Dr. Rajesh Bheda
If one wishes to compete in an athletic event in the Olympic games, the first thing one needs to know is as to what is the Olympic record and what is the minimum qualifying performance to start preparing. Similarly, to be able to understand as to what level of productivity performance to expect from one’s apparel plant, it is important that one knows what the best performance has been reported so far. These performance benchmarks can inspire individual organisations to aspire for them. Organisations may not or need not stop at achieving these benchmarks but could even surpass and create higher benchmarks.
The apparel industry in the Western World made significant efforts to improve their productivity performance during 1950’s to 1970’s. These efforts concentrated on the use of new technology to improve machines and equipment, application of industrial engineering, use of incentive systems, improved training methods and so on… This article aims to bring in a brief recap of the global productivity benchmarks. It is an extract of the chapter ‘Apparel Productivity in the Western Word’ from my book Managing Productivity in the Apparel Industry. I believe it is still quote relevant for the apparel manufacturers globally to inspire performance improvement. Here it goes….
Apparel Productivity in USA
During the years 1955 to 1960, major efforts were made towards mechanisation of apparel manufacturing process. This led to a reduction in standard minute value for full sleeve shirt from about 35 minutes in 1930 to as low as 12 minutes in 1960. The mechanical devices that remarkably influenced the sewing operations included:
- Reciprocating stacker
- Flip stacker
- Automatic thread cutter
- Automatic thread trimmers
- Needle positioners
- Edge beaders
- Pedestal mounts
- Clamp trucks
- Sequential buttonholers
- Automatic button sewers
- Slide knife
Most of the sewing operations were improved by using specialised workstations equipped with one or more of these aids to improve productivity. These efforts resulted in a total time of 144.60 minutes for sewing one dozen shirts, leading to an average of 12.05 minutes per shirt, including finishing. The detailed operation breakdown and standard time are as shown in table 1. It should be noted that these times were achieved using progressive bundle system and buttonhole- button sewing for collar, cuffs and fronts was done in respective sections in component form as opposed to the practice prevalent many factories where button hole and button sewing are done once the complete garment is sewn.
Table 1: The Twelve (12) Minutes Shirt
| Operation | Standard Minutes per Dozen | Operation | Standard Minutes per Dozen |
| Collar profile stitch | 3.33 | Set yokes to back | 3.00 |
| Turn-trim-press | 2.40 | Set button stay (placket) | 1.60 |
| Top stitch | 2.60 | Center fronts (front placket) | 3.15 |
| Shape bottom | 1.06 | Crease pockets | 1.60 |
| Hem band | 2.00 | Set pockets | 6.00 |
| Set Band | 4.00 | Fronts – button hole & sew | 4.60 |
| Turn and check ends | 1.50 | Joint shoulders | 4.30 |
| Bead | 1.06 | Set collar | 4.80 |
| Trim | 1.35 | Close collar | 4.80 |
| Notch | 1.00 | Set sleeve | 4.80 |
| Button hole | .70 | Close side | 4.80 |
| Button sew | .70 | Hem bottom | 4.00 |
| Hem cuff (Line) | 2.40 | Set cuff | 4.80 |
| Cuff profile stitch | 2.40 | Close cuff | 4.80 |
| Turn | 1.35 | Trim & inspect | 4.00 |
| Stitch top | 2.00 | Press | 12.00 |
| Button hole | 1.50 | Fold | 12.00 |
| Button sew | 1.50 | Assort & box | 4.80 |
| Sleeve gore (lower placket) | 2.70 | Interim Inspection | 3.00 |
| Set facings (Upper placket) | 3.20 | – | – |
| Close & point facing | 10.00 | TOTAL PER DOZEN | 144.60 |
| Set label to yoke | 3.00 | AVERAGE PER UNIT | 12.05 |
Source: Modified based on Shirt Making, S.J. Cepelin, Kogos International Corporation, NY. Reported in Managing Productivity in the Apparel Industry by Dr. Rajesh Bheda, CBS Publications
The 1976 report of AAMA, ‘Quality and Productivity: Cornerstones of Apparel Manufacturing’ illustrates productivity benchmarks for six standard garments. These garments were assumed to be produced with the most modern equipment and construction techniques available. For the year 1975 the attainable direct labour productivity for dress shirt was estimated at 5.50 per hour. In case of men’s casual pants, tailored dress slack, western style jeans, ladies tailored blouse and ladies skirt, the attainable direct labour productivity per hour was 3.75, 2.37, 7.32, 5.71 and 5.56 respectively including finishing.
The report dealt with productivity and quality together and provided an equation for higher productivity and effective quality control as stated below which is still relevant and can be acted upon:
ME + EM + ME + EM = HP + EQC
(Modern equipment + Engineered Methods +
Motivated Employees + Enlightened Management) =
Higher Productivity + Effective Quality Control
Similar to the US apparel industry the European industry also made significant efforts to improve productivity. An article by Dr. Manual Gaetan published in 1984 in Bobbin magazine reported the performance achieved by the German apparel industry in terms of production time. In case of Men’s Dress shirt, time standard at basic technology was 21.80 minutes where as at modern, and optimum technology level it was 15.65 and 11.95 minutes respectively. These productivity benchmarks from the US and European apparel industry provide a lot of insight on the productivity performance achieved in the western apparel industry during 1960’s to 1980’s.
Conclusion
The data provided in this article clearly shows that these productivity benchmarks established more than 50 years ago are still unbeaten. The good news is that the average apparel manufacturers in South Asia have almost 100% improvement potential in terms of machine and operator productivity. It can further be stated that such improvements are achievable in South Asian conditions and are being achieved by certain progressive manufacturers.
