Apparel Production Planning & Control

&
Garment Manufacturing Process
Measurement of Sewing Capacity & Efficiency

Reference Material

Developed by

Paul Collyer & Prof. Prabir Jana

New Delhi Kolkata Hyderabad Bangalore Chennai Mumbai Gandhinagar Kannur

 Measuring capacity

Measuring capacity of a sewing line is commonly done in terms of number of

garments produced per shift, per hour or per month. But as garments do not have
standardised work content pcs per hour is not correct representation of capacity. For
example factory A sewing 1000 shirts per day and factory B sewing 1300 ladies
blouse per day; unless we know the work content of shirt and blouse we can not say
which factory has higher capacity.

Sewing work is done by operator using a sewing machine; capacity of one sewing
operator is 60 minutes per hour maximum. So if a factory has 100 sewing machines
8 hour (480 minutes) shift per day, then capacity of that factory would be 100 x 480
= 48000 minutes per day. This is considered theoretical maximum capacity, as it is
assumed that operators are capable of working complete 60 minutes per hour,
realistically which is impossible. There are several factors like operator efficiency,
absenteeism that influences actual capacity. If the average efficiency of operator for
that factory is 90%, then capacity would be 43200 (48000 x 90%) minutes per day. If
average absenteeism for that factory is 15% then actual capacity would be 36720
(43200 x 85%) minutes per day. If a blouse style of 20 SMV is planned to be
produced then we can expect 1836 pieces produced per day provided there are no
other time loss.

Efficiency Measurement

Measurement of line utilisation or line efficiency is a common measurement in

sewing floor of apparel manufacturing organisations. This is calculated by minutes
produced/ minutes attended expressed as percentage.

In a sewing line of 20 operators a style of 20 SMV is produced in 8 hour shift. If the

average daily production of the style is 400 pcs/shift then the Line Utilization or line
efficiency can be calculated as under:

Minutes Utilised = SMV X pcs/shift = 20x400

Minutes attended = number of operator X number of minutes per shift = 20 x 480 = 9600
So, line utilisation or line efficiency is 8000x100/9600= 83.33%

This measure is also known as balance efficiency (used commonly in Japanese

literature) as the primary reason behind time loss is attributed to poor balancing. The
other factors that may be responsible for time loss are:
[1] No or improper feeding of cut parts
[2] Non-availability of accessories (thread, zipper, cord, etc.)
[3] Shifting of operators resulting start-up loss

In macro measure the above may be sufficient but while analysing the cause of
inefficiency or underutilisation in micro terms we need to take care of various factors
thus various measures. Although above measure tells us 1600 minutes (9600
8000) was lost by the line during shift hours but we do not know the break-up. How

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 much time was lost due to balancing problem (waiting for work), how much time was
lost due to machine breakdown, how much time lost in repair, etc. Micro measures
are required for in-depth analysis of the line and finer control. Here we will list out
some commonly used measures, their definitions, formulae to measure, and how
those influences other measures and parameters.

Contracted time
As it says it is time in contract of employment. It is measured usually hours x by
number of operators to get total hours potentially available to factory or department.
Used in capacity planning and calculation of absence as %.

(Contracted hours absence) x expected efficiency = standard hours to be

produced as capacity

Usually calculated for sections, departments or factories as it is used to calculate

absence levels, and capacity and you would not normally do this for individuals.

Attended time
Time needed for calculation of efficiency and utilisation. It is usually the time
operator spent in factory not forgetting to take away any lunch break.
(Contracted hours absence) = (shift hours lunch break tea break) = Attended
time. Bit more complicated. Usually lunch break is excluded as per your calculation.
Tea break is totally dependent upon company policy i.e. do they remove it from the
working day. In UK it is usually included in attended time.

It is usually calculated for both individuals and lines. Individuals for calculating
utilisation and performance (attended off standard). Line for calculating section
efficiency and utilisation

Off-standard time
Off standard time is that time utilised on performing tasks to which SMVs are not
allocated. Alternatively an operator earning SMVs is working on-standard.
Utilisation is a measure at how well the manager and supervisor control the section
and keep operators working i.e. on standard. In most apparel manufacturing
factories most operators are on some form of incentive payment whilst they are
doing the job for which they are trained and equipped. They are then said to be on
standard. If they come off incentive or Off standard then they will have no financial
incentive to work hard (Chuter 1998). It is calculated as a percentage of operator
attended time (utilisation) and reported in different categories, although the exact
categorisation varies but principal categories are wait for work, machine breakdown,
unmeasured work, repairs and rejects, sample making, undergoing re-training, work
study.

Chuter, A.J., 1998b, Introduction to Clothing Production Management, second Ed, 1998,
Blackwell Science Ltd, pp 19-20

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 Key off standard time categories are usually waiting for work, machine breakdown,
repairs, unmeasured work, samples, retraining or new job (many companies do not
class retrain as off standard but separate from other production activities and pay
make up pay to worker so they earn minimum pay). Although dependent on style
changes, not more than 3% of total attended time is generally time for retraining.
Off standard time obviously links to operator utilisation measures and efficiency.
Most companies show off standard by categories on a daily cost control report by
section/line, department and factory with management and supervisory staff targeted
to achieve budgeted limits.

It is usually calculated for both individuals and lines. Individuals for calculating
utilisation and performance (attended off standard). Line for calculating section
efficiency and utilisation

On-standard time
This is the actual time worker spent on productive work. This is calculated as the
difference between attended time and off-standard time. This should be obvious and
is used in calculating operator performance

On standard time = (Attended time Off-standard time)

It is usually calculated for individuals as performance calculation is an individual

measure but can be averaged into section performance as extra KPI

Utilisation
It is the time spent on productive time out of total attended time. It is the percentage
of attended time working earning Standard Minute Values [SMV].

Utilisation = (On standard time / Attended time) X 100

It is usually calculated for a line as it is a measure of how well the supervisor is

running the line.

SMV Earned
It is the measure of work done by operator. It is calculated from output from an
operation generated in attended minutes and SMV of the operation.

SMV earned = (SMV X Output in number of units)

Used in both performance and efficiency calculations.

It is usually calculated for individuals as well as for a line. As it is needed for

individuals for incentive payment calculation and performance and needed for lines
for efficiency calculation. Also sometimes aggregated for departments and factories
to get factory efficiency. This measure or KPI can be called direct (and indirect)
labour cost per standard minute produced.

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 Key component in incentive schemes of all types. Can be converted straight into
money in piecework system, e.g. one sm is worth x rupees therefore total
incentive payment is sms earned x by conversion factor. Easy to calculate and
understand especially as most operators have access to cheap calculators, even
mobile phones.

A variant on incentive is SMVs can also be used to calculate performance and

different performances are paid at different salary levels. This is very common as it
can be weighted to encourage people to achieve particular performances. Ie
increments on hourly rates are higher between 80 95 % to encourage people to
strive to achieve from a low base but levels off at high performances where workers
may be striving to do to much and quality issues may arise.

Efficiency
It is primarily a measure of the effectiveness of the manager and supervisor and as
such is best applied to sections / departments / factories and not the individual
operator. It is calculated daily. Efficiency is directly related to both operator
performance and the utilisation of the operator.

Efficiency = (SMV earned on standard / attended time) X 100

It is usually calculated for a line and not really relevant to the individual unless
incentives are paid on efficiency and not performance.

It is easy to calculate and a mixture of performance and utilisation. It is an important

KPI for managers and measure for capacity planning. It is important to note that this
measure is actually fine-tuned measure of Line utilisation or line efficiency or
balance efficiency that we have discussed in the beginning.

Individual Operator performance

It is a measure of both the skills and motivation of the operator and calculated daily.

Performance = (SMVs earned on standard / On standard time) x 100

It is usually calculated for individuals and sometimes averaged for a section as a

supervisor KPI.

As previously stated it is a key for incentive payments. An experienced manager or

supervisor will compare performance and efficiency and note variation. A big gap
can only mean high off standard time. Is this justified? If the operator trying to work
the system to achieve higher salaries or conversely if there is no gap but the
supervisor knows the section has problems then is the operator slowing to work
supply. It is particularly useful with new or trainee operators whose progress has to
be monitored. Also useful to compare this performance calculation with the potential
performance measured by cycle timing. Why are there differences?

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 Make Up pay
Make up pay is not something that has a constant calculation as it is completely as
management discretion and/or labour agreements and policies. It can be best
defined as an additional payment on top of any incentive earnings to bring salary to
an agreed minimum level. In practice depending upon local agreements this can be
calculated daily or weekly.

This has to be calculated for individuals as it is relevant to pay unless incentives are
paid for lines or teams. Sometimes aggregated to a total for lines taken as KPI.

Excess Costs
Excess costs are those payments to workers that are not direct incentive payments
i.e. any off standards, policy or make up pay. The only reason for expressing it as a
% of total labour cost is that many companies have a budgeted level that must not
be exceeded and is often a KPI for managers and supervisory staff

This has to be calculated for individuals as it is relevant to pay unless incentives are
paid for lines or teams. Sometimes aggregated to a total for lines as KPI.

It is important to note that there may be different terminology used by different

experts, organisations, consultants for above measures. It is the formulae of measure
and its implication and use that is more important rather the terminology.

Generally in apparel manufacturing organisations the above measures are recorded

daily in spreadsheet package to monitor and control performance of sewing workers.
Reproduced below an example of a factorys daily sewing performance.

Factory parameters:

On standard pay paid at Rupees 0.50 per minute (local salary agreement)
Off standard pay = 15 Rupees per hour (local salary agreement)
Guaranteed hourly salary = 15 Rupees (local salary agreement)
Excess costs = off standard pay + make up pay + overtime pay
Overtime premium paid at 1/3 of basic hourly pay, i.e. 1/3 of Off standard pay. (1/2 of
basic pay for weekend work or any overtime over and above 2 hours per day).
Company rules on overtime are set in a way to stop operators deliberately coming in late
and then working overtime to hit target and drawing overtime premium. Additionally only
those who can pay for themselves and not cost make up pay are allowed to work
overtime. To pay overtime premium on top of makeup pay makes sms earned very
expensive. Additionally if supervisors need production from those who are not eligible for
overtime but know they cannot offer it to them will be encouraged to push the operators
during normal work hours.

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 Off std time Pay

Off-

Make Up pay
Off Std pay

Performance
Earned Off
breakdown

Over Time
On std pay

Utilisation
Employee

Employee

Operation
Overtime
Attended

premium
Contract

Re-train
number

Std pay
On-Std

Earned
Output

Excess
on std
SMVs
others

on std
name

SMV
Total

Total
work

Cost
time

time

time
m/c

pay
No

std

%
1234 Jeevani 480 600 120 0 60 0 0 60 540 o/lock1 500 0.60 520 260 15 10 0 0 285 96 90 8.8%
o/lock3 550 0.40

1345 Pushpa 480 420 0 20 0 0 0 20 400 collar 520 0.80 416 208 5 0 0 0 213 104 96 2.3%
make

1635 Malini 480 480 0 0 0 0 0 30 450 collar 350 0.60 210 105 7.5 0 7.5 0 120 47 94 12.5%
topsew

1710 Doreen 480 480 0 0 30 450 0 0 0 collar 0 1.10 0 0 7.5 0 35.5 77 120 0 0 35.8%
stand

Total 1920 1980 120 20 90 450 0 110 1390 1920 1146 573 35 10 43 77 738 11.9%

Absenteeism = (1920-1860) x 100/1920 = 3% (for absenteeism calculation overtime, if any should be deducted from attended time)
Line efficiency = [(1146+154)]/1980 x 100 = 66%

Jeevani is the only person to work overtime as she is the only one who meets company overtime policy criteria. She has attended the
whole day and is not costing make up pay. Pushpa was one hour late (only attended for 420 minutes) and caused Malini to wait for
work and is not eligible for overtime & both Malini and Doreen have drawn make up pay to take them to the minimum wage.

Jeevani spends off std time of 60 minutes therefore earns Rs. 15, spends 120 minutes on overtime therefore earns Rs. 10. SMV
earned 520 minutes, so On-Std pay = Rs. 260. Total pay is Rs. 285. Excess cost = Rs. 25... Therefore excess costs =(25/285) x 100
= 8.8%

Malini attends for 8 hours, therefore she is entitled for a minimum 8 x 15 = 120 Rupees. She earns 105 Rupees on standard (210 x
0.50) + 7.5 Rupees as off standard (30 minutes) making total of 112.5 Rupees. As she is guaranteed 120 Rupees therefore 120
112.5 earned = 7.5 Rupees make up pay to minimum.

Doreen is under retrain and therefore not on standard. She is working on her new job and is therefore earning std minutes for work
produced. She produces 140 pieces = (140 x 1.10 = 154 sms) which are paid at 77 Rupees (154 x 0.50 = 77). She has 7.5 Rupees
off std pay. But as she is entitiled for Rs. 120 minimum for 8 hours therefore make up pay = 120 (77+7.5) = 35.5 Rupees.

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