ISSN: 2277-3754

ISO 9001:2008 Certified

International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT)
Volume 2, Issue 7, January 2013

Study on Improving the Production Rate by

Rapier Looms in Textile Industry
Aby Chummar, Soni Kuriakose, George Mathew
Abstract In India the textile industry is growing very fast.
Most of the earlier established textile industries are using
conventional shuttle looms for the production of the cloth. But the
advancement in the technology made the textile industry more
competitive. The effective usage of the new methods of the
weaving technology, which is more energy efficient, makes the
production more economical. It is found out that the usage of the
conventional looms badly affects the cloth production. This study
focuses on identifying the problems associated with the low
production by the shuttle loom and suggesting suitable methods
by which these problems can be reduced.
Index TermsGreige Fabric Picks, Rapier Loom, Shuttle
Loom.

I. INTRODUCTION
The science of textiles predates recorded history.
Archaeologists have found evidence that man has fabricated
coarse cloth from various fibers for at least 20,000 years and
intricate textiles have been found in tombs in Egypt and Asia
that have been dated to several thousand years before Christ.
Many of the processes which were developed in ancient times
are still used in remote areas of the world today [1]. However,
with the advent of the Industrial Age, rapid developments in
machinery and textile manufacturing techniques have
advanced the science of textiles more in the past one hundred
years than in all of previous history [1]. Today's sophisticated
CAD/CAM controlled machines result in high-speed,
low-cost and large-volume textile production [1]. Looms are
the important machines used for cloth production. The
different looms used for the production of the cloth are shuttle
looms, rapier looms, jet looms, etc. The power looms are used
for weaving terry towels and bed sheets. Techniques used for
the production process in the industry are Warping, Sizing,
Beam Drawing, Weaving, Cutting, Un-winding, and checking
in warehouse, Folding, Recounting, Grading and sorting,
Bailing or packing [1]. The main energy forms used in a
textile industry are grid electricity, wood, and small quantity
of coal [5]. The electricity is used for power looms, doubling
machines, winding machines, warping machines and lighting.
Wood is used as fuel for boilers, thermic fluid heaters, and
chulhas for hot water generation.

the company. It is mainly manufactured by the shuttle looms.

Conventional shuttle looms are mainly used during the
weaving process in the industry. All these shuttle looms are
too old. In these present conventional shuttle looms, it is
necessary to pass a shuttle weighing around half a kilogram
through the warp shed to insert a length of weft yarn which
weighs only few grams. The shuttle has to be accelerated
rapidly at the starting of picking cycle and also to be
decelerated, stopped abruptly at the opposite end. This
process creates heavy noise and shock and consumes
considerable energy. Beat-up is done by slay motion which
again weighs a few hundred kilograms. The wear life of the
picker and checking mechanism is also limited due to heavy
shocks. The small weft package in the shuttle requires
frequent replenishments and for each loom stoppage there is a
possibility of one defect. Due to the defects in the looms the
rate of production was reduced. Low speed of the loom is also
a reason for the low production rate of the machine. The low
speed of the machine increases the operating time there by
increasing the consumption of electrical energy. So during
the present global scenario of energy conservation,
alternatives for the conventional methods have to be
identified.
Table I: Factors Affecting Low Production Rate and Their
Percentage

Factor

Seconds affected
(s)

Percentage
(%)

Speed

170

68

Yarn

39

15.6

Break down

22.5

Man

11

4.4

Environment

5.64

2.2

Total

250

100

II. PROBLEM DISCRIPTION

A study on a garment industry was carried out in a leading
garment manufacturing company in Kerala. The study mainly
focused on 382 shuttle looms. Over the years, the company
was involved in production of garments and Greige fabric.
Greige fabric is one of the critical products manufactured in

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ISSN: 2277-3754
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT)
Volume 2, Issue 7, January 2013

Fig 1: Fish Bone Diagram For Low Production Rate

Fig 2: Pareto Chart For Low Production Rate

III. METHODOLOGY
In the study picks generated by randomly selected shuttle
looms are analyzed. Each machine was observed for 600
seconds. The time taken for generating picks and the time
during the stoppage of the loom is also noted. The noted time
is classified into operating time and no operating time. In the
operating time it was identified that the picks generated by
the looms are lower than the ideal pick rate which is
calculated using (1). The main causes for the low pick rate are
identified by plotting the cause and effect diagram in fig 1.

When a problem occurs in a system, its causes should be

identified for the problem to be fixed. Ishikawa Cause and
Effect (CE) diagrams are popular tools to investigate and
identify numerous different causes of a problem. A Cause and
Effect (CE) diagram can be used as a guideline to allocate
resources and make necessary investments to fix the problem
[4]. The percentage by which each Factor affects the low
production rate is shown in the Pareto chart in fig 2.

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ISSN: 2277-3754
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT)
Volume 2, Issue 7, January 2013
Table II: Average Ideal Pick Rate for 1 Month

SI No

Month

Days

Total time

Ideal pick
rate R

Ideal pick rate for

382 looms

Ideal pick
rate for 1
hour

Jan

31

40920

5728800

2188401600

8400

Feb

29

38280

5359200

2047214400

8400

Mar

31

40920

5728800

2188401600

8400

Apr

30

39600

5544000

2117808000

8400

May

31

40920

5728800

2188401600

8400

Jun

30

39600

5544000

2117808000

8400

July

31

40920

5728800

2188401600

8400

Total

15036436800

58800

Average

2148062400

8400

Table III: Average Actual Pick Rate

SI no

Month

Actual pick

Actual production
time(hours)

Jan

1142819000

187623.55

Feb

1031957000

172153.13

Mar

1176865000

192250.03

Apr

1027278000

186235.92

May

1195498000

188752.3

Jun

1212026000

189237.23

July

1365925000

196576.11

Total

8152368000

1312828.27

Average

1164624000

187547

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table V shows the distribution of cost for the production of
1 meter of cloth in the textile industry and it is also
represented in the pie chart in fig 6. Yarn is important raw
material used for the production of the greige fabric. The
company cannot compromise the quality of the yarn used. The
cost of yarn depends on the international market conditions.
Thus it is difficult to reduce cost f fyarn. Thus for reducing
the cost production the industry itself have to make necessary

changes in their production strategy by identifying the major

types losses and by suggesting necessary remedies for
reducing it.
Actual rate of production
The production rate of the looms is analyzed by the picks
generated by the looms. Ideally a pick is obtained by the loom
when the shuttle moves from one beating arm to another. The
actual picks generated by the machine for 7 months are
obtained from the company log book and it is shown in the

Table IV: Energy Consumption of Machines

SI
no

Machine

Energy
consumption/hr
(units)

Cimcco power loom

382

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ISSN: 2277-3754
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International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT)
Volume 2, Issue 7, January 2013
2

Sulzer loom

48.4

Sizing,cooking,storage,boiler

47.94

4
6
5
7
8

Pirn winding
Humidification plant
Warping machine
Bailing
Cone winding machine
Folding machine

22.2
21
17.45
15
3
2.2

Total

559.19

Table III. The Actual Production Time For Generating

1164624000 Picks By 382 Shuttles Looms Also Shown In The
Table III.

Ideal rate of production

Ideal pick rate is the number of picks that the machine is
capable of finishing when the loom operates with full
efficiency. The ideal pick rate is calculated by using (1). The
speed of the machine is 140 rpm and the working hours per
day are considered as 22 days.
Ideal pick rate=speed time
(1)

The calculation of the ideal pick rate is shown in the Table II.
There is a noticeable difference between the ideal picks and
the actual picks generated.
Ideal pick rate for 1 s = (8400/3600) = 2.33
Time for 1 pick motion = 1/ 2.33= 0.43 s

Fig 4: Pareto Chart for Energy Consumption

Table V: Factors Affecting Production Cost of 1 Meter of Cloth

Si no

Factor

Cost %

Yarn

40

Energy

32

Employ

18

Others

10

Ideally for making 1164624000 picks the machine requires

139108 hours. But actually it takes 187547hours. This is due
to various losses arising from different regions of production.
Thus the machine non-operating time is 48439 hours. The
non-operating time is the time where the machine stops its
production due to yarn breakage, pirn changing, machine
failures etc. Thus the total production rate of the machines is
reduced. The reasons for low production rate are shown in the
fish bone diagram in figure 1. The details about the factors
affecting low production rate and its percentage are shown in
table I. Fig 2, the pareto chart shows that the low speed of the
machine is the major factor affecting for the low production

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ISSN: 2277-3754
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT)
Volume 2, Issue 7, January 2013
rate of the machine. Because of the low speed of the machine smooth transition of even highly fancy yarns like embroidery
the required production rate cannot be attained. The
low and slub. The rapier loom is upgrade from shuttle-looms to
speed of machine will increase the total production time the world of modern weaving system and shuttle-less
followed by increase in cost of production. Out of the 600 weaving. Rapier looms has been designed to replace the old
seconds analyzed in different machines selected randomly, shuttle looms without any major changes to the existing
approximately 250 seconds are nonproductive time, and the infrastructure [2][3][5][7]. The Immediate benefits of
remaining are productive time and the factors affecting the selecting rapier looms are [2][3][7]
production of machine is shown in Table I. Due to the
No need for new buildings or any new infrastructure.
movement of the shuttle in the loom, smooth sequence of
Could fit in place of your current shuttle-looms.
weaving is disturbed which affects the maximum running
Configured specially keeping in mind the skills of
speed and hence machine production. The pareto chart for the
power-loom operators.
energy consumption is shown in the fig 4. A 1HP motor is
No special training required for loom operators.
used for driving the shuttle looms. It is found out from the fig
Immediate reduction of man-power and laborers.
4 that cimcco power loom consumes 66% of total energy
20% subsidy under Technology Up gradation Fund
Scheme (TUFS) on certified looms.
consumption of the industry. The low speed of the machine is
due to the age of the machines, working condition of the
machines, and the increased weight of the shuttle in the
machines. Because of the low speed of the machine the
consumption of energy by the machine increases. The
electrical energy consumption for the different machines in
the industry is shown in the Table V. It is found that the
energy consumed by the shuttle loom is higher than any other
machine in the industry. The reduced speed of the machine
will increase the time of production and the lead time of the
product is also increased. So to maintain increased production
the speed of the machines has to be increased. To increase the
speed of the machine, an improved way of production has to
be followed. This improvement can be attained by the
replacement of the conventional shuttle looms by the Rapier
looms.
Proposed energy efficient equipment (Rapier looms)
Description of equipment
Fig 5: Cost of Factors Affecting Production of 1 Meter of Cloth
The rapier looms offer unparalleled versatility when it
in %
comes to yarns. From the finest counts of cotton to the thickest
Industrial yarns and can handle anything thrown at its
negative rapier head. The soft-pick gear system enables

Fig 6: Reduction in the operating time

Speed
The normal speed of the conventional power looms is
around 140 RPM, where as in rapier looms, the speeds up to
220 RPM (actual), this machine gives up to 3 times more
productivity than the conventional power looms.
Pick rate of rapier loom
The speed of the rapier looms is 220 RPM. Thus the ideal
pick rate of 1 rapier loom can be obtained using (1) as 13200.

So the time for 1 pick by the rapier loom can be reduced to

0.27 seconds from that of the conventional shuttle looms.
Improvement in production rate
The average picks generated by the conventional shuttle
looms are 1164624000. For producing this much amount of
picks the ideal time taken by the shuttle looms are 139108 hrs.
The time for obtaining 1164624000 picks by the rapier looms
is approximately 87247 Hrs. Thus by rapier loom the machine

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ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT)
Volume 2, Issue 7, January 2013
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
operating time can be reduced to 51761 Hrs. Thus from the fig
6 it is clear that 37% reduction in the total operating time is
obtained. When comparing with the shuttle loom 57.5% more Aby Chummar, Post Graduation Student, Dept. of Mechanical
Engineering, Mar Athanasius College of Engineering, Kothamangalam,
pick is obtained by the rapier loom.
Kerala.
Cost savings
Soni Kuriakose, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,
In Kerala the cost of one unit of electrical energy = 4
Energy consumed by 382 shuttle looms (1 hp motor) Mar Athanasius College of Engineering, Kothamangalam, Kerala.
per hour = 382 kWh
George Mathew, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,
For the conventional looms total cost of energy Mar Athanasius College of Engineering, Kothamangalam, Kerala.
consumed = 212557024
Total energy consumed by the rapier looms =
33366554 kWh
The total cost of energy consumed by rapier looms =
133466216
Thus by the rapier looms cost saving of 79090808 can be
obtained in one month from the electrical saving itself.
V. CONCLUSION
To exist in a competitive world of industries, producing
products at a low price with good quality is necessary.
Accepting new technology, the production cost can be
reduced, at the same time the rate of production can be
increased. This study identified the problem of high energy
consumption of electricity by the usage of shuttle looms in a
garment industry. It suggested a remedy of replacing the aged
shuttle looms with the automatic rapier looms for increasing
the rate of production, thereby reducing the time of operation
of machine and reducing the total lead time in production.
Thus cost of production can be reduced. By rectifying other
reasons noted in the cause and effect diagram in Fig1
production rate can be again improved. Further studies on the
rapier looms can be helpful for the multi color weft insertion
which will increase the variety of product according to the
fluctuation market conditions.
REFERENCES
[1] Ryuta Kamiya, Bryan A. Cheeseman, Peter Popper, Tsu-Wei
Chou, Some recent advances in the fabrication and design of
three-dimensional textile performs: a review Composites
Science and Technology 60, 33-47, 2000.
[2] Dr.V.M.Patil1, P.D.Bhanawat, Techno-economics &
advances of shuttle-less weaving technology, IJSID, 2012, 2
(1), 77-89.
[3] Subhankar Maity, Kunal Singha, Mrinal Singha, Recent
Developments in Rapier Weaving Machines in Textiles,
American Journal of Systems Science 2012 ;( 7-16).
[4] R. Ufuk Bilsel, Dennis K.J. Lin, Ishikawa Cause and Effect
Diagrams Using capture Recapture Techniques, Quality
Technology & Quantitative Management Vol. 9, No. 2, pp.
137-152, 2012.
[5] A. N. M. Masudur Rahman & Md. Ruhul Amin, Efficiency
analysis in rapier loom (2000).
[6] Bill Carreira Lean manufacturing that works.
[7] Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Detailed Project Report on Auto
Loom/Rapier Loom (2000).

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