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CONTENT
1. Job Profile of Industrial Engineer
2. Garment Production Systems
3. How to do Method Study for garment operations?
4. Formula for calculating SMV
5. Formula for Capacity setting
6. How to estimate garment production?
7. How to Balance a Traditional Sewing line?
8. Garment CM cost estimation using SAM or SMV?
9. Incentive Systems for Garment Industry?
10. Garment Production Cost: Actual Cost Vs Cost Per SAM?
11. Actual Garment Production Cost – The way factory calculates it?
12. How many days a factory needs to make 5,000 Polo Shirts?
13. Formula for Calculating Sewing Room Capacity?
14. How to Calculate Production Capacity of a Factory?
15. How to increase efficiency of the stitching operators?
16. How to calculate operator efficiency at work?
17. How to calculate the minute cost of the operator?
18. How to calculate operator utilization in the production line and how
to increase it?
19. How to Show Line Efficiency when there is no Loading to a Line?
20. What is Pitch Time, Pitch Diagram and how to make a Pitch Diagram
21. How to Calculate Sewing Machine RPM?
22. How to determine number of sewing line needed for an order?
23. The Concept of Operator's Performance Rating
24. Work aids and equipments for garment manufacturing industry
25. Machineries used for Garment Sewing in Mass Production?
26. How to control apparel production cost?
27. How to calculate Machine requirement for garment to be made in an
assembly line?
28. What is on-standard efficiency and overall efficiency?
29. How to calculate efficiency of a production batch or line?
30. How to Grade Sewing Operators?
31. How to calculate or check machine SPI?
32. What is Productivity?
33. How to measure labor productivity?
34. How Takt is used to in Garment Production?
35. Use of Takt Time in Apparel Industry?
36. How to Estimate Sewing Time by Machine RPM?
37. What is skill Matrix for Sewing Operator?
38. How to reduce line setting time for assembly line?
39. How to do Line balancing using Operator Skill History?
40. Comparison between Progressive Bundle System and Unit Production
System (UPS)?
41. KPIs for Garment Manufacturers?
42. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Quality Management for
Clothing Factories?
43. 20 Ways to Improve Productivity in Garment Production
44. 7 Ways to Reduce WIP from Bottleneck Operations
45. Can Anybody Hit 100% Efficiency of GSD SAM?
46. Some Important Equations & SAM
47. Seven waste & 5”M & 5”S System
48. Basic Elements & Benefits of JIT(Just In Time)
49. What are Defect and Defective Pieces and How these are measured?
50. Engineers, Be careful with data what you are presenting to your boss!


1. Job Profile of Industrial Engineer
It was just a couple of years back that demand of an industrial engineer has increased many
times. Reason, an Industrial engineer can do a lot to improve performance of the company. But
the fresh student passed out from educational institute (Fashion institutes) acquired limited
knowledge about the job profile of an Industrial engineer. Maximum works are learnt in factory
by working. There is number of tools and techniques which are used in by industrial engineers to
establish an effective production system in the company.
Without having such tools earlier production managers and line supervisors faced difficulty in
measuring work content, garment costing, and production planning correctly, even it was
difficult to finalize orders. Our team has worked to find out important tasks those are important
for an engineer, and needs detailed understanding of production fields, included in the following.
Though job profile of an Industrial Engineer varies company to company, most of the job profile
fall under following list.
1. Knowledge about various sewing production systems
2. Knowledge of all types of Sewing machine necessary for the company
3. Time study (Cycle timing)
4. Motion analysis of the operations
5. Operation break down
6. Preparation of OB (Operation bulletin)
7. SAM Calculation
8. M/C Layout and Work station layout
9. Line Set up
10. Production estimation of a line
11. Work Sampling
12. Method Study (Seeing Movements of an operation)
13. WIP Control
14. Line Balancing
15. Capacity study
16. Cost estimation of a garment
17. Developing and Maintaining Skill Matrix
18. Incentives schemes
19. Calculating Thread Consumption
20. Work aids, Guide and Attachment
21. Performance Rating
An industrial engineer must have knowledge and skill on each tool and technique.
Implementation of all tools at a time is not needed. Engineer has to go step by step.
Almost all work study tools and methodology are adopted from others industries and
implemented to the garment industry. So each work study tool has guaranteed benefit if it is used
effectively.
2. Garment Production Systems
In simple a ‘garment production system’ is a way how fabric is being converted into garment in
a manufacturing system. Production systems are named according to the various factors, like-
Number of machine are used to make a garment, Machines layout, Total number of operators or
tailors involved to sew a complete garment and Number of pieces moving in a line during
making a garment. As the fashion industry evolved and demand of ready made garments are
increased, the need of mass production system becomes the primary path to meet the demand.
Simply because tailor shops are not able produce the volume and supply across the world.
Mostly used production systems are as following.
Make through system: When a tailor alone makes a complete garment, then it is called as make
though systems. The tailor even makes pattern (use readymade pattern), cuts fabric and does
finishing of the garment. For example, tailors in the tailor shops do all jobs from cut to pack. In
this system tailors are not depended to others.
Progressive bundle systems: In Progressive bundle system, each operator does different
operations of a garment. All sewing machines needed to make the garment are laid in a line. Cut
parts are fed in a bundle form. When an operator receives a bundle of cut components, she opens
the bundle and does her operation (job) for all pieces of the bundle. After completing her job she
moves the bundle to the next operator who is doing next operation. Numbers of people are
involved in sewing a single garment. Major benefits of this system are – as operators do only
single or limited operation, their performances increases. Secondly, product consistency can be
maintained garment to garment. Most of the export oriented garment manufacturers adopted
progressive bundle system as a main production system.
Section production system: This system is similar to the progressive bundle system. But the
difference is that, instead of one line, work is divided into sections. Machines of similar
operations are clubbed together instead of spreading over in all lines. For example, when a man’s
formal shirt is being made in a section layout – collars, cuffs and sleeves are in the preparatory
sections and then send to the assembly section. This system is popular to improve line balancing
and utilization of human resources.
Modular production system: In ‘Modular production system’ sewing operators work as a team.
Neither they sew complete garment nor do they sew only single operation. Multi-skilled
operators form a group and each of the team members do multiple operations. In modular
system, operators help each other to finish the garment quickly and team is fully responsible for
quality and production. In modular, always team performance is measured instead of individual
operator performance. This system is very successful where quick response is needed.
One piece flow system: Instead of making a bundle of multiple pieces, bundle is made with all
components of a single piece. Sewing machines in One-piece-flow system can be laid in a
straight line or modular line. Main difference is that, operator will receive one piece from back
and move one piece to his next operator after completing his work. Benefits of One-piece-Flow
system are less through put time, Less WIP in the line

Overhead production system (UPS): in overhead production system, garment components are
clamped in a hanger and the hanger moves on an overhead rail. In the hanger components of a
single piece is clapped. So this is also one kind of single-piece-flow system.
Piece rate production system: Piece rate system also one of the most popular production
system in small and unorganized factories. Though people called it piece rate system, actually it
is not a production system. Whatever Production system is used as mentioned above, when
operators are paid according their works (how many pieces produced), is named as piece rate
system.
3. How to do Method Study for garment operations?
Method study is more of a systematic approach to job design than a set of techniques. It is
defined as the systematic recording and critical examination of existing and proposed methods of
doing work, as a means of developing and applying easier and more effective methods and
reducing costs (Work study definition by ILO). The method involves systematically following
six steps:
a. Selection of work to be studied: Most operations consist of many discrete jobs or activities.
The first stage is to select those jobs to be studied that will give the best returns for the time
spent. For example, activities with the best scopes for improvement, those causing delays or
bottlenecks or those resulting in high costs.
b. Recording of all relevant facts of current method: Method study uses formal techniques to
record the sequence of activities, the time relationship between different tasks, the movement of
materials, the movement of staff.
c. Critical examination of those facts: This is the most important stage in method study. It is
used to critically examine the current method by seeking answers to questions:
 The purpose of each element
 The place
 The sequence
 The person
 The means
d. Development of the most practical, economic and effective method: This stage is used to
develop a new and better method of executing the task, by taking into account the results of
critical examination. The new method is developed by a combination of entirely eliminating
some activities, combining some parts, changing the sequence of some activities and by
simplifying the content of others.

that everybody involved understands the changes involved. In other words they understand the
new method, which is doing what, the differences compared to the old method and crucially the
reason for the changes. Training is an important part of this stage particularly if the new method
involves radical changes. Providing modified equipment, components and layouts may also be
involved.
f. Maintenance of new method and periodic checking: Monitoring of how effective the new
method is and how personnel have adapted is very important. One aspect that is sometimes
overlooked is to check what effect the new method has on other activities. For instance, it may
be that whilst the new method is successful in eliminating a bottleneck in a particular area, the
bottleneck has moved elsewhere in the process. By periodic checking the new method and its
effects, management can ensure that overall efficiency is improving rather than deteriorating.
4. Formula for calculating SMV
SMV = Basic time + Basic time*Allowance%
Basic time =Cycle time*Performance rating
Example:
Let, Observed time 30 sec. and Performance rating 80%
Now, Basic time=30/60*80%
=0.5 * 0.8
=0.40
SMV = Basic time + Basic time*Allowance%
= 0.40 + 0.40* 0.15 [ Allowance =15%]
= 0.40 + 0.06
= 0.46
Target:
100% = 60/0.46 =130 pcs.
85% = 60/0.46* 85% = 111pcs.
80% = 60/0.46* 80% = 104 pcs.

5. Formula for Capacity setting
Target/ hr = (Manpower X working minutes X plan efficiency) / SMV
Example:
Manpower = operator + helper
= 33 + 21
= 54
Working minutes = 60
plan efficiency = 62%
SMV = 12.55 min
Now,
Target/ hr = (Manpower X working minutes X plan efficiency) / SMV
= (54 X 60 X 62%) / 12.55
=160 pcs.
Target/ day = 160 X 10 (working hour)
= 1600 pcs.
Here,
 Machine or Operator SMV = 7.63 min
 Manual or helper SMV = 4.92 min
 Pcs / manpower = 29.63 pcs.
Efficiency Calculation:
Efficiency = (Produced germents X SMV) / (Manpower X working minutes) X 100%


6. How to estimate garment production?
It is a very important question, because it is the basic knowledge about production management
and each people who are working in production must know how estimated production is
calculated.
Following article will clarify you the calculation procedure.
Production means total number of garment pieces produced by operators in a line/batch at a
given time (for example: 8 hours day time). Production is also termed as daily output. To
estimate production following information is necessary.
a) Standard allowed minutes (SAM) of the garment. It means how much time is required to make
one complete garment including allowances.
b) How many operators are working in the line?
c) How many hours line will work in a day?
d) Average Line efficiency level?
e) Total break time for lunch and tea.
Formula for production estimation -
Daily production = Total man minutes available in a day/SAM * Average Line efficiency
Total available man-minutes =Total no. of operators X Working hours in a day X 60
Suppose, SAM of the garment is 20 minutes, 30 operators line, works 8 hours shift day. Line
works at average 50% efficiency. Operators get total 45 minutes for lunch and tea break.
So, Total available man minutes = 30 X (8 X 60 – 45) = 13050 minutes
Daily estimated production = 13050 /20 * 50% = 326 pieces
You can expect above output from that line if everything is gone well. You can see the
production of a line is directly proportional to the line efficiency; no. of operators and working
hours. And production is reverse proportional to the garment SAM. If efficiency of a line
increases you can expect higher production. Similarly if SAM of style reduces at that also you
can expect higher output.
Factors that hamper production:
Any one of the following can reduce production of assembly line. So to get estimated output, you
have to take on the following areas.
i. Machine break down
ii. Imbalance line (WIP control)
iii. Continuous feeding to the line
iv. Quality problems
v. Individual operator performance level.
vi. Operator absenteeism

7. How to Balance a Traditional Sewing line?
A sequence of operations is involved in making a garment. In bulk garment production, generally
a team works in an assembly line (Progressive Bundle system) and each operator do one
operation and give it other operator to do next operation. In this way garment reached to end of
the line as a completed garment. In the assembly line after some time of the line setting, it is
found that at some places in the line, work is started to pile up and few operators sit idle due to
unavailability of work.
When this situation happens in the line it is called an imbalanced line. Normally it happens due
to two main reasons – a) variation in work content (time needed to do an operation) in different
operations and b) operator’s performance level. To meet the production target, maintaining
smooth work flow in the line is very important. So it is very important to know basics of quick
line balancing.
How to balance an imbalanced line has been explained in the following. The main job in line
balancing is to eliminate or reduce WIP (work in process) at bottleneck operations. To do that
you have to know which operations are bottleneck in the line. Through capacity study and target
setting you will find existing bottlenecks in the line.
Tools required:
i) Stop watch
ii) Spread sheet or Calculator
Step 1: Capacity study: List down all operations (with operator name) as per operation
sequence in a paper. Using stop watch cycle time (time study) for each operation for five
consecutive cycles. With average cycle time calculate hourly capacity of the operators. (i.e.
operation cycle time 30 seconds and total allowances is 20% then capacity is 100 pieces per
hour). Draw a line graph with per hour capacity data.
Step 2: Target setting: With the above capacity data set your target output per hour from one
line. Generally it is calculated using following formula (Target per hour= Total no of operators X
60 /garment SAM). Check current hourly operator production report. Draw a straight line with
target output data on the line graph.
Step 3: Identification of bottleneck areas: Now go to the capacity study table and compare
each operator’s capacity with the target capacity. Each individual operator whose capacity is
less than the target output is bottleneck operation for the line. It is impossible to improve
imbalanced line’s output without improving output of the bottleneck operations. A bottleneck
operation is like a weak link chain.
Step 4: Eliminate bottlenecks from the line: Now to eliminate bottleneck areas use following
methods which suites best to your situation but don’t jump without trying initial steps.
i. Club operations where possible. Where there is higher capacity than the target output, give
that operator another operation with less work content. Considering machine type and sewing
thread colours

ii Shuffle operators. Operations that have low work content use low performer there. And where
work content is higher use high performers.
iii. Reduce cycle time using work aids and attachments. To assist the operator in handling parts
during sewing, positioning cutting and disposing finished task, work aids, guides or attachment
can be used. Think of that if possible provide operator with aids. It will reduce operation cycle
time.
iv. output from a particular operation is using best workstation layout and best method of work.
There is always a chance that though improving method of bottleneck operations you can do line
balancing.
v. Add more operators at bottleneck operations. Adding one additional machine in easy task than
others. Before adding one more machine compare the cost-benefits of putting additional machine
into the line. It can be simple compared by estimating machine productivity in both cases.
vi. Do extra work at bottleneck operations. At lunch break and Tea break when each operator of
the line goes for break, bottleneck operator can continue work to feed next to his operator. Later
he can take break. At the end of the day tell this operator to work for one hour extra to reduce the
WIP.
Important things to keep in mind:
i. Conduct Time Study hourly basis and check output of each operator. Once you have
eliminated one bottleneck, you will find a new bottleneck operation. Follow the same
methodology to improve line balancing.
8. Garment CM cost estimation using SAM or SMV?
In the clothing manufacturing, supplier gives final manufacturing cost to buyer prior to order
confirmation. For that factory prepares cost sheet estimating costs in different cost heads. Cost
heads like Fabric, Trims and Packing materials, Labor cost and Overheads.
At costing stage, supplier only get one sample of the garment and specification of fabric and
trims for the reference. For raw material cost suppliers directly take price quote from fabric and
trim suppliers. For labor cost it is very important to estimate as near as it will be during actual
production.
The scientific method for estimating CM (Cut and make) cost of a garment involves following
steps
1. Determine SAM of the garment (refer garment SAM calculation)
2. Calculate average line efficiency and
3. Calculate direct labor cost per minute
How to calculate the minute cost of the operator?
Formula:
Labor cost per minute = (Monthly salary of an operators/Total minutes available in the month)

Suppose,
Operator monthly salary is INR 5000.00
Total available capacity per month (in minute) = 26 working days*8 hours/day*60=12,480
minutes
So, per minute cost of the direct labor = 5000/12480 = 0.4006 INR
Formula for the projected labor cost per pieces
CM cost = (SAM of the garment * Minute cost of the labor)/Line efficiency(%)
If Sewing SAM is 15 minutes and line perform at 50% efficiency then estimated garment make
cost = 15*0.40/50% =12 INR
And Cutting SAM is 2 minutes and cutting room perform at 50% efficiency then estimated
cutting cost = 2*0.40/50%=1.6 INR
So, Total estimated CM cost of the garment = (12.00+1.60) = 13.60 INR
Following above formula easily one can estimate garment CM cost and use it for the product
costing.
Why do you need to consider line efficiency in CM costing?
Line output varies depending on the line efficiency. When a line performs at lower efficiency
than standard (100%) line will produce less units in a day compared to what line could make at
100% efficiency. But factory spends same amount of money as salary whether line perform at
100% efficiency or less. So, per unit cost will increase when line performs at lower efficiency.
Note: For the calculation of labor cost per minute, instead of average operator salary you can
take cumulative of all operators salary (monthly) and divide total amounts by total minute
available to the line (total operator * total minutes per operator per month) to have more accurate
value.
9. Incentive Systems for Garment Industry?
In manufacturing industries, an incentive is a factor (financial or non-financial) that enables or
motivates a particular course of action, or counts as a reason for preferring one choice to the
alternatives. Eventually, incentives' aim is providing value for money and contributing to
organizational success. It is considered as a driving force that produces a higher productivity
with the same resources available. Incentives can be classified according to the different ways in
which they motivate agents to take a particular course of action. One common and useful
taxonomy divide incentives into three broad classes:
1. Remunerative incentives or financial incentives are said to exist where a worker can
expect some form of material reward, especially money, in exchange for acting in a
particular way.
2. Moral incentives are said to exist where a particular choice is widely regarded as the
right thing to do, or as particularly admirable, or where the failure to act in a certain way
is condemned as indecent. A person acting on a moral incentive can expect a sense of
self-esteem, and approval or even admiration from his community.

3. Coercive incentives are said to exist where a person can expect that the failure to act in a
particular way will result in physical force being used against them (or their loved ones)
by others.
Types of Incentive Systems:
1. Straight piece rate: In the straight piece rate system, a
worker is paid straight for the number of pieces which he
produces per day. In this plan, quality may suffer. Usually
in the garment industries this incentive system is in use but
this system promotes only productivity not the quality
which is a prime objective of garment manufacturing. This
incentive system is much suited with the contract workers
where management wishes to get maximum output with
the limited number of working hours.
2. Straight piece rate with a guaranteed base wage: A
worker is paid straight for certain output set by
management even if worker produces less than the target
level output. If worker exceeds this target output, he is
given wage in direct proportion to the number of pieces
produced by him at the straight piece rate
3. Differential piece rate system: A system which
suggest that there should be separate rate for 70%, 100%
and 120 % of target level. In this type of structure fresher
could hardly survive.

4. Halsey Plan: According to the Halsey plan for incentive
W = R.T + (P/100) (S-T).R
Where
W: wage of worker
R: wage rate,
T: actual time taken to complete job,
P: percentage of profit shared with worker
S: std. time allowed.
Output standards are based upon previous production records available. Here management also
shares a percentage of bonuses. Here the incentives are given on the basis of time saved by the
workers on a fix same wage rate. Here workers motivates for doing the work with more
efficiency but after a long time workers use to be unsatisfied and demand for more profit share
through their works.
5. Rowan Plan: According to the Rowan plan for incentive
W=R.T + ((S-T)/S).R.T
Unlike Halsey Plan gives bonus on (S-T)/S, thus it can be employed even if the output standard
is not very accurate. According to the Halsey plan the workers will get more if they will do more
but quality of work might be distorted with the aim of more production. But with Rowan method
if the time saving is more than 50% of standard allowed time then bonus will be reduce. It means
there are no benefits to do work with super high efficiency because it will affect the quality level
of the production.

6. Bedaux Plan: Like other plan minimum base wage is guaranteed.
‘B’ represents unit of work. 1 B stands for 1 standard work minute and it includes working time
as well as time for rest. A worker earning “60 B “ per hours reaches 100% of standard output or
100 % efficiency.
A bonus is paid to the worker who earns more than 60 B’s in one hour. The
bonus as in the original plan is 75% of the number of B’s above 60 in one hour.
W= R.T + (Ns- Nt/60) (75/100).R
7. Emerson’s Efficiency plan: Workers with efficiency =67% to 100 %, incentive given is from
0 to 20%. For 1% increase in output 1% increase in incentive.
8. Group Incentive Plan: Equal distribution of cash or shares between the team or group
employees involved in a particular work. When a production line hit the target output, and
produces more pieces then they will get paid incentive accordingly. In the group line supervisors,
helpers, mechanics and even floor in-charge get share of incentive amount. Share percentage is
kept different (less) for supervisors and managers than operators and helpers.
10. Garment Production Cost: Actual Cost Vs Cost Per SAM?
One of the most important KPIs for garment manufacturing is
comparison between Actual costs Vs Cost per SAM. Factories
calculate these costs and compare on daily basis. The actual cost
figure shows that how much money factory is paying as make up
to the operators. But exactly how these measures are calculated?
The different methods of calculating actual cost and garment cost
per SAM has been explained in this article.
Actual Cost per Garment
1. Actual cost -1: Formula of the actual labor cost of a garment-
Actual cost = Total Salary to be paid/Total Units Produced.
For a line, Calculate Total salary (W) to be paid on the day
including direct manpower. Find total units produced (U) in shift
time (output of the line).
2. Actual cost -2: Second formula is Total salary to be paid /(Total minutes produced/SAM)
Though first method is used by most of factories, it is not true actual cost. Because, only output
quantity is considered in this cost calculation, where lot of work


i) It is very difficult to find how many units have been produced by individuals in a line and
calculate total minutes produced in a day.
ii) To the factory management it does not matter how much work is laid (partially stitched) in
the line. How many units are completed is considered as production.
I will also suggest you, to use first method as because it simple to calculate and easy for
understanding. This cost goes down day by day during learning curve. Secondly every day you
will get different figures based on line output.
Cost per SAM
The formula used to calculate cost per SAM is Garment SAM X Cost factor. Where cost factor
is per minute labor cost to the factory at factory average efficiency. Or simply instead of cost
factor you can multiply Garment SAM by average labor salary per minute (which represent cost
factor calculated at 100% efficiency). Whatever method you use must be clear to everyone
(persons who see the report) within the factory. Cost per SAM is fixed for a style.
Cost Factor: Cost factor = Labor wages per day / (shift minute * Efficiency). E.g. Factory shift
time 480 minutes, Daily operator wages INR 200.00 and factory run at 50% efficiency. Then cost
factor for the factory will be 0.833.
Example: Factory Efficiency 50%, Daily wages INR 200.00 Shift time 480 minutes. See the
comparison in the following table where style A and style B's Cost per SAM and actual cost have
been shown. Use above formula to calculate figures.
Style SAM Manpower
Planned
Production
Actual
Production
Cost
factor Cost/SAM
Actual
Cost
A 15 20 320 150 0.833 12.5 26.67
B 12 20 400 250 0.833 10 16.00


11. Actual Garment Production Cost – The way factory calculates it?
In the daily production report factory includes actual garment cost from the day of loading a
style. In this article production cost represents sewing room cost. Factories consider all direct and
indirect personnel who are involved in garment sewing and managing sewing lines in calculating
garment production cost. In case, a production manager handles 10 lines then one tenth of his
daily salary is considered as cost incurred per style per day. If a floor-in-charge runs 3 lines
(considering each line run single style) then one third of his daily salary is considered as cost
incurred in production of a style.
Following cost sharing method, daily salary of all personnel is calculated for a style. If operators
work overtime and others stay to assist them then overtime salary is also added to total daily
wages. Overtime salary (hourly rate) may differ from normal hours of work.
“Actual Garment production cost” is a component of daily production report (DPR). Actual
garment cost is represented in two ways –
 Actual garment cost for the day and
 Till date average cost per unit
Formula used for the cost calculation = Total salary for the day/ Total production (in pieces).
In the following table an example of cost calculation has been shown that is normally used by
garment manufacturing factories.


12. How many days a factory needs to make 5,000 Polo Shirts?
To find the answer of the above questions you must have following information
1. SAM of the Polo Shirt (i.e. 16 minutes)
2. How many machines will be used to make the order (i.e. 20 machines)
3. Daily working hours (i.e. 8 hours)
4. Line efficiency (i.e. 100%)
To make 5000 polo shirts-
Capacity required = 5000 X 16 minute = 80,000 minutes = 1333 Hours
Available Capacity/Day = 20 X 8 hours = 160 Hours
Assumes that line works at 100% efficiency.
So, Days required (theoretical) to produce 5000 polo shirts = 1333 / 160 = 8.3 days (9 days)
If factory run at 50% efficiency then = 9 X100%/50% = 18 days
For planning add one more day as in practical one day will be lost for loading and line setting.
If you production is calculated at 50% efficiency then you need 19 days to complete the above
order.
13. Formula for Calculating Sewing Room Capacity?
The formula used for calculating available capacity of the sewing line has been given below.
The available capacity of a line is presented in minutes or hours.
Sewing room Capacity per Day= {(No. of machine x daily work hours x 60) –
absenteeism %} x Efficiency % (unit in minutes)
Monthly Capacity = Daily Capacity X No. of working days in a month
The capacity of a line depends on the average efficiency% of the line and operator
absenteeism%. First line wise capacity is calculated and then added all line's capacity to calculate
available capacity of the floor.
For example: A factory floor has 5 lines. Factory works for 8 hours day. No of total operators,
line efficiency and absenteeism percentage are as given in the following table.


14. How to Calculate Production Capacity of a Factory?
In Apparel Manufacturing, “Production capacity” is one of the most important criteria used for
vendor selection by the buyers. It is because; the production time of an order is directly
proportional to vendor’s production capacity. So it is very important that marketing and planning
personnel should aware about the production capacity of their production units.
Capacity of a factory is primarily expressed in terms of total machines factory have. Secondly,
how much pieces the factory produces on daily for the specific products? In general, total
numbers of machines in a factory mostly remains same for a period. But factory may produce
various types of product during the season. According to the product (style) category, machine
requirement may change and daily average production in each style may vary. So to be specific
during booking orders, planner should know exactly how much capacity he or she needed to
procure the order in a given time period.
A factory’s capacity is presented in total minutes or hours or in pieces (production per day). The
method used to calculate capacity has been explained in the following. To calculate Daily
production capacity (in pieces) one needs following information.
1. Factory capacity in hours
2. Product SAM
3. Line efficiency (Average)


1. Calculation of factory capacity (in hours): Check how many machines factory has and how
many hours factory runs in a day. For example suppose,
Total number of machines = 200
Shift hours per day = 10 hours
So total factory capacity (in hours) = 200*10 hours = 2000 hours
2. Calculation of Product SAM (SAM): Make a list of product category that you manufacture
and get standard minutes (SAM) of all products you make from work study engineers. If you
don’t have product SAM then calculate the SAM. Or you can use average SAM of the products.
Suppose you are producing shirt and its SAM is 25 minutes.
3. Factory Average Efficiency: This data is collected from industrial engineer. Or calculate it
with historical data. Suppose average line efficiency is 50%. Read the article - How to calculate
efficiency of a production line or batch?
Calculation of production capacity (in pieces): Once you have above information use
following formula to calculate production capacity.
Production capacity (in pieces) = (Capacity in hours*60/product SAM)*line efficiency
For Example: Suppose a factory has 8 sewing lines and each line has 25 machines. Total 200
machines and working shift is 10 hours per day. Total factory capacity per day is 2000 hours
(200 machines * 10 hours). If factory is producing only one style (Shirt) of SAM 25 minutes and
used all 200 machines daily production capacity at 50%
= (2000*60/25)*50% Pieces
= (2000*60*50) / (25*100) Pieces
= 2400 Pieces
[Note: Production will vary according to the line efficiency and during learning curve or in the
initial days when style is loaded to the line]
Production (capacity) planning is normally done based on sewing capacity. Having knowledge of
the capacity in other processes (internal or external) is also very important. Otherwise planner
may fail and will not be able to meet the dead line. Other departments such as Cutting room
capacity, Finishing room capacity, Washing Capacity and capacity of the value added jobs.


15. How to increase efficiency of the stitching operators?
You can increase operator efficiency by following 9 ways.
1. Develop operator's sewing skills through training on the job. Train them on good movements,
correct material handling and better method of performing a job.
2. Motivate operators by providing incentive based on their performance (efficiency level).
3. Assign operators to the tasks on what they are skilled. If they are given operations on which
operator is low skilled, they will work on less efficiency. If you don't have alternative skilled
operator for a job, train your existing operator first (point no. 1) to develop his/her skill level.
4. Improve work methods where possible by motion study and motion analysis. Eliminate
excess motion from the existing working method.
5. Don't forget to design a good workstation layout based on operation requirement. Reduce
excess reach. A good presentation of work is also important.
6. Supply work continuously to operators. While an operator is assigned a work with less
work content and he/she had idle time, give him/her one more job.
7. Eliminate unnecessary of interruption by supervisors, quality checkers and others things
like defective pieces is supplied to operators.
8. Give operators achievable target. Record operator hourly production and chase operators
if they produce less than their capacity or given target.
9. Don't do much overtime. And you must have one day weekly off.
By applying and adopting above means you can improve your operator's stitching efficiency
from the existing efficiency level on the specific jobs. But to see the improvement you have to
measure operator's existing efficiency and current efficiency (after implement of above mean/s).



16. How to calculate operator efficiency at work?
In apparel manufacturing, skills and expertise of a sewing operator is being presented in
“Efficiency” term. An operator with higher efficiency produces more garments than an operator
with lower efficiency in the same time frame. When operators work with higher efficiency,
manufacturing cost of the factory goes down.
Secondly, factory capacity is estimated according to the operator efficiency or line efficiency.
Hence, efficiency is one of the mostly used performance measuring tools. So how do you
calculate operator efficiency in factory? To calculate operator efficiency you will be needed
standard minutes (SAM) of the garment and operations your operator is making. Use following
formula and calculate operator efficiency.



Operator efficiency can be expressed in more specific ways, like ‘On-Standard Efficiency’
instead ‘over-all efficiency’. An operator may be attending all hours in a shift but if he has not
been given on-standard work to do in all hours, he will not be able to produce minutes as per his
capability and skill level. In this case, to know operator’s on-standard efficiency following
formula is used.
Operator on-standard efficiency (%) = Total minute produced /Total on-standard minute attended
*100%
Where,
Total minutes produced = Total pieces made by an operator X SAM of the operation [minutes]
Total on-standard minute attended = (Total hours worked – Loss time) x 60 [minutes]
Example: An operator was doing an operation of SAM 0.50 minutes. In an 8 hours shift day he
produces 400 pieces. Operator was idle ‘waiting for work’ for 30 minutes and his machine broke
down for 15 minutes in hours shift. So according to the efficiency calculating formula, that
operator’s on-standard efficiency
= (400 x 0.50) / {480 – (30 +15)}*100%
= 200/435*100%
= 45.98%
The above example clarifies that if an operator sits idle during shift hours his overall efficiency
will go down.



17. How to calculate the minute cost of the operator?
Formula:
Labor cost per minute = (Monthly salary of an operators/Total minutes available in
the month)
Suppose,
Operator monthly salary is INR 5000.00
Total available capacity per month (in minute) = 26 working days*8
hours/day*60=12,480 minutes
So, per minute cost of the direct labor = 5000/12480 = 0.4006 INR
Formula for the projected labor cost per pieces
CM cost = (SAM of the garment * Minute cost of the labor)/Line efficiency(%)
If Sewing SAM is 15 minutes and line perform at 50% efficiency then estimated
garment make cost = 15*0.40/50% =12 INR



And Cutting SAM is 2 minutes and cutting room perform at 50% efficiency then
estimated cutting cost = 2*0.40/50%=1.6 INR
So, Total estimated CM cost of the garment = (12.00+1.60) = 13.60 INR
Following above formula easily one can estimate garment CM cost and use it for the
product costing.



18. How to calculate operator utilization in the production line and how
to increase it?
To calculate operator utilization first record how many hours each operator of the line are doing
sewing and associated work.
Secondly, record how many hours operators are sitting idle due no feeding to the line or line
setting or waiting for work.
Above data can be recorded by using Non productive time record format. Idle time can be
tracked by implementing RFID based real time shop floor control system which provides each
and every transactions performed by an operator. Where factory does not track operators
transactions (on-std and off-std hours) for them work sampling is an alternate method for
tracking these data in percentage form.
Operator's utilization is presented in percentage. Total idle time of a line is A and total worked
hours is H then
Operator utilization%= (H-A)*100/H
For example, in a production line total 25 operators working and factory work for 8 hours day.
On average each operator sits idle for 45 minutes due to one or more reasons.
Operator utilization = [(25*60*8)-(25*45)]*100/(25*60*8)% = 90.6%
Operator utilization can be increased by reducing idle time or off-standards work hours such as
waiting for work, no feeding, line setting etc. By balancing the line you can also increase it if
operators wait for work.



19. How to Show Line Efficiency when there is no Loading to a Line?
In garment production it has been observed that sometime line is filled with operators but they
have no work to do. Because work is not given to them. It happens during line setting or if
factory has no enough cutting to load.
In such situation operators do not produce any minutes though they are present to the line.
Factories calculate line efficiency in two forms - On-standard efficiency and all hour efficiency.
(off-standard hours), total minute produced both in on-standard work and off-standard work.
If line your line is produced nothing in whole day then obviously line efficiency will zero. But
you have the reason that all available hours there was no loading to the line.
Or if few operators work on some operations but there is no output, still you can show some
efficiency. Calculate total minutes produced by those operators based on operation SAM. Then
use above formula to calculate your line efficiency


26. How to control apparel production cost?
This article is for the business owners and production managers who generally ignore to look
into production data. They are unaware how much money they are losing daily due to low line
performance. This is a case of a garment export manufacturer.
I was in a meeting discussing about line efficiency, present cost per pieces and what the
production people can achieve to lower down the making cost. When we started discussing
the fact and figures everybody was surprised. Read the following figures to know what the
surprising thing was.