What is a real-time production management system?

real-production management system garment factory

A real-time production management system is an IT-enabled system that is capable of capturing production data as soon as it occurs through an electronic device and capable to show the production analysis in useful formats to its users. A real-time production management system is the gateway for digitalizing the production floor data. 

Here production data is referred to garment production done by individual employees, quantity produced garments by the production line, and operator’s attendance. Current working status of a worker – whether sewing garments or not. Capable of capturing non-productive time (downtime) of individual employees.

A system that can capture garment quality checking data (checked quantity, count of defects found and repaired pieces) and develop quality reports.

The real-time production tracking systems (PMTS) are available with a simple and basic module to extensive modules. Depending on the data requirement (reports and information), a garment factory can decide what kind of module they need for managing their production floor.

A system that is able to generate useful and interactive reports based on the shop floor data captured by a component of the real-time system.

It can show the WIP movement status. It can show the location of the inventory (WIP) with correct volume at any point of time one needs. Can link to the operator who has sewn a garment in which process (operation).

These days real-time systems are available in various forms. You can use smartphones, tablets, and smart devices developed by solution providers for capturing data. The transactions of information can be done using an RFID tag, or QR code, or by using barcode tickets.

A real-time production tracking system can be able to display factory KPI on the LCD displays on the floor.

A real-time system captures the movement of individual garments and a group of garments (bundles) as factories prefer to use the production system.

In today’s industry, managing the production orders on the shop floor is really challenging. Managers are dependent on the data for decision making, production capacity planning, and scheduling shipment of the running orders. A centralized PMTS system can help garment factories to be more organized. To make production data accessible by improving transparency and visibility.

The beauty of the real-time production tracking system is - you can see top-level KPI data and when you need you can do in-depth data analysis. You find the root causes of low production in some days. You can find the frequency of root causes for a selected period. Data captured in the system are stored in a secure and safe database. You can access historical production data when needed. 

I have written a couple articles that cover the following areas of real-time production tracking systems. Click on the following title to read the full article.

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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