Commercialisation
Opportunities

Simfactory – A Computerised Coaching System for Sewing Line Management

The fashion business nowadays is subject to unpredictable changes, and in the context of garment sewing lines, most of the frontline
managers and supervisors often use the rule-of-thumb methods to solve common problems and make decisions. This leads to occasional unsatisfactory results. To solve this problem, a computerised coaching system based on data collected from the real production environment of garment factories was developed. Through simulation of virtual sewing lines, the system helps both frontline managers and supervisors who work in the production and planning control (PPC) process to forecast the impact of dierent decisions and identify the optimal solutions for manpower and machine allocations.

Website: http://www.simfactory.hk/

Application

Following the logical flow of the most common progressive bundle system, frontline personnel will learn how to apply “industrial engineering” techniques and make use of the “what-if” analysis to forecast decisions by means of key performance indicators (KPIs). It helps them to build up sewing line management capability by maximising the production efficiency and optimising the utilisation of manpower and machinery resources.
Besides, this software is not a stand-alone product. A 2-day coaching programme is designed for the frontline management personnel to acquire industrial engineering techniques quickly and build up a professional decision-making capability in a safe and interactive virtual sewing line environment. The programme includes:

Basic Knowledge for Running the SimFactory

  • Introduction of IE knowledge which are adopted in the system
  • Understanding of SimFactory production line constraints
  • Utilisation of manpower (ergonomic)
  • Production planning and control technique
  • Effective production layout design
  • Kanban, takt time and pitch time knowledge application

Process Streamlining Techniques

  • Ways to evaluate and control the process
  • Theory of constraint
  • How do we interpret our process flow
  • Quality cost and QM(quality management) / decision making

Performance Analysis and Actions

  • Data analysis
  • Process performance matrices and KPI
  • Operation performance analysis
  • Financial performance analysis

Industry benefit

Target users of the industry can enjoy the following benefits by using this system:

  • Improving their understanding of sewing line dynamics for better production planning and control.
  • Mastering the sewing line information flow for optimisation of manpower and machine resources.
  • Enriching their sewing line management knowledge for shortening the learning cycle and reducing associated costs.

Licensing Details

Our research partner will provide the followings to the industry:

  • Classroom and on-site coaching on IE concept with SimFactory as a tool.
  • SimFactory software – the computerized coaching system, which provide virtual sewing lines for the frontline managers and supervisors to learn the production planning and control process to forecast the impact of different decisions and identity the optimal solutions of manpower and machine allocations.

The research deliverable is now open for licensing. For more details, please contact us. (Email: info@hkrita.com ; Tel: (852) 2627 0180)

 

Awards

Award Name
中國服裝行業“優秀科技成果獎”(2014)
Related ITF project
Research Start Date 2010-10-01
Industry Partner
Clothing Industry Training Authority
IP Number
302450231