Some foreign clothing industry firms, particularly in China, Korea use the latest production technology and have very low labour rates. Such high-tech advances and low labour rates combined with non-expensive raw materials and quality control have resulted in high productivity, low production costs thus making these foreign companies tough competitors for local manufacturers. Striving to develop better work methods used in the job to enhance labour productivity is the single way for countries with scarce recourses to compete in local and international markets. Entire assembly line balancing is not simple. There are usually many alternative ways that the work can be divided among the workers. Applications of motion time studies, operation design, work methods designing, line balancing and work place design for different products in Latvian clothing companies are discussed.