COST OF INTERNAL FAILURE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN A GARMENT UNIT

Kushagra Prakash & Vivek Agarwal Northern India Textile Research Association, Ghaziabad

Mr. Kushagra Prakash is Assistant Professor(Fashion) in NITRA, Ghaziabad. He is basically B.Text (Textile Tech.) & M.F.Tech (Apparel Prodn.) from NIFT, New Delhi. Mr. Vivek Agarwal is co-author of this paper & he is Assistant Director & Dean (Management) in NITRA, Ghaziabad.

1.0 INTRODUCTION Indian apparel sector is still starving for Right First Time quality perspective. Substantial developments have taken place in field of Manufacturing Technology, Industrial Engineering & MIS but Quality remains by and large underdeveloped. Majority of time and effort of the quality control personnel is still devoted in inspecting the already produced merchandise than preventing the defects from arising. Defects per 100 units(DHU) level have never been stable due to large variety of styles handled by Indian garment units. The ASQC Quality Cost Committee classifies Cost of Quality into four categories namely: Prevention Cost, Appraisal Cost, Internal Failure Cost and External Failure Cost. A brief description of these costs is given below: 1. Prevention costs. The costs associated with personnel engaged in designing, implementing, and maintaining the quality system. Maintaining the quality system includes auditing the system. 2. Appraisal costs. The costs associated with measuring, evaluating, or auditing of products, components, and purchased materials to assure conformance with quality standards and performance requirements. 3. Internal failure costs. The costs associated with defective products, components, and materials that fail to meet quality requirements and results in manufacturing losses.

4. External failure costs. The costs generated when defective products are shipped to customers. A lot of studies have been done in the past on Cost of Quality on macro-basis. The present study is confined to measure Internal Failure Cost in terms of loss of productivity. The present study has been conducted on 10 different styles with 5 apparel manufacturers of Bangalore & NCR to determine their internal failure cost. The study shows potential losses as a function of rework & rejection.

2.0 METHODOLOGY Garment manufacturing is broadly classified into 2 categories- woven or knits. They are sub categorized into the kind of product manufacturing- staple or embellished. In the present study, 5 garment factories were selected that were producing similar products. The profile of the factories surveyed is given in Table 1. Table 1: Profile of factories Factory Capacity (No. of sewing m/cs) No. of m/c working Type of factory 1 450 2 250 3 700 4 600 5 300

450 Exporter Mens & KidsKnits & Wovens(Tops, Bottom & Sets) Bangalore 4000

250 Exporter Kids & LadiesWovens (Tops & Bottoms ) Gurgaon 2000

700 Exporter Kids & LadiesWoven(Tops & Bottoms) Faridabad 5000

500 Exporter Ladies- Knits & wovens (Tops & Bottoms) Gurgaon 4500

180 Exporter Ladies Woven & knits(Tops) Noida 1500

Product

Location Actual Prodn/Day

2 styles were selected in each factory, which were in production and their rejection and rework loss were analyzed in terms of Minutes. SAM (Standard Allowed Minutes) of complete garment is summation of Sewing SAM and Finishing SAM. SAM was calculated by the help of time study of all the operations.

Sewing rework is calculated after observing 5 critical operations in each style which had the maximum frequency. Details of factory-wise operations studied in sewing department are given in Table 2. 10 readings of each critical rework operation were taken for calculation of sewing rework time. Sewing rework per garment is identified after observing the frequency of defects for a complete day.

Table 2: Operations Studied Factory 1 2 3 4 5 Operations Placket Attaching, Inseam Operation, Cuff Attachment, Collar run stitch , Pocket Placement Frill 1 upper lining attach, Frill 1+2 attach, Waist Attach, Bottom attach, Placket Making Bone pocket making, Sleeve placket attach & finish, Side seam top stitch, Pocket attach, Collar Attaching Pin tucks, Lace attach, Bottom panel attach to Body, Placket Attachment, Sleeve Attach Placket finish, Cuff Close, Collar Making, Sleeve Attachment, Shoulder Join

Sewing rework per garment= Sewing Rework time per garment/Sewing SAM of garment Finishing rework is calculated from the DHU (defects per hundred units) . Cut to Pack Rejection % has been obtained from actual rejections in each department of respective style. Finishing rework per garment= Finishing Rework time per garment/ Finishing SAM of garment Rework % = Sewing Rework % + Finishing Rework % Rejection % = (Total Pcs Rejected/ Total Pcs Cut) x 100 Internal failure cost is the addition of rework & rejection percentage. Hence, internal failure is calculated as percentage of SAM of the garment. Actual SAM of the garment increased due to internal failures and hence loss of production per day is calculated. Internal failure % = Rework % + Rejection %

Since none of the factories surveyed provided cost of production, overheads etc., therefore it was not possible to calculate the Cost of Internal Failure in financial terms.

3.0 RESULTS & DISCUSSION

Factory-1 Style Description Woven Men's Shirt 42.0 5.2 9.5 4 13.5 400 Woven Kids Shirt

Factory-2 Wovens Kids dress Woven Kids Skirt

Factory-3 Woven Ladies Top Woven Ladies Top

Factory-4 Woven Ladies Top Knits Ladies Top

Factory-5 Ladies Shirt Woven Ladies Top

Total SAM- Sewing + finishing (minutes) Rework TimeSewing+finishing(minutes) % Rework on total SAM Rejection % Total Internal failure(%) Prodn. Per day

38.0 4 7.9 4.2 12.1 350

52.3 9 13.9 3.5 17.4 300

46.7 7.15 12.1 3 15.1 350

51.7 6.5 10.1 2 12.1 400

30.5 4.7 10.9 1.8 12.7 450

42.0 6.8 12.5 4.2 16.7 400

31.5 4.4 10.0 4.6 14.6 450

74.2 9.4 10.8 1.42 12.3 250

59.8 9.2 12.7 1.62 14.3 300

Loss in Prodn. (Pcs/day)

38.2

27.7

41.7

42.2

40.5

49.2

49.9

45.0

27.1

38.2

3.1. Factory wise % Rework AnalysisPercentage of Rework on Total SAM of garment varies between 8 % - 14%.The results obtained are given in graph-1.

Graph 1 : Factory wise % Rework on Total SAM 3.2. Factory wise Rejection % AnalysisRejection % varies from 1.4% - 4.6%. The results obtained are given in Graph 2.

Graph 2: Factory wise Rejection % 3.3. Factory wise Internal failure AnalysisInternal failure % ranges from 12% - 17.5% of the total SAM of the garment. The results obtained are given in Graph 3.

. Graph 3 : Factory wise Internal Failure % 3.4. Factory wise Internal failure AnalysisContribution of finishing rework is more than that of sewing because of negligence of inline & end line sewing inspection systems. The results are given in Graphs 4-8.

Graph 4: Internal Factory Analysis F-1

Graph 5:Internal Factory Analysis F-2

Graph 6:Internal Factory Analysis F-3

Graph 7:Internal Factory Analysis F-4

Graph 8:Internal Factory Analysis F-5

4.0 Suggestions to Measure and Reduce Internal Failures: I. II. III. Proper documentation of rework and its details in each department for better identification and control. Proper operator training in sewing and finishing departments to reduce the probability of rework/rejection. Gradation of operators in different categories based on their skill levels so that critical operations may be assigned to better grade operators. . 5.0. Acknowledgement The authors are thankful to Dr. J.V. Rao, Director General, NITRA for his keen interest and guidance in this project. We also express our thanks to Okhla Garment and Textile Cluster (OGTC) and all other garment manufacturing units for allowing us to conduct the study in their units.