The roles and responsibilities of the industrial engineering department are not just limited to timing operators and making operation bulletins as it is only a part of the job. The I.E function can contribute significantly to improvement in working and productivity of almost all the departments of apparel manufacturing. Let us discuss few of the activities of various sections of apparel manufacturing which can be associated with industrial engineering:
Merchandising
In merchandising section the Industrial engineer can work closely in following:
a) Product Analysis-
- Determine the optimum method of construction to achieve required finished product efficiently.
- Establish the operation sequence (Operation bulletin).
- Specify the equipment type and work aids to be used
Operation Bulletin is an important tool used for product analysis. Operation bulletin is a documented form of sequence of operations in a product. It contains all the information about the machine required and the total no. of operations, total no. of operator required.
Operation bulletin contains the standard times for each operation. Operation bulletin
also contains some other parameters as follows:
§ Output (pieces per day)
§ Target efficiency
§ Minutes per day
§ Total standard time
§ Total no of work places
In simple way we can say that operation bulletin is a record of
• Equipment type
• Machine attachments
• Workplace engineering aids
• Standard time for each operation
It can be extended to include
• Hourly/ period targets for each operation
• Manpower Requirements
• Equipment Requirements
It should cover all operations that can be directly related to single unit of a product e.g.
• Spread and cut
• Sew including manual operations
• Finish and pack
The operation bulletin is a fundamental planning tool used for many functions such as
• Capacity planning
• Methods engineering
• Line planning
• Performance measurement
• Manpower planning
• Investment appraisal
• Incentive payment
• Factory loading
The operation Bulletin should be developed at the earlier stage of product development.
b) Costing-
• The first stage is to calculate the SMV of the garment
• To calculate the production cost for that particular garment by multiplying the total SMV of the garment with the average cost incurred by the factory to produce one SMV.
Production Planning
Production planning is an essential prerequisite to production control. It involves management decisions on the resources that the firm will require for its manufacturing
operations and selection of these resources to produce the desired goods at the appropriate time and at the least cost.
Production planning is defined as, “the technique of foreseeing or picturing ahead, every step in along series of separate operations, each step to be taken in the right place, of the right degree and at the right time, and each operation to be done at maximum efficiency.”
Production planning provide a line for effective, balanced flow of product, incorporating line and individual (operation) productivity standards. The end product of production planning efforts is the formulation of production plans. The plans are formulated in light of specified future period. The plans are to be implemented in the light of the estimated cost and agreed policies
• Plant capacity can be calculated by I.E dept so that planning can book order as per
the available capacity.
• I.E can assist in better planning by helping in better style allocation to different units or lines.
• I.E can formulate an efficiency/performance build-up for a particular style based upon the work content or past performance. This can inform the planning dept that a
particular line will take how many days to produce a specific quantity of a style.
This will help the planning dept to plan the availability of resources and material in
advance.
Production
Industrial engineering is a key part of a production process. One of the basic functions of engineering is to get facts. These facts may be in form of a time study, the engineer has made or cost report the engineer has designed. So we can say that the basic need for engineering is the need for management information.
Work-in-Progress (WIP) control-
WIP is made up of all garments and their parts that are not completely finished. For
example a bundle of shirts that has everything attached but has no bottom hem. There
are two cost areas that can be reduced if WIP is controlled
• Investment in inventory- Inventory is money invested in raw materials. When we don’t move the goods through the plant quickly we are affecting cash flow directly.
• Ability to reduce the production cycle- By having low inventory between operations,
garments usually have less waiting time and go through the production cycle in less time. Large inventory levels between operations keeps goods waiting longer to be processed. This increases the overall throughput time.
Low throughput time permits better co-ordination between sales and production. It also
permits a quicker turnaround on which improves cash flow. Low cycle times give manufacturers the ability to handle multiple styles.
Buyers are looking for manufacturers that can meet production schedules, that can handle multiple styles, and since they want to invest as little as possible in inventory, manufacturers that can handle low inventories. Only factories that work with low WIP will be able to sell their services.
Managing WIP:
i) Production planning- This requires planning from marketing and sales to determine what will sell and what needs to be produced and when. This provides the basis to determine how many operators and machines will be needed. I.E can calculate the required resources to any style and block the capacity for this style at a specific efficiency build up.
ii) Trims control- Trims are buttons, zippers, labels, thread, elastics, and so on. A cut should enter the production line only when someone has verified that all the trims needed are available. An updated inventory of trims should be kept. A missing label could halt a 12,000 unit cut. Holding the 12,000 units in inventory is not acceptable and could lead to other problems.
iii) Production Build-up- Careful consideration should be given to loading the production lines. If you feed into the line more product that can be processed you will overload the line with work that will just sit stagnant. I.E can provide figures in terms of production to be expected from any line which can help in feeding control and thus managing the WIP.
iv) Balancing- Even if you load the line based on its capacity, you might find the inventory accumulating due to an unbalanced production. Absenteeism and turnover can greatly affect the line’s balance. A change in style and irregular feeding are two other factors that can put a line off-balance. To keep a line balanced you need information on the inventory levels. While allocating operator to the operation, the skill requirement for that operation should be kept in mind. To help regain balance in an unbalanced situation industrial engineer can use Utility operators, operator transfers and overtime as the last option.
v) Cut Flow Control- In order to keep control over WIP and to keep the cycle times low you need to have cuts go as close as FIFO as possible. For this reason strict control must be placed on the tracking of cuts as they flow through the production floor.
The industrial engineering is very useful in:
a. Standardisation- You can appreciate the need for standard convocations in managing your department. Think of confusion that would result if each operator on a job performed his or her work differently from anyone else. Suppose quality specifications changed every day so that what passed yesterday rejected today. Effective supervision is impossible without standardisation of methods, equipment; and conditions. Engineering helps to standardise.
b. Production Scheduling- In order to run your department efficiently, you need a firm schedule of production. Suppose there was no way of knowing how more work your section could handle. Do you think that there would be much of that someone could guess exactly right as to how much work to load in? Of course not! In order to schedule work accurately, someone needs to know how long it takes to go through each operation. Engineering data helps to make this decision.
c. Fair Payment of Employees- In order to pay employees fairly, we need to know the value of the work they produce, Since part of engineering function is to measure work.
d. Prevention of Chaos- Any attempt to run a department without standardised conditions, without a production schedule, and without fair payment to the employees is doomed to chaos and failure.
So main production functions of engineering are:
a) Develop detailed production methods, from detailed manual moments to major decisions on technology.
b) Documents all the methods using manuals, computer based system as appropriate.
c) Justify all changes based on analyses of the work content in the operation, taking account of skill requirements
d) Define the appropriate WIP level and develop WIP measuring and control techniques.
Maintenance
Proper maintenance leads to better capacity utilisation of same asset, avoiding thus the investment in addition facilities. So far industries have a tendency to neglect maintenance function, thinking it be a not so important job, however necessary. It has been taken just for granted. Plant maintenance is important and inevitable service function of an efficient production system. It helps in maintaining and increasing the operational efficiency of plant facilities and thus contributes of the revenue by reducing the operating cost and increasing the quality of quality of the production
Quality
Quality is an asset, which may be offered to the potential customer of a product. There are two aspects of quality, which contribute to the ultimate quality of the product. Quality of design is the first aspect, which depends on the type of materials used, specs specified by the buyer, method of production, knowledge of the design and skill level of the person. The degree to which this quality is achieved in production that is the quality of conformance is the second aspect.
Industrial Engineering can help converting quality specifications into technical parameters to ensure that quality requirements are met with during the manufacturing
process. I.E helps in selecting the equipments and method of the job so as the final
product conforms to the specifications
Human Resource
a. Manpower Planning- I.E can calculate the manpower required to perform a specific job at a certain performance level. Once the work content of any job is analyzed by I.E dept, the next step is to find out the resources required to complete that job. This principle can be applied successfully especially on the production floor where work content of each job is measured using time study techniques. The manpower can also be calculated as per the capacity of the plant using standard ratios like Man to Machine ratio. The number of people for a factory having x number of machines can be fixed through this ratio (South Asia standard is 1.8 : 1).
b. Skill Matrix- Skill matrix refers to the database of available worker skill in the factory. The workers’ skill is analyzed on different jobs and based upon his/her performance on a particular job a grade is given. This grade defines the level of performance that operator can achieve on that specific job.
This matrix is used in 2 ways:
• While allocating workers to a job as per the skill requirement of that job.
• To analyse the skill availability and distribution through out the factory. This can be compared with the skill requirement for a particular time period and shortage/excess skill availability to achieve at the training requirement. This shortfall in availability of any skill can be overcome by conducting a specific training program or through recruitment also.
• Skill matrix helps in allocating right person for the right job which helps in achieving desired performance level
c. Performance Measurement- For measuring the performance of any individual first step is to define the targets and second step is to develop performance measuring tools. An industrial engineer can help in setting up of measurable goals and targets,
which could be time standards for an operator and key performance indicators for middle & senior management. Next step is to set up systems and define a methodology to capture the performance on regular basis and analyse the results.
d. Training- Industrial engineering should be responsible of working on a scientific recruitment methodology for workers so as to check the basic skills are already present in the selected personnel. The training methodology for these trainees should target towards efficient and rapid learning with proper control tools in place. This training could be as per the results of the skill matrix to train people on skills which are not available at present but are required on regular basis or in near future.
Production Follow up
"Follow up" means that someone "checks and Stays with" something until the desired results have been achieved. Many worthwhile plans and projects have failed because someone did not follow up. So for the purposes of this training, follow up means to stay on top of something until the desired results are achieved." Uses of operator follow up: There are a number of uses for operator follow up:
a. Improve Performance (Motivate)
In many cases, operators are not producing as much as they can. They have no particular problems, but are just not giving it the effort to be a 100 percent operator. Follow up in this case is a matter of motivation. The person doing the follow up should not only show the operator that she can do well, but should also make her want to continue to do well. Most people who are capable will perform well under follow up. And once they have performed well for several days or a week (or maybe more) they get used to this type of performance (and earnings) and then tend to stay there.
b. Prove Job Quotas
Perhaps the most common use of follow up (at least by engineers) is to prove a new quota. In other words, the quota will be proved if the operator performs well when compared to the new quota. Very often operators have a psychological resistance to change. It is essential to get the operators to overcome this psychological barrier, and that can be done through follow up and showing the operators that changes can be made satisfactorily.
e. Spot Troubles
Occasionally, there seems to be no logical explanation as to why an operator is not performing. Follow up in this case can uncover problems that need to be solved such as machine delay, work flow, small bundles, too much personal time, etc.
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