Abstract:
The Sri Lankan apparel industry has become a key player in the economy of the country.
Today the industry has to face many challenges on its sustenance. One such is the heavy
dependence on importing raw materials. Therefore it is important to study on minimizing raw
material wastage
major factors that affect raw material write off in the apparel industry. The study was done as a
case study of the Sri Lankan apparel industry and designed as a quantitative research. The
dependent variable was raw material write off. Added surplus, order surplus and yield per yardage
saving were identified as the independent variables based on comprehensive literature review and
work floor experience of the selected company. The primary data were collected through author
observations and several interviews. Data were collected from 85 schedules which were randomly
selected. The necessary hypotheses were then developed and statistically tested with normality test
and correlation analysis. Multiple Linear Regression analysis was conducted to identify the
relationship between the variables. The results showed that yield per yardage saving mostly
contributed on raw material write off hence the apparel industry should pay more attention on this
factor to minimize raw material write off.
