Workwear fabric for cement workers

• March 2021, 
• Asian Journal of Textile January-February(2021):46-51

• Shweta Saxena, 
• Durgesh raj Maurya, 
• Sangita Saini,
• M. S. Parmar

A large numbers of workers are involved in construction work. As the cement is one of the main materials used in construction, there are chances of these workers to expose dry cement and concrete (wet cement mixture of broken stone or gravel) every day without knowing its harmful effect on their health. It was found that the skin of the workers get affected due to regular with wet concrete and dry cement which ultimately result in dermatitis. This study is divided into two parts. In the first parts a survey is conducted in government as well as private organizations situated in and around Delhi using well designed questionnaire to understand the problems faced by the workers working in cement user industry and also their expectation for the work wear. The survey revealed that most of the workers are migrated from various states and average age was 35 years. They are not having suitable work wear. Most of them were having symptom of swelled eyes, respiratory and skin problems. In the second part, four fabric samples were developed keeping in mind the expectations of workers, and tested for mass, thickness, air and water vapour permeability, chemical resistance, dust resistance and durability properties. Out of four fabric samples (coded as ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’), sample ‘C’ was found to be better than others as it has lower mass, higher tear & tensile strength, lower UV exposure effect, better water vapour permeability. Other properties like air permeability, acid and alkali resistance of all the samples are found to be similar. Dust/cement resistant property of sample ‘C’ was also found better than other three fabric samples when measured at different air jet pressure.

 Creating dyeing effect on cotton fabric with disperse dyes

• April 2021 
• Journal of the Textile Association 81(Jan-Feb 2021)

• M. S. Parmar
• Durgesh raj Maurya, 
• Girendra Pal Singh, 
• Saurbh Jain

Availability of water for dyeing and treatment of effluent are two major problems that Indian textile processing industry facing difficult to resolve. Consumption of water in dyeing of cotton using reactive dye is very high. In the present study, fabric samples were modified using different concentrations of resin. These modified samples were dyed with disperse dye using carrier dyeing process. The presence of resin on the surface of fabric was confirmed using FTIR technique. Digital image processing (DIP) method has shown the resin treated fabric surface became smoother than untreated cotton fabric. ANOVA study indicated that there was a strong relationship between resin percentage on fabric and colour value (K/s). The colour durability of dyed samples was also studied. These samples were also analyzed for tensile, tear, crease recovery angle and colour fastness properties.

Plant Layout: Part-2(IMPORTANCE OF PLANT LAYOUT)

1. It is long-term commitment
2. It facilitates the production process, minimizes material handling, time and cost, and allows flexibility of operations
3. It facilitates easy production flow, makes economic use of the building, promotes effective utilization of manpower, and provides for employee’s convenience, safety, comfort at work, maximum exposure to natural light and ventilation.
4. It affects the flow of material and processes, labour efficiency, supervision and control, use of space and expansion possibilities.

Plant Layout: Part-1(Definition) 

Plant layout refers to the arrangement of physical facilities such as machinery, equipment, furniture etc. with in the factory building in such a manner so as to have quickest flow of material at the lowest cost and with the least amount of handling in processing the product from the receipt of material to the shipment of the finished product.

DEFINITION : Following are the definitions

 “the overall objective of plant layout is to design a physical arrangement that most economically meets the required output – quantity and quality.”

 “Plant layout ideally involves allocation of space and arrangement of equipment in such a manner that overall operating costs are minimized.

DETERMINANTS OF PLANT LAYOUT

1. TYPE OF PRODUCT (size, shape and quality)

2. TYPE OF PROCESS (technology employed, sequencing etc)

3. VOLUME OF PRODUCTIONS- (INCREASE OR DECREASE)

Machine Maintenance : Part-3 (Types of maintenance)

Traditionally, 5 types of maintenance have been distinguished, which are differentiated by the nature of the tasks that they include:

Corrective maintenance:  Corrective maintenance is a maintenance task performed to identify, isolate, and rectify a fault so that the failed equipment, machine, or system can be restored to an operational condition within the tolerances or limits established for in-service operations.

Preventive Maintenance:  Preventative maintenance is maintenance that is regularly performed on a piece of equipment to lessen or reduce the likelihood of it failing. Preventative maintenance is performed while the equipment is still working, so that it does not break down unexpectedly.

In process houses mostly Corrective and Preventive maintenance are performed.

Predictive Maintenance:  Predictive maintenance (PdM) techniques are designed to help determine the condition of in-service equipment in order to predict when maintenance should be performed. This approach promises cost savings over routine or time-based preventive maintenance, because tasks are performed only when warranted.

Zero Hours Maintenance (Overhaul): The set of tasks whose goal is to review the equipment at scheduled intervals before appearing any failure, either when the reliability of the equipment has decreased considerably so it is risky to make forecasts of production capacity . This review is based on leaving the equipment to zero hours of operation, that is, as if the equipment were new. These reviews will replace or repair all items subject to wear. The aim is to ensure, with high probability, a good working time fixed in advance.

Periodic maintenance (Time Based Maintenance TBM): The basic maintenance of equipment made by the users of it. It consists of a series of elementary tasks (data collections, visual inspections, cleaning, lubrication, retightening screws,…) for which no extensive training is necessary, but perhaps only a brief training. This type of maintenance is the based on TPM (Total Productive Maintenance).

Machine Maintenance : Part-2

Objectives of Maintenance Management

The following are some of the objectives of maintenance management:

• Minimizing the loss of productive time because of equipment failure (i.e. minimizing idle time of equipment due to break down).
• Minimizing the repair time and repair cost.
• Minimizing the loss due to production stoppages.
• Efficient use of maintenance personnel and equipments.
• Prolonging the life of capital assets (equipment or machines) by minimizing the rate of wear and tear.
• To keep all productive assets in good working conditions.
• To maximize efficiency and economy in production through optimum use of facilities.
• To minimize accidents through regular inspection and repair of safety devices.
• To minimize the total maintenance cost which includes the cost of repair, cost of preventive maintenance and inventory carrying costs, due to spare parts inventory.
•  To improve the quality of products and to improve productivity.

Machine Maintenance : Part-1

Maintenance Objectives

•  Maintenance is an important factor in quality assurance, which is another basis for the successful competitive edge.

•    Inconsistencies in equipment lead to variability in product characteristics and result in defective parts that fail to meet the established specifications.

•   Beyond just preventing break downs, it is necessary to keep equipment operating within specifications (i.e. process capability) that will produce high level of quality.

•      Unnecessary breakdown also leads to the increase in cost of the production.

Impact of Poor Maintenance

1. Production capacity: Machines idled by breakdowns cannot produce, thus the capacity of the system is reduced.
2. Production costs: Labor costs per unit rise because of idle labor due to machine breakdowns. When machine malfunctions result in scrap, unit labor and material costs increase. Besides, cost of maintenance which includes such costs as costs of providing repair facilities, repair crews, preventive maintenance inspections, spare parts and stand by machines will increase as machines break down frequently.
3. Product and service quality: Poorly maintained equipment produce low quality products. Equipment that have not been properly maintained have frequent break downs and cannot provide adequate service to customers. For example, winding and unwinding rollers of Jigger machine are not maintained properly, they may results uneven dyeing or uneven colour pick up due to tension variation in the fabric across the width.
4. Employee or customer safety: Worn-out equipment is likely to fail at any moment and these failures can cause injuries to the workers, working on those equipments. For example, boiler used in process house, if not maintain properly (removing of scale), it may burst and cause injuries to the boiler attendants.
5. Customer satisfaction: When production equipments break down, products often can not be produced according to the master production schedules, due to work stoppages. This will lead to delayed deliveries of products to the customers.