The role of the laboratory in the process dyehouse

by Abdul Rahim Khatri, Technical Director, Chemi Colour Trading Company.

In today’s competitive environment, the survival of any enterprise is by moving along with time. The lead times have shortened
down for the deliveries along with right first quality and consistency every time in the results. Earlier when the tolerance levels were
quite wide for any manufacturing unit, the wider margin of error used to get accepted based on price or understanding with the
buyer. Today’s textile environment has become very much more complex where not only the demands of foreign buyers have gone
up with respect to final articles, shorter lead times and low profitability based on volume orders, are now the norm. Rising input cost
has forced every manufacturer to look at his process efficiency and economy of scale.

How the laboratory can help?
The role of the laboratory, which supports the production, is
considered as the brain of the total operation. It initiates the
proper work action for the production people to do it correctly in
the first phase and every time.
It’s been unfortunate that there are some processing factories,
where still top management considers the expenses of the
Laboratory as an added cost towards the operation and have
often failed to invest in such facilities.
The function of the Laboratory today contributes a lot
towards the profitability by means of savings whether directly or
indirectly.
Professionally driven companies have always understood that
an effective support to the Laboratory will always ensure the suc-
cess of the operation.
Laboratory functions
Earlier it was only a concept that the Laboratory guides the
production and not drives the operation. Lately this perception
has been changed since the concept of “QUALITY CONTROL”
system has arisen.
Some customers are very demanding with respect to their
standards and tolerance limits are very stringent to work into,
whereas few particular markets are cost driven with volumes and
quick deliveries.
The best way is to hold detailed discussion with the customer
and the technical concerns for practical specification of the
required article, so that both sides mutually recognize the techno-
logical limits. Building a top class function laboratory without a
perfect combination of a team will not lead to a successful opera-
tion. Technical team building is the key area where companies
should focus.
An incapable team will never be able to deliver the right
objective of the function laboratory and would possibly lead into
the disastrous situation for a whole management in the form of
heavy claims. An effective technical manager should understand
all the processes and be aware of all the international standards of
different bodies e.g. (ISO, AATCC, JIS, etc.)
The increased awareness of the quality requirements has lead
these functional laboratories to emphasize on the quality of the
service and standards of the laboratory work being carried out so
as to co-relate the activity of their finding with any certified nom-
inated laboratory of the customer.

The companies are focusing for the concept of “SIX-SIGMA”
with zero defects, which eventually lead these companies towards
high level of profits.
Typically the function of the textile process laboratory for any
dyehouse (whether continuous or exhaust) consists of the follow-
ing functions:

Recipe prediction of the given Standard shade.

The predicted recipe meets the needed fastness against the
standard.

Analysis of water supply.

Testing and control of raw materials.

Inspection of the untreated material, work in progress and
finished goods.

Co-ordination between the customers, management team
and the production people.

Improvement of the processes in order to save time and
energy cost.

Evaluation of machinery function and the preparation of
standard operating procedures (SOP).

Documentation and record keeping.

Investigation of faults and complaints.

Technical support to the marketing and merchandising
department for customer development.
Spending and allocation of the budget on these above said
functions for a good supportive laboratory, whether for a small or
a large dyehouse should be according to the nature of work they
perform, type of customers they deal with and the market seg-
ment they work in.
To meet the standard parameters, in many countries national
accreditation certifications are being carried out to examine the
functions of the laboratory. Similarly many western buyers have
same policy of accreditations with their approved vendors to
create synergy for the testing parameters for the acceptable
results.
An ISO 17025 is an internationally acceptable standard to
measure the performance activity for a laboratory operating com-
mercially. All the test methods should be documented and (SOPs)
should also be derived in laboratory manuals to avoid the chances
of errors. Their documentation is an integral part of accreditation
procedures.
Choosing equipment
Necessary equipment varies for individual mills, whether it’s a
yarn dyeing, fabric dyeing or knitwear hosiery dyeing unit.
Classification is also made whether its operations are continuous
or exhaust dyeing systems.
Otherwise there are a few general necessary types of equip-
ment irrespective of the type of processing house. Nowadays
management would like to divide their process Laboratories into
three major areas.

Wet Processing.

Physical Testing.

Chemical Testing.
Wet processing is the area where wet operation takes place
like application of dyes and chemicals to the desired substrate
(yarn, fabric, terry or hosiery), weighing of dyes and chemicals
and preparation of stock solutions or printing pastes.

36 PTJ December 2008

 Physical testing which could be quite a critical segment to
choose the equipment for, good housekeeping in this particular Table-1: Specification of textile material
area is of high importance. An experienced manager will try to
distance this area from the other two as to prevent contamination
Material Parameters
which imparts irregularities on the final results. The area is Fibre content
designed with a certain level of humidity and temperature as per Fibre Fibre length
required standards for accuracy of the result. Chemical testing is
the area where analytical skills are concerned for measuring the Fibre diameter
quality of incoming raw materials, water, analysis of the effluent Spinning system
Yarn
discharged etc. Water is a prime source for quality processing thus Count
it has to be ensured for a consistency of the water supplies,
Twist
whether it is from their own source or externally dependent.
Strength
Routine testing of the treated quality water is also necessary
to ensure that water is of right quality being obtained and to keep Cloth construction
an eye if the water treatment plant is functioning satisfactorily Fabric mass (GSM)
and does not require maintenance or regeneration. Moreover in
Strength
this section, % purity of the basic chemical can be checked for the
purchase purpose. This will allow broader spectrum to the pur- Fabric Shrinkage
chase department to buy right quality product at correct price. Abrasion resistance
This way a monitoring of the consistency can also be recorded Pilling
from the different supplier for particular products.
Flamability
Colour communication Laminates Peel bond strength
Light
The spectrophotometer is now an integral tool for any type
of process dyehouse. This equipment is usually placed away as for Washing
the safe handling and the dark room is preferred for light box to Fastness Perspiration
perceive the shade visually under different illuminants rightly. Ever
Rubbing (Wet & dry)
since the concept of retail chain management has arisen, the
working methodology has been paced up. Many western buyers PVC migration
would like to communicate their fashion shades into the numeri- Instrumental shade
cal values with the needed specifications of light source. The Colour
Tolerance
manufacturer with the help of a spectrophotometer can develop
and predict the recipe in no time and revert back to their cus- Stages from the beginning of pretreatment until the final arti-
tomer with their numerical data. By this means, submission of cle are dispatched to the customer.
physical samples reduces the cost of heavy courier charges.
Not only the above said but the colour spectrophotometer
Process and quality control
also plays a vital role for understanding the compatibility of the Quality control is the sub-category department which works
dye used so as to have good reproducibility, which eventually independently in support of a main Laboratory for any processing
leads to the high productivity by preventing expensive re-works. mill. This department ensures that the right quality has been dis-
Laboratory dyeing must be carried out to a high degree of accu- patched to the customer.
racy; there must be accurate transfer and scale-up of laboratory
results into bulk processing and a high degree of reproducibility Conclusion
between bulk batches dyed to the same colour. The variables
which account for inconsistency of the results are in general. The aim of the support laboratory is to develop and maintain

Water supply used. smooth production processing and ensure that they are fully doc-

Dye ability of the substrate. umented and followed. The concept of Blind Dyeing can lead to

Source of dye supplies. high levels of productivity and certainly profitability. Research and
development in the laboratory can devise shortcuts in the pro-

Dye application process.
cessing techniques without compromising on the quality. This in

Automation of the machines.
turn increases cost effectiveness of the process and saving of

Liquor to material ratio. water & energy cost. The above was just an outline about the

pH of the bath and steam. importance of the laboratory and it’s eventually a decision of

Time and temperature profiles. management, how much they would like to invest and bear the

Weighing of the substrate. expenses which will prove their existence on a long term basis.

Method of assessing the shade.
The effective support laboratory ensures that these variables References
are constant all the time for swift operation. 1. J.Park, Colourage, TG Tech Igatex issue, Jan 2007.
Identification & testing 2. Textile Chemist Colorist (Oct 1998).
3. J Park & J Shore, Colourage Annual, 1998.
Identification of the material at each stage prevents faulty results, 4. F.Hoffmann, AATCC Conference (1993).
which can be recorded so to avoid similar trouble in the future. Table 5. J.Park, Instrumental Colour Formulation, (Bradford SDC
1, below depicts the typical identification and testing for the function 1993).
laboratory from the fiber to final product being made up. 6. J Park, Colourage Aug 2008.

PTJ December 2008 37