PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Production management system in textile industry is very much important term. Proper production management system ensure the production quality, production time and production costs. A well skilled production management system ensures quality product according to byres requirements.  The presence, in factories, of highly intelligent, local control systems has favored the development of production management systems. Nearly all process controller producers also offer surveillance systems that centralize data relating to checks carried out on the machine and allow various levels of interaction in production management system. There is now a very wide range of production management software functions available, and new developments are emerging all the time in various areas as a result of greater contact between software designers and users in the textile sector.
These areas include:
- Production planning
- Planning of production start-up (availability, requirements in terms of human resources and machines, etc.)
- Production Management of dyeing and finishing cycles
- Plant and single machine surveillance, remote acquisition and saving of key physical parameters, log record of alarms
- Plant and machine synoptic alarms (sometimes interactive)
- Records of orders and work carried out of production
- Recipe and cycle sequence management
- Management of dyestuffs and auxiliaries warehouse
- Statistical analysis of production
- Quality control-based classifications
- Tracking of single batches, i.e., the keeping of records of the different dyeing and finishing stages so as to make it possible in the future, in the event of disputes or problems, to trace the history of a piece
- Link-ups with ERP systems, for the transmission of data relating to technical operations of interest to the accounts department.

The application of information technology to production in the textile sector is similar, in many regards, to its application in most other manufacturing sectors of textile or apparel factory.
In particular:
• Information technology is taken out of the IT centre, and distributed throughout the mill, making it possible to present/access data wherever they are needed or generated for production management;
• Purely administrative functions are supported, more and more, by out-and-out automation functions: management and processing of organizational-type data, but also technological data relating to production of factory;
• Batch processes (data processing operations carried out by the computer at the end of which one obtains: balance sheets, production plans, warehouse status, etc.) are replaced by real-time applications, which make it possible, through one of the terminals linked up with the computer, to access and update records immediately;
• There is a growing need to integrate the processing of information relating to areas that are distinct from, but connected with, one another: design, technological definition of processes, machine preparation, planning of resources, etc.

Textile companies want the adoption of IT systems in the production environment to generate a greater and greater rationalization of production management system, and to reduce errors and waste in textile industry. The requirements of a textile company, as regards its information system, can be broken down into three areas:
1. Company management: at this level, information systems are needed for the working out of production plans, the checking of results and the working out of sales and cost plans.

2. Function management: For function management system, they are required to respond to the need to determine the production plan and flow. In particular, they help in the processing of orders, converting them into processing instructions for individual departments, stages or machines. They make it possible to optimize batches on the basis of resources and technological parameters, even simulating the production chain so as to optimize production speeds and balance workloads among machines.

3. Process management: For process management system, they serve to tune the numerous technical regulation and programming procedures that are involved in the production process. In this stage, information systems make it possible to gather all the basic data needed for control and function planning activities.

Benefits of production management system
 -Integration of different areas (resource planning, designing, recipe preparation, machine programming, cost control)
 -Better customer service in terms of order status and delivery times (shorter)
 -Reduction of errors
 -Increased company flexibility
 -Greater control over the company’s overall activity
 -Reduction of stocks
 -Reduction of downtime
 -Process repeatability

Limitation of production management system
 -Modification of the modus operandi (which results in the need to standardize procedures and train staff)
 -Standardization problems (due to control systems that are often incompatible with one another)
 -Poor product customization

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AUTOMATED PROCESS CONTROL IN TEXTILE AND APPAREL INDUSTRY

Textile and garments process control technology is not as specific as vision technology; process control encompasses all textile manufacturing sectors. The process controllers relevant to textile manufacturing are basic information-electronic systems that, installed on the textile and garments machine, control certain fundamental parameters relating to the production process carried out on the machine itself. Essentially, they can be broken down into 4 categories according to the technology of the controller involved, which is itself dependent upon the type of process being controlled.

AUTOMATION IN PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM
1.Cycle programmers: These process control system are present on many dyeing machines and they are based on the general principle of activating outputs according to inputs of the process. But their actual functioning is more specific. Those control system are pre-programmed to manage a sequential cycle of operations automatically. This facilitates programming, because the only thing that has to be done is determine the sequence of the steps in the cycle and the conditions required for the passage from one step to the next (the reaching of a certain temperature, the expiry of a set time, the arrival of a go-ahead signal, etc.). There exist two types of cycle programmer: one based on a microprocessor whose hardware and software remains the property of the supplier, and one based on a PC- or PLC-formatted architecture, which offers all the advantages of standard hardware and flexible software of automated process control.

2. PC-driven Programmable Logical Controllers (PLCs): these systems of process control are equipped to receive logical information (from switch or pushbutton contacts, limit switches, photocells, any kind of ON/OFF sensor) and to activate logical outputs (electric drives, relay contacts, etc). A controller checks continuously the status of inputs (openings/closures, presence/absence of electrical current), and according to the configuration of the inputs, activates its own outputs (activated/deactivated, ON/OFF, command presence/absence). The logical correlation between input status and the output status consequently imposed is determined when programming the system. Thus, the PLC can be regarded as a completely general purpose tool, capable of carrying out, when duly programmed by the user for proper process control, the most diverse functions. In practice, PLCs are used to resolve all those problems relating to automation and sequence management that used to be resolved using electrical systems and relay logics for process control. They feature on practically all the systems used for automated process control, in textile finishing, for operations such as washing, mercerization, dyeing, drying, calendaring, raising, pad-batching and steaming.

3. Numerical Controls of process control: these control system are electronic systems, specifically designed to control the positioning of a number of moving organs (e.g., robot axes). Using special languages, they programmed the sequences of the positions of the various axes, each of which is controlled through measurement of the position of the organ. This measurement is carried out by high precision transducers (encoders, resolvers, optical rulers), which transmit to the numerical control a number (hence the name of the system) which represents that position.

4. Special programmers: This automated process control system is developed specifically to carry out dedicated functions of textile process. These programmers are designed with and for the machine, in such a way that input and output signals and processing capacity are kept to the absolute minimum. In order to reduce costs, size and maintenance of production, they are often engineered in the form of single electronic cards. The four systems of process control described above are can be integrated with one another, and are often used together.

Benefit of automated process control
 -Better process quality
 -Reduction of errors
 -Greater production flexibility
 -Rationalization of the cycle according to scientific criteria
 -Rapid personnel training
 -Greater familiarity with production characteristics
 -Scope for integration with other company information systems
 -Repeatability of procedures
 -End quality no longer dependent upon the skill and experience of staff

Limitation of automated process control
 -Need for organizational changes
 -Difficulty personalizing the system to specific requirements
 -Difficulty interfacing with different IT products
 -Need for assistance and maintenance

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AUTOMATED COLOR ANALYSIS AND COLOR CONTROL OF DYEING INDUSTRY

AUTOMATED COLOR ANALYSIS AND CONTROL OF DYE HOUSE

It is worth remembering that in the past the assessment of color reproduction was exclusively entrusted to the ability and to the experience of the eye of highly skilled operators working on the color kitchen, whose judgment, however, could be influenced by a number of physical, physiological and psychological restrictions. The success and the development of electronics have deeply transformed the color control task thanks to the introduction of new measuring instruments, which have allowed definitely scientific and objective assessment.

All the systems currently available on the market have basically the same fundamental structure and differ only in their performance and in the algorithms adopted for color analysis. These systems generally feature:

1. A spectrophotometer, which measures the different spectral components of the sample analyzed. Today the measurement is carried out by means of a xenon flash, a prism separating the chromatic components and a CCD sensor (of the type used for modern solid state television cameras that have only a single row of light-sensitive elements or pixels), which reads the intensity of all the components simultaneously;

AUTOMATION IN TEXTILE FINISHING

AUTOMATED OPERATION OF TEXTILE FINISHING:
Automation in textile finishing industry is not a new concept, but it is being modern day by day. The textile factory is characterized by a considerable fragmentation of the production cycle into a number of segments specialized in the production processing of different fibres/yarns; even the single steps of automated production are often considerably fragmented, which entails the need for them to be perfectly organized for guarantee good final results of automated production. The Initial steps for production of the textile cycle are less fragmented but fragmentation unquestionably increases during the finalized finishing stage, for this reason the large amount of processes required by the market. Modern automation technologies for textile finishing based on electrical and electronics, computer programmability and smart systems show great potential for textile applications and currently aim to the achievement of important objectives such as flexibility and quality, according to three reliable paths:
1) The automated standardization of components
2) The automated compatibility of systems
3) The popularity of personal computers in case of textile finishing.

The automated standardization of components takes place thanks to the concentration of automation technologies in some basic types of automated processes which must be done by the mechanical forces by machine. The machine is defined and summarized by a system made of inputs and outputs for automated textile production system. Inputs of textile production are sensors which transform the physical variables of the system into electrical values which can be read and processed by an electrical and electronic unit. Outputs of automated production are the actuators controlling the machine and consequently the process (motors, solenoid valves, thermo resistors).

Any system may usually refer to this operating scheme and can be controlled by making inputs operating in relation to the state of the output and following a preset sequence of times. The computer, by means of the appropriate automated operating software, supplies the logical links between inputs and outputs and controls the right operating sequence for Automation in textile finishing industry.

Through its gradual introduction, automation has affected:
1. Machines: the immediate objective was the reduction and simplification of the operator’s tasks;
2. Processes: the subsequent evolution stage has ensured the links between the various production steps with the automatic control of the textile mill, leaving the operator with only control and supervision tasks. The full insolvency of the different production areas (inventory control systems, preparation of dyes and auxiliaries, dyeing equipment, material storage, etc) and /or services such as planning, laboratory, design pattern development, technological planning of cycles and production still needs to be addressed. The most advanced integration solutions available today are mainly production cells.

The main difference between automated systems essentially lies in the quantity of variables controlled. Here are the finishing segments most affected by technological development:
1. Color analysis
2. Process control
3. Production control systems
4. Color kitchen
5. Automated inventory control systems
6. Transport and robotized systems
7. Machine control systems

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WORK STUDY OF APPAREL GARMENTS FACTORY

WORK STUDY
Work study is the analysis of the operations required to produce a style. Effective work study requires both methods analysis and work measurement. Methods are studied, analyzed, and the elements of the method measured in terms of time consumed. Data are collected, analyzed and used to support decisions on rates and methods. Work study is also important to ergonomic decisions, job design, and work station development. Decisions must be based on extensive study and documentation that is developed with work measurement procedures. Unsubstantial opinions are not sufficient justification for change.

OBJECTIVE OF WORK STUDY
- Explain mechanization and automation relative to general- and special-purpose machines
- Examine the basic components of sewing machines and work aids
- discuss the effect of equipment on product quality and performance.

BASIC TERMINOLOGY OF WORK STUDY
Capacity: Productive capability (output) of a plant. Machine or work center in a given period of time.

Created from: machine, time, space, capital, labor
Frequently measured in units of Output (no. of garments)
May be expressed in terms of input (no. of hours)

Maximum Capacity: Total hours available under normal conditions for a given period of time

Efficiency Factor: A factor used to adjust the maximum capacity to a realistic level of potential production capacity.
Efficiency = Standard minutes earned /Actual minutes attended
Realistically 90% is the efficiency factor for all the firms attributed to Down Time, Supervisor, intervention, absenteeism, and other demands in a work day

Down Time: The period of time that a machine is not operational because of setup, making adjustments, maintenance or mechanical failure.

Potential Capacity: Maximum capacity adjusted for efficiency

Committed Capacity: Total of hours previously allocated for production during a given time period, ensures the plant of a continuous flow of work employment. It affects potential start and completion dates of the succeeding orders.

Available Capacity: The difference between Potential Capacity and Committed Capacity for a given period. This is used to estimate deliveries on new orders.

Required Capacity: Standard Allowed Hours/Minutes (SAH’s /SAM’s) necessary to produce a specified volume in a certain period of time.

Excess Capacity: Difference between required capacity and potential capacity.

Work Study can be best expressed in the following manner:
WORK STUDY
   1. METHOD STUDY
       Record to Compare
       Seek best method
   2. WORK MEASUREMENT
       Time Study
       Synthetics

In a crux: “Methods are developed and rate set for each operation”

STEPS INVOLVED:
1. Analyze each style to determine its requirement for production.

2. Style Analysis is based on:
       -Firm’s quality standards
       -Amount of labor required
       -Available equipment
       -Volume to be produced
       -Expected “throughput time”

3. Style requirements are determined through analysis of samples and specifications

4. Apparel Engineers are concerned with:
       -Number, complexity and sequence of Operations
       -Equipment Required
       -Time and Skill Required

5. Operation Breakdown: Work in each style is broken down into operations
An operation B/down is sequential list of all the operations that involved in assembling a garment used to establish the workflow for each style.

6. Apparel engineers study each operation to improve its effectiveness and efficiency and to establish methods to ensure a consistent performance by operators and consistent products.

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