Ways to Reduce Style Change Over Time in Garment Industry

Nikita Thakre
Marketing I.E. Officer at Pratibha Syntex, Indore
Email: nikitathakre602@gmail.com

What is Style Change Over Time?
Style Change Over Time is a time between previous style last piece out time from machine and new style first piece out time from machine with quality, the difference between both out piece time is called Style change over time. Style Change over time is measured in minutes or hours. It should always be in single digit (in minutes). For example if old style last piece out from machine at 12:40 PM and new style first piece out at 12:49 PM, so we can say that the Style Change over time is 9 minutes.

In many company style change over time reach in hours, there are different reasons behind this. Apart from this we should always try to reduce Style Change over Time. Because it effects to companies productivity, production and efficiency. Style Change Over Time is not a responsibility of single person. It’s a responsibility of Scott Team and including also I.E., Technician, Supervisor as well as Quality team member is also must to check the product quality.

In this article we will discuss on reasons behind high time of Style Change over, ways to reduce the style change over time, Benefits of reducing style change over time in garment industry and Conclusion.

Reasons Behind the High Time of Style Change Over:
There are many reasons of higher style change over time. I am trying to list down some reasons of it-

a) Skill problem of operators: One of the main reasons of increase style change over time is the lack of multi-skills operators. For this, it is necessary that operators should be multi-skilled, so that their learning time at the time of line changeover can be reduced.

b) Cut panel not available at time: At the time of Line change over if cutting panel not available then it increases the waiting time which effect the style change over time.

c) Unnecessary movement: Unnecessary movement is also one of the major reasons for increasing style change over time. If the operators do not have the things near to them which they need for operation, then they have to leave their place repeatedly to get the material or tools, which increases the transportation time so this also effects to change over time.

d) Specialized machine or Attachments not available: If the line is going through a style change over and at that time specialized machine or any attachment is required for a critical or any related operation and it is not available on time, then this also increases the style change over time.

e) Quality issue of product: If there is no RQC available to check the piece at the time of line change over then it could be create problem in line and production stops or gets stuck further, which increases the change over time. So style changeover team should complete the operation first time as per requirement of quality controller then it reduce the style change over time.

f) Old Style W.I.P.: If previous style W.I.P (work in progress) is still in line then the difference between the output time of the last piece of the old style and the output time of the first piece of the new style will be increased, then this also increases the style change over time.

g) Not proper Pre-planning: Ensure that for the pre-planning of the new style. It often involves planning, deciding the sizes, materials, and patterns of the garments.

h) Unplanned Change: Organizational changes that are not foreseen prior to the need to change, often made necessary by shifts in the organizational environment. Then this un-planned change also increases the style change over time.

How to Reduce Style Change Over Time in Garment Manufacturing:
Now we have discussed how we can reduce style change over time in garment industry.

Generally the SMED sheet is used at the time of changeover.

The full form of SMED is single minute exchange of dies. It means that at the time of changeover of any style, style change over time should be in single minute value. In many companies, SMED sheet is followed at the time of style change over in which the details of the style, input and output time of all machine and manual operations of that style are mentioned and also all operations verified by RQC and also mentioned change over loss time and signatures of all involved persons are taken so that Proper data for style changeover can be prepared.

We can use some following points to reduce style change over time-

It is important to have pre-planning and pre-discussion before any style changeover so that there is no problem at the time of changeover.
Operators should be multi-skilled, for this the company should arrange skill development training for the operators so that the operators can become multi-skilled.
All tools and materials should be nearby to the operators to save transportation time.
All specialized machine and tools should be available in good condition.
Line Supervisor, Roaming quality controller (RQC), Scott team, I.E., Technician should be always present in line.
Record the all process of style change over time starts to end and make a video. This process will be done by I.E.
Watch all activity of style change over and make a proper data and segregate the value added, non-value added and necessary value added activity.
Cutting should be checked before changeover so that does not have to face problems at the time of changeover.
Line balancing should be done properly.
Line supervisor should be ensuring that skilled operators are available or not.
We should do proper study at the time of style change over so that we can know which activities we can eliminate so that the style change over time can be reduced.

Benefits of Reducing Style Change Over Time in Garment:

Per person productivity and production increased.
Line efficiency increased.
It will be helpful for the better business growth.
Lead time reduced by reducing change over time.
By reducing style change over time; order will be complete on time so that we can dispatch the order on time. Customer will be satisfied for receiving their order on time and we all know Customer satisfaction is a first priority in garment manufacturing.
By satisfaction of Customer Company will get more orders from the buyer.
If we reduce the style change over time it will help us to saving the cost in storage, labour.

Conclusion:
In many industry Quick changes over is must. It is also known as QCOT. It helps to increase efficiency, production quality, and productivity. Quick change over time is based on a lean manufacturing process. By implementing the process of quick change over in the garment industry, the company can increase its competition in the market or can also meet the demand of the customers. Apart from this, quick change over eliminates wastage and helps in cost saving.

References:

https://www.onlineclothingstudy.com/2023/05/how-to-reduce-style-changeover-time-cot.html
https://fashinza.com/brands-and-retail/tips/case-study-on-reducing-style-change-over-time/
https://apparelresources.com/business-news/manufacturing/reduction-style-changeover-time-critical-success/
https://www.textiletoday.com.bd/reducing-changeover-time-in-garments-sewing-line

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Mazharul Islam Kiron

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.