Who Should Count Operator's Production?

In the manufacturing sector, measuring production of the line, or recording machine's production is a common practice. So, we capture daily production and keep the production record. My question, who should count the operator's production?

In many garment factories, workers count it and write their production quantity on a paper, (in one factory I had observed operators carry a notebook to record their daily production). Their notes (production counting) help them in measuring their work and their earning. Their notes help supervisors to check target and actual production, in line balancing and production motoring. No doubt it's a good practice.



Let's look at it from the engineering point of view. Where operators count their production after completing each bundle, they waste their productive time. They are lowering their potential performance and daily earning. Which in turn reduces the line productivity and factory productivity. Reduction of profits and factory capacity. Operators are employed in making garments. Some of them sew the garment, other does marking job or pressing job. They are not supposed to count their hourly production or daily production.

Imagine how many hours will be lost if all operators in a floor count the number of pieces after completing bundle (or after each piece they complete) and write it in one paper throughout the day.

What would happen if the factory allows operators to concentrate on the work and forget about noting their production? Instead, the factory can hire a helper  (or as many as required) for counting the hourly production of each operator.

An alternative way, a factory can install real-time production tracking system (either RFID technology or Barcode technology). for capturing production data of individual operators as well as line's production without wasting operators valuable time.

Data capturing should not be done with the cost of operators earning.

Prasanta Sarkar

Prasanta Sarkar is a textile engineer and a postgraduate in fashion technology from NIFT, New Delhi, India. He has authored 6 books in the field of garment manufacturing technology, garment business setup, and industrial engineering. He loves writing how-to guide articles in the fashion industry niche. He has been working in the apparel manufacturing industry since 2006. He has visited garment factories in many countries and implemented process improvement projects in numerous garment units in different continents including Asia, Europe, and South Africa. He is the founder and editor of the Online Clothing Study Blog.

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