Industry Technologies
Mechanics – Spare Parts – Needles
There are many areas in the garment manufacturing plant today where a sewing machine mechanic can be a great benefit to his company beyond the physical repairing or adjusting of sewing machines. A mechanic can and should be a part of every plant management team in thought, words, and actions.
A mechanic should have trusted resources among manufacturers and suppliers to provide expertise when dealing with technical issues including:
• Needle problems, needle-related sewing problems, new fabrics and products• Thread issues related to production changes and problems• Cleaning agents to deal with stains and the treatment of fabrics• Equipment to troubleshoot machine performance on various materials and sewing tasks.
Having a good outside resource of specialized, expert information can bring a lot of help to the table. One major responsibility of a mechanic should be maintaining an adequate stock of spare parts and needles. Regardless of how well machines are maintained and how careful the sewing machine operators are under production conditions, needle and sewing machine parts breakage is going to occur. There is also the occasional loss of a screw, nut, tension spring, or similar small items, and on rare occasions, a major mechanical part may break, wear out, or just fail.
In most factories, each sewing machine is depended on to produce a given number of units daily. Loss or breakage of a single part on a machine may put that machine out of production until a replacement can be obtained. If adequate spare parts are not kept on hand, it means that replacement parts must be obtained from the supplier. Even in cases where the plant is in the same city as the supplier, a half-day’s production is easily lost by the time someone goes to pick up the part and returns to the factory. When replacement parts must be obtained by mail, the delay is even longer.
Production InsuranceSpare parts and needles are production insurance, and like other insurance, they should be adequate to fill the needs but not at a financial burden. In the case of key machines, spare throat plates, presser feet, feed dogs, and loopers should be kept on hand at all times; then if a looper or feed dog breaks, it can be replaced without unnecessary loss of time.
A new spare part should be ordered immediately. It is probably not practicable to have a complete range of spare parts to match every machine in the house, but certainly, spare parts should be on hand for the key machines that could cripple production if an accident should occur.
In addition, a variety of spare parts such as check springs, tension springs, bobbin cases, bobbins, hook assemblies, and sewing parts should always be on hand for the types of lockstitch machines that are in use.
The quantities of parts that should be on hand will vary, depending on the number of machines that are being operated. If the quantities of parts that probably should be on hand, have not already been established, a clue to the amount can be obtained by checking the parts used in the past year. The amount of parts that a plant would want to have on hand in anticipation of breakage or replacement should be no more than thirty to sixty days needs. The mechanic must be sure that adequate parts are requested. However, it is equally important that spare parts be ordered in relation to actual need and not order two or three years' supply of some item and then have it lying in parts storage.
A mechanic’s daily work keeps him in contact with the operators, the construction of the garments, and the general tempo of the plant as well as the mechanical condition of the machines. Mechanics should listen to the operators for possible helpful suggestions. Many times, because of an operator’s intimate contact with a particular operation, they can see a shortcut or a better way to do an operation if someone will make a worktable, bundle clamp, ticket box, or some similar work aid.
A mechanic’s imagination should run free as the various sewing operations are watched. If there is a better or faster way, explain it to the plant superintendent so that the proposed change can be brought to the operator’s attention.
If there is difficulty with a particular operation, fabric, or thread, look outside the plant for the answer. There are a great many companies that make specialized products for the sewing industry that are designed to increase production, alleviate trouble, or both.
Attachments, thread trimmers, needle positioners, stop-motion devices, pleating devices, thread lubricants, rubberized feed dogs, and a host of other specialized items have been made to fill particular needs in the industry. All too often these items are needed in the plant but are not used simply because no one has taken the time to investigate them. A source/supplier of all of these items should be known to the mechanic so that he can at least make recommendations to the plant owner or superintendent when a problem arises. Being a competent sewing room mechanic is an important and rewarding job.
