By Gopinath Rout GM (Operation)
Recovery is crucial in spinning mills as it directly impacts the costing sheet. As a result, our focus lies on waste management, process control, and humidity at every stage of the spinning process. Below, I have outlined a few fundamental steps for effectively managing recovery.
TYPES OF WASTE
- Usable Waste
- Non Usable Waste
CATEGORY OF USABLE WASTE
Lap ends, sliver (card /draw frame/simplex), roving waste, pneumafil waste , bonda(man-made fibre spinning waste)
CATEGORY OF NON-USABLE WASTE
Sweeping waste , hard waste , licker in waste ,flat waste, micro dust waste , humidity plant waste ,trench waste , comber noil , suction fan waste , machine cleaning waste ,dropping waste and invisible waste.
Flat waste, sweeping waste, licker in waste, dropping waste and comber noil, are reprocessing and use in open end spinning
HOW TO CONTROL USABLE WASTE
- Each department-wise machine should have the same package size and length to ensure consistency.
- Control the variation in wrapping to maintain uniformity.
- Implement the use of creeling material in batches, following new technology like BTS.
- Damaged cans should be promptly replaced to avoid any potential quality issues.
- Keep the breakage rate at each stage in line with the standard to ensure product integrity.
- Engage in pre-planning for lot run outs to minimise waste.
- Make pre-plans for smaller lots to further reduce waste.
- Prohibit the use of knives for cutting waste such as hard waste and roving.
- Implement measures to reduce fibre damage.
- Ensure the exhaust of the last layer of roving in the spinning process.
HOW TO CONTROL NON CONFORMITY MATERIAL
Implementing control measures for non-conforming materials:
- Focus on reducing dirty and oily yarn.
- Ensure proper handling of materials using gloves or clean hands.
- Strictly limit the use of second quality materials to a maximum of two.
- Maintain cleanliness on the department floor, avoiding any presence of oil, water, or other liquids on the surface.
- Timely clearance of lots is crucial to prevent material from becoming non-conforming; delays should be avoided.
SOP FOR RECOVERY
- Prioritise weighing management for each bale in the SOP for Recovery.
- Ensure waste management by separating waste for better resale value.
- Verify the moisture percentage in each bale to maintain quality.
- Maintain consistent waste percentage during each stage of the process.
- Monitor and control humidity in all departments during the spinning process.
- Aim to increase moisture gain percentage after the yarn conditioning process (YCP).
- Assess the quality of raw materials, including factors such as short fibre index (SFI) and maturity ratio.
- Implement process control measures at each stage of production.
- Record and track the weight of all materials going in and out of the process.
- In the spinning department, require all operators to use waste bags (piecer bags).
- Recognize the importance of invisible waste in costing the business.
- Understand that a decrease of one percent in recovery results in a loss of RS 2 to 3 per kilogram of profit margin.
- Define recovery or realisation in spinning mills as the quantity of yarn produced per 100 kilograms of raw material.
Now, it’s time to economise in this competitive market across all departments involved in the spinning process. My role within this process is crucial, functioning as the five fingers driving profits for the spinning organisation. These five aspects include:
- Power Cost,
- Salary and Wages Cost,
- Recovery or Realizations,
- Machine Utilisation,
- Production Efficiency.
Ensuring that the operation head of the organisation has control over these five points is essential for the smooth functioning of the business.
Various other costs, such as raw material cost, overhead cost, utility cost, interest on investment, insurance cost, and sale prices, are subject to variability, influenced by market conditions and product competitors.
Finally, I strongly advocate for daily monitoring of costs and efficiency to maintain seamless operations within the spinning mills.
