Decoding the Production Capacity and its Calculations in Export Houses
A capacity plan in a Garment Export house refers to a strategic and organized approach to managing the production capabilities of the business. It involves assessing and optimizing the resources, processes, and workforce to meet the demands of garment production efficiently.
General capacity calculation
For example, a factory has 300 machinists, who work a 8 hour’s a day 26days a month. Machinist work is the bottleneck to production and the product can be made on any machine.
Potential output = 300 X 8 X 60 X 26 = 37,44,000 minute of work per month
But not everything goes perfectly as per plan , some people wont show up ,assuming attendance is only 95%, some will not do their job perfectly like the operatives only do the jobs for which they are trained and equipped for 80% of the time (80% utilisation) and some might not work as much as they could assuming the average performance is 90 BSI, instead of the standard, which is 10 BSI. All of these factors reduce the output.
Predicted output = 300 X 8 X 60 X 26X 0.95 X 0.80 X 0.90= 25,60,896 minute of work per month.
In fact, the output of the people who are not on standard (doing their own job) will provide a little more than this, but it is often sensible . take a pessimistic view when calculating capacity. There are bound to be unexpected problems.
Plan throughput time
Consider an order for 900,000 standard hours of work and ignore delays due to WIP etc.
Throughput time is 900,000 ÷ 98,946 = 9 days
So, the capacity plan helps the export house figure out how much work they can do and how long it will take to get everything done. It’s like making a smart plan to handle making lots of clothes efficiently!
Understanding Production Capacity in Different Parts of the Production Team
Of course the example quoted above was simplistic. We need the capacity of every part of the production unit. In a cutting room the area that can be cut on one table in one day depends upon the type of laying up machine or technique , the cutting machinery allocated, the skill of the cutters involved and the depth of the lay.
The depth of the lay will be increased as the size of the order increases and the range of sizes and color decreases. It will be restricted by the thickness of the fabric, the cutting accuracy required and the presence or otherwise of a vacuum system to pull the block tight.
From these calculations we can prepare a table, in an exels sheet in the computer , and this will allow us to predict how long an order should take to complete, according to the production units available. Such a table is often called a capacity or skills inventory. When dealing with operative skills, groups of workers can be treated as one unit, with a common level of productivity, and this is called a ‘skill centre’ .
This simplifies calculations. Most of the techniques used in this type of works depend on some form of simplification. The effect of labour saving machinery can often be considered by expressing its output in terms of the number of conventional machines that it replaces.
“It’s like breaking down the whole process into simpler parts to understand and plan better.”
When we calculate how the amount of work changes with different styles, we assume that we have enough extra machines and skilled workers who can handle various styles. For example, when a new style is introduced, we consider the extra work it brings and the reduction compared to a simple garment.