Line Balancing for Improving Apparel

Production by
Operator Skill Matrix
Abstract
During our internship we found out that the styles are changing quite frequently as orders are relatively
small. Due to the fast changes of styles there is very limited time available for the production process.
The optimum uses of resources especially the available machinery & operators who are adding value of
the product is quite important. So the assembly line should be planned in more flexible way. This project
deals with the maximum utilization of manpower in the labour intensive Progressive bundling
system(PBS). The main objective is to create a database of the skills of workers(skill matrix) and using
the database to provide most efficient operator for a certain operation so as to achieve to achieve
highest level of productivity & delivery as planned target.

Background behind the study

During our study of the process of line setting before starting of a new style in production line. We
found that , at the time of line setting, operators are selected based on their experience on operations
by the supervisors which we found was very random as calculated skill level of the operators on the
operations is not considered at all. As a result after couple of hours, high skilled operators start sitting
idle and low skilled operators stuck with their work. Thus line becomes imbalanced and lot of productive
time is lost as operators sit idle. To utilize operators maximum capacity, work allocation must be done
based on operators potential performance level (efficiency) and work must be shared with operators
who has excess capacity.

To get a balanced line from day one, select operators for the operations based on operators skill levels
and capacity required for the task. So we needed to develop a skill matrix of all operators.

Objectives of developing and maintaining operator skill matrix

1. To check operators skills in running different machines (in efficiency percentage)

2. To check operators capability of doing various operations (If you maintain operations wise
record, you may skip recording machine record or keep both) and their performance level
(efficiency %)

3. To know list of operators who can do selected operations and their performance level
Methodology

Method of developing Skill Matrix

Develop template for data recording:
We will be using excel sheet for developing skill matrix. (Reason, Gaurav International Pvt. Ltd. doesnt
have software for keeping skill matrix records.)

To have all basic information in one table, you need to capture following data.

Date of data entry,

Operator name and employee code,

Operation name,

Machine name and

Operator efficiency on the operation

STYLE UNDER STUDY
1. Buyer: - Club Monaco

2. Style: - Double face twill shirt

3. Factory- GG225

4. Shade: - Grey

5. Fabric type: - linen

6. Size: - S, M, XL, XXL

7. SAM:-28.46

8. No. of Operators:-35

LINE BALANCING
Line Balancing is the distribution of work on the line in such a way that everyone gets the same output
of work in terms of time.

Objectives of line Balancing

To minimize the no. of workstation on line.

To minimize the cycle times.
To maximize the workload smoothness.
To minimize the frequency of tools change.
To maximize the efficiency & effectiveness

Allocation of Operator's (Line Balancing)

Appropriate allocation of the skill operators for particular operations is the keystone for any line
balancing in the garment industry. Allocation also depends on type of balance required. One approach
of allocation is to find the closest match between operators required and operators available. This type
of allocation results in intrinsic balance of line. Another approach is the effective utilization of operator's
skill so far he can do the best, this approach results in dynamic balance of line.
 OPERATOR PERFORMANCE REQUIRED WITH RESPECTIVE OPERATIONS

OPERATION SAM MACHINE TARGET PIECES OPERATORPERFOEMANCE

REQUIRED (%)
Collar making 1.13 SNLS 34 63

Cuff making 1.20 SNLS 68 114

Table 1

FROM SKILL INVENTORY OPERATOR PERFORMANCE AVAILABLE ARE

OPERATOR A B C D

COLLAR MAKING 66 75 72 48

CUFF MAKING 85 89 130 65

Table 2

Dynamic balancing

From the Tables 1 and 2 for a setting the operators are selected as B & C because the operational
efficiencies of these operators are as per the required for the particular jobs which will have the
effective use of all operators' skills.
OPERATOR ALLOCATION FOR DIFFERENT OPERATIONS

S No. OPERATION OPERATOR No. MACHINE

1 Hem front placket right 7952 SNLS
2 placket attached at front-left 9089 SNLS
Attached back yoke+turn and e/s 8540
3 yoke SNLS
4 shoulder attachment 4377 SNLS
5 Collar making 7689 SNLS
6 cuff making 7981 SNLS
7 turn and T/S at collar 7533 SNLS
8 Band attached to collar 5616 SNLS
9 placket attachment at sleeve slit 1845 SNLS
10 Cut &bind finish sleeve slit 7028 SNLS
11 finish sleeve placket 7788 SNLS
12 Collar attached with body 6013 SNLS
13 Finishing of collar 3748 SNLS
14 Sleeve attachment with body 7821 SNLS
15 serge at armhole 6028 SNLS
16 sew side main lable 9023 SNLS
17 Finish side seam 8078 SNLS
18 attachment of cuff 8042 SNLS
19 finish &T/S at cuff 2014 SNLS
20 sew hem on bottom 5432 SNLS

LINE BALANCING BY CAPACITY STUDY

After allocation of operators to the Line number G3 we did a time study for all the operations after 2
days of Line settinG identify any bottlenecks in the line.

A sequence of operations is involved in making a garment. Since the progressive bundling system is in
place so 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) Operators 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.

METHODOLGY

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 we found existing bottlenecks in the line.

Tools required:
i) Stop watch
ii) Spread sheet or Calculator

Step 1: Capacity study: Listing 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.

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). Checking current hourly operator production report. Draw a straight line with target output data
on the line graph.

Step 3: Identification of bottleneck areas: Now with the capacity study table and we compare each
operators 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 lines 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 dont jump without trying initial steps.

Club operations where possible - Where there is higher capacity than the target output, give
that operator another operation with less work content.
Shuffle operators - Operations that have low work content use low performer there. And
where work content is higher use high performers.
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. Thinking of that if possible provide operator with aids. It will reduce operation
cycle time.
 Improve workstation layout and improve methods - Most important area for improving 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.
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.

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.

Capacity study

S No. CYCLE TIME

OPERATIONS MACHINE MANPOWER 1 2 3 4 5 AVG.
Hem front placket
1 right SNLS 1 57 58 58 68 68.5 61
placket attached at
2 front-left SNLS 1 60 55 50 56 58 56
mark at front for
pocket and side
3 shoulder attachment HELPER 1 70 75 76 78 79 76
PRESS
4 Pocket crease MAN 1 47 50 55 56 58 53
Attached back
yoke+turn and e/s
5 yoke SNLS 1 149 157 125 135 150 143
Make and attach
6 main label SNLS 1 68 78 70 85 85 77
7 shoulder attachment SNLS 1 92 85 106 92 101 95
T/S at shoulder
8 pocket mouth hem SNLS 1 102 98 103 104 98 101
sew pleat at sleeve
opening +stay stitch
9 at neck area SNLS 1 111 112 112 115 114 113
 10 Collar making SNLS 1 60 58 62 65 65 62
Hem on cuff+placket
11 patti joining SNLS 1 67 67 75 78 69 71
12 cuff making SNLS 1 50 56 52 55 55 54
collar+cuff extra
13 margin recut SNLEC 1 84 80 85 89 85 85
14 turn and T/S at collar SNLS 1 75 80 85 85 90 82
Band attached to
15 collar SNLS 1 100 95 102 107 106 102
Crease at sleeve slit
placket+collar
16 pressing HELPER 1 100 102 99 105 106 102
placket attachment
17 at sleeve slit SNLS 1 73 71 75 78 76 75
Cut &bid finish
18 sleeve slit SNLS 1 75 84 65 85 70 76
19 finish sleeve placket SNLS 2 252 247 255 254 257 253
20 crease at sleeve+cuff HELPER 1 56 85 84 87 85 79
Collar attached with
21 body SNLS 1 140 142 152 165 165 153
22 Finishing of collar SNLS 1 160 165 160 145 140 154
Sleeve attachment
23 with body SNLS 1 83 89 102 89 98 92
24 serge at armhole SNLS 1 70 75 70 65 59 68
25 T/S at armhole SNLS 1 137 135 140 137 138 137
26 sew side main lable SNLS 1 240 245 259 245 240 242
27 Finish side seam SNLS 1 179 175 170 172 175 174
28 attachment of cuff SNLS 1 120 125 130 128 124 125
29 finish &T/S at cuff SNLS 1 140 165 160 155 140 152
30 sew hem on bottom SNLS 1 204 204 199 195 201 200
31 attach brand label SNLS 1 118 114 115 117 116 116
dimond placket
32 making SNLS 1 40 37 42 40 50 42

Results and discussion

In this study we have produced a garment of 'DOUBLE TWILL SHIRT ' and for this production we took
the production of line number G2 before implementation of skill matrix, and then we selected the
required operators with the use of skill matrix with respect to the operation . In this study we have
conducted for the production of number of pieces for the selected line number G3 before and after the
implementation of the skill matrix. According to the prepared skill matrix the operators are selected
with respect to their skill reports stored from the database. The Table shows the results of before and
after the implementation of the skill matrix

DAILY PRODUCTION REPORT

BEFORE STUDY AFTER STUDY
DATE PRODUCTION DATE PRODUCTION INCREASE %
31/07/2017 153 18/08/2017 211 37.9
01/08/2017 165 19/08/2017 225 36.36
02/08/2017 180 21/08/2017 236 31.11
03/08/2017 184 22/08/2017 254 38.04
04/08/2017 210 23/08/2017 271 29.04
05/08/2017 214 24/08/2017 275 28.05
08/08/2017 220 25/08/2017 282 28.1
09/08/2017 244 26/08/2017 301 18.9
10/08/2017 253 28/08/2017 306 20.9
11/08/2017 270 29/08/2017 325 20.37

350

300

250

200
BEFORE STUDY
AFTER STUDY
150 #REF!

100

50

0
DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 7 DAY 8 DAY 9 DAY 10
Conclusion

Skill matrix helps in allocating right person for the right job which helps in achieving desired
performance level. It keeps record of all operations an operator had done in the past and efficiency level
in each operation. Engineers / line supervisors need minimum time to find and select most efficient
operators for an operation from the pull of operators.
For line balancing, operators can be selected according to work content. When someone is absent,
supervisor can easily find suitable person from the skill matrix table and replace. To analyses the skill
availability and distribution throughout 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. So
productivity can be achieved by allocating skill & semi-skilled workers to the right place and unskilled
operator should be trained properly.
Also after line is set using skill matrix ,capacity study is done to further find bottlenecks in the line . the
main job is to reduce/eliminate WIP between operations to improve the output.