International Journal of Textile and Fashion

Technology (IJTFT)
ISSN 2250-2378
Vol.2, Issue 3 Sep 2012 34-42
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.,

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR HIGH

PERFORMANCE IN TEXTILE WET PROCESSING
J. N. SHAH & S.R. SHAH
Department of Textile Chemistry, Fac. of Tech.&Engg.,,The M.S. University of Baroda,Vadodara,
Gujarat, India

ABSTRACT
Textile sector is probably the worlds largest industry dealing with every human being as
customer. Customer now governs the largest world textile market. Quality awareness in textile industry
is need of the day even for survival. The concept of quality has been contemplated throughout history
and continues to be a topic of interest today. Quality has been defined differently at various times e.g. as
value (Abott., 1955; Feigenbaum, 1951), conformance to specifications (Gilmore, 1974), fitness for use
(Juran, 1974, 1988) etc.1 Quality management is a necessity for survival and growth of the organization
in a global environment. TQM philosophy and guiding principles continuously improve the performance
in wet processing and result in quality product; the need of the day.

KEYWORDS: Textile Production, Wet Processing, Quality Management.

QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (QMS)
Quality standards can be achieved through Quality Control and Quality Assurance. Since
1950s, quality was considered to be by quality control which emphasis on the product assessment. It can
be demonstrated through process control, inspection, testing and calibration. On the other hand Quality
Assurance is an entire shift from product assessment to the assessment of process and methods, which
includes the inter development cooperation and the emphasis is on controlling the process rather than the
product. Quality management system caters for the quality not only in the manufacturing and processing
but also in the allied functions like purchasing, marketing, training, handling documents and very
importantly the communication in the organization. It can be demonstrated through Reviews, Audits,
Trainings and Documentation.2
Various QMS like ISO 9000 series, ISO 14000 series, etc. have been adopted in industries. Majority of
textile industries have adopted ISO 9000 system. Earlier, textile was a suppliers market and now-a-days
it is totally a buyers market and the consumer demands consistent quality of the product which leads to
shift the product loyalty from one manufacturer to the other. Customers are having more options
available with them for selecting a quality product at a much competitive price. For textile sector, the
only way left out to bring down the cost and to generate more yields, with competitive quality products,

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Total Quality Management An Opportunity for

High Performance in Textile wet Processing

is to adopt the QMS based approach. ISO 9000 quality systems provides all such inputs to work towards
the Management by Objectives rather than the Management Crisis.

ISO 9000 STANDARDS

A technical committee TC-176 under a Geneva based organization formed and the first series
of ISO 9000 standards were brought out in the year 1987. ISO 9000 gives us a common platform to
fulfill customer requirements, which varies from place to place and country to country, i.e. ISO assuring
for a product, fulfilling all the standard norms which remain same throughout the world. These standards
are product neutral and can be adopted by any sector of the industry. It says: let us perfect the system, the
product will take care of itself. The basic theme of these quality system standards is to do the right first
and every time and thereby assuring for a product consistent in its quality.
Since, 14th July 1994, these standards have been revised to make advanced and better for the
units wishing to go for registration, these are: ISO: 9001, ISO: 9002, ISO: 9003 (for contractual
requirements) and ISO: 9004 (for non-contractual requirements)3. Textile industry can select the standard
as per its requirement. For instance Raymonds is ISO9001 whereas Reliance has adopted ISO9002
certification.

REQUIREMENT OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

It is not only the system that brings success to the organizations/company, but the people
involved in the system must be creative or innovative. Without the combination of system and creativity,
no company can grow successfully. Quality can not be achieved merely by establishing a QMS. The
system must be developed intelligently and implemented intelligently by the people. Achievement of
quality requires a systematic approach supported by innovative people who are capable of preventing
failures or non-conformities in product. Thus, in order to obtain a quality product a Total Quality
Management (TQM) is required.4
The term TQM is becoming more and more popular today as a means of describing any
companys approach to quality, because it is mobilization of the whole organization to achieve quality
continuously and a strategic approach in producing the best product or service. To establish TQM either
in production or processing of textiles we need a management which maintains the consistency of quality
throughout the entire process of a textile product i.e. Fiber to Finished fabric.
TQM spells like: Total means satisfying all stake customers.
Quality means sustained customer focus.
Management means continuous improvement with facts and data based decisions
in a planned way. 5
Off the many ways one may define TQM as: TQM is the process of achieving agreed customer
requirements at the lowest effective cost by bringing the talents of all the employees

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J. N. Shah & S.R. Shah

TQM approach, centered on quality, based on the participation of all members of organization and aims
at long-term success through customer satisfaction, and benefits to all members of the organization, and
to society6. Quality approach in 20th century may have been divided into four prominent eras regarding
historical evolution of TQM (Table-1).
Table 1: Historical evaluation of TQM in 20th century
ERA
QUALITY INSPECTION (QI)
QUALITY CONTROL (QC)
QUALITY ASSURANCE (QA)
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM)

Beginning year
1910
1924
1950
1980

The key areas to ensure the success of a TQM program in an organization are commitment and
a systematic approach. Commitment must start with top management and then be gained from each
individual employee while a systematic approach requires the necessary infrastructure of people,
systems and training.
The results of a study conducted in Malaysia suggest that the implementations of TQM can lead
to the enhancement of customer satisfaction and ultimately improve the financial performance of
manufacturing companies in Malaysia.7

IMPLEMENTATION OF TQM IN TEXTILES

Textile Industry involves various functions performed by department and persons to
convert raw material in to final product. TQM in textiles is not the work of a single department or person,
but involvement of all persons and functions -Vis--vis- market research, product development,
manufacturing, purchasing, inspection, and marketing and after sales services, this approach is illustrated
in fig-1.
TQM starts from top of the organization and recognize the importance of everyone committed to
customer satisfaction.
TM-Top Management

--- Decide the Product quality cycle

MM-Middle Management --- Execute the decision made by TM

LM-Lower Management --- Implement the execution done by MM
Failure of Management to plan for the future and to foresee problems have brought about waste of
manpower, of materials, and of machine & time, all of which raise the processing cost and price that the
purchaser must pay. The consumer is not always willing to subsidize this waste. The inevitable result is
loss of market. They have to do things right first time without error6.

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Total Quality Management An Opportunity for

High Performance in Textile wet Processing

Figure 1: TQM cycle in textile industry

TQM IN TEXTILE WET PROCESSING

Various approaches e.g. Kaizen, Juran have been utilized for implantation of TQM in textile wet
processing. The general features needs to be maintained are:
1]

Control on waste at all stages of wet processing.

2]

Proper housekeeping & material handling.

3]

Inventory control

5]

Product identification at all stages through proper system.

6]

Process and quality control

Implementation of TQM in textile wet processing simultaneously increases market share, quality and
profits8. Various stages of TQM in textile wet processing are grouped into Quality Control and Process
Control9 (fig. 2)
Quality/Process control in textile wet processing

Quality control

Process control

Raw

Process

Materials

Materials

Grey

Bleaching &

Inspection

Mercerizing

Dyeing

Printing

Figure 2: Various stages of TQM in textile wet processing

Finishing

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J. N. Shah & S.R. Shah

TQM GUIDELINES FOR VARIOUS STAGES OF TEXTILE WET PROCESSING

In order to develop TQM in wet processing, it is necessary first to consider process
parameters along with quality parameters to meet ISO standards and customer requirements. At all stages
of wet processing process control, and quality control parameters should be designed and maintained
within norms. Few such parameters are listed in table 210. It is responsibility of middle management to
design the proper manual and to execute properly through various levels of management. Records of PC
and QC parameters should be maintained and authorized by assigned authority at right place and should
be easily retrievable. Following guidelines may be followed for implement of TQM at various stages:
Table 2: Checklist of PC & QC parameters in wet processing
Stage

Parameters
Process control

Singeing

burner position, flame height, flame intensity,

Quality control
Pilling test

speed
Desizing

Enzyme concentration, wet pick-up, pH,

Size removal, fluidity

temperature, reaction time

Scouring

Bleaching

Mercerizing

steam pressure, time of boiling, caustic

Absorbency, fat and wax content,

alkalinity in process and in effluent

fluidity, scouring loss

Concentration of bleaching agent, pH, time of

Whiteness,

reaction, residual Cl2/H2O2in drain

fabric strength

Concentration of caustic, Speed of the

degree of mercerizing (Barium

mercerization machine, dwell time, pick-up,

activity no.),

temperature of mercerizing liquor, residual

shrinkage, residual alkali, fabric

alkalinity

strength

whiteness

luster

retention,

%,

width

SINGEING
Process control in singeing should be taken care through various parameters listed in table
2. Above all this, proper working of guide rollers and expanders, immediate quenching bath after
singeing of cold water to lower down the temperature of cloth etc. should also be ensured for consistent
quality in singeing. Failure in QM not only leads to faults but may also leads to hazard. Management
decision here is also important for selection of machine which reduces the manual control. Oshthoff is
one such machine which is having much automatic function and can result consistent singeing quality.

DESIZING

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Total Quality Management An Opportunity for

High Performance in Textile wet Processing

In desizing process parameters, and manual work should be carried out efficiently so that no
re-desizing batch would occur, final testing according to QMS should be properly carried out for
desizing.
Table-3 QC of desized fabric
Desizing Efficiency, %

Descriptive Grade

90

Excellent

85-90

Very Good

80-85

Good

70-80

Moderate

70

Poor

Efficiency of Desizing can be judged by QC of desized fabric which arbitrarily grade desized
fabric. It should not be less than 85%. Thus by stricter control during desizing it is possible to achieve
85% desizing efficiency. Using required concentration of enzyme. It has been reported, that optimum
concentration of enzyme for this purpose is 0.25% W/V9. Higher concentrations do not increase desizing
efficiency to any appreciable extent but simply add to the chemical cost of the operation. Similarly other
process parameters like digestion time for enzyme, temp. & pH of the process should be maintained
carefully.

SCOURING
Off the process parameters which need to be controlled here, caustic alkalinity at the time of
drain should not be less than 10% of the starting concentration in order to maintain impurities in the
suspended form. For this purpose a periodic check of alkalinity in the kiering solution is desirable during
the course of scouring operation. Quality Control checks determine efficiency of scouring & should be
maintained under norms.

BLEACHING
Bleaching is carried out either by conventional batch methods using a kier or by semicontinuous pad steam method or by continuous J box system.
Record should be kept of each of the wet processes operation in a log book maintained by the
department & various controls listed should be scrupulously entered.

MERCERISING
In mercerizing, an hourly check of the strength of the caustic soda in mercerizing liquor is
necessary for the uniform degree of mercerizing especially for goods meant for subsequent dyeing and
for goods mercerized by wet on wet method. All the measures listed in table 2 are aimed at obtaining a
well mercerized fabric without undue shrinkage and wastage of costly caustic soda thereby enabling the

J. N. Shah & S.R. Shah

40

mills to produce quality mercerizes fabric at optimum cost. A well mercerized fabric should not give a
Barium Activity number below 135. Increase in luster % by 5-7 units due to mercerization can be
considered satisfactory11.

DYEING
R.F.T. dyeing factor must be considered here for efficient Quality dyeing results.
Process parameters like concentration of dye bath, temp. of bath, nip pressure in padding, pH etc. should
be controlled.
Total Quality Management, manual must provide the following information:
Dyes and pigments along with their CI number
Chemicals in use
Material safety data sheets for all items
Processing methods used
Quality parameters of the final product
Test methods for each of the items
Frequency at which each test needs to be conducted
Eco-label requirements
Besides testing of dyestuffs and pigments for their strength before using in dyeing the scope of the
laboratory should be further extended by suggesting cheaper combinations to department by matching of
fancy shades without any adverse effect on the fastness properties of dyeing obtained. This alone has
been found to help many mills to reduce their cost of dyeing considerably.
The quality control involves testing of dyed materials for fastness tests to various agencies like
light, washing, rubbing perspiration, solvent dry-cleaning and others depending upon the end-use of
fabric. As regards process control while dyeing checkups of the concentration of chemicals, especially
caustic soda and hydrosulphite, temperature of dyeing the density of the package, temperature
measurements, time of reversal of cycles, pump pressure etc. should be taken regularly12.

PRINTING
The dyestuff and pigments as well as other auxiliaries used in printing should be tested as per
the quality manual before accepting them for use in bulk production. Besides this it is always desirable to
check the basic cloth for width variation, creases, absorbency, whiteness etc. which would otherwise lead
to higher percentage of damages.
The desired consistency of the printing paste and its suitability on storage is also an equally
important check. Fastness characteristics of the prints should be checked for all the designs as a routine
quality control measure.

FINISHING

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Total Quality Management An Opportunity for

High Performance in Textile wet Processing

Proper selection of finishing ingredients such as starches, gums, resins, catalysts, softeners etc.
and it is many a time said that the final finish decides the quality of the fabric for which the consumer
pays. The relevant Indian Standards serve as best guide for the selection of finishing ingredients. In this
respect comparative evaluation of resins and costly auxiliaries should be critically made before their use
in bulk. As regards comparative chemical analysis and performance of the commercially available resins
for wash-n-wear and durable press fabrics recently BTRA has published a report which enumerates the
various test procedures on the resins used and on the resin finished fabrics11.
On the other hand resin finished fabric should be invariably tested for physical properties such as tensile
and tear strength, abrasion resistance, wrinkle recovery angle and wash-n-wear or D.P.Ratings as the case
may be, whereas chemical test would include nitrogen and formaldehyde determination, resistance to
acid or alkali hydrolysis, chlorine retention and subsequent loses on scorching etc. These should conform
to the various standards laid down by different authorities like Tootals for tebilised fabrics or Textile
Commissioners Standards for wash-n-wear or Koratron (U.S.A) for durable press fabrics.

IMPACT OF TQM IN TEXTILE WET PROCESSING

Establishment and efficient implementation of TQM in textile wet processing results in many
beneficiary impacts to the textile industry.
Eliminates unnecessary Processes and items,
Business oriented work,
Proper maintenance,
Stock level controlled,
Orderliness maintained,
Colour coding done properly,
Better Material handling,
Eco-parameters maintained,
Re-utilization of steam, heat, Auxiliaries from effluents etc.
All these impacts ultimately gives quality product at optimum cost which helps in capturing market share
considerably.

ROLE OF I.T. IN TEXTILES

Use of Information Technology in this era assures complete quality process and reduces
manual errors, helps in re-utilizing process waste, also makes laboratory and testing work more efficient
with utilizing data bank of standard and produced samples. Optimum utilization of dyes, auxiliaries and
chemicals at various stages of wet processing like, pre-treatments, dyeing, printing and finishing become
possible with I.T. using lowest effort. Efficient management of entire activities of various stages of wet

J. N. Shah & S.R. Shah

42

processing spread over huge area can be carried out from one place by lowest no. of manpower simply
sitting in chair through computers by I. T. 13
In India several textile organizations have implemented TQM & found to be efficient. TQM encourages
participation amongst shop floor workers and managers. Also, that include all functions and all
employees have to participate in the improvement process; that organizations need both quality systems
and a quality culture. Finally it can be concluded that only a strong organizational culture with
determined management and a controlled feedback mechanism will ensure the effective implementation
of the quality system as required by the Total Quality Management and the best output is achieved in
textile wet processing.

REFERENCES
1. Academy of Management Review 19(3), 1994, 419-45
2. R.R.Gorakhia,Colourage Texindia Fair 97 special/ 19th-21st Dec. 1997/25-26
3. Dr. S.U. Kulkarni, Colourage/UDCT Seminar cum exhibition special,1993/ 57-58
4. Suresh Dalela and Saurabh, ISO: 9000 A Manual for Total Quality Management, Second Edition,
1997,50-56
5. G.D Premi, Colourage, Vol. 22, December 1997, 27
6. Indra Doraiswamy & K. P. Chellamani, Colourage Southtex, Vol. No.XLIII, ISS. No. 10, 96
Special/30th Aug.-1st Sept,1996,35,42-43
7. Rozeia Mustafa, http://www.simplyquality.org/ISO%209000%20case%20study.htm
8. M.Subramanian Senthil Kannan, ISS. No.0019, Vol. No. M5/116 The Indian Textile Journal,
September 2005/62-63
9. A.A Vaidya, Process and quality control in Textile Chemical Wet Processing, Atria, (Indian
Science Abstracts), Vol. No. 19, Part-II
10. S.M.Doshi and H.A.Shah, Chemical processing tablet IX, The Textile Association, India.
11. N.S.Saraiya and S.M.Doshi, BTRA Scan,5,Edition no.-1,79-87
12. http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/7/679/the-evolution-of-a-dyehouse-doctor1.asp
13. http://www.arel.com.au/outsourcing.html