Introduction Industrial engineering (IE) plays an important role to reduce costs and improve work efficiency in the garment industry. In this competitive era maximum productivity with minimum cost in optimum duration is very big challenge for apparel industry. That’s why an industrial engineer is a key person in garment factory. Normally, optimization, planning, and process control is the principal tasks for an industrial engineer. Besides, an industrial engineer determines and calculates SAM (Standard Allowed Minute) for assembling processes of garments using a standard calculation method. In this article I will try to explain basic roles and responsibilities of an industrial engineer in garment industry.
An Industrial Engineer is an engineer who works in a factory. His job is to solve any problems which come up when the factory is making a product which has been designed by Design Engineers.
The roles of the Industrial Engineer is to effectively and efficiently utilize software technologies, machine tools, math and scientific concepts, and human resources in order to solve problems, provide products or services at minimal cost, and produce on time at the optimum output level to satisfy customer demands.
Industrial Engineers are the world’s best communicators, as they train drivers to understand the importance of production and delivery output, use queuing theory to design on-time package delivery systems, and devise simulations or supply chain tools for their system integration tasks.
Industrial Engineers serve as managers in small and medium sized industries because they understand the management of people and resources, internal and external customer perspectives, effective communication skills, and important business practices and ethics. Most of all, they have the ability to continuously improve the entire system, from working with materials, tools, and technologies to successfully managing staff and human resources.
Roles of Industrial Engineer in Garment Industry
Each executive/supervisor has eight areas of responsibility that need to be managed.
Operator output – maintains high output and improves abilities of those with low output.
Loss control – minimize off-standard loss
Waste control – in materials, supplies and machinery
Standard conditions – in the workplace, in sewing method, in the machines
Executive as a leader A good way of showing leadership is to be a good example for others. Every executive/supervisor represents the company and any of his/her actions are an extension of the
Maintenance
Quality work
Productivity
Authority is usually earned but from the beginning, executives will be assigned to do the following tasks that require authority:
Employee transfers between the operations
Assigning of off-standard tasks
Overtime planning
Rejecting defective product
Disciplinary actions
Recommendations for dismissal
Employee respect will depend on how an executive/supervisor acts as a leader and uses his/her authority to benefit all employees in his/her department.
Obligations of an executive
To manage effectively, an executive/supervisor should identify and divide his obligations to primary and secondary. Industrial engineer must first take care of primary obligations adequately. In some cases this means that secondary obligations will have to be delegated to someone under the supervisor’s authority.
Primary obligations:
Provide safety
Plan and balance production lines
Quality control
Develop employees
Follow up on low output employees
Material utilization
Discipline
Secondary obligations:
Bundle handling and movement
Adjustments to machines
Distributes supplies
Handle parts that needs reprocessing
Samples
Maintenance
House keeping
Miscellaneous
Daily Activities of an Industrial Engineer
First thing in the morning Arrive early
Greet arriving employees
Encourage them to start work early
Check attendance
Make adjustments to balance the line according to absence.
Attend production and pre-production meeting and discuss yesterday’s results and today’s targets and plans.
Plan:
How to increase efficiency
How to improve outgoing quality
How to prepare for routine problems or problems that might arise.
Identify the bottle neck operations and balance accordingly
Provide immediate and continuous follow-up to repairs
Monitor and follow up on bundle tracking and outgoing bundles.
Authorize any off-standard “clock-out”
Order supplies and material for production
At the end of the day
Make sure the operators have turned off their machines, cleaned their work area, kept a piece of fabric under the pressure foot, and covered their machine.
Check and authorize the production work sheet
Organize production sheets and check the last hour production with the sheet.
Review the hourly production report and WIP report
Analyze the next day’s needs and take notes for implementation
Calculate the next day’s initial inventory according to production information
Weekly
Review the capacity studies of low output operators
Plan operator cross training to solve balancing problems
As and when required
Resolve any operator efficiency problems
Follow up and motivate new employees
Work out quality problems with quality inspectors
Work out problems with operators; review the proper method with them when necessary
References:
Industrial engineering in apparel production by V Ramesh Babu
Apparel Manufacturing Technology by T. Karthik, P. Ganesan and D. Gopalakrishnan
Practice of Garment Merchandising and Management by Engr. Md. Faruk Hosen
Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. He is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.
