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Industrial Engineering (IE) in Apparel industry

Industrial Engineering (IE) in Apparel industry

Industrial Engineering

Industrial Engineering is manufacturing engineering to increase productivity and quality. Here I have written about Industrial Engineering (IE) in the Apparel industry, job scope, job description, and basic IE works of the apparel industry.


Industrial Engineering in Apparel industry

Apparel manufacturing factories are facing global competition for cost-saving, productivity, and quality improvement. Industrial Engineering is dealing with these factors to reach the highest level of productivity, quality with minimum waste. So an industrial engineer has a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the apparel manufacturing sector by implementing all engineering tools for the growth of this industry.
IE team works in cutting, sewing, and finishing to reduce manpower and WIP, setting line Layout (operation breakdown) increase work efficiency, productivity, Demand forecasting, develop a new design, Develop Layout, Work with different quality tools, Bend product and seasoning development, Efficiency, Wages and earning calculation, CNC machine operation, Scheduling, Capacity analysis, Line balancing, Kaizen, Kanban, Production planning, Calculate NPT, Bottleneck removing, etc. . They analyze CM, SMV, costing, consumption, profit- Loss. Good IE teams make a good efficient factory. They also follow up daily production targets and production achievement being responsible for production, working in the sewing line if there is any bottleneck.  Generally, Textile engineer, IPE engineer, and other academic background work in Garments IE department, career growth is very quick here. After merchandising, all textile graduates go for IE jobs in a Garments factory. Starting a career in IE department is not very easy, there is a challenge too and pressure to fill up the production target of assigned sewing lines. After reaching one stage, your job will give you comfort to be followed up work sitting in own desk. This is the era of the 4th industrial revolution where people go innovative ways to increase the growth of productivity.

The importance of industrial engineering in Garments industry

When garments manufacturers had faced a threat of global competition, other manufacturers produced products at a lower cost; the garments industry started to set industrial engineering to produce more goods at a lower cost. Industrial engineering works to produce maximum output by limited minimum resources and every action taken to calculate what adds value to the product.

IE jobs in Garments industry:

Career start in IE department as IE officer, growth faster than any other department in the apparel manufacturing industry. There are many jobs out there in IE department. In recent times garment industries hiring many employees to work for engineering development in their facilities. Job designations are IE officer, executive, senior executive, assistant manager, manager, head of IE, AGM/DGM/GM
 You may like to read: IE interview questions and answer of apparel industry

Basic knowledge doing IE job in Garments

Basic knowledge is about Industrial engineering such as efficiency, production, productivity, overall efficiency, on standard efficiency. Major KPI such as man to machine ratio, cut to ship ratio, order to ship ratio, on-time delivery percentage, average style changeover time, DHU, quality to the production, NPT, the major area of NPT. Skill matrix, what are the criteria of operator grading. Thread consumption, elastic, lace consumption knowledge. Identify bottleneck and eradicate bottleneck. Knowledge about stitches. making operation bulletin. Working under pressure and cope up with every situation. Well dress up and finally be smart. English knowledge is very important cause a lot of foreigners are working in this section. Mathematical knowledge such as CM, CPM, EPM, efficiency, rating. Knowledge about lean, 6S, kaizen, kanban, 6M,7M,8M.etc.As an IE we have a lot of responsibility. Have knowledge about IE like Manpower optimization, studying line capacity & production study, Layout setting, Analysis of method & trying to improve the process, finding bottleneck &line balancing and Target setting, Consumption of Elastic, piping & many things.


The job responsibilities of IE officer /executive /Manager have to do in Garments Industry

1.      Ensure Operation Bulletin (OB) and re-engineering or balancing the bulletin for better productivity in sewing and finishing
2.      Measuring accurate factory efficiency, line performance, changeover effectiveness, capacity study, time & motion study, machine breakdown, etc.
3. Carry out pre-order costing and post-order costing (artwork & sample) in coordination with merchandising team.
4.      Set up base target based on basic, semi-critical & critical operations and ensure the implementation of line and special incentive policy.
5.      Set up SOP, process Flow chart & process re-engineering to improve the different processes.
6.      Conduct skill assessment of new operators, ensure floor discipline, identify training needs and manage their work quality and career development.
7.      Optimum of utilization Man, Machine & Method (3M).
8.      Communicate with the product development team to make the product feasible for production, and at the same time, meet customers' demands.
9.      Analyze productivity and improve the system by implementing kaizen and innovation in the process.
10.  Prepare monthly manpower projection, requirement, and turnover
11.  Ensure cost reduction by reducing all kinds of wastages.
12.  Ensure safety, quality, and compliance activities in the workplace.
13.  Monitoring Production Schedule.
14.  Studying and implementing time study, method study, etc
15.  Strategic Project Planning.
16.  Analyzing the DFMEA & Process FMEA.
17.  Monitoring Worker Ergonomics design for better posture
18.  SMV (Standard Minutes Value), Efficiency calculation and assigned a Target based on efficiency and SMV.
19.  Six sigma Implementation Using DMAIC approach.
20.  Adopt industrial engineering practice in every possible area for maximum productivity and ensure optimum utilization of resources & implementation of QCO.
21.  To calculate SAM by both rating method & GSD (TMIS) method
22.  Have clear Knowledge about TMIS, TMIS coding system
23.  Have sound knowledge about Motion analysis by showing Video with TMIS software
24.  Clear knowledge of Lean tools: Kanban, Kaizen, TPM, 5S, Yamazumi Chart.
25.  Good in designing production equipment/tools considering Ergonomics
26.  Establish lean manufacturing culture to reduce non-value-added processes.
27.  Innovate, update and implement procedures for IE
28.  Making Layout of the machine with manpower distribution by maintaining proper sequence of sewing operations to ensure the best workflow.
29.  Set up and manage the Training Centre for trainee operators, cooperate with HR for skill test in recruitment, manage the skill assessment scheme for all production operators.
30.  Good team player & high adaptability in any situation
31.  To Implement IE tools & techniques in the Factory.
32.  Study and record time, motion, method, and speed involved in the performance of production and other worker operations using GSD tools and techniques.
33.  Supply the costing SMV information to merchandising team for costing purposes.
34.  Thread consumption
35.  Set the target and draft and design layout of machine, materials, Prepare layout for the floor for effective utilization of men, machine, and material.
36.  Bottleneck solving
37.  Line Balancing
38.  Individual orders follow up.
39.  WPR Report making.
40.  Capacity Booking & Open Capacity Plan as per factory business plan.
41.  Check the cutting production; sewing production; Finishing production; absenteeism; cutting balance, Loss time monitoring report; Efficiency and compile reports on the progress of work and production problems.
42.  Cut panel Rejection analysis report.
43.  GSM high low monitoring report in cutting section.
44.  Shade checking report in cutting section.
45.  Excess fabric handover to store from cutting report.
46.  Prepare skill inventory for the operator.
47.  Arrange technical and pre-production meetings with production, Quality, Merchandising, and PD team before new style/input are given in line.
48.  Line Loading Plan
49.  Maintaining Master file from Cutting to packing all production data.
50.  KPI report, follow up and yearly presentation
51.  To monitor Target Vs Achievement KPI.
52.  Implementing Lean tools (5S, Kaizen, Kanban) in different workplaces. (Administrative office area, QC room, Yarn Store, Cutting)
53.  Implementing different types of production & quality SOP’s on the production floor (Cutting, Sewing, and Finishing).
54. Follow-up finishing WIP (From input to Packing).
55.  Maintaining Left Over status report. Updated with ERP (ALGO ERP, LOGIC ERP).
56.  To Make Daily Production Report as Per Production on Which the Salary of Operators is Made.
57.  Making Cutting Report According to PO Based on Which Cutting Team Ensures Cutting.
58.  To Generate Daily Sewing WIP Report According to File, PO, Style & Color Based on Which The Production Team Runs Sewing.
59.  To Make Daily Finishing WIP Report According to Color Based on Which Finishing Team Runs Finishing.
60.  Generating Running Order Status Daily According to File, PO, and Style & Color for Understanding the Order Status.
61.  To Make WIP Reduction Report on Which WIP & Production Progress Can Be Known.
62.  To Make Washing Report Based on Which Items Are Sending for Washing.
63.  To Generate Packing Report on Which CT-PAT Continues Their Packing Activities.
64.  To Generate Shipment Update for The Betterment of Proper Follow Up of Shipment.
65.  To Generate Critical Shipment Follow Up for Especially Critical Shipment According to Every Style & Ensuring Follow Up Strictly.
66.  To Make Reconciliation After Delivery of Every Shipment for The Illustration of Every Shipment According to File, PO, Style & Color.
67.  Through Generating Cut Plan Follow-up Report, Strictly Ensuring Follow Up the Cut Plan for Cutting the Fabrics on Time. Make and evaluate cut to ship ratio report
68.  Accumulating Data of all sewing Lines of all Units, Making Consolidated reports & Variance reports, and Mailing to top management.
69.  Identifying the Causes of Variance between Build Up & Actual Production and Solving the Problems through Proper Collaboration with HOO, DGM-GM & Concerned Persons.

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