Due to hot climatic conditions and dipping lux level, productivity of apparel factories is significantly impacted. Let’s see how two solution providers are addressing these issues.
Labour-oriented apparel manufacturing industry in India witnesses millions of workers churn out garments on sewing machines and thousands of associated workers who handle key jobs pre-production and post-production on shopfloor on a daily basis. These jobs become difficult especially in two cases – 1) when hot climatic conditions in India contribute to great level of fatigue which impacts the overall productivity of the factories and 2) dipping lux level to below standards that impact not just productivity but the quality of processes such as measurement inspection, finishing, etc.
Therefore, providing manpower the right environment can help maintain the productivity of not just the operators working on shopfloor but the entire production facility, and this is one of the most crying needs of the Indian factories in today’s time. Ironically, this is one of the most overlooked aspects. But, there are a lot of ways to improve productivity of operators by reducing their fatigue level and two solutions have been discussed here.
- Turkey’s Alindair enters India with a wide range of Carbon Neutral Air Coolers
Alindair, the Turkey-based manufacturer of exhaust fans, air coolers and cooling pads, forayed into the Indian market in January 2020 in collaboration with Magnum Resources Pvt. Ltd. Alindair has a vast portfolio with products such as Window type, Alindair 20 and Saloon with air flow rate of 4500 m3/h, 20,000 m3/h and 5000 m3/h, respectively. Though the products are applicable to entire manufacturing industry of different sectors, Alindair is aggressively focusing to promote itself across apparel manufacturing.
“There are hundreds of thousands of workers working on a single floor in factories with a lot of machines and equipment that generate heat consistently. Using our coolers, factories can bring the temperature down by about 10 to 15 degrees,” claimed Basri KABEL, General Manager, Alindair while speaking to Team Apparel Resources in 2020.
Alindair’s evaporative cooling system is capable of delivering 100 per cent fresh air as well as comfort to the operators working on the production floor. The cooling system delivers 90 per cent less operational cost than the traditional air conditioning systems. There are no compressor circuits which results in lower maintenance system and hence saves costs. “Our coolers are 90 per cent energy efficient when compared to an air conditioner while cooling is even better. The factories using these coolers can save huge on their energy consumption and can provide a pleasant workplace for the operators which will lead to improved efficiency,” said KABEL.
According to him, the breakthrough products of the company are available for both horizontal and vertical uses and the factories can install them according to available space and area. The focus of the company has always been on innovation and today the factory owners know that, if they have to survive, they have to invest in the best of the technology in every major area within their factories because the labour cost is escalating every year and COVID-19 has created an unpleasant uncertainty in the market which pushes factories to remain competitive and highly productive at all time.
The collaboration of Alindair with Magnum Resources is not just targeting the export factories to deploy these air coolers but also the domestic market which is an added advantage and that’s what Alindair is exactly looking for. “Magnum knows what kind of challenges the industry is facing and what can be the cutting-edge solutions to those challenges. The experience and time they have invested in the industry has helped them understand the need of their customers and that’s why we have chosen Magnum,” corroborated KABEL.
- IIGM’s Lux Level Enhancers and Air Coolers must excite factories
Technology is not an option in today’s time rather it is a necessity in order to grow, perform and survive in the fierce competition. IIGM has a proven history of over 4 decades of serving its clients by providing the best of the available technologies and value added service solutions that improve work processes and business results.
As a solution provider, IIGM has been witnessing growth both in terms of the new expansions/projects and the increased focus on automation as well as sustainable implementations in the existing facilities. It’s been more than a decade since IIGM has stepped up to provide environment-friendly solutions to the apparel manufacturers in India and has helped set up number of factories where LED lightings, natural day lightings, ventilation systems and cooling solutions are required to make the industrial production more cost-efficient as well as save on the natural resources.
Electricity bills for lighting equipment are amongst the major contributors to the operating expenses of an apparel and textile unit. Keeping the same in mind, IIGM is providing day lighting systems which are far more cost-efficient than any other alternatives like low power consumption lights as it runs on sunlight and not on electricity.
According to Arjun Kapoor, Director, IIGM, these light fixtures are mounted on the rooftops made of metal and use the principle of light refraction for redirecting the sunlight into facility with the help of several tiny prisms that its surface is made of.
It’s worth pondering that the natural sunlight gives up to 70,000 lux of light, whereas only 500-700 lux is required in an apparel factory. So, if about 1 per cent of the sunlight is captured and redirected to the factory, the lux produced will be more than enough for the operator working on sewing machines or checking measurements on inspection tables.
The only limitation of such a lighting system is that it can only be mounted on pre-fabricated structures with tin roofs as ducts for installing skylights cannot be made on concrete roofs. “In south of India, the factories have pre-fabricated structures. So when it’s single structured with high ceiling, sustainable products like these become more relevant and easy to implement,” explained Arjun.
He further added, “Generally factories in North of India are multi-storeyed or do have concrete structures, therefore in such a setup, it becomes challenging for us to implement solutions.” However, there are other products with the typical designs customised for multi-storey applications. Dome-shaped lights made of re-enforced plastic materials are the products for such structures.
Since the utilisation of such lights is limited till daytime, they are used in combination with LED lights and this change over from skylights to LED happens when the pre-installed light sensors spread over the area detect a dip in the lux levels. Furthermore, all the LED would not turn on as soon as the lux drops, it would turn on one by one by maintaining the pre-defined lux levels. “In South India, we are seeing a lot of transformation happening in terms of implementing sustainable solutions as this differentiates them from others. A lot of interest is being shown by other bigger manufacturers also,” shared Arjun.
Apart from lighting solutions, IIGM is also offering cooling and ventilation solutions from MacroAir and Cool Breeze for quite some years now. Cool Breeze is one such relevant solution that works best for places which have dry atmospheres with high humidity levels. The solution contains refined and ducted energy efficient coolers that provide lower running costs for the apparel manufacturers. IIGM offers these customised solutions based on the geography of the location as well as requirements from the factory owners including number of installations depending upon the factory area.
