At a time when the industry is looking at the future with a positive outlook hoping for the slow phase to end, the thrust is on automation and system optimization. The real time shop floor data collection system is an excellent tool to help the companies achieve total shop floor transparency, making available the accurate production information in real time to help analyze and track total production target against achieved targets, measuring workers efficiency and the floor efficiency, understanding the idle time and helping in removing the wastages and non-value added activities. People going forward with such systems are much less concerned with tracking of a bundle or a garment, but rather watch out for the total input & output, in-line material movement and calculation of the non-value added or non-sewing time. The process identifies the cause of lost production and where to target resources effectively. The recently concluded GTE (New Delhi) and Knit Tech (Tirupur) saw many companies showcasing solutions and systems for minute-to-minute update and status of the shop floor, both at the macro and micro levels. Although real time data collection was a common feature with most of the automated overhead hanger system like Eton, INA, AMS, companies like G-Pro., Excellent, Pro-RFID are now providing real time data collection system suited for progressive bundle unit (PBU) system of manufacturing.
ETON launches its Android Application for real time monitoring of the shop floor and hanger system
Over the years, ETON has established itself as much more than just a technology solution provider. Its hanger-based material handling system is synonymous to unit production manufacturing worldwide. Since its inception, the company has continuously upgraded its solution to meet the changing needs of the garment industry. At the GTE this year, the company displayed its android application for effective monitoring of the line. Johan Granath, the software engineer behind the initiative explains, “This application can be installed on any android based tablet, which can be installed at the operator’s terminal, giving him a feedback of his performance; or it can be in the hands of the managers for mobile and easy supervision of the factory. Real-time information of what style is running on the line, what operation is performed on which workstation, how much is the efficiency of the operator, his productivity, all can be viewed on the tablet.”
One may question the viability of such a system in a country where the operators have a low education background, but Johan reasons, “A touch screen is a very user-friendly, easy to learn and operate tool, and the operator will quickly understand how to navigate through the menus. This is a very intuitive tool, especially if you are used to this type of work.” The software is still in its nascent stage, once matured, it will have the capability to display font in local languages as well, making it easy to read for an operator. It is a worldwide phenomenon that the garment production is moving towards shorter production runs, meaning more styles, less pieces; requiring more vigilant monitoring.
Pioneered with the use of RFID technology in the apparel industry, G.Pro Technologies is first to develope and commercialize shop floor data tracking solution for apparel industry
Since 2007, the G. Pro is continuously delivering excellent solutions for transforming the shop floor. The company was represented by Jaeson Cheng, CEO of the company, at the recently concluded GTE, who believes that Indian exporters are seeking ways to increase their productivity and finding effective ways of streamlining their business. He also believes that India has a large potential for its wide array of solutions developed in-house, namely SDT: Shop Floor Data Tracking, UPS: Unit Production System, IEES: Industrial Engineering Executing System, and QCM: Quality Control and Management. Adding comment on the industry climate he added, “On the whole, large and small India apparel manufacturers/exporters are facing challenges in terms of ever increasing labour wages, shortening of lead times and labour instability with competing industries and policies. We are seeing exporters/manufacturers coming to us to seek for more control and visibility solution on their production floor and are very open to the idea that RFID is the direction which will differentiate their business and make their organization uniquely automated.”
G. Pro’s R&D has also RFID-enabled hanger system which could be retrofitted to any off-the-shelf hanger system which enhances the reliability, and allowing its usage for an overview on both the off-line (bundle assembly line) or the on-line hanger system, giving shop floor managers a bird’s eyeview of what is really important and urgent. The solution provides the shop floor intelligence by creating alerts and providing analyzed real-time data for Line Supervisors, Industrial Engineers, Factory Managers and Top Management with what they need, assisting them in decision making and enabling their right decisions to be implemented and tracked.
AMS E-Lean System brings Lean manufacturing based real time shop floor monitoring system to India
Singapore-based AMS System Services is one of the new entrants to the Indian market. Besides providing a complete package of consultancy services, the company also provides fully computerized hanger system and production management software. Representing the company at the GTE with local partners A.T.E., Peter Fung with more than 40 years of experience in the industry informed, “Our approach as a technology provider is totally different as we have a consultancy based method of working, which is founded on the principles of Lean manufacturing. Rather than fitting our system into the organization we first assess whether the organization is ready for our systems or not.”
The E-Lean system is a system that is integrated with the AMS production software to further enhance its capabilities. With the use of real time monitor, one would be able to monitor the production in real time with web access from anywhere around the world. It also has the ability to generate report in real time of the different production lines. Its software follows the Lean manufacturing concepts utilizing technology to cope with the market demands. The real time reporting as well as quick response to style changes is the necessity of today. “The software has the ability to assist in quick planning to enable a faster response to the demands of multiple styles planning within a shorter time frame. It will be able to provide the time schedule and productivity projections for the management to better plan for its capacity, and can be applied in the traditional production methods as well as with the hanger system,” added Peter Fung.
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- This app from Eton can be installed on any android based device, which can be installed at the operator’s terminal, giving him a feedback of his performance and also enable easy supervision of the factory, by anyone.
- G.Pro’s solution provides shop floor intelligence by giving alerts and providing analyzed real-time data for assisting in decision making and enabling right decisions to be implemented and tracked
- Inspire’s system not only presents all kinds of shop floor-related reports to the management, but also enables communication of instructions through the terminals straight to the operator. You create the operation bulletin and enter it into the operating software of the system and it is then communicated to each operator individually. [/bleft]
“The real competitive edge we have apart from the hanger system and software solutions is the totally consultancy package which improves the manufacturing operations as a whole. It is for the industry to decide after the initial diagnosis whether they want the hanger system, software or just the consultancy services,” concluded Peter Fung.
Inspire Online, the only indigenous real time shop floor management solution
Chennai based Xcellent Automation started 23-years ago as a regular supplier of sewing machines, but when the industry from the region started to perish Xcellent invested its time in finding out the reason for such downfall. “The apparel industry in earlier times grew at a faster pace starting with 100 machines and reaching 4000 machines in no time but then they became unmanageable, they started to perish,” says R Vijaykumar, Sales Manager, Xcellent Automations Pvt. Ltd.
That is when the company ventured into developing a system with the aim of increasing the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), shop floor efficiency and material tracking. “There are various similar systems present in the market designed for larger volumes, whereas India requires something which can cater to smaller volumes and runs on numerous styles,” explains Vijaykumar. After four years of intensive R&D, the company came out with Inspire Online Supervisory Control and Data Analysis system (SCADA) with OEE at its core to enable optimum utilization of the complete workforce and machines.
The system not only presents all kinds of shop floor-related reports to the management, but also enables communication of instructions through the terminals straight to the operator. “You create the operation bulletin and enter it into the operating software of the system and it is then communicated to each operator individually. Since every machine has a separate address, the operators run the show as per the provided instruction and it automatically sends back the result for analysis,” adds Vijaykumar. Although a new entrant in an already competitive market, Xcellent has installed more than 3,000 terminals all over India, in just a year and have also been looking towards Bangladesh for the same.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
