The man to machine ratio is an important KPI in the manufacturing sector. The same is applied in apparel manufacturing. In this post, I will explain the term man to machine ratio (MMR), its importance, and the method of calculating man to machine ratio.
Man to machine ratio widely varies depending on the organization structure. If a factory has only departments associated with garment production (i.e., cutting, sewing, maintenance, quality and IE) then this ratio will be low. On the other hand, if a factory includes the department of design & development, sampling to finishing to shipment and documentation then this ratio will be high.
What is the man to machine ratio?
Man to machine ratio is defined as the total workforce in a factory to the total number of operational sewing machines.Man to machine ratio widely varies depending on the organization structure. If a factory has only departments associated with garment production (i.e., cutting, sewing, maintenance, quality and IE) then this ratio will be low. On the other hand, if a factory includes the department of design & development, sampling to finishing to shipment and documentation then this ratio will be high.
How to calculate Man to Machine ratio?
To measure Man Machine Ratio (MMR) of a factory -- First, find how many employees are there (including all manpower).
- Second, Count how many sewing machines are there. Consider only operational machines that are being used in a current month (data analysis month)
- If total manpower is 1000 and the total available machine is 500. Then Man:Machine = 1000:500 = 2:1
- If total manpower is 800 and the total available machine is 500. Then Man:Machine = 800:500 = 1.6:1
How to calculate the department-wise MMR ratio?
Instead of whole factory manpower, one can measure MMR only for the sewing department. In this case, include only those employees who work in the sewing section. Like, operators, helpers, pressmen, feeders, line checkers, table checkers, line supervisors, work-study boys, maintenance personnel, production writer, floor in-charge, etc.Assume that the total manpower on the sewing floor is 630. So man to machine ratio for sewing floor will be = 630:500 = 1.26:1
For further analysis, factories represent MMR department-wise.
To show you the calculation, I have taken hypothetical data for department-wise manpower. The factory has a total machine of 500 and 1000 manpower.
Total manpower (1000) = Sewing (D1=630)+Cutting (D2=30) + Pre-production (D3=80)+Finishing and packing (D5=100)+Quality (D6=30) +Administration and marketing (D7=100)+ store (D8=20) + others (D10=10)
Factory MMR =2:1
Department wise division of manpower ratio out of the total ratio against machines is calculated as
Sum of (D1:D2:D3:D4....:D10) = 2
Sum of (D1:D2:D3:D4....:D10) = 2
D1=2*630/1000=1.26
D2=2*30/1000=0.06
...
D5 =2*100/1000=0.2
D10=2*10/1000=0.02