How to Calculate Daily Target using
72 minutes (all operations)
SAM Vs Cycle Time
byPrasanta Sarkar -November 21, 2019
An industrial engineer wrote me the following email with questions and asked
for the clarifications. In this article, I will share my comments. We will try to
understand the difference in calculating the daily production target of a sewing
line using the standard time (SAM) and average operation cycle time.
I have read and understood well to your explanation about how to calculate
SAM of a garment.
Formula:
Standard Time = Basic Time + various Allowance (around 20%)
where Basic time = Observe Time x Performance Rating.
Using the above formula, we get the Standard Time. So, we can set daily
production target based on Standard Time.
My example:
52 workers, 10 hours/day, SAM =34.25
Line Target per day = (52x10x60)/34.25 = 911pcs
My understanding, 911pcs/day is at 100% target of the standard time that we
need to calculate it into 80% which to cover around 20% downtime in the
production floor.
So, ((52x10x60)/34.25)x80% = 729 pieces/day
Question#1. Do you agree with this calculation?
But my boss's understanding is that I have added around 20% allowance to
normal time (BT) and again 20% to Standard Time when setting the daily
target that is too much allowance to operators.
So, he discussed with me to calculate by this following method:
Standard time = Average Cycle Time +20% (for all kinds of operation)
Example : Total Average Cycle Time = 2.
Standard Time = 2.72 / 0.80 (it means he added 20% to the cycle time) = 3.40
minutes
Qestion#2. He said that 3.40 minute already added 20% allowance to the
operators with unavoidable downtime in the work floor.
So as above all description, I need your help to explain the difference
between these two methods and introduce some article which you may
already be written. I am waiting to read your reply explanation in the nearest
future.
Thanks for following OCS tutorials and writing an email to me with questions
and asking for clarification.
My comment to your first question
In your calculation, the daily production target 911 units per day is correct. We
say this target is at 100% of the SAM.
Reducing daily target to accommodate 20% downtime is not necessary. Whether
to apply downtime in target calculation or not depends on the production
environment. I would suggest, your target for the production should be given
@100 per cent of SAM. You calculate line efficiency based on 100% of the
standard time. Check the average line efficiency.
In case your average line efficiency is below 80% then you can consider setting
up the daily production target at a reduced rate. If your line efficiency is more
than 80% and they can easily reach up to 80% of the given SAM, than no need
to add downtime.
Many factories still work at 35-50% efficiency level of the standard time. (Not
sure how they establish the garment standard time). To them, it is necessary to
plan daily production target at a reduced rate, like a target at 60% or 70 %.
My comment to the second question
The following statement is incorrect.
Standard time = Average Cycle Time +20% (for all kinds of operation).
In this case, you are not estimating the standard time of the operation. So, you How to Calculate the Rate of
can’t compare the time standard and cycle time for target calculation. Standard
time and cycle time of operation are two different measures. Normally, the cycle Individual Sewing Operations?
time is greater than the standard time. But in some situations, operation cycle
time can lesser than the standard time. The reason, in the cycle time, we don’t byPrasanta Sarkar -December 13, 2020
add allowances. We record operators’ cycle time when operators don’t take a
break or no downtime happen.

If you want to set up the line target based on average cycle time – there is no Question:
issue. I would say, your target would near to the actual production data when to
calculate target from average cycle time.
My doubt is how to calculate the rate for individual operation (ex: Shoulder attach,
When you establish average cycle time for an operation or a style, adding 20%
Neck rib attach, Sleeve attach, etc.) for any style and what are the factors to consider
downtime for calculating daily target is acceptable.
during calculating that price. My manager simply told me that the rate is 0.40 Rupees
for this operation, 0.90 rupees for that operation. But I do not know how to calculate
Difference between the two methods, you get cycle time after you start the
production. So, on the first few days, you would not get the accurate cycle time this one. Kindly give me the solution for this with some examples. Your guide will be
for the current operations. It is not a good idea for setting daily production target useful to me.
observing the operation cycle time from day 1. You cannot set a line target in
advance.

You should also remember that the rating factor that is applied in calculating Answer:
basic time is not downtime. That is a levelling factor for standardising the
minutes recorded through time study. The allowances added to the basic time to
establish SAM are like machine allowances, contingency allowance, personal
I had the same experience when I was working in a garment export house. We were
fatigue allowances. Combined all these allowances 20% is acceptable. Though
making knitted items and used piece-rate operators (provided by manpower
you know different allowances are given for different machines and different
contractors) for stitching garments. Our factory manager used to set up prices for each
working elements.
operation after analyzing the operations in a garment. To decide operation rates, he
used his experience of how many garments an operator can make in a day, rates
provided by the other factories for similar operations in that place.

Now, I know the scientific ways of estimating operation rate. I will share the procedure
of calculating the operation rate and share articles for further reading.

When you calculate the piece rate for the garment operations, you need to consider
these things -

 Operation SAM
 minimum daily wages and
  the operator's capacity. I hope you will find this article helpful.

Form the daily wages, we calculate the hourly rate and per minute rate of the sewing
operators and other workers. From the operator’s capacity, we can estimate how Line Balancing using Capacity Study
many pieces an operator can make. Then calculate possible operator earning and the
hourly rate. Data and Work Sharing Among
You also need operation SAM (standard minute) for deriving the actual cost of an Sewing Operators (Question
operation. The scientific way of calculating an operation rate is as the following.
answered)
Operation Rate = (Operation SAM x Rate per minute)
byPrasanta Sarkar -October 15, 2020
Let us say, SAM of an operation is 2 minutes and the hourly rate is Rs. 60 (Rate per A few days back, I received an email from one of the OCS readers. He asked a couple of
minute is Re 1). Therefore, the operation rate for this operation is 2x1=Rs. 2 questions to clarify the calculation used in Line Balancing and shared a document. I am
sharing the line balancing sheet and capacity study data. He found the guide from
If an operator makes 25 pieces per hour, his daily production will be 200 pieces. His another website, but calculation methods are not explained in detail – so he wants
daily earning will be Rs (200 x 2) = Rs. 400. some clarification from me.

More reading on piece rate calculation

I sent the answers to him and sharing the same here for you. I thought you might have
I have already published an article on this topic. For more understanding of piece-rate the same question. Let’s learn the line balancing topic today. Read my answer below.
estimation, please read the following articles from my Blog and other sources. To understand the below questions, you need to read the line balancing table
thoroughly.
1. Determining garment Piece Rate from SAM
2. How to justify the garment Piece rate In previous articles, I have written the line balancing method using skill matrix and
3. Minimum wages and Piece rate pay by ILO.org capacity study. You can refer to those articles for more clarification.
4. Setting a fair piece rate for home workers
OCS Reader wrote
Note: If the calculated operation rate is less compared to the daily wages and an “The table below is obtained from some resource on the internet. It is not clear to me
operator cannot earn the daily minimum wage by working the whole day (8 hours) the calculation. It is on line balancing topic. Given benchmark target is 200 pcs.
then you need to give allowance to adjust daily minimum wages and operation is set
accordingly.

Other parameters for calculating operation rate are

 The criticality and difficulty level of sewing operations,

 Type of sewing machine operator needs to handle
 Type of material operator needs to handle
 Image-2: Balancing process

On the source I got the document, it says for the line to be balanced, operator # 7
should work for 50 minutes and should help operator # 8 for 10 minutes. Now my
question is:

Question-1: Why operator # 7 helps operator # 8 for 10 minutes? Why not for 8
minutes, why not for 12 minutes, etc.?

Answer:

You can allocate an employee for a second process#8 as many minutes as needed to
meet the hourly target. Though in the example it is suggested for 10 minutes for
balancing. Actually, the engineer who made this document has calculated balancing
with 7 minutes allocation for the second process (#8). 7 minutes is enough for making
201 pieces on the operation#8

Question#2: If operator# 7 works for 50 minutes on his main operation, his output
(balanced capacity) will be 200 but inside the table, the calculation says 212. How that
is calculated?

In 60 minutes production =240 pc

Therefore, in 50min operator will produce = (50 x 240) /60= 200 pcs

Answer:

As I said in the above question, the employee worked 7 minutes for the process#8. Ans
Image-1: Line balancing using capacity study data she worked 53 minutes for process#7. Calculate using 53 minutes of work on
operation#7, you will get 212 pieces of production.

Production quantity in 53 minutes will be = (53 x240)/60=212 pieces

Question-3:
In the remaining 10 minutes, he helps in operation# 8. According to the calculation
formula, in 10 minutes worked, the operator can produce 30 pcs i.e.
In 60 min production qty =180 pcs
machine of the line. It means if style-A was running on a line and its last piece was out
from line at 12:30:35 PM. Simultaneously, a new Style-B was fed in line, and its first
piece reached (passed) output at 14:30:35 PM. This time duration for which there was
no output will be called COT (changeover time) or Style Changeover Time.

therefore, in 10 min production quantity will be = 30 pcs

In this article, I will discuss the reasons for style changeover time, its implications, and
methods to reduce style changeover time.
Operator# 8 has a capacity of 180pcs per hour and when operator # 7 helped him for
10 minutes, the output will be 180+30=210 pcs. But this figure also doesn’t match with
the data inside the table. It shows the produced quantity is 201 pieces. How that is
Major reasons for higher style changeover time
derived?
The approach in which we work to minimize COT is called QCOT Approach. Before we
discuss how to reduce COT, I would like to discuss the causes of COT. To be frank cause
Answer:
of Changeover Time is Changeovers but what I meant earlier was, causes of High
The operator#7 worked for 7 minutes and she produces 21 pieces
Duration Change Over Time.
Combined production of operation#7 and #8 in process#8 = (180+21) = 201 pieces.
The main causes are-
So, the given document has correct information. Only the comment added like 10
minutes work shared by operator#7 creates confusion.
 Variety of products with different specs and requirements
 Diversity in the raw materials and their handling mechanism
I hope I have answered all these questions and able to clarify your confusion on  Labour-intensive with different level of skill sets
understanding the calculation in the given document.  Lack of pre-planning and preparation
 The attitude of middle management

How to Reduce Style Changeover

Time (COT) in Garment
Manufacturing
byShashi P Mishra -February 26, 2022

What is Style Changeover Time?

Style Changeover Time is the time between the last piece output of the previous style
from the last machine of a line and the first piece output of the next style from the last
Apart from these general causes, there are some other factors also which we see in
our day to day life. I am trying to list a few of them.
 Prolonged machine setting time
 Non availability of tools for initial machine setting
 Sudden plan change
 Supervisor sample not ready
 Initial quality setting takes a longer time
 Old style creates a blockage
 Operator training is given at the time of Batch Setting
 No measure of operator COT performance
 Parallel Batch Settings making it difficult to control
 Non availability of specialized machines
 Cut part feeding not available
All these factors are quite reasonable (part of the production process). At first sight,
you will not find them troublesome, but after in-depth process study, they will show
their true nature. With proper break-up one can find hidden wastes in these activities.
SMED – The Lean Method of Reducing Style Changeover Time
SMED stands for Single Minute Exchange of Dies. In simple terms any change over time
should be in single digit (minutes). Now we will discuss, how to apply SMED approach
in a sewing line. For this, we need to list down all the elements of a line change over
along with time.
External elements are those elements that are independent of your sewing line. For
example, you need a special machine for next style. You can arrange that machine
before the line change over starts.
Internal elements are those elements for which you need to stop the line, or you have
to wait till the last piece is out. For example, you want to set that new special machine
in your line for next style. This activity can’t be performed till the old style is out of
line.
Now our approach will be converting internal activity into external activity and
reducing time duration of both activities.
Here is another example, mechanic is setting that special machine after placing that
machine in line. Now you say that this setting can be done before start of changeover
outside the line. Here you have converted internal activity into external activity. Now
there can be another condition where mechanic does not have a proper toolbox and
for each tool, he is going back to the tool room. In this case, time consumption will be
higher.
A glimpse of the SMED Study
For the sake of easy understanding, start the study after your last piece is out of the
sewing line and stop the study till first piece of next style is out of line. In idle scenario,
change over activity will start before the last piece is out but that should be left as it is
due to diligence of team.
Tis is an example sheet and more detailed study should be done. The best way to do
that is to record all the activity done by changeover team (IE, Mechanic & Supervisor)
and alo making video simultaneously. Once all activities are reordered in study sheet,
we will get a changeover time data of a particular line. After this, we need to analyze
that data for internal and external activities.
What internal activities can be converted into external activities, and also how to
minimize time duration of those activities?
For this, we need to do a detailed study of each activity. We have to segregate the into
value added, non-value added and essential non-value added activities. Once we
remove non-value adding activity from our process/line change over time will further
reduce.
The above discussion can be summarized as
 Observe the current style changeover process; identify all the activities as
internal or external set-ups.
 Separate the external and internal set-up and note them down.
 Convert internal set-up actions into external ones.
 Further, optimize internal and external set-ups to improve overall
effectiveness of style changeover process.
Conclusion
Some key points in consideration before style changeover:
1. The new style needs to be allocated to that line only where there is a
minimum style variation.
2. The batch Supervisor and QC along with the COT team should be there at pre-
production meetings to judge critical operations and operator availability.
3. New Style Requirement (NSR) to be made and discussed. It will ensure the
availability of trims, machines, skilled operators, cutting before the line setting.
4. Supervisors/IE need to analyze the skill-matrix prior to the style changeover;
the concerned Floor Manager must ensure the availability of operators along
with the skill.
5. The spare machines should be allotted before the start of the process to
stimulate the offline batch setting.
6. The mechanic needs to ensure the availability of templates, guides,
attachments with settings.
Low COT has numerous benefits, the most eminent and visible one is that it increases
Available Time thus increasing floor OEE.
Original post date: 27th Sept 2020
Standard Minute Value (SMV):
Definition, Calculation and Use
byPrasanta Sarkar -September 21, 2019
There is no more secret in Standard Minutes Value (SMV) calculation. Now,
SMV is a common language between fashion brands and manufacturers for
discussions on cost, time and floor capacity. Most of the garment manufacturing
companies calculate the SMV of their garments. Industrial engineers take
responsibility for measuring standard time for the given garment samples. Let
me define SMV, the most critical factor, widely used and much talked about
term in the garment industry.
Definition of Standard Minute Value
Standard Minute is the time value arrived at for a task based on the average
rate of output which qualified workers will naturally achieve without over
exertion provided that they know and adhere to the specified method and
provided that they are motivated to apply themselves to their work.
- This definition is written in the ILO work study book.
Operation cycle time or average time, taken by an operator completing an
operation is not the Standard minute value. SMV is the given time that should be
taken to complete operation if she works at 100% performance level. SMV of
the same operation will be different if the working condition is changed – like
operator using a different machine, the operator sews a bigger component, an
operator using attachment and work-aids when sewing a garment. Most
importantly, movement and motions involved in performing a task.
SMV calculation method
You can calculate garment SMV using SMV calculation software or through
time study method. Standard minute value calculation method using Time Study
is explained in this article with an example. First, you measure operation wise
SMV. Then SMV of all operations in style are combined to calculate total SMV
of a garment.
In time study, you capture the observed time of the selected operation. You rate
operator performance in the work. You use standard allowances for different
types of machines, bundle allowance and contingency allowances.
Steps for calculating SMV
1. Record observed time.
Following the Time Study procedure, you conduct Time Study for a selected
operator and on the selected operation.
2. Convert observed time into Basic time using this formula.
The observed time for the same operation done by two different operators might
be different. Our objective is to establish the standard for the selected operation.
So, for the levelling of the observed time, it is multiplied by the rating factor.
The new time is called as basic time.
Basic Minute =(Observed time in minute x Performance Rating)
3. Know the applicable allowances.
When an operator will be working there would be changes of a machine
breakdown, they may need to change the needle, replace empty bobbin, change
thread spool, may need of threading needle. There will be personal needs and
fatigue allowance. For all these allowances, some amount of time will be
consumed from the operator’s standard time. To estimate more practical SMV
allowances are added to the basic time.
Normally, in progressive bundle system, garment components reached to an
operator in bundle form. For every bundle, the operator spends a few minutes in
opening the bundle and tying it. So, you need to add bundle allowance as well
where applicable.
4. Calculate Standard minute
Add machine allowance, bundle allowance and other allowances to the basic
time to calculate standard minute.
Standard Minute Value = (Basic minute + Bundle allowances + machine
allowance + personal fatigue allowances).
Normally, when SMV is measured through time study method, the operation
cycle is broken down into operation elements and observed time is captured
element-wise. Machine allowances are added only to machine elements.
Also, note that bundle allowance is distributed across the pieces in a bundle. If
bundle allowance is 60 seconds for a 10 pieces bundle, bundle allowance would
be added as 6 seconds to the basic time.
Example: Let’s say you are making a blouse. You observed an operation and
record its cycle time. Following the above steps let’s derive SMV of an
operation.
 Observe Time = 2 Minutes
 Rating of the operator = 90%
 Basic Time = (2 Minutes x 90%) = 1.8 Minutes [Why multiply Rating
factor?]
 Machine allowance =10%
 Other Allowance = 10%
 Total allowance to add = 10% + 10% = 20%
 Allowance in minutes = 1.8 x 20% = 0.36 Minutes
Calculated SMV = (1.8 Minutes + 0.36 Minutes) = 2.16 minutes
In the operation bulletin, after measuring operation SMV, hourly and daily
production capacity is calculated. For further study on the capacity calculation,
machine requirement calculation, check this post.
The Second method
The second method of establishing SMV is using PMTS software. For this
method, you need to know different motion codes and you need to study real-life
operator hand and body movement. You need to learn how to operate software
for calculating sewing operation SMV. Once you learn that you can measure
SMV for any kind of operations whether it is cutting, pressing, sewing, folding
etc. (Essential thing you must have the software).
 2. SMV is the main data in the operation bulletin. Based on the operation
SAM machine requirement and manpower requirement is calculated.
Further based on the machine requirement machine layout and initial line
balancing is done.
3. SMV is used for labour costing for garment production
4. SMV is used for performance benchmarking
5. SMV is used for efficiency calculation
6. SMV is used in Payroll calculation in piece rate payment. Earning is
equal to garment produced x operation SMV x rate per minute
7. When performance incentive is provided to the operators, SMV is
essential for calculating individual operator efficiency
8. Preparing operators’ performance-based skill matrix
9. Who is responsible for calculating garment SMV in a garment factory?

Normally, in the garment factory, industrial engineers or work-study officers

A presentation of standard time calculation using motion codes | Image source:
YouTube/GSDCost
For your reference, establishing SMV using PMTS software, steps are shown in
this post.
Also Read: Few important facts of Standard Minute Value (SMV)
calculate the garment SMV. Further, they do production studies during bulk
production on the floor and validate garment SMV. SMV is measured in two
stages – first at the time when buyer request garment costing by sending a
garment design or referring a garment sample. The second time, SMV is
measured prior to loading style into the production line. Further, the SMV is
updated by engineers after production study.
Also read: How to reduce the standard time (SAM) of a garment style?

SMV calculation Software
If you want accurate SMV of garment (and other sewn product), you need a
software to calculate the SMV. Most of the SMV calculation software uses
motion codes and predetermined times. Few of the well-known SMV calculation
software included
Definition of different terms used in SMV calculation process
Rating factor: Rating is a subjective comparison of any condition or activity to
a benchmark, based upon our experience. While the mechanics of time study
record the time a task did take, applying a rating will determine the time a task
should take. Read the concept of performance rating.

 GSDCost Cycle Time: It the time actually taken by an operator at the work. Cycle time is
 SewEasy measured from the time stamp of pick-up of the garment component to the next
 ProSMV pick-up time stamp of an operation cycle. The starting point of an operation
 TimeSSD cycle can be chosen by the engineer. Normally the cycle time value is higher
than the standard time.
Application of SMV (SAM value)
Observed time: Here observed time is the same as the cycle time. The time
I have listed a few of the application of garment SMV. recorded as it was and operation cycle time calculated.

1. SMV is used in factory capacity planning

What is TMU in Time and Motion
Study?
byPrasanta Sarkar -September 09, 2019
TMU stands for Time Measuring Unit. In Methods Time measurement (MTM) system,
a predetermined time is given to each motion. In motion study the time for each basic
element is given in units of TMU.
How many TMU is equal to one seconds and one minute?
Conversion of TMU to hours, minute and second
1 TMU = 0.000010 hr = 0.00060 minute = 0.036 second
Can you please tell me how to calculate pieces per hour of an operator. Let's say
average cycle time is 30 seconds. How to calculate the hourly production of the
operator?
The production capacity from the cycle time is calculated using this formula.
= (3600/ Average operation cycle time)
Note: 1 hour = 3600 seconds
You need to add allowances to the average cycle time to estimate the production
capacity more realistic. As you know, when you do cycle timing of an operator, she
would have been working for her bundle and stitched few garments (operations cycle)
one after another without taking a break.

Or conversely
In our cycle time record, the allowances, like machine breakdown, threading needle
1 second = 27.78 TMU and bobbin change, bundle opening and tieing the bundle, personal needs, are not
1 minute = 1667 TMU included. Combining all add 20% allowance on the average cycle time.
1 hour = 100,000 TMU
In your example, the operation cycle time is 30 seconds. After adding 20 allowances,
the calculated cycle will be 36 seconds. This is derived from (30 seconds x 1.20)= 36
seconds
Application of TMU in the apparel industry
Therefore, estimated production quantity per hour = (3600/36 ) = 100 pieces
For establishing the standard time (SAM) of sewing operations by using the PMTS
system, motion codes are applied for each motion (movements) and each motion
carries time in TMU. In Standard time calculation, initially, standard time is measured
and calculated in TMU. Later the total TMU is converted into minutes.
How to Calculate Garment
How to Calculate Pieces per Hour Production Cost from SMV and
from Cycle Time? Monthly Salary Data
byPrasanta Sarkar -August 03, 2019
byPrasanta Sarkar -August 04, 2019
Some of factories calculate CM (cost of manufacturing) of a garment by the machine
SMV multiply with earnings per minute. And this earning per minute calculate based
on monthly factory cost divided by monthly produced minute. Is this logical? ... by
Emon
Yes, many factories in the apparel industry use the method that you mentioned in your
question for calculating the direct cost of production. From garment SMV and minute
cost data, direct labour cost is calculated.
This is logical, provided the standard minutes (SMV) of operations are correct and cost
per minute is derived from a reasonable monthly salary amount (maybe minimum
wages/higher than minimum wages). Further, you need to incorporate line efficiency
for deriving the labour cost. The monthly salary of direct manpower may vary
depending on the employee's skill and grading. You also need to adjust the combined
daily earning of an operator, to make it a satisfactory amount.
When you talk about production cost, either it is an estimated production cost or the
actual garment production cost. In the subject line, production cost means the
estimated production cost before you make the style. The actual production cost per
day and the actual cost incurred in a style can be calculated from the real employee
attendance data (number of manpower involved in making the style) and their daily
wages.
On the other hand, when we need to estimate production cost (direct labour cost) for
the whole order, it can not be calculated directly as we don't know how many
manpower will actually involve making the order. Salary will be different for different
employees. Most importantly, we can't guess how many garments they will produce
daily and how many days will be consumed to complete the order.
In such a situation, the best ay of estimating garment production cost is following
standard time, cost per minute and benchmark efficiency.
Labor cost per garment = (Garment SAM x Labor cost per minute)/ Line Efficiency%
Production cost for the whole order = (Labour cost per garment x Order Quantity)
Let's see one example. One team made 400 shirts of 23 minutes SMV in a day. Another
team made 350 shirts of 23 minutes SMV in a day. If the same number of manpower
(50 manpower in each team) involved in two teams who are getting a similar salary,
cost per garment would be different for these two teams. As a result, the cost of the
whole order will be different in these two cases.
In such cases, you need to consider line efficiency for calculating production cost.
What is Standing Time in the
Garment Manufacturing Process
byPrasanta Sarkar -June 20, 2019
In the garment manufacturing, Standard Time (SAM/SMV) is a common term. But
when someone asked me about the 'Standing Time', I thought he might be using the
wrong word for standard time. This term 'Standing Time' was new to me.
I asked him whether he is talking about Standard Time of a garment. If not where he
found this term.
He confirmed that it is standing time. This term is used in Fast React planning system.
But he doesn't know the meaning of 'Standing Time'.
I checked with a Fastreact system user and got the answer.
As per the Fastreact user, standing time means waiting time between two processes.
Like, waiting time in between embroidery and stitching process. In production
scheduling and event planning, waiting time in between two processes are
considered.
Though the 'Standing Time' is a term used by a software system, it is good to know the
meaning and use of this term.
What is SMV (Standard Minute
Value)
byPrasanta Sarkar -June 14, 2019
The full form of SMV is Standard Minute Value. The work study team and industrial
engineers in the garment industry, use 'SMV' term to define the standard time of an
individual garment operation as well as for the whole garment SMV. The SAM is
another term used for standard time.
What is SMV
Considering the SMV as the standard time required for making each garment, factory
plans manpower and machine requirement for the garment orders.
The daily production target of a line is calculated from the SMV.
Individual employee performance, as well as the production line's performance, is
measured based on SMV produced by the employee and by the line.
For example, say SMV of a shirt is 22 minutes (including stitching and non-stitching
operations), that means the established standard time for the shirt is 22 minute (given
time).
The Garment SMV is used for labour costing for garment production. SMV is used for
performance benchmarking as well.
You see the importance of the SMV in the garment manufacturing industry.
The accurate SMV of an operation (task) can be established through motion analysis
and using PMTS codes and time. PMTS software is available for establishing garment
SMV.
In the SMV time, a certain percentage is added as allowances.
SMV is an estimated time. In practice, the average time taken by the operator does not
match most of the time.
For the same operation of a garment style, operation SMV can be different, when SMV
is established by two different engineers.
One should aim to set accurate SMV for the garment as well as individual operations. A
wrong SMV will give you wrong labour costing value, will generate incorrect worker's
earning, wrong employee performance, wrong factory performance, and wrong
planning.
Overall Efficiency Vs On-Standard
Efficiency
byPrasanta Sarkar -March 21, 2019
You may know the definition of Efficiency. You may know how to calculate the
efficiency of a production line or an individual sewing operator. But do you
know -
 What is On-standard efficiency and overall efficiency?
 How to calculate on-standard efficiency and overall efficiency?
 What are the differences between these two efficiency terms?
These are the new terms to many industrial engineers and production people. If
these terms are also new to you, read this post.
Workers performance and production line performance is measured in
efficiency. Efficiency is calculated using the formula that we have discussed in
an earlier post with an example.
Efficiency Calculation formula
Efficiency (%) = (Total minutes produced / Total minutes attended at
work)*100
When the On-Standard Efficiency and Overall Efficiency are
measured
In a normal workday, operators spend their total attended time following
categories
1. doing standard work
2. doing off-standard work (doing a task which is not familiar to the
operator / other than a regular job)
3. doing nothing (lost-time like power failure, machine breakdown, no
feeding/no work)
When an operator works on a bundle (garment pieces) they produce standard
minutes whether she works on-standard operation or an off-standard operation.
But when an operator does nothing but sitting idle due to some reasons is lost
time.
If an operator does not get work, that is not her fault. In such cases, if you
measure her performance considering all the attended hours, that will reflect a
wrong performance. For this reason, on-standard efficiency is measured where
only on-standard work hours are considered for calculating efficiency.
Measuring on-standard efficiency is good for operator skill analysis but when it
comes for production at the end of the day, or line efficiency, and incentive
calculation for the line and individual operator, overall efficiency is used for
eligibility level.
How to calculate on-standard efficiency, off-standard efficiency
and overall Efficiency
To measure on-standard efficiency, off-standard efficiency and overall
Efficiency we need to collect the following data
(A) Total hours worked on the standard work
(B) Standard minutes produced while working on standard work
(C) Total hours worked on off-standard work
(D) Standard minutes produced while working on the off-standard work
(E) Total lost time in hours
(F) During lost-time, practically, no garment will be produced, so no produced
minute for lost time hours.
The standard produced minute is calculated as operation SAM x Number of
pieces stitched.
On-standard Efficiency (%) = (Total on-standard minute produced
*100)/(Total on-standard hours worked * 60) = (B*100)/60*A)
Off-standard Efficiency (%)= (Total off-standard minute produced
*100)/(Total off-standard hours worked * 60) = (D*100)/60*C)
Overall Efficiency (%) = (B+D)*100/(60*(A+C+E))
If there is no lost time and no off-standard work hours employee's on-standard
efficiency and overall efficiency will be the same.
If there is lost time, overall efficiency will be less than the on-standard
efficiency.
Watch this video for overall efficiency calculation method.
Efficiency Calculation (An example)
An employee produced 300 units of SAM 1 minutes in 8 hours. Out of 8
working hours, 1 hour is measured as lost time due to machine breakdown and
no feeding od cuttings. Calculate on-standard efficiency and overall efficiency
of this employee.
Total shift hours (8 hours) is broken down as follows
(A) Total hours worked on standard work = 7 hours (total shift hours – lost time)
(B) Standard minutes produced while working on standard work = 300*1 minute
= 5 hours
(C) Total hours worked on off-standard work = no off-standard work performed
(D) Standard minutes produced while working on the off-standard work = No
off-standard minute production
(E) Total lost time in hours = 1 hour
On-standard Efficiency = (5*100/7) =71.43%
Overall Efficiency = (5*100)/(7+1) = (500/8)%=62.5%
Conclusion:
You see efficiency loss in the line efficiency. Some of the reasons for efficiency
loss in a plant are unmeasured lost-time, off-standard work done by sewing
operators. When on-standard efficiency is measured, you can get an accurate
operator performance (efficiency data). For preparing the operator skill matrix
factory should consider their on-standard efficiency instead of considering
overall efficiency.
The challenges in measuring on-standard efficiency are not having the right tool
for capturing lost time data. With a print format, you can capture lost-time data
but that would be limited, not the true lost-time hours.

Review Last Year's Performance

Using These 5 Trend Charts
byPrasanta Sarkar -March 18, 2019

In the new year, you may be starting some new improvement projects for the
betterment of the work and factory performance. Before you start a new
improvement project and become busy with the new assignments, it would be a good
idea summarising last year's data and review last year's performance.

Review Last Year's Performance Using these 5 Trend Charts

It is time to look back and review the last year's performance. How much you have
achieved in the previous year. What all KPIs are not meet your goal. In which all KPIs
you have beaten the last year's benchmark performance. You can analyse the
available data as many as you want.
A factory must review these 5 KPIs.
2. Production Volume and Shipped quantity
You earn revenue when you ship garments. More you ship, more you earn. Review
the monthly production volume and shipped quantity. Prepare a trend chart month by
month. Here is an example of 100 machines factory that makes knits tops, t-shirts.
3. Cost per garment

To earn more profit, it is necessary to reduce garment production cost. With the
The last year's factory performance trends would help you in planning this year's goal.
continuous increase in wages, consumables and machine maintenance cost, how the
Let's prepare the last 12 months monthly performance trend and last 5 years Yearly
production cost changing month by month. Is your production cost per garment is
Performance Trend on the below KPIs
meeting the buyer's target cost?
1. Line Efficiency Trends
Assuming your factory is making a similar product range year after year. If not, still
measuring cost per garment and analysing its trend is a good way of understanding the
Calculate monthly line efficiency and draw a trend chart on a spreadsheet with 12
factory's performance growth.
months of efficiency data. Efficiency is a common performance measure and I assume
you calculate line efficiency and you have the monthly efficiency data. If not, you can
calculate it now. Check this post to learn the line efficiency calculation method. 4. Cost per SAM (production cost per standard minute)

Cost per SAM is the labour cost per minute. Calculate actual labour cost per standard
Here is an example.
minute. Cost per SAM may increase due to many reasons. It may be increased due to
the rise in minimum labour wages. Cost per SAM may higher in case line performance are working in production must know how to estimate daily production in a
goes down due to some other reasons. garment factory.

5. Quality performance (Percentage defective)

In this post, I have explained the calculation procedure for estimating daily
With productivity growth, you need to maintain the product quality standard. So, don't
garment production.
miss analysing the quality performance data. For this calculate monthly percentage
defective and draw a trend chart. You can also include the DHU report in the quality Production is the total number of garments stitched by operators in a line in a
performance chart. day. Production is also termed as daily output. To estimate production, you need
the following information.
If you are new to measuring key performance indicators (KPI) of your factory, you can
refer to my eBook - Garment Maker's KPI - Why measure and how to measure. 1. Standard allowed minutes (SAM) of the garment
2. How many operators are working in the line?
Conclusion: 3. How many hours line will work in a day?
4. Average Line efficiency level?
Once you are ready with the above 5 performance trends, go through the charts. 5. Total break time for lunch and tea break (if any).
Charts will tell you what you have achieved in the last year. You can extend the list of
KPI review. Factory management must consider measuring top KPIs and reviewing The formula for production estimation
data.
Daily production = (Total man minutes available in a day/SAM) * Average Line
It may be time to meet with your team and plan again to set-up a new performance efficiency
benchmark. Total available man-minutes =(Total no. of operators * Working hours in a day
* 60)
Another objective of reviewing yearly performance result, you set-up a new
benchmark for each KPI. Let's assume
Employee performance and departmental performance can be assessed through the
year KPI review.  Garment SAM is 20 minutes,
 Number of operators is 30
 Shift hours in a day = 8 hours
 Average line efficiency =50
Operators get a total of 45 minutes for lunch and tea break.
How to Estimate Garment 

So, Total available man minutes = 30 *( (8 * 60) – 45) )= 13050 minutes

Production?
Daily estimated production = 13050 /20 * 50% = 326 pieces
byPrasanta Sarkar -March 16, 2019
Estimating garment production is one of the tasks an engineer and production You can expect this much output from that line if everything goes well.
supervisors do on a daily basis.
Daily production quantity from a line is directly proportional to the line
This is the basic requirement for production management and each people who efficiency; the number of operators and working hours. And production is
reverse proportional to the garment SAM. If the efficiency of a line increases applying workplace engineering, method improvement, and introducing
you can expect higher production. machine attachment or guides.

Similarly, if SAM of style reduces at that also you can expect higher output.  It is required to calculate monetary saving after introducing new SMV
 You must measure all your improvement works. It will help one get
Factors that hamper production: noticed by managers.
 You must keep the record for the previous method and the new method
Anyone of the followings can reduce production of the assembly line. So to get with respective operation SMV. (if the improvement is brought by
estimated output, you have to take on the following areas. improving method).
 You can consider this improvement as a continuous improvement project
 Machine breakdown (Kaizen)
 Imbalance line (WIP control)  Easier to keep track of operation wise and product wise SMV
 No feeding of cuttings improvement.
 Quality problems
 Low operator performance Calculate SMV Improvement Percentage
 Operator absenteeism
Let's measure SMV improvement in your factory. This formula is used for
Some of these are non-productive time. calculating SMV improvement.
SMV improvement percentage = (Old SMV - New SMV)*100/Old SMV

Measure SMV Improvement
Percentage
byPrasanta Sarkar -December 29, 2018
In the garment industry, the industrial engineering department does a lot of
improvement work in a factory, like improving productivity, reducing cost per
garment, setting up SOPs. The improvements they do, are measured through
various KPIs. But many engineers are not yet measuring some important KPIs.
One such KPI is SMV improvement percentage. The SMV reduction or SMV
improvement percentage is also considered a KPI for the engineering
department.
In this post, I will show you the importance of measuring SMV improvement
and the formula for calculating this KPI.
Importance of measuring SMV improvement
Example: Let's say old SMV of a sewing operation was 0.85 minute. After
improving it, you got a new SMV 0.75 minute. Therefore, SMV improvement
will be
= ((0.85- 0.75)/0.85)*100
= 11.76%
If you are not yet measuring it, you can initiate it and in turn, you can measure
how much money is saved by reducing the operation/garment SAM.
Work in progress (WIP) includes the set at large of unfinished items for products
in a production process. These items are not yet completed but either just being
stitched or waiting in a queue for further processing or in a buffer storage. WIP
is in-process inventory.
In garment manufacturing, WIP is normally measured in a number of garments.
The end-of-day WIP of a process is the number of total pieces loaded today in
the process plus the previous day’s WIP minus total pieces come out from that
process. In a garment factory, production WIP is measured every day by the
production department or the industrial engineering department.

While industrial engineers aim for the production cost reduction, it is often done
by reducing the standard time of the operation. The SMV can be reduced by
Why measure WIP?
Maintaining a minimum level of WIP at each sewing workstation is necessary to
have continuous work for workers. But neither a high WIP nor the low WIP is
good for a production line.
Here are a few reasons for which factory need to production WIP.
 To know whether a line (or workstation) has high WIP level or low WIP
level compared to the targeted/planned WIP
 If a line supervisor doesn’t look at operations where WIP is piling up, the
production line will become imbalance soon.
 Allowing unnecessary WIP in the line would increase the inventory
requirement as well as financial involvement in a period.
 To keep the production line running, it is necessary to feed the
production lines and workstations continuously. If the workstation
doesn’t get enough work, it will be on the idle situation and no
production would be generated from that workstation. In such cases, a
line would loss potential output from that workstation.
 High WIP is the main source of many issues like quality issues, low
productivity, and unnecessary delay in production.
By measuring the WIP, the factory can plan for their next day’s work
requirement.
If you think, there are more reasons for measuring production WIP, post it here.
Difference between SAM Productivity
and Production Productivity
byPrasanta Sarkar -July 11, 2018
What is the difference between SAM Productivity and Production Productivity? Asked
by an OCS reader.
In the apparel industry, manufacturing productivity is measured in terms of labor
productivity, machine productivity and value productivity. The labor productivity and
machine productivity is presented as number of garment produced (quantity) per
labor per shift and per machine per shift respectively. Normally labor productivity and
machine productivity productivity are measured for a production line for the selected
products.
SAM productivity and production productivity both are new terminologies. Though this
is the first time I come across these productivity terms, I can relate and explain how
these productivity can be calculated.
Let me first define these two terms and then I will compare.
SAM productivity
SAM productivity can be defined as total SAM produced by per operator per shift. SAM
productivity is measuring the manufacturing productivity of a production line or a
factory in terms of standard time produced per operator.
For an example, let's say in a line 40 operators make 400 shirts in a day (8 hours shift
time) and SAM of that shirt is 25 minutes. SAM productivity will be (25*400)/40
minutes= 250 minutes per operator per shift
Production productivity
Production productivity is similar to the labor productivity and machine productivity. In
these cases, productivity is presented in production quantity.
Labor productivity: Number of garments produced per labor per shift.
Consider the above example, in a production line 40 operators and 5 helpers made 400
garments in a 8 hours shift. Total labor count is 40+5 = 45. Labor productivity of that
line will be (400/ (40+5)) = 8.89 pieces per labor per shift.
Machine productivity: Number of garment produced by machine per shift.
Let's say, in a line 40 machine is used to make 400 garments in a 8 hours shift. Machine
productivity of that line will be (400/ 40) = 10 pieces per labor per shift.
Difference between SAM productivity and Production
Productivity.
Here I have listed few points to compare these two productivity terms.
#1. SAM productivity is presented in standard minutes produced irrespective of
product SAM. On the other hand the production productivity is presented as number
of garment produced.
#2. Through SAM productivity you can easily compare performance of two lines or two
factories, irrespective of the apparel product types, style.
In apparel manufacturing industry, most garment manufacturers use the
assembly line for making clothes and garments. In the assembly line, a number
of sewing machines (including different types of sewing machines and non-
sewing equipment) are placed in a line according to the process sequence
requirement. Garment bundles are loaded at one end of the line and moved from
one workstation to another, and finally stitched garments come out from the
line.

When you use production productivity (labor productivity / machine productivity),

comparison of two line's performance can be done when they make same style and
same product. If two lines make two different products having different SAM,
performance can not be compared with produced qty.
#3. You can measure production productivity of a factory or a line without having
product SAM. But to measure SAM productivity you need to know product SAM.
Garment factories those don't have IE and don't estimate the standard minutes (SAM)
for their styles, can not calculate SAM productivity. But they can easily calculate
production productivity.
Define Line Layout
When we talk about preparing a line layout, it means designing the presentation
of workstations in an assembly and showing the flow of work from start to end.
It can be a simple line diagram. See the following image. The rectangle boxes
are indicating sewing workstation. The number marked inside the boxes are
indicating operations sequence in the Operation Bulletin (OB) and arrows are
showing the flow of work. The line layout is prepared after the operation
bulletin is made.

Read the difference between labor productivity and efficiency

Do you use these measures in your garment factory? Have you seen people using
these two types of productivity?

I would be great learning if you can share your understanding on the SAM productivity
and Production productivity.

What is Line Layout in Garment

Industry?
byPrasanta Sarkar -January 10, 2018
You know, the garment stitching is the core process in the apparel and fashion
industry supply chain.
 non-sewing equipment, and workstations for manual processes. Each
workstation is designed for an operation.

When you prepare the line layout, you will see following cases and you will
define a workflow on the line layout.

 You may need to assign more than one workstation for the same
operation,
 You may need to use same machine (workstation) for more than one
operations
 You may need to load bundles or garment component in multiple
workstations

Why you prepare a line layout?

Followings are some of the primary benefit and application of line layout

 The line layout helps line supervisors to set the line for a new order in
the least time.
 From the layout, you will get the exact requirement of machines and
equipment. Production team can be better prepared
 Style changeover time can be reduced by preparing a detailed line layout
and doing line set-up based on the line layout
 For new plant set-up, designing the line layout is an essential part.
Looking at line layout, overhead wiring, air connection, installation of
ironing tables, QC tables and fixture installed.

In case a factory produces same product for all the time, still they need to
change the line layout depending on the product design. In such cases factory
may need minimum change of sewing machines and workstation.

A sample line layout line diagram

What is Learning Curve in Apparel
There are different types of sewing line layouts. Whatever the line layout one
Manufacturing?
factory uses industrial engineers need to prepare line layout for the upcoming
byPrasanta Sarkar -January 05, 2018
orders.
In the apparel manufacturing industry, a learning curve is made for the sewing
operators' performance learning curve.
For an example, a production line involved different types of sewing machines,
A learning curve of an operator is the performance growth of getting experience
(time per unit) in a task. The learning curve can be drawn time per unit against
cumulative repetitions or efficiency at work against cumulative repetitions.
When a new style is loaded to a line, sewing operators (machinists) take time to
reach their maximum speed (or normal speed). A sewing operator takes higher
time to stitch a garment when she starts working on a new style. After doing the
same task for many times, the time taken to stitch the garment or an operation is
reduced. It may be due to new operation (job), a different machine with different
settings and guide or a different kind material need to handle.
Individual operators learning curve is normally prepared at the operator training
stage. But you can even prepare learning curve for each and every sewing
operator working in the production line. I have seen some factories prepare all
operators learning curve.
Normally a learning curve is prepared for the production line. This is easier to
develop Line wise learning curve when you don't have individual employee
efficiency data. See the learning curve of a typical production and typical
garment style.
In case you have short and long run orders, develop different learning curves for
different order volumes. The reason, for short-run orders, you may not reach to
line's pick efficiency level within the time production is over.
Also see: 9 Ways to Increase Sewing Operator Efficiency
Use of Learning Curve:
Following are few reasons, a learning curve is made by industrial engineers.
 Industrial engineers use learning curve data to calculate daily production
target in the initial production days of the new style.
 In production planning and target setting, the learning curve is used to
plan day wise production target.
 A learning curve is also used to derive lead time of an order.
 For the incentive calculation in the learning period, the learning curve is
used. If you have incentive scheme and you want to give incentive to
your workers based on their efficiency level, learning curve helps to
design target efficiency (eligibility level to earn incentive) for the initial
days.
In the next post, I will share how to develop a learning curve for your production
line. Keep reading and keep sharing the knowledge.
Difference Between Basic Time and
Standard Time
byPrasanta Sarkar -August 08, 2014
Basic Time and Standard Time are used by Work-study officers and Industrial
Engineers for work measurement. Observed Time or Cycle Time are two other
terms used in time measurement. To differentiate above terminologies,
definition and explanation are given below.
Cycle Time:
Cycle time is defined as the time duration from the starting point of a job to the
starting point of the next job. This time is established from the observation data
of an operator while working at a certain pace.

Example: In a sewing operation, pick up the first piece to pick up of second

pieces is cycle time. In cycle time, material handling time is included with actual
work time in a machine.

Cycle time = Machine Time + Material handling time.

Cycle time is also known as Observed Time.

Basic Time:

Basic time of a job is determined by multiplying rating factor to the observed

time (cycle time). Basic time is also expressed as Normal time.

Basic time = (Observed time X Performance Rating)/100 Chart: This shows how standard time is made up
Or
Basic Time = (Standard Time - Allowances) Conclusion: For a specific task following conclusion can be drawn

In Basic Time no allowances are included.  Observed Time may be greater or lower than Basic Time.
 Basic Time is always lower than Standard Time
Standard Time:  To set Standard Time of a job you must add allowances to Basic Time
(normal time)
Standard time is the time allowed to an operator to carry out the specified task
under the specified condition and defined level of performance. This is a
standard definition for standard time. What is the Meaning of SAM in
Some additional time is added to the basic time to arrive standard time of a task.
In practice, none can work throughout the day without taking rest. Operators Garment Industry?
need time for relaxation from fatigue. Various allowances are relaxation
allowance, contingency allowance (like machine breakdown) and bundle byPrasanta Sarkar -December 13, 2013
allowance (for PBS system). The meaning of Standard allowed minute (SAM) is explained here. As defined
in the book Introduction to Work Study, ILO, Standard minute is defined as the
Standard Time = Basic Time + Allowances following.

The basic constituents of standard time are shown in the following chart. This SAM is the time value arrived at for a task based on the average rate of output
chart shows how standard time is made up of the observed time and basic time which qualified workers will naturally achieve without overexertion provided
of a job. (Click on the image to enlarge) that they know and adhere to the specified method and provided that they are
motivated to apply themselves to their work.
Here SAM stands for Standard Allowed Minute. same operation, and expressed as a percentage. The general formula for calculating
efficiency is:
In garment industry, specifically in production SAM is used for measuring work.
In the factory work study department (also know as Industrial Engineering
department) measure and calculate SAM for sewing operation using standard (Work output /work input) X 100
calculation method. Read 'How to calculate SAM of the garment'

SAM is used many ways directly and indirectly. Some of those are
 Factory as well as individual operator performance is measured by
means of SAM
 Labor cost and associated cost ratios are measured by SAM
 Operators payroll and incentive amount is calculated based on earned
SAM
 Latest production scheduling systems like line balancing system and
performance measuring systems use SAM as one of the primary
parameters.
If you consider work input and output in 'minute', the efficiency formula would be like
this - the ratio of total standard minutes produced and total minutes spent on the
work.
I am working in the apparel manufacturing sector. In a garment manufacturing factory,
we calculate line efficiency every day to check and measure their line performance.
We use the following formula for calculating efficiency.

An organised garment manufacturing company can not think about managing

and controlling shop floor without using SAM of the garment and individual
operations. Even apparel buyers do negotiation of garment manufacturing price
based on garment SAM.

To derive most appropriate SAM value of a garment, factories use PTS based
systems. Standard Time is also derived from time study method.

Efficiency Formula: Calculate

Operator Efficiency and Line
Efficiency
byPrasanta Sarkar -January 19, 2017
Efficiency Formula
The efficiency formula is used for measuring batch production efficiency and workers'
production efficiency.

Efficiency % = (Total minutes produced X 100)/(Total hours worked X 60)

The efficiency is the work output from an operation, divided by work input from the
In the above formula, 60 is multiplied to convert hours into minutes and 100 is
multiplied to express in percentage.
In the second formula, instead of calculating minutes, we are considering produced
garments as output and production targets for the given hours as an input. The
production target is calculated from the garment SAM. The below formula is used for
calculating the production target.
Production target per hour (@100 Efficiency) = (60/Operation SAM)
Also Read: How to calculate hourly production target?
In the garment manufacturing sector, production efficiency data is calculated in many
forms. Like, Individual employee efficiency for the day, individual efficiency per hour,
line efficiency, and factory efficiency.
In all cases, the efficiency calculation formula remains the same. The total minutes
produced and total minutes worked need to be calculated based on where the formula
is used.
Calculate individual operator efficiency
Let's find the efficiency of a stitching machine operator.
The machine operator is worked 8 hours and he has produced 400 garments in the
given job. The standard time of the job was 30 seconds. Note that to calculate
produced minutes you need to know the standard minute of the job (operation).
He has produced minutes (400 X 30)/60 = 200 minutes. He has worked 480 minutes.
So, his efficiency is (200/480)*100 = 41.67 %
How to Calculate Hourly Production
Target
byPrasanta Sarkar -December 23, 2016
In apparel production, you may often need to calculate hourly production target
for a given style for setting up production target and production planning. The
hourly production target is calculated for individual operators as well as for a
line as needed.
In this article, I will show you
1. How to calculate hourly production target for an individual operation
2. How to calculate hourly production target for a production line.
Hourly production target calculation is a part of an operation bulletin preparation
and daily production report. In an OB production target is calculated for each
operations.
Following formula is used to calculate hourly target.
Hourly production target = (60 / Operation SAM)
An hour is equal to 60 minutes. Divide the 60 by the operation SAM. The end
result of this calculation tells you the number of pieces can be produced per
hour, which is the hourly production target for the selected operation.
Let’s take an example. SAM of an operation is 0.5 minute. Hourly production
target would be
=(60/0.50) =120 pieces
Note: This target is calculated at 100% efficiency. In case you want to plan
hourly production target at particular percentage, multiply the above by
individual operator efficiency.
Let’s say skill level of that operator is 80% efficiency, in that case production
target would be
(60/0.50)*80% =120*80% =96 pieces  Estimated time to do each operation for one unit
One sample operation breakdown of Polo shirt is shown in the below
The information you need for calculating hourly production target are image.

1. Standard time (SAM) of the operation

2. Average efficiency of the line

Calculation of Hourly production target of a line

On the other hand for calculating hourly production target for a production line
use the following formula
Hourly Production Target of a line =((60 * No. of operators working in a line *
Line efficiency %) /Garment SAM)

If you need to calculate daily production target of a line, just multiply the hourly
line target by shift hours.

What is Operation Breakdown in

Garment Industry
byPrasanta Sarkar -December 10, 2016
Each garment is constructed by number of stitching jobs and non-sewing jobs.
Jobs or activity involved in making a garment is known as operations. In
industrial garment manufacturing, prior to making the garments, the sample is
studied and list of required operations for making the approved design are made.
The operations are written in a sequence of actual process flow to be followed
while making the garment in the shop floor.

What is operation breakdown?

The method of preparing operations' list in a sequence is called as operation

breakdown.
The sheet of listed operations of a style is also known as operation breakdown.
An operation breakdown includes information like

 Sewing and non-sewing operations Sample operation breakdown sheet of a Polo Shirt
 Name of the machines to use for doing the specific operations

The garment operation bulletin is also called as operation breakdown. An
operation bulletin includes more information than the operation breakdown.
I have posted an article how to make operation bulletin. In that post the method
of making operation bulletin is explained.
Application of operation breakdown
 The operation breakdown of a garment is done to understand garment
construction - like stitch class and seam types used in making the sample
garment.
 To make a operation bulletin the first step is doing operation breakdown
of the sample garment.
 To make the list of sewing machines and equipment for the style.
 To set set a line for new style operation breakdown is followed by line
supervisors and engineers.
 While estimating thread consumption per garment for given style,
operation breakdown id referred for operation list and machine types.
10 Formulas for Production
Calculation in the Apparel Industry
byPrasanta Sarkar -November 29, 2016
You might be using formula for calculating standard time or labour productivity
or labour cost per minute. There are many such common measures we need to
calculate everyday for preparing daily reports and measuring performance in
various parameters. In this article we will try to understand how the basic
performance measures are calculated and formulas that are used for calculating
those measures.
In the apparel industry, industrial engineers, production managers and
production planners measure the factory performance on daily basis by
following standard formula for each measure. You might be already using such
formulas for calculating your factory performance. For example, industrial
engineers
 prepare OB sheet,
 measure key performance indicators (KPIs)
 prepare daily reports on factory performance, and
 line performance in terms of productivity and efficiency.
They also measure line capacity as well as individual operator capacity in the
given hours. All these are essential for production management, balancing work
and planning production and manpower.
As these are common measures in apparel production, most of the factories use
excel templates preparing such reports and calculations where the excel template
are pre-filled with formula. We just follow the report template. We don’t need to
calculate every time we make a report. So, many times we are not clear about
how to calculate a particular measure.
Let’s discuss 10 basic production measures and formula used calculating those
measures.
1. Hourly production target
Hourly production target calculation is a part of an OB and daily production
report. Hourly production target is calculated for individual operators as well as
for a line as needed. In an OB production target is calculated for each
operations. Following formula is used to calculate hourly target.
Hourly production target = (60 / Operation SAM)
Note: This target is calculated at 100% efficiency. In case you want to plan
hourly production target at certain percentage, multiply the above by line
efficiency / individual operator efficiency based on your need.
In the table-1 few examples are shown for calculating hourly production target
at 100% efficiency.
Table-1: Examples of hourly target calculation
Sl.
No. Operation SAM Hourly Target (60/SAM)
1 operation-1 0.78 76.92
2 operation-2 0.85 70.59
3 operation-3 1.2 50.00
 4 operation-4 0.9 66.67 Total minutes produced = Total units produced X operation SAM

See the following examples (table-3) for calculating individual operator

2. Daily Line Target efficiency. In case an operator is doing more than one operation, first calculate
total minutes produced in each operation and sum up total minutes produced in
all operations by an employee.
Like the hourly production target, daily production target of a line is calculated.
This target is given to line supervisors. Based on the daily production target Table-3: Examples of individual operator efficiency calculation
production planning and total production time needed to complete an order is Unit Hours
calculated. Following formula is used to calculate daily line target. Sl. SA produce worke Efficiency
No. Operators Operation M d d %
Daily Line Target = (Shift hours X 60 X No. of operators working in a line X 1 Operator-1 operation-1 0.78 500 8 81%
Line efficiency %) /Garment SAM 2 Operator-2 operation-2 0.85 480 8 85%
3 Operator-3 operation-3 1.2 300 8 75%
See the example in the following table 4 Operator-4 operation-4 0.9 480 8 90%

Table-2: Daily production target calculation

Line Manpowe Shift Average line Garment Daily production 4. Line Efficiency
no r hours eff% SAM Target
1 40 8 65% 30 416.0
2 40 8 60% 24 480.0Line efficiency is the common measure for measuring line performance and
3 42 8 62% 42 297.6factory performance. Performance of a production line vary depending on
4 46 8 58% 38 337.0operators’ skills, product design, line balancing, presence of lost time, style run
time and many other factors. A better efficiency means higher output and
reduced production cost. So we aim to improve line efficiency as much as
possible. Line efficiency is calculated using following formula.
3. Individual operator efficiency Line Efficiency% = (Total minutes produced *100) / (Total hours worked * 60)
Where, Total minutes produced by the line = Line output X Garment SAM
We measure individual operator’s performance (efficiency %) for operator Total hours worked by the line = Number of operators X Shift hours
grading, skill matrix, and daily employee performance reporting. In case you are
distributing performance based incentives to individual operators, you need to Table-4: Examples of line efficiency calculation
measure individual operator efficiency too. This is the formula to calculate
Units No. of
individual operator efficiency.
Sl. SA produce manpowe Hours Efficiency
No. Line Style M d r worked %
Individual operator Efficiency% = (Total minutes produced*100/Total minutes
Line- Style-
worked)
1 1 1 24 400 25 8 80%
Where,
Line- Style-
2 2 2 30 480 35 8 86%
 Line- Style-
3 3 3 12 300 20 8 38%
Line- Style-
4 4 4 20 500 35 8 60%
Note: Include helpers and worker doing manual operations in the manpower, in
case SAM of the manual operations are included in garment SAM.
The above mentioned formula is used majorly used for line efficiency
calculation. This is known as output based line efficiency. Line efficiency can be
also measured in a different way. Instead of line output data, individual
operators produced minutes and hours worked are calculated first and later their
produced minutes and hours worked are summed up to calculated line’s
produced minutes and total hours worked. To many this is not easy to calculate
individual operators output, their total produced minutes and actual hours they
worked in a day. Following the second method is only practical if a factory is
using real time production tracing system.
5. Machine Productivity
Machine productivity is measured to know the average production per machine
per day or in the defined time frame. A line with 48 machines producing 480
shirts and another line with 36 machines producing 400 shirts (same design).
How do you figure out which line doing better? This can be answered simply by
measuring machine productivity.
Productivity is the ratio of output and input. Machine productivity of a
production line is calculated using following formula.
Machine Productivity= Line output / No. of machine used
2 Line-2 36 450 12.50
3 Line-3 36 420 11.67
6. Labour Productivity
Productivity is also measured as labour productivity. Instead of machine input in
this case line output is divided by labour input to calculate labour productivity.
Labour Productivity = Line output / No. of total manpower (operators +helpers)
7. Standard Time Estimation
Standard time is the time allowed to an operator to carry out the specified task
under specified condition and defined level of performance. This is a standard
definition for standard time. Some additional time is added to basic time to
arrive standard time of a task. In practice none can work throughout the day
without taking rest. Operators need time for relaxation from fatigue. Various
allowances are relaxation allowance, contingency allowance (like machine
breakdown) and bundle allowance (for PBS system).
Standard Time = (Observed time X observed rating) + Allowances
Allowances includes Relaxation allowance, contingency allowance
The basic constituents of standard time are shown in the following chart. This
chart shows how standard time is made up from observed time and basic time of
a job.

Machine productivity is measured as production per machine per shift day. See
the following example (Table-5).

Table-5: Example of machine productivity calculation

Machines Machine
Sl. No. Line used Production productivity
1 Line-1 48 480 10
 Labour cost pet unit = (Total cost incurred in labour wages / No. of garments
produced) in a day

10. Production capacity

Production capacity is measured in available minutes as well as in number of

pieces. First we will see how available minutes in a line are calculated. Then we
will calculate capacity in number of pieces.

Line capacity per day= {(No. of machine x daily work hours x 60)*(1 –
absenteeism %)} x Efficiency % (capacity in minutes)
Production capacity (in pieces) = Available minutes / Garment SAM
Chart-1: This chart shows how standard time is made up. Source: Introduction to Table-6: Example of production capacity calculation
work study by ILO No. No. of Minutes/Day Line Absenteeism Capacity Garm
Machines (Daily Efficiency % available SAM
working (in
8. Machine utilization percentage Hrs. X 60) minutes)
Line 1 30 480 60% 10% 7776.00
Machines and equipment are primary resources of garment manufacturing unit. Line 2 28 480 72% 8% 8902.66
These resources must be utilized as much as possible to improvise factory Line 3 32 480 65% 9% 9085.44
performance. But due to work unavailability or less work, some machines (like Line 4 32 480 55% 10% 7603.20
specialized machines) are partially utilized by the factory. In such case, same
machine is shared for multiple lines. Machine utilization is calculated using
below formula. Conclusion:

Machine utilization% = (Actual machine running time X 100) / Time available

If you are running one of your special machines only 4 hours in 8 hours day,
utilization of that particular machine would be 50%.
9. Labour cost per unit
Labour cost is part of garment FOB. For every order we have a target labour
cost. We need to track the actual labour cost and control it. So we measure it
after a style is loaded. Here is the formula to calculate labour cost per garment.
Like other garment manufacturing units, you might be also measuring some key
production measures to keep track of production performance and controlling
the production. Whatever measures and formula you are using must be
standardized and approved by the authorized person internally. Also everyone in
an organization should be aware how the particular measures are calculated. It is
good to have a poster of commonly used formulas and keep the poster in your
work space. A poster would be helpful for learning for newcomers.

E's Role and Responsibility in
Various Positions
byPrasanta Sarkar -March 17, 2016
It is important to know your role to accomplish the maximum task and get motivated
to work. Do you have this in your factory for your department and for your profile?
An industrial engineer of a garment export house based in Bangalore shared job
responsibility of IE department followed by the company. See what they do to manage
and control garment production and improve the production process. Just in case, if
you don’t have defined roles and responsibilities for IE department in your factory you
can follow this.
1. IE Manager's Roles and Responsibilities:
1. Follow up with all concerned for pre-production activities
2. Ensure that similar styles are planned for lines. (Example: fashion shirt should not be
loaded basic shirt line)
3. Ensure sample is stitched by the supervisor and critical operations are identified.
4. Discuss with the technical person and develop folders/profiles to simplify
operations.
5. Discuss layout with production manager (PM), factory in-charge (FI) and Junior IE for
any changes foreseen and finalize operator allocation for every operation based on
skill matrix
6. Ensure special machines are kept ready well in advance
7. Ensure change over is done on time and peak is achieved along with COT team.
8. Review line plan, manpower and efficiency on daily basis to ensure efficiency is
achieved
9. Responsible for providing training to team members on Method study, Time study
and improve their competencies.
10. Review Daily MIS reports
Note: Operation bulletins (OB), thread consumption are not done by the IE manager in
their factory, all OBs are done at the head office.
2. Junior IE's Roles and Responsibilities:
1. Be on time and do line balancing within first 15 minutes in case of absenteeism
along with PM.
2. Ensure first-hour peak is achieved. Follow on critical operations for method study.
Follow up on hourly production.
3. Ensure OB given to line for the style is followed and no additional machines are
provided, if needed should be discussed with IE manager and COT Team. Ensure
thread consumption given by HO is correct and if revision required need to alert
before 150 pieces are stitched.
4. Updating Skill matrix.
5. Prepare daily MIS reports, discuss next day loading status with FM/AGM. Should
know details of how much is loaded and loading balance. Ensure stock is present in the
supermarket.
6. Next style OB to be given to mechanic 3 days in advance. Update to IE Manager
about new style loading.
7. Prepare the COT checklist and maintain it.
Note: Line balancing after the first hour needs to be taken care of by supervisor
himself based on skill matrix.
3. Time Study Assistant's Roles and Responsibilities:
1. Headcount operators and provide to Junior IE to fix day’s target. Follow up on
critical operations and do a time study.
2. Hourly productions follow up and update hourly production to supervisor/IE.
Maintain logbook on loading status and production status.
How to Calculate CM Produced by a
Line in Dollar?
byPrasanta Sarkar -May 05, 2016
An OCS reader asked me this question: Sometimes people ask me "how much
CM (in USD) is achieved today in your factory". It seems confusing to me.
Would you please tell me how can I calculate CM in daily basis? And why I
need to calculate every day?
On daily basis you calculate line output. And you have the SAM for the style(s)
you are making in the line. With these data you calculate how much SAM is
produced by the line.
SAM Produced by line = (Line output * Style SAM)
If you have this information, calculation of CM achieved by the line in dollar
is an easy task. Read this post to know how.
I will show you two different ways for calculating CM earned amount by the
line. These methods can be used for calculating CM achieved by the factory as
well as CM achieved by the line.
The first method:
In the costing sheet you include product CM cost, which is your garment
manufacturing cost per unit. CM cost is part of FOB.
Most of the time CM cost per garment is shared with buyer (in open costing). So
you need to know CM cost per piece for the product you are making.
Buyer pays you CM on total quantity you shipped. Therefore every piece you
produce, you are virtually earning dollar equivalent to CM.
In this method CM earned is calculated as total line output (pieces produced by
the line) multiply by CM cost per garment.
If you want calculate CM achieved by your factory then find total production
done by the factory and multiply it by CM cost.
Calculation method:
1. From cost sheet collect garment CM (CM is fixed for an order). This
data is normally available with merchandiser. In case cost of
manufacturing is in local currency, convert it into dollar using currency
ratio.
2. Count total piece produced by a line
Now calculate CM achieved (in dollar)= Production quantity X Garment CM (in
dollar)
The second method:
There is a second way of calculating CM earning (CM achieved). 'CM achieved'
can be defined as total calculated earned amount by a line which derived from
total minute produced by the line multiply minute cost.
In apparel production when you are running a line, direct cost is involved in
operators’ salary. And every factory has a minute cost (labour cost per minute
for direct labours).
To make it simple, you are paying salary to your operators and workers. In
return operators are producing garments. To compare how much you getting
return in dollars by paying operators wages on a day CM earning is calculated.
Calculation Method:
Here are the steps to calculate CM achieved by a line:

1. Calculate labour cost per minute of your factory based on minimum wages (in
USD) of the workers at 100% performance. This factor changes when worker’s
salary is changed, otherwise cost (dollar) per minute remain same.
2. Calculate total standard minute (SAM) produced by the line. Again there are
two different ways to calculate Standard minute produced–
Standard minutes produced = Line output * garment SAM
3. Calculate total hours worked by all workers (those are included in the SAM)
4. Dollar earned (dollar achieved) = (Total standard minute produced * Dollar
per minute)
Additional analysis for your information:
5. Dollar spent/paid = (Total minutes worked X Dollar per minute)
6. Excess paid (Make up amount) = (Dollars paid - Dollars earned)
On daily basis calculate total standard minutes produced by a line and total
garments produced by the line. I hope you do this every day. So whenever you
are asked this question, just follow one of the above methods.
To make the calculation simple follow first method. Multiply CM cost (Dollar
per garment) to the pieces produced by a line to calculate CM achieved by your
line.
Also Read: Garment CM cost estimation using SAM
Why you need this figure daily?
In a line, every day you are spending money (dollars) as workers’ salary. You
should know how much dollars you are earning on daily basis against the dollar
you are paying to your workers. You also need to check the progress if earning
is increasing or not after loading a new style in a line? That is why you need to
measure CM achieved on daily basis.
Do you find this helpful? Share it with your peers and share knowledge.
Difference between Productivity and
Efficiency
byPrasanta Sarkar -September 20, 2016
Productivity and efficiency are the primary performance measures in garment
production. We have earlier discussed about Productivity and Efficiency separately. In
this post we will understand the difference between productivity and efficiency with
an example.
First let me define these two terms.
Productivity is the ratio of output (products or services) and input (labour, machine,
man-hours). Productivity can be measured as labour productivity, machine
productivity, and value productivity for a production line or of a whole factory. Let’s
consider you are measuring labour productivity of a production line. Labour
productivity is defined as output (in pieces) per labour (direct +indirect) in a given time
frame. Example of labour productivity of a Shirt line is 10 pieces per day per labour on
8 hour shift.
Efficiency is the ratio of total minutes produced and total minutes worked by an
individual operator, or a line. Efficiency is expressed in percentage. For example,
stitching line efficiency of a typical stitching line is 56%.
Formula use to calculate productivity and efficiency
Productivity formula:
Productivity = Output / Input
Labour productivity = (Total garments produced / Number of labours involved) in
given time frame
Machine productivity = (Total garments produced / total number of machine utilized) lines. But how will you compare if these two lines are making two different products?
And have different number of manpower. With productivity data you couldn’t do that.
Efficiency Formula: In such situation line efficiency in the only measure to compare production
Efficiency = (Total SAH produced / Total hours worked)*100 performance of these two lines.

We can write the same formula as produced work in minutes A case is shown in the following for calculating labour productivity and line efficiency.

A line of 35 operators and 5 helpers produced 400 pieces in day of 8 hours shift.
Efficiency = (Total Minute produced / (Total hours worked*60))*100
Garment SAM is 25 minutes. Considering helpers SAM is included in garment SAM.

Where, Total minutes produced = (Number of pieces produced * Garment SAM)

Total labour input (A) = 35+5 = 40 labours
Total minutes worked = (Number of workers * shift hours * 60) Total production (B) = 400 pieces of garments
Total SAM produced (C) = 400 pieces * 25 minutes = 10000 minutes
Efficiency is measured for individual operators, for each lines and overall factory Total Minutes attended (worked) by all workers (D) = 40 workers * 8 hours shift * 60 =
efficiency. (40 *8 *60) minutes

Labour productivity = B/A =400/40 = 10 pieces per labour per shift

In garment production labour productivity is presented as number of pieces produced
per labour per shift. Line Efficiency = (C/D)*100 = (10000 *100) / (40 * 8 * 60)
= (1000000 /19,200) % = 52.08%
Labour productivity of the same line with same number of labour for two different
products (e.g. a T-shirt and a Polo shirt) may be different. But Line efficiency can be Hence line efficiency is 59.52%. This is derived from (400*25*100)/ (35*8*60)
same in both products.

Productivity is product specific measure. When you compare your factory’s

productivity with another factory’s productivity, you have to check if both factories are
making same product. If different products are made by the factories, you can do
productivity comparison by converting productivity of one product to equivalent SAM
of the second product.

To calculate line efficiency you must have garment SAM (standard minutes) for your
products. On the other hand you don’t need SAM to calculate labour productivity.
Factories those don’t have industrial engineering department and don’t calculate
garment SAM are not in position to measure accurate line efficiency. For them
productivity measure is one that they can follow.

Both have importance understating factory’s performance. In case a factory have

multiple stitching lines and all lines are producing same products/design without any
variation in construction and all line has same number of manpower, in such case
labour productivity measure is enough to compare performance between the two