant results during the FIP. Participating factories have reported improvements such as:

• Spending $20 on manual jigs in a garment factory resulted in savings of $1400 per production order.

• Using transparent roof tiles in a metal parts facility reduced lighting costs by 80%.

• Making minor repairs to a boiler, which leaked 47% of produced heat, saved an estimated 2 million Vietnamese dong per month.

• Moving toward self-inspection allowed a factory to reassign 15 quality inspectors, saving $1500 a month in salary costs while improving quality.

• Increasing the production output in an embroidery plant by 50% resulted in a 61% increase in worker salaries.