***** Cost reduction in spg.

mills

Vol: 25 November 2007 No.4

COST REDUCTION IN SPINNING MILLS – CASE STUDY 2

1. Introduction

Controlling the cost of production at optimum level is one of the essential

requirements for the spinning mills to compete successfully in the market. Hence,
mills are expected to initiate suitable measures such as profitable product-mix, higher
productivity, modernisation of machinery and cost control to improve profitability.
SITRA has been offering consultancy services to mills to reduce input costs without
any major investment. After a thorough study, the findings highlighting the expected
savings in various areas such as waste reduction, improvement in labour and machine
productivity and reduction in packing materials cost are submitted to the mills.

Five years ago, SITRA brought out a Focus (Vol.20, No.3, September 2002)
on case study of a spinning mill, in which suggestions were offered to reduce the
input cost. The present Focus covers the case study of another spinning mill, in which
measures for cost reduction have been offered.

2. Profile of the mill

It is a 20 years old unit with an installed capacity of 36000 spindles and 1380
rotors. The mill is equipped with hi-tech machinery in all the departments. It has
been producing 100% viscose, 100% polyester and polyester/ viscose blended yarns.

3. Areas identified for cost reduction

The summary of the mill’s performance and suggestions for cost reduction are
given in the following pages.

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3.1. Production rate

Production per spindle in ring frames

The overall production per spindle is 101 g per 8 hours (adj.to 40s) which is
about 20% lower than the standard of 125 g. The count-wise production per spindle
for major counts is given in Tables 1 and 2. The standards given in Tables 1 to 3 are
based on the experienced values.

Table 1 Count-wise production rate – Unit 1

Spindle speed Machine Prodn./spl./8 hrs.
Tpi
Count (rpm) efficiency (%) (g)
Mill Std. Mill Std. Mill Std. Mill Std.
20s V 15000 17300 16.0 14.5 87.8 90.5 297 389
28s V 16000 17300 18.5 17.2 90.6 92.0 202 238
30s V 16000 17900 20.0 17.8 90.5 92.5 174 223
28s PV 16500 19000 17.9 16.4 88.9 93.0 211 277
30s PV 16500 19000 18.5 17.0 88.5 93.5 189 251
Index 89 108 97 80
V: Viscose; PV: 70% Polyester: 30%Viscose

Table 2 Count-wise production rate – Unit 2

Spindle speed Machine Prodn./spl./8 hrs.
Tpi
Count (rpm) efficiency (%) (g)
Mill Std. Mill Std. Mill Std. Mill Std.
20s P 15000 16700 13.9 13.9 90.4 91.5 350 396
30s P 16500 17900 17.2 17.0 93.3 93.5 215 237
34s P 16500 17900 17.6 18.1 87.8 93.7 174 196
28s PV 16500 19000 17.9 16.4 90.5 93.0 215 277
30s PV 16500 19000 18.5 17.0 80.9 93.5 173 251
Index 90 104 95 82
P: Polyester

The lower production rate in both the Units is mainly due to:
- lower spindle speed (by 10%).
- higher tpi (by 6%) except 100% polyester counts and
- lower machine efficiency (by 4%).

The average end breaks are low at 14 per 1000 spindle hours (standard: 20).
The overall pneumafil waste is low at 0.6% (standard: 1.0%). Hence, there is a good
scope for either increasing the spindle speed or reducing the tpi.

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The lower machine efficiency is mainly due to unnecessary stoppages of ring

frames such as waiting for/after doffing, more time taken for doffing, etc. By
improving the work practices of doffers, the mill can reduce the unnecessary
stoppages of frames.

Production per rotor

Table 3 gives count-wise production per rotor achieved by the mill.

Table 3 Count-wise production rate – rotor spinning

Rotor speed Machine Prodn./rotor/
Tpi
Count (rpm) efficiency (%) 8 hrs. (g)
Mill Std. Mill Std. Mill Std. Mill Std.
20s PC 57000 85000 18.0 17.2 96 95 1090 1690
30s V 80000 120000 21.0 18.7 94 95 860 1463
Index 67 108 99 62
PC: Polyester (50%) and Cotton (50%)

The production per rotor is about 40% lower than standard in 30s V and 35%
lower in 20s PC counts. The lower production rate is mainly due to lower rotor speed
(by 33%) and higher tpi (by 8%). Since the end breaks per 1000 rotor hours are less
than the standard at 90 in 30s V and 65 in 20s PC counts (standard: 100), the mill
should explore the possibilities of increasing the rotor speed. Alternatively, the mill
may also try to use lower tpi.

Scope for improvement

There is a good scope to increase the overall production per spindle by about
7% (2% by improving the machine efficiency and 5% by increasing the spindle speed)
under the existing conditions. With this, the overall production per spindle (adj. to 40s)
would increase to 108 g per shift of 8 hours. In the case of rotor spinning, there is a
scope to increase the rotor speed at least by 5%.

The mill should replace the existing 42mm diameter rings with 38mm diameter
rings in some of the ring frames so that counts above 24s can be run at higher speeds.
By improving the machinery maintenance practices, the spinning performance can be
expected to improve further. This would enable the mill to maintain the breakage rate
and pneumafil waste within the standard even at the increased spindle speeds.

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Towards increasing the machine efficiency, the mill should ensure that
unnecessary stoppages of ring frames are avoided. For this, the work practices of the
doffers must be improved.

Savings

Savings due to 7% increase in production per spindle would be

about Rs 30 lakhs per year and 5% increase in production per
rotor would be Rs 2 lakhs per year.

3.2. Machine utilisation

The machine utilisation maintained by the mill during January to July 2007
ranged from 90% to 98% in Unit 1, 89% to 97% in Unit 2 and 56% to 86% in rotor
spinning, the average being 94% in Unit 1, 93% in Unit 2 and 76% in rotor spinning.
The causes for the loss in utilisation are given in Table 4.

Table 4 Causes for the loss in utilisation (%)

Causes Unit 1 Unit 2 OE
Waiting for raw material 1.1 0.4 3.6
Count running out 0.2 0.6 0.3
Planned stoppages 1.4 1.5 6.7
No orders 1.9 2.5 9.1
Cone winding machine shortage - 0.9 -
Machinery maintenance 0.4 0.4 2.5
Others 0.9 1.0 2.1
Total losses 5.9 7.3 24.3
Utilisation (%) 94.1 92.7 75.7

The major causes for the loss in machine utilisation are: planned stoppages,
want of orders and raw material shortage. The number of counts and also the type of
yarns manufactured are high in both ring and rotor spinning which is one of the major
reasons for the planned stoppages. The mill should strengthen the marketing
department and ensure that the required orders are received.

Scope for improvement

The overall machine utilisation can be increased by 4% in ring spinning by
strengthening the marketing department, avoiding raw material shortage and improving
the machine productivity in cone winding.

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Savings
The savings expected by increasing the ring frame utilisation
by 4% would be about Rs 19 lakhs/year.

In rotor spinning, the major chunk (about 16%) of the loss in utilisation is due
to lack of orders. Since the mill would require more time to over come this loss in
utilisation by strengthening the marketing, the anticipated savings from higher rotor
utilisation have not been considered in the report.

3.3. Optimisation of man power requirement

i) Operatives

To find out the scope for optimising the workers requirement in various
departments, the existing work assignments were studied in detail. Based on the duties of
the workers, time taken by them for performing various jobs, etc. achievable work
assignments have been arrived at. Though the mill has been exercising a good control
over the employment of operatives, nevertheless there is a scope to reduce 40 workers per
day (36 in production, 3 in maintenance and 1 in non-production categories) (Table 5).

Table 5 Expected reduction in operatives

Operatives/day
Category Mill SITRA
actual sugg.
1. Production operatives
Godown and mixing
Assistant leaders 4 3
Finished godown workers 4 3
Production clerk 1
1
Production in-charge 1
Blow room & preparatory
Scutcher tenters 6 4
Speed frame tenters 21 18
Speed frame draft zone cleaner 1 -
Assistant leaders 9 6

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Table 5 (contd…)
Operatives/day
Category Mill SITRA
actual sugg.
Ring frame
Piecers 54 45
Arbour cleaners 8 6
Assistant leaders 4 3
OE section – Assistant leaders 3 1
Twisting & winding
Doubler winder tenters 21 18
TFO tenter cum cone checkers 27 24
Assistant leader (samples) 1 -
Cone tipping workers 7 5
Packer/weigher/labeler 14 13
2. Maintenance operatives
Shift fitters (ring frame) 3 2
Fitters (ring frame) 4 3
Top roller maintenance operatives 7 6
3. Non-production operatives
Quality control – off-line checker 10 9
Total 210 170

ii) Staff
The mill employs totally 56 staff per day. The findings of the study show that
there is a scope to reduce 5 staff per day; 3 in factory and 2 in administration.

Savings

Savings due to reduction of 40 operatives and 5 staff

per day would be about Rs 49 lakhs per year.

3.4. Waste reduction

i) Roving waste

The roving waste is high at 0.6% (standard: 0.2%) which is due to not running
out the roving bobbins fully by the tenters.

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ii) Yarn waste

The yarn waste is high at 0.9% (standard: 0.5%). Some of the observations
made with regard to high yarn waste are given below:

- more rejection of 1/4th & 1/8th size cops in cone winding.

- ‘double gaiting’ by the ring frame doffers.
- cutting the yarn in rejected cops using knife (in some occasions, ½ size
cops also).
- more number (up to 15) of bottom coils in full cops due to improper
doffing procedure.
- more length of yarn taken for piecing end breaks in ring frames.
- in auto winding, while feeding the cops in the magazine, winders taking
more length of yarn.
- due to ineffective thread stop motion in doubler winding, to remove the
singles more length of yarn is taken out from the cheese.

iii) Yarn recovery

Yarn recovery is the quantity of yarn packed (as ‘A’ grade) which is expressed
as a percentage of the total winding yarn production. The yarn recovery is low at
99.15% for ring yarn, 99.37% for rotor yarn and 99.84% for twisted yarn which is
mainly because of count mix-up, cone rejection (due to yarn quality problem) etc. For
reducing the yarn rejection, work practices of the operatives and machinery
maintenance have to be improved. The mill should ensure that the recovery for ring
yarn and rotor yarn is maintained at 99.9%, and for twisted yarn at 100%.

Savings

Savings expected by implementing the various measures that have been

suggested, would be about Rs 31 lakhs per year. Since the savings have been
estimated for the short-term, only about 50% of the possible reduction in yarn waste
and yarn recovery is considered in the report.

Expected
Particulars savings/year
(Rs in lakhs)
Reduction of roving waste by 0.4 percentage point 13
Reduction of yarn waste by 0.2 percentage point 11
Improvement in yarn recovery by 0.3 percentage point 7
Total savings 31

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4. Overall anticipated savings

The overall savings expected after the implementation of the various measures
would be about Rs 131 lakhs per year.

Expected
Particulars savings/year
(Rs in lakhs)
7% increase in production per spindle 30
5% increase in production per rotor 2
4% increase in spindle utilisation 19
Reduction of 40 operatives per day 42
Reduction of 5 staff per day 7
Reduction of roving waste by 0.4 percentage point 13
Reduction of yarn waste by 0.2 percentage point 11
Improvement in yarn recovery by 0.3 percentage point 7
Total savings 131

6. Conclusion

It has been observed during the consultancy studies that in many mills there is
a good scope to reduce the input costs, without any major investments, by exercising
control over the following aspects:
- Maximise the ring frame production rate by improving the machine
efficiency and optimising the spindle speed.
- Maximise the ring frame utilisation.
- Optimise the requirement of operatives as well as staff.
- Impart scientific training to various categories of operatives so as to enable
them to take-up higher work assignments and improve the work methods.
- Optimise the power consumption by conducting energy audit and using
energy saving gadgets.
- Reduce the incidence of wastes particularly yarn waste, optimise the
comber noil and control the invisible loss.
- Standardise the packing materials consumption interms of number of
items, specification and quantity for each type of package.

Liaison & Consultation Division,

The South India Textile Research Association

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