PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT OF HOMEBASED EMBROIDERY WORKERS

Transcription

1 PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT OF HOMEBASED EMBROIDERY WORKERS Dr.Archana Gandhi 1 & Aditi Gangwar 2 1 Associate Professor, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India 2 Student, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India (Presenting author archana.gandhi@nift.ac.in; Corresponding author archana.gandhi@nift.ac.in) ABSTRACT Compared with other forms of employment, homeworking presents a particularly challenging set of problems to any authority involved in addressing their problems. The hidden nature of the workers, their lack of rights and their heavy reliance on their homeworking income make them a particularly vulnerable group and therefore susceptible to exploitation by the people who supply them work. Lack of transparency leads to the invisibility of the homeworkers in the supply chain which leaves them with lower wages and social insecurity. The aim of the research was to devise ways to enhance the productivity of home based embroidery workers. The research showed that Homebased embroidery workers in the some villages in India are paid as less as 40% of the minimum wages. The key reasons for low productivity were- absence of basic amenities, poor method of work, uneasy workplace. Analysis of the factory embroidery workers showed potential areas for homeworker productivity improvement. The improvised work methods showed a potential to reduce the time of embroidered pieces by 30% which could increase the monthly income of homeworkers. Parameters of productivity, quality, and posture were standardised and compiled as a manual for the benefit of homeworkers. By the implementation of better working methods there is a potential to improve their earnings. Key Words: Global Sourcing, Apparel Industry, Productivity, Hand Embroidery, Homeworking, Better Practices, Minimum Wages 1. INTRODUCTION Compared with other forms of employment, homeworking presents a particularly challenging set of problems to any authority developing consistent guidelines for good practice. This is because it stands at the intersection of a complex network of social, economic and legal factors. Attempts to tackle a problem in any one of these spheres are

2 likely to have repercussions for each of the others. This interplay between issues normally dealt with at the level of the labour market with those normally dealt with at the community or household level makes it necessary to develop an integrated approach to the analysis of homeworking (Huws & Podro, 1995) In India, about 23% of the non agricultural workers are home-based. Among these homebased workers, nearly 38% undertake production under some form of production from an outside agency. An overwhelming 57% of the workforces of home-based workers are women. From amongst the women home-based workers, 49% of the women home-based workers were undertaking production under some form of subcontracting. This means that nearly half of the home-based women workers in India are working from home, on a subcontract, for an outside agency (WEIGO, 2010) Home-based work is common in handicraft production, such as weaving or embroidery. But it is also found in many modern industries such as garments, footwear, accessories, electrical assembly and plastic products and non-traditional handwork is also undertaken for products like footballs(bajaj, 2000) 1. 1 Problems faced by Homeworkers Homeworking clearly offers benefits to both the homeworker and the company sourcing work out to homeworkers. However, the hidden nature of the workers, their lack of rights and their heavy reliance on their homeworking income make them a particularly vulnerable group and therefore susceptible to exploitation by the people who supply them work. The most common concerns related to homework are : Low pay-most homeworkers are paid low rates and earn less than factory workers doing the same work. Few homeworkers are paid the minimum wage and even fewer earn a living wage. Rates of pay decrease with the distance from where work is given out. Record-keeping is poor or non-existent, so pay is reduced even further through unfair deductions for quality, miscounting of pieces and so on. Delayed payment is another serious problem. Wages may be paid irregularly and in some cases only partial payments are made to keep the worker tied to the contractor. Insufficient and irregular work-very few homeworkers have enough work to occupy them on a full-time basis and most are constantly hoping for more work Unclear or non-existent employment status-most homeworkers do not have employee status and most legal systems do not recognise homeworkers, which means they are officially invisible and open to exploitation. Inadequate social security and benefits-as most homeworkers are not employees, they do not receive sick pay, holiday pay or maternity pay, and are rarely included in pension schemes. Poor health and safety-there are serious health and safety concerns for homeworkers in some sectors. In other sectors, such as textiles, clothing and footwear, health and safety is less of an issue, although conditions in homes may be poor, especially lighting when work with detailing is being done, and ventilation if toxic substances (glue, soldering) are used. Discrimination against women-women are often paid lower wages within a particular sector, with better paying work being given to male workers. Women are often paid less for the same work than their male counterparts. Use of child labor-children are often involved in homework. Homeworkers often receive piece rates which are too low to support their families, and the only way to make ends meet is through their children helping in production. 2

3 Lack of awareness of rights and organisation-homeworkers are usually unaware of how many or what type of actors are involved in the subcontracting chain, and what responsibilities and obligations each of them has. Trade unions traditional methods of organisation cannot be used in these situations, because homeworkers are geographically scattered, competing for work, not always covered by existing laws and unable to establish employee-employer relationships (ETI, 2010). 1.2 Factory based workers vs Home based workers Garment value chains include a wide variety of sizes and types of firms, linked by both formal and informal relationships. Homeworkers are part of many of these chains. They do both making through of complete garments and section work, i.e., one particular process such as fastening on pockets, collars, or cuffs. Some also do specialized work, such as finishing, embroidery, quality inspection, packing etc. Mostly value added jobs like embroidery, bead work, block printing are out-sourced as these are dependent on seasonal trends and hence are required to be done only when they are 'in-vogue'. Apparel manufacturers invest in infrastructure and man power in operations which are consistent and will always be required to complete/manufacture a garment e.g cutting, stitching etc. and shy from investing in functions which are fashion driven/seasonal. Such functions are then out sourced. Another interesting model is where the business of value added products is so large that an apparel manufacturer first utilises the in house capacity and any quantity beyond is sub contracted to be done out of the factory. It is important to mention here that these models exist for bulk quantities, more often than not, sampling is always carried out in the apparel manufacturing premises. Sampling room embroiderers share the problems they faced while making samples with whoever is making the bulk pieces. The time standards and quality standards are also determined based on the sampling room embroiderers. Apparel manufacturers who sub-contract value added jobs then ensure that sub contractors make samples and only when samples are approved, business with sub contractor is confirmed. Since the chain is rather long, sub contractor who works with home based workers gets the sample made from his 'best' home worker and determines his own time and quality standards. While negotiating price with the apparel manufacturer, the sub contractor has his sample making experience in mind. 3

4 Table 1- Factory vs Home Based Embroidery workers (Source-Authors) Factory based embroidery worker Work in a factory premises/compound Work is monitored by supervisor Works at home Home based Embroidery workers Work is self supervised Frequent controller checking of work by quality Work is checked by quality controller only on scheduled visits Normally work in a group and hence solutions to problems are solved by group members or supervisor Trained on regular basis Normally work individually, hence incase of a problem, either the home worker solves the problem to the best of his/her ability(which leads to assumptions and hence quality is affected) or waits for the contractor(which leads to delays) No such provision 2.0 Objectives 1. To map the embroidery homeworkers in the existing supply chain. 2. To analyze parameters of productivity and impediments to Homeworker s productivity. 3. To develop methods to enhance their productivity. 3.0 Methodology The study was undertaken for an international apparel brand which sources hand embroidered garments from India through it's own sourcing office in New Delhi. This sourcing office, sources products from various apparel manufacturing companies(suppliers), who sub contract the embroidery function. The research was initiated by visiting these suppliers and understand the subcontractor selection method and payment rate followed by the tracking of subcontractor layers down till the homeworker level. Interviews with home workers were conducted to understand, the problems that homeworkers face as regards wages and productivity. The sampling room of the major suppliers of the sponsoring company was used for data collection for the purpose of generating a benchmark for the productivity in the task of embroidery and embellishment (this benchmarking was established as these workers were trained with experience of no less than 12 years). The current productivity level of factory based embroidery worker and that of home based embroidery workers was mapped using time study and their work processes were assessed through motion study technique. This helped in identifying gaps in the time and motion of the home embroidery workers vis a vis the factory embroidery workers. Home based workers were then trained on better methods to enhance their productivity. The data collection involved 55 homeworkers in 4 different villages. It should be noted that the workers studied constituted of a 100% female population and hence the focus 4

5 of the study is also directed towards the empowerment and capacity building of these women workers. 4.0 Mapping Homeworkers and Wage Disparity 4.1 The key findings of data collection were as follows Type of hand embroidery- All the respondents in these villages do -Adda Embroidery (embroidery frame is size of a cot, the embroiderers either sit on stool or on the floor to do the embroidery) Age Profile-All of the respondents were below 35 years of age. The proportion of women aged above 35 years was negligible reflecting that home-based work predominantly engages younger women given the detailed nature and long hours of work involved in crafts such as embroidery. An overall, of more than 50% respondents were below 25 years of age. Family Status-50 percent of the respondents are married. Among the married women, 90 per cent of respondents had children, 40 per cent had 3-4 children and 30 per cent of respondents had more than four children. Availability of work- Only half of the home workers got regular work with high variation among villages. While one village reported irregular work during summers and monsoon the respondents from the other village said work was fairly consistent all through the year. Time Spent in Embroidery-Two-fifths of the home workers sit for 4-6 hours a day for work. Hourly income - 60% of all respondents earned less than Rs per hour. Earnings from Embroidery- A majority of home workers earned less than Rs per month despite the high levels of skill required, largely attributable to the fact that the work of the home workers is not valued in terms of skill required but rather is treated overwhelmingly as labour work. Approximately 40 percent of the home workers were not able to save. One-fourth of the respondents were able to save between Rs a month and had bank accounts. Health issues- 40 percent of the respondents indicated severe pain the back during working hours. Women also reported pain in the eyes and headaches (35 per cent). Few also indicated shoulder and neck strain. Productivity- As represented in Figure 1, the homeworkers were producing at significantly lesser productivity levels than the factory workers. The productivity data collected during the primary research clearly showed considerable discrepancies between the productivity of the sampling workers and the homeworkers and also large variations amongst homeworkers were observed. While the standard time to complete the embroidery on the given style was 16hrs, 75% homeworkers took more than 20 hours to complete the piece. 5

6 Time taken by HWs Standard Time *Standard time: Time taken by a sampling factory embroiderer including personal allowances Figure 1- Time Taken by Home based Embroidery workers to complete an embroidery job compared to standard time The type of chain depicted in Figure 1 is the most common in cases where homeworkers are involved in the process. The buyer(b) gives garment order to an apparel manufacturer/supplier(s) who subcontracts the embroidery function to 1 or more subcontractors(s1, S2) who are present in the same city or another. This sub-contractor further sub-contracts the work more than 1 agents who directly deal with the homeworkers. These agents are the residents of the same village as that of the homeworkers, since it is easy to follow up by regularly visiting the homes. Figure 2- Garment Supply Chain involving home workers This phase of the project describes the present state of the major stakeholders, which are the homeworkers in the supply chain. It also, maps the supply chain in terms of number of links and the payments that each of the link gets out of the chain. The mapping helps identify the problems that exist in the chain. After collecting the data from the first contractor, two of their sub contractors were chosen to move down the chain. Each sub-subagent was contacted separately, to visit the site of work. 6

7 These sub-subagents were asked about the prices that they pay to the Homeworkers and the process of allocating work to them. 2 sub-contractors of the same supplier are taken up for the base line study, the chains starting from each of these sub-contractors is named as chain1 & chain 2. Table 2- Cost Distribution in Supply Chain Chain 1 Chain 2 Number of Villages 2 2 Product For Embroidery A dress panel to be embroidered (both chains have the same product for embroidery) Work Content (in hours) 18 hours Payments: Supplier to Sub contractor Rs. 525/piece Rs. 550/piece Sub Contractor- Agent 1 Rs.260/piece Rs.250/piece Agent 1 to HW workers Sub Contractor- Agent 2 Rs.260/piece Rs.250/piece Agent 2 to HW workers If the supplier is passing the piece to the first sub-contractor at Rs. A then the first Subcontractor is keeping about 14.5 % with himself and passing the rest to the next level and so on. This classification in Table 2 shows how the distribution of money happens over the supply chain from the supplier to the homeworker. Of the total cost allocated to embroidery in the cost of the garment, about 40% is given to sub-contractor. The minimum wages of a skilled labour doing embroidery work is Rs. 253 per day. As shown in table 2, the homeworker in question receives about Rs. 70 less than the minimum wages. 4.2 Current Levels of Productivity & Potential for Improvement Time study is a work measurement technique for recording the times and rates of working for the elements of a specified job carried out under specified conditions and for analyzing data so as to determine the time necessary for carrying out the job at a defined level of performance. Work measurement techniques find the time required to do a job by a qualified operator working at a standard pace, using the standard method. The time in minutes or hours calculated is known as standard time. The study highlights the use of stop watch procedure of time study, work sampling for the embellishment process. In order to arrive at the embroidery method that can be used as a standard to do a particular job, various embroidery methods to do the same job were studied and the method taking the least time was set as a benchmark. It is to be noted that, the workers studied for the time study were all trained and skilled in their work with work experience of more than 12 years in the trade. The process of embroidery can be divided into 3 operations, namely; Assembling: this is the process of storing/collecting the embellishments in a container close to the work area. Pick up: This includes the process from picking of embellishments in a needle to the disposal(i.e. till the needle point reaches the place of actual tacking) Tacking: this is the process of stitching the embellishments on the fabric. 7

8 The opportunity for method improvement lies majorly in the operation of assembling and pick up as the job of tacking does not involve non-value adding hand activities. Also, the method of assembling and the method of pick up are closely related. And this differs greatly with the type of embellishment used. Hence, it is necessary to find a perfect combination of both the operations in regard to the embellishment in order to come up with a method that does the same work in lesser time. Time study was done for all the assembling & pick up operations. The task of bead picking, has the greatest possibility of improvement, as it has longer hand travels and other movements. In Table 3, elements are classified as per the method they can be performed with. Each method is given a relative code which is referred to in the time and method study tables below. Table 3- Sub Classification of Embroidery Operations (codes are for reference only and do not represent any standard) Operation Method Code Assembling Pick up In packet On baithan(on the fabric to be embroidered) In a Thread Circular hand movements Straight hand movements, horizontal to the surface Random hand movements Directly from the thread AP AB AT PC PS PR PD a) b) c) Figure 3- Pictures of Assembling Embellishments-a) in packet, b)on baithan, c)in a thread (Source of pictures-authors) The time and motion study was conducted for various types of beads and sequins to identify the best methods. These include; 1. Flat sequin with centre hole 2. Cut dana 3. Round beads 8

9 Flat sequin with centre hole Cut dana Round beads (Source of pictures-authors) Time and Method Study The study was conducted for various styles in order to cover the maximum type of embellishments. Three to five embroiderers working on the same style were studied performing the same operation in terms of time and method. Then the method which took the least time was standardized for the rest of the artisans and their timing was again recorded to rectify the effectiveness of the standardized methods. Tables show that each kind of embellishment requires a different method of assembling and pick up. The time is greatly reduced in flat sequins if they are threaded and then filled in the needle for tacking. Cut dana on the other hand are oval beads and the volume of each is more than the flat sequin, so picking them up directly from the container/packet in which they are kept is difficult. It is more time efficient to assemble cut dana on the baithan and keep picking a few at a time from the baithan itself. As regards round beads, the most efficient method was found to be picking up beads form a packet using circular hand movements. Table 4.1a)- Time & Method Study Observations for Assembling & Pick up for Flat Sequin Element Time E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 Assembling Pick up Tacking Total(in seconds) in minutes Method AP-PC AT-PD AP-PC AT-PD AP-PC Table 4.1- b) Time Study for AP-PD Method for Flat Sequin Worker Operation Time taken Old method New method Difference (in sec) E1 Pick up E3 Pick up E5 Pick up

10 Table 4.2 a)- Time & Method Study Observations for Assembling & Pick up for Cut Dana Process Element Time E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 Assemblin g Pick up Tacking Total in mins Method AP-PS AB-PS AP-PC AB-PS AP-PC Table 4.2- b) Time Study for AB-PS Method for Cut dana Time taken Worker Operation Old method New method Difference (in sec) E1 Pick up E3 Pick up E5 Pick up Table 4.3 a)- Time & Method Study Observations for Assembling & Pick up for Round Beads Process Element Time E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 Assembling Pick up Tacking Total in mins Method AP-PC AP-PC AP-PS AB-PS AB-PS Table 4.3- b) Time Study for AP-PS Method for Round beads Time taken Worker Operation Old method New method Difference (in sec) E3 Pick up E4 Pick up E5 Pick up Training Manual & Pilot Implementation Based on the analysis of conditions of work, wages and productivity of home based embroidery a training manual which would serve as a ready reckoner was developed. The training manual is a guide to the whole embroidery process starting from the tracing of the motif on the fabric to the stitching of the embellishments. The training manual consisted of chapters on -Embroidery Work Place Layout, Glossary of Terms, Tools and Raw Materials, Embroidery Processes and Health & Safety. 10

11 One phase of training of homebased hand embroidery workers was carried out to confirm the efficacy of the manual. These pilot studies were conducted in actual homeworking environment. Before & after implementation comparisons were then recorded. Factors studied to measure the results in terms of method and time were 1. Productivity factors: Embroidery: Assembling, Pick up, Stitching. 2. Safety Factors(Posture): Adda height, Adda Inclination, Bent neck, Seat, Curved back, Hand rest, Lumbar support. 5.1 Pilot Implementation Productivity Factor: Embroidery(Method) The table 5 below highlights the methods used by the two workers (1 & 2) in applying the two types of embroidery material (Round beads & Cut dana). Cells highlighted red show that the method used by the worker does not match with the manual and hence was changed to the method written in the adjacent cell which is picked form the instructions manual. Table 5-Embroidery Method, Before & After Implementation of Training Manual Before After Before After Embroidery Sequin type Worker 1 Worker 2 Assembling Round beads Packet Packet Packet Packet Cut Dana Packet Packet Baithan Packet Pick up Round beads Circular Straight Straight Straight Cut Dana Straight Straight One-by-one Straight Other changes applied during implementation: Filling of more than one needle at a time(reducing the frequency of pick up operation). Filling the needles completely. Both the changes combined impacted in lesser number of thread locking. Resulting in reduced overall stitching time as well Productivity Factor: Embroidery(Time) The tables below represent the time taken by the 2 workers using round beads and cut dana embellishments ( time taken is for 100stitches each). Before is time observed before the implementation of the training manual. 11

12 Table 6- Embroidery Time, Before & After Implementation of Training Manual Worker 1 Worker 2 Sequin Round Beads Sequin Round Beads Operation Before After Difference Operation Before After Difference Assembling Assembling Pick up Pick up Stitching Stitching Total Total Sequin Cut dana Sequin Cut dana Operation Before After Difference Operation Before After Difference Assembling Assembling Pick up Pick up Stitching Stitching Total Total All values are in seconds Health & Safety The Table 7 includes factors which are a part of the manual described under Health and Safety. These factors if corrected lead to a good posture which should be maintained by the adda workers to avoid long term health issues. It is important to note that the application of these factors by the homeworkers may reduce the productivity (this will be very insignificant). But the importance of maintaining a good posture for health related issues cannot be kept at a lower priority than the productivity measurement. Adda height was adjusted to suit the worker s sitting height, and it was observed that this change did not lead to a significant change in the time taken to complete 100 stitches. This shows that the worker will take time to become habitual to the changed height. Also, the posture was corrected on changing the height addressing the problem of curved back. The problem of bent neck was corrected on adjusting the frame inclination Table 7- Safety Factors(Posture) corrected during the pilot implementation Before The Right Hand Left Hand Process Chart A Two-Handed Process Flow Chart individually shows the movement of each hand in a manual process. It is typically used when analyzing a manual assembly process, to help 12 After Adda height Wrong Corrected Adda Inclination No horizontal inclination, Slightly inclined, towards the worker Bent neck Problem Corrected Seat Present Present Curved back Problem Corrected

13 make it easier to perform. The chart is an effective tool to-balance the motions of both hands and reduce fatigue, reduce or eliminate nonproductive motions, shorten the duration of productive motions and train new operators in the ideal method. This chart gives the details of the movements of the hands of the workers during working on the same piece before and after the implementation of the manual Figure 4 Two handed process chart for Flat Sequins 6. 0 Productivity Improvement Based on the training imparted to the hand embroidery workers and the time taken by the homeworkers after training reduced significantly as compared to before training. The post training implementation took into account 5 styles divided among 7 workers. Style C was studied with 2 workers and a prominent difference in the times of both can be seen, this is due to the lack of experience at work for the worker 4. She was a young worker who had recently started working on the adda. Table 8- Hourly Earnings of Home Workers after Training Worker Piece rate Time taken before(b) Hrs:mins Earning per hour(piece rate/b) in Rs. Time taken after(a) Hrs:mins Earning per hour (piece rate/a) in Rs. Estimated earning /day (Piece rate/a*8hrs) in Rs. A W : : A W : : B W : : C W : : C W : : D W6 20 1: : E W : : Minimum wage in Rs

14 As depicted in Table 8, the hourly earnings of workers in of training went up from 20-75%.The per day earnings for 3 workers were more than the minimum wage. CONCLUSION The homebased working has legal, social and economical angles. While a lot is desired from the government on this sector of the industry, there are issues which those working with them can start addressing. The embroidery home workers are a flexible manufacturing option for apparel manufacturing/exporting industry of India. Many international apparel retailers who source value added products from India and happy to allow the apparel manufacturing companies to use this sector. There are so many home based embroidery workers in India, the skill types available is very varied and in most cases, they would be more cost effective than in-house embroidery facility. The apparel manufacturing community, which depends so much on the home based workers must seriously address issues of low payment and productivity of these workers, if they want home based working to be a sustainable business segment. Home workers most of the times are unaware of industry best practices and there is very little effort made by the apparel manufacturer or the sub contractor to train them on these practices. Method improvement techniques, might entail a small training and supervision cost, but are likely to lead to better productivity of home based embroidery workers and hence may lead to better lead times. Home based embroidery workers would start earning better and those already in the trade may like to continue to do and encourage new entrants. REFERENCES Aggarwal, P. S. (2008). Tackling Social and Economic Determinants of Health through Women Empowerment: The SEWA case study (Draft). New Delhi: WHO-SEARO. Delaney, A., Burchielli, R., & Buttigieg, D. (2007). Mapping As Organizing: How Mapping Is Being Used As An Homeworker Organizing Tool: Working Paper. Leeds, UK: Federation of Homeworkers Worldwide(FHWW). ETI. (2010, May 27). Indian National Homeworker Group. Retrieved Jan 29, 2014, from Ethical Trading Initiative: Hiba, J. C. (1998). Improving working conditions and productivity in the garment industry. Geneva: ILO. Huws, U., & Podro, S. (1995). Employment Homeworkers. Working paper; Employment Homeworkers: Examples of Good practise. ILO, Geneva. McCormick, D., & Schmitz, H. (2002). Manual for Value Chain research on Homeworkers in Garment Industry. Sussex, England: Institute of Development Studies(IDS). Mohammad, Y. (2011). The mapping study of homebased workers in Uttar Pradesh. Mirzapur, Banaras, FIrozabad District. Muhundhan, M. (2013, May). Apparel industry: Ergonomics for improving productivity. The Indian Textile Journal. 14

15 Narkhedkar, R. N., Dorugade, V. A., & Gupta, P. (2013). Quality and Productivity Enhancement in the Garment Textile Industry. Fibre2Fashion. Singh, D. Y. (1999). Training of Trainers Manual. Haryana: Haryana Forest Department. UNESCO. (2014, February 24). UNSECO thesaurus. WEIGO. (2010). INFORMAL WORKERS IN FOCUS: HOME-BASED WORKERS. Cambridge, MA, USA: WEIGO. World Fair Trade Organisation. (2013, October 28). 10 Principles of Fair Trade. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from wfto: 15