Inspire Technique...
Presently, garment factories have on their rolls data entry operators and engineers who capture production related data for generating different reports. During the process of collection, compilation, collation and reporting of data, a number of factors undergo change. By the time, these flaws become evident; little time is left for initiating corrective action. It has often been observed that data is collected in large numbers but the utility of the same is minimal. This is because analysis of the data is not done in strategic manner by anyone which deprives top management of valuable shop floor related insights. These problems are all pervasive and no concrete way to address them exists. In order to leverage the potential of data generated at shop floor, a robust control system is required.
Real time shop floor production tracking system can play a vital role in harvesting data from shop floor and using the inherent information for generation of various useful reports in real time. Integrity of data is beyond question. For example, just a single click would offer comprehensive insight into the number of pieces produced by each operator on the production line
Real time system is IT enabled. It can capture relevant information on actual basis i.e. when the said activity is in progress and display the same to users in desired formats. Various workstations are installed across the shop floor which feeds information to the system for generating reports. Raw data is processed by a specialized computer software. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is widely used for this system.
Once the data has been captured in real time from shop floor, the same can be utilized in multifarious manners for taking strategic process improvement related decisions. Production status is available on time which helps factories to plan their future course of actions accurately. Presence of higher transparency in the system serves to wipe out discrepancies attributable to status report gaps owing to differences in actual production volume at shop floor and reported production figures. Real time system provides accurate, reliable and strategic data on time.
You might be wondering if you can accomplish a marked improvement in productivity through implementation of Real Time System or not. You definitely can as the power to affect all direct and indirect factors affecting production get vested in your hands. To understand it in a better way, map down all the factors that motivate operators in producing more pieces of garments. If you work intensively on these factors, you can certainly give a boost to production at shop floor. You can either address multiple factors to streamline the systemic process or work individually on singular factors to ameliorate the system. Most factories fail to address the real challenges afflicting the workforce and production because of lack of real time and accurate information. Information, even if available, is present in unstructured manner and thus becomes unusable. Real Time shop floor control system can impact the bottom line of factories favorably by improving visibility and providing accurate information pinpointing the pain area.
In an assembly line, balance is critical to ensure that productive time of operators is utilized optimally. Real Time System offers clear information of WIP in each workstation for an assembly line. Bottlenecks are intuitively identified by the system which also indicates the location where WIP is going to dry out sooner. Line supervisors can act quickly and focus on specific operators for balancing the line in time. This results in improvement of production significantly.
It has always been an arduous task to capture the non-productive time accurately in an assembly line. This discourages majority of factory managers from investing time in tracking non-productive hours. Time that has been lost once can never be reclaimed. ‘No Cutting’, ‘Hold for quality issue’, and ‘Machine breakdown’ are few reasons for lost time. Have you ever calculated the number of productive hours lost per week due to unutilized time? A research has indicated that lost time may account for up to 25% of your total production time. Isn’t that staggering? Real time system provides comprehensive insights into lost hours and the sources which are contributing to the same. You can take needful remedial actions to curtail the lost time based on the outputs.
In the manual mode of capturing meaningful operational and allied data, flaws and inadvertent delays are inherent. Report preparation, analysis and communication to concerned stakeholders become protracted. By the time you become aware of the quality issues in aparticular garment category or its assembly line, the manufactured style no longer remains voguish. Real time system can provide you with actionable inputs about quality issues. Your quality control manager remains informed about problems and anomalies. He is capacitated to take corrective action based on inputs which helps in improving the quality of the final product. Operators too remain more vigilant about stitching issues and quality permeates to all levels of production seamlessly.
Every day, in a particular garment factory, reports are prepared on hourly basis for compilation at day’s end to get WIP status. With real time system, you don’t need to spend excess time on capturing data and preparing reports. What you need to do is just click on the customized menus for viewing necessary reports on the dashboard in the format that is most convenient to you. System will generate and display reports as per the request placed by you.
You can invoke a number of insightful reports such as :
Operator status (lists present operators, absent operators, and portrays operator performance etc.)
Line balancing chart (visual display of line balancing)
Hourly Production Report (hourly output report of each operator)
Style status (percentage of work completed, work remained and manpower required to complete remaining work)
Line performance (in efficiency% and lost time)
With such reports at one’s disposal, real time system helps managers in monitoring operators and other shop floor employees effectively and round the clock. Everything is transparent to them. Nobody can misrepresent the production status.
Secondly, when line performance and individual operators with poor performance are known to you, you can find ways to improve their performance levels. You are empowered to takecorrective and strategic action to improve the productivity of poor performers and thus enhance the production level.
Thirdly, for generating hourly production data, you need not rely on the production related inputs provided by each operator. You are also not required to tabulate the same manually on a display board. Everything is done digitally, autonomously and spontaneously by the system.
In Real Time system, operators can see their performance on the terminal as they work. For piece rate operators, their earnings can be displayed on the terminal. This would motivate them to put in extra efforts to make more money and thus boost production. It also improves employee morale. The outcome is improved production.
Performance linked incentive scheme is also a strategic allurement to bring the best out of sewing operators. You can implement performance based incentive system for operators to motivate them. Incentive scheme can be integrated with Real time system.