EXAMINATION OF FABRIC SPREADING

PROCESS IN ORDER TO CREATE A

MODEL FOR DETERMINING STANDARD
UNIT TIME
Can Ünal
Namık Kemal University, Çorlu Engineering Faculty, Textile Engineering
Department / N.K.Ü. Çorlu Mühendislik Fakültesi, Tekstil Mühendisliği Bölümü,
Silahtarağa Mahallesi, Üniversite 1. Sokak No:13, 59860 Çorlu / TEKİRDAĞ
 Introduction

• It is difficult to determine the efficiency of a production unit in a specific time period due to complexity of
processes, variety and large quantity of operators.
• As sewing department offers a wide range of optimization possibilities on production efficiency, most of studies
are related with this department.
• Studies about cutting department frequently focus on cut order planning optimization , cut scheduling problem
and alternative formulations for layout problem .
• The objective of spreading is to place the number of plies of fabric that the production planning process has
dictated, to the length of the marker plan, in the colors required, correctly aligned as to length and width, and
without tension.
• Spreading is itself a time consuming operation. With the highest lays it can consume more time in total than
cutting, especially if the cutting is by computer-controlled knife
• In order to accelerate the spreading process, most of the companies use spreading machines which carry the
piece of fabric from end to end of the spread, dispensing one ply at a time onto the spread.
• Standard unit time (SUT) of fabric spreading process before cutting operation was determined by time study
application in a company which produces women’s clothing.
• Workflow was created for fabric spreading process and standard unit times of 17 different types of fabric were
examined for 24 different orders in three month period.
 Estimated effective factors in spreading process
Element No Process Elements Factors
Bringing the fabric roll to spreading Weight of the fabric roll
E1 machine

E2 Reading and entering necessary Operator performance

data to spreading machine
Spreading the ply paper Length of marker plan (whether the
E3 fabric width is larger than 180 cm
or not)
E4 Reposition of spreading machine Length of marker plan, fabric type
E5 Fabric Spreading Length of marker plan, fabric type
Controlling the fabric length, width Whether or not have a splice point
E6 and weight
Loading the fabric roll in spreading Weight of the fabric roll
E7 machine
Preparing the splicing point Operator performance
E8 Operator performance
Filling the final form and ply Operator performance
E9 counting
 EXPERIMENTAL
 Time study was complete in ten main stages
1. Selecting the job.
2. Obtaining and recording all the information available about the job, the operative and the surrounding conditions, which is
likely to affect the carrying out of the work.
3. Recording a complete description of the method, breaking down the task into “elements”.
4. Determining the work flow sequences.
5. Measuring with a timing device (usually a stop-watch) and recording the time taken by the operative to perform each “element”
of the task.
6. Calculating the required number of observations :
The required number of observations was calculated by using a “Formula ” for 95% confidence interval. 15 observations were
made for all tasks by using REFA time measurement form. If the required number of observations was calculated higher than 15.

(N = required number of observations, n = the number of observations, x = observation value).

7. Evaluating the rating value of operator’s performance depending on observer’s “normal operating speed”.
8. Calculating the normal time by using Formula :
Normal time = (Observed time * rating value) / 100
9. Determining the tolerances :
Firstly, the type of allowances should be determined for tolerances. Standard values for personal needs are 5% and %7 of
normal time for men and women, respectively. The accepted basic fatigue allowances are 4% both for men and women. In
order to calculate fixed and variable allowances, various tables in literature were used .
10. Calculating the standard time :
By adding necessary tolerances to normal time, standard time was calculated for each task.

After the determination of standard unit time for each element, correlation coefficient of each estimated factors for 24 different
order were calculated in three months period.
• RESULTS
Element No Factors r
E1 Weight of the fabric roll 0,0079
E2 Length of marker plan 0,551
E3 Length of marker plan 0,65
E4 Length of marker plan 0,81
E5 Weight of the fabric roll 0,2
E6 Weight of spreads 0,43

where; X and Y are the values of two variables.

• DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS
• With this study, it is possible to forecast spreading SUT for 17 different fabric type within the light of parameters
below;
Fabric type,
Fabric width,
Number of batches of ordered fabric,
Spreading (marker plan) length.
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