Looms
Looms are the machines used to weave cloth, which is sold for a profit. However, looms can be set up to weave various kinds of cloth, each with its own profit structure and customer demand. The heart of the problem lay in deciding what mix of products to make with a general goal of improving profits. The caveats were what made the problem interesting. For instance, profits might be sacrificed to retain long term market share and while forecast and actual future (booked orders) demand (and prices) varied from month to month, overly radical shifts in the mix would not be permitted. Further, the software and hardware of the time were definitely not designed for interaction with managers: the glass cage and lab-coated computer servants were a reality; external terminals were available, but not ubiquitous; and the linear programming software was designed. Despite these impediments, the task of manually creating a loom plan each month was formidable and the potential for improvement looked large enough to investigate computer-based optimization.
OPERATIONAL DETAILS
The key to appreciating the solution is the same as the key to creating the solution - understanding the operations to be modeled. Four elements of the problem are described: the manufacturing operations, the business operations, the planning process, and the technical constraints.
Manufacturing Operations
Looms use yarn in two ways, as warp yarn and as fill yarn. Warp yarn runs the length of the fabric being produced and each yarn (or "end") should ideally be as about long as the piece of cloth to be produced. (Knots produce flaws and are to be avoided). Fill yarn ends run across the width of the fabric. Different styles of cloth are produced by using different types of yarn and by changing the weaving pattern (the sequence of under and over crossings of the warp and the fill). Fabric may be woven using pre-dyed yarn or undyed yarn. There are several different types of looms, each with its own characteristics, such as speed of weaving and styles of fabric that it can produce. Most looms use one or more warp beams (large metal spools about two to three yards along the length of the barrel and about a yard in diameter upon which the warp ends have been wound). Each loom choice has advantages and disadvantages; however, for planning purposes, the number of the types and the numbers of each type are fixed: looms are expensive. Large textile firms generally have multiple mills with weaving capacity, usually in different towns.
In addition to the weaving process itself, there are preparation processes that are impacted by choices of loom plans. The proper types and amounts of yarn must be available at the correct times. For example, at the time of this project, warp yarn was needed three weeks prior to its turn at the loom, while fill yarn was only required one week prior to weaving. The basic reason was the extra yarn preparation needed for warp yarn. Warp yarn to be run on beam looms had to be beamed, requiring processing time. Further, warp yarn has to be stronger than fill yarn because of the mechanical stresses it undergoes in weaving and some yarns need a coating (called slashing or an alternative process called single end sizing) in various solutions designed to keep it from snagging the fill. This process also requires time. These preparation processes are generally designed to have higher capacity than the weaving capacity to prevent bottlenecks caused by these lower value added processes. However, a particular preparation process might not be available at the mill in which a particular style was to be woven, requiring transportation between preparation and weaving. Additionally, some mills had idle capacity that could be added by calling in extra workers, if the demand continued for a sufficient length of time.
Practical operational constraint was balancing production among the mills. Because many mills had similar capabilities and similar variable costs, an optimal solution might result in one mill running full in one month at the expense of other mills, with a reversed situation in the following month. Such a situation would incur excessive change costs and would also be hard on workers, who prefer consistent pay checks. Some loss in potential variable margin would be acceptable to produce a balanced schedule.
Business Operations
Textile firms, like firms in other businesses, vary in their integration of operations. Frequently this means that some products are sold directly to the end user, others are sold to distributors or other marketers, and others are sold to firms who process the goods further before selling into the marketing chain. Some of the fabrics are sold directly after weaving and others undergo various additional (finishing) processes, such as dyeing. Generally, the fabrics that are sold furthest along the chain, with the most additional processing, often command the largest profit on a per yard basis. A simple maximization on profit may overlook the additional investment in resources and processing time and the additional risks involved in producing these goods, resulting in decisions that would be tantamount to getting out of the simpler businesses.
The firm in question was internally divided into businesses, such as women's wear, men's wear, and the dress business. Each business had its own business manager who was responsible for running the business at a profit. Naturally, each business manager would be concerned with running his fabrics at the mill with the lowest costs and obtaining a maximum amount of fabric to sell.
The Planning Process and the Goals of the Planner
Different textile businesses may choose to organize the management of weaving differently. This particular firm used a central planning function and a distributed scheduling function. The purpose of the planning function was to decide how much of each style ought to be made at each mill, based on firm orders, semi-firm "programs," forecast orders, forecast prices and margins, known capacities, and any other relevant business information. The loom plan (and preparation plans) were the tools for communicating these decisions. The loom plan consisted of a list of fabric styles and the numbers of each type loom assigned to those styles for each mill and each month through the planning horizon (roughly a year). The purpose of the scheduling function was to implement the plans as nearly as possible, considering available looms (looms don't "run out" precisely on schedule), available parts (e.g., multiple types of beams that only fit certain loom types), shipping anomalies, numbers of workers, and other real life problems. Thus, excessive precision in the loom plan was meaningless, as it could not be made to happen. Nevertheless, in broad terms some loom plans were clearly better than others, both in terms of feasibility and in terms of profitability.
The loom planner's goal was to satisfy three sets of people: top management who wanted to maximize variable margin; internal business managers who wanted to maximize their access to production; and mill managers who wanted balanced plans and uncomplicated, feasible schedules. In slack times, there would be insufficient demand to fully load the mills and balancing production might be the operative activity; however, in good times, not all of the proposed yardage could be manufactured and deciding how much of the forecast yardage would not be made would be the operative activity.
Weaving looms
Looms come in all sizes from handheld looms to huge freestanding ones. Some looms are fairly small, and easily mastered, and can even be used by children. Larger ones tend to be more complicated, but also have more detailed options. The width of the loom is what determines the width of whatever is weaved, whereas the length is more controlled on table looms and can be longer on a floor loom.
When thinking of buying a weaving loom, there are several things to consider. First of all, what do you plan to weave? Rugs, tapestry; how large a piece do you intend to weave;
You need to expand on each section providing details of your specific business and products
Vision and mission: To produce a high quality woven product that is internationally competitive in both price and quality.
Location analysis:
Premises required: Industrial Estate required. An area of about 40 sq meters required (per loom).
(Describe the premises to be used for the business).
Facilities required: Facilities for the delivery of yarns and the dispatch of the finished product.
Industry analysis:
Competitors:
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Suppliers: Supply of raw material (i.e. yarn) raises no problems. Transport of the yarn to the weaving business can however raise the cost of the yarn by up to 10% on orders of less than 600 kg.
Market size and growth: The textile market for specialized products internationally is vast. Most weavers however are inexperienced in tapping into this market.
Barriers can be overcome and sustainable markets created. To weave fabric that is similar to those mass produced locally and in the East will create price and volume barriers, however if specialized niche market fabrics are woven ( especially in the medium to heavy end of the fabric market ) then the market can be tapped provided a sustained effort is maintained.
Production capacity: The loom will weave on average 5 meters per hour/loom. However most weaving sheds will only run at an overall 75 % efficiency (allowing for down time, maintenance, run changes and labor productivity). The production capacity for one loom weaving a medium weight fabric should be about 750 meters per month/loom. This will require 3 to 4 beam changes per month. (Do you have better answer)
Quality control: Although, with careful weaving and adequate diligence, the fabric that leaves the loom should be virtually fault free, it is always necessary to thoroughly inspect every meter of fabric before finishing, repairing any faults. Time should be set aside during production for quality checks to minimize the time consuming procedure involved in fabric repair.
Marketing Plan:
Price: A computer program which will generate a cash flow statement, a fabric costing and a fabric design for any product is supplied with the loom.
For Example:
Promotion: A name for your brand of products and possibly a logo and byline is needed.
Promotion tools such as business cards, sales brochures with product pictures, labels etc. The type of product being produced determines how and where it will be promoted. Trade publications, local newspapers and the internet are classic tools for promotion.
Place: Craft markets, World wide web, road posters, Exhibitions, shops are an ideal place to distribute and sell products. Use should be made of the Government incentives and assistance given to business to exhibit their wares on international shows and trade fairs.
Product: A wide range of products can be produced from fabric manufactured on the loom (Describe your particular product in more detail). Products should be given a brand name and packaged in a quality manner.
Resource management:
Capital requirements. The investment in a loom/s, when seen in the light that it is an income generator and a creator of sustainable employment is not prohibitive.
Operating funding: An example of cash flow requirements are given.
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