Quality Control In Weaving

By: Qurat-ul-Ain
ME-Textiles
NED University

Introduction
to produce top quality woven goods in
high volume
must have their planning and
organization under control.
Additional criterion is thorough
familiarity with the entire production
process, from fibre to fabric, to
ensure that fabric production is
profitable.

Introduction(Cont)
optimum production steps
planning stage that defines process parameters,
sequences of operations and working conditions, all
of which are relevant to profitability.
optimal installation of the weaving machines, with
appropriate transport routes and equipment.
Additionally, capacities must be planned and the
necessary infrastructure and resources created,
including buffer store, air conditioning, lighting,
personnel, quality control etc.

Yarn quality
80% of weaving machine stoppages
originates from bad yarn quality.
Not only the uniformity of the yarn is
important; damaged packages are a sign of
poor transport quality, and on the weaving
machine they not only impair productivity but
also cause waste.
If there are no yarn reserves in the weft
packages the result will be a weft stoppage.

Yarn quality.(Cont)
Thread breaks in weaving are the
largest cost factor in the entire
production process, because they
always involve a machine stoppage
Every stoppage prevented directly
improves the company's profits.

Weaving preparation
Faultlessly produced warp beams and
precision work on the sizing machine, in
combination with the right sizing agent
and size application, are the conditions
that have to be fulfilled.
According to an old German proverb in
the textile industry, "well sized is half
woven"

Yarn Breakages:

Importance of yarn breakages in

weaving process:
Competitiveness is the main feature of the
textile industry in future.
The main issue is the cost of grey cloth per
meter.
To lower the production costs yarn
breakages are essential to be reduced at
every manufacturing stage
breakages of both warp and weft yarns
which not only reduce the production rate
and also deteriorate the quality of the
produced fabric.

Importance of yarn breakages

in weaving process.(Cont)
These breakages on the preparatory processes and
also on loom produce lots of problems and become
labor intensive.
Lesser the yarn breakages lesser will be the defects.
Reducing the warp and weft yarns breakages

increase the productivity of the processes involved to the

production of fabrics including warping, sizing etc
maintain quality of the woven fabric
reduces wastages of yarn, and energy
ultimately the cost per meter/yard of the prepared fabric
reduces.

Yarn Breakages Effect :

On efficiency:
It is generally observed one breakage per loom per
100,000 picks looses considerably efficiency and at
every loom stop there is a chance for a defect to
come.
So the end breakage rate cone winding, weft
winding, warping, sizing and finally onto the loom
has to be controlled as minimum as possible.

Yarn Breakages..(Cont)
In order to control end breakage rate
different quality control measures are taken
in each process.
Analysis shows that no more than one stop
per 100,000 m of weft yarn should occur. As
soon as two or more stops per 100,000 m of
yarn are available in the high production
weaving mill, costs will increase as a result
of a reduction in efficiency.

Benefits of reduction of yarn

breakages
Cost Reduction
reduce yarn breakages, reduces the cost.
stoppages at the loom because of any yarn
breakages gets repaired and some cost will
increase in this manners.
entangling the problem of loom stop, the
cost automatically goes down.

Benefits of reduction of yarn

breakages(Cont)
Man Power:
Resolving the problem of loom stoppage, man
power will also be reduced.
If there is problem of yarn breakage constantly at
the loom than a person will be required to handle
this situation, and when we solve this problem
than there will be no need of person constantly at
the loom

Benefits of reduction of yarn

breakages(Cont)
Effect on Production:
Problem of yarn breakage or problem in the
mechanical part of loom, the loom will stop to
work.
Productivity of loom will be affected and
solving these problems increases production.

Benefits of reduction of yarn

breakages(Cont)
Quality of Fabric:
Yarn breakages on the loom, affect the
quality of fabric.
Constant breakage of yarn and definite
knotting, damages fabric quality.
When these problems are solved the
quality will also be improved.

Benefits of reduction of yarn

breakages(Cont)
Department Efficiency:
Suppose 10 looms out of 100 looms
are not working, it will affect the
department efficiency and it reduced
10% straight away.
When the different problems are solved
out the department efficiency will also
increase in the same proportion.

Loom stoppages:
The loom stoppages occur due to the
following reasons.
1. Breakages of warp yarn
2. Breakages of weft yarn
3. Malfunctioning of some important of
mechanisms of loom or basic loom motion.
4. Temperature and humidity of weaving
depart

Practical measures for the

reduction of yarn breakages:
There is need of implementation of following practical steps to
reduce the yarn breakages.

Ensure that the yarn coming from spinning must have the
suitable characteristics of strength, hairiness, thick places,
thin places, neps, and elongation according to the standards
for different yarn counts.

Prepare the report of yarn breakages in each preparatory

process so the feed back may provided to the beck process
for instance to spinning mills etc.

Ensure the proper sizing with different chemicals by

appropriate add on percentage.

Practical measures for the reduction of

yarn breakages .Cont) :

Study the yarn breakage due to different

mechanical, electronic, and electrical parts of the
loom and rectify them.

Compare the yarn breakage rate of different looms

and position them either they are effective or not.

Study and prepare report of loom stoppages on the

different loom having same qualities or not so better
awareness may obtain about machine.

Practical measures for the reduction of

yarn breakages .Cont)

Prepare & access the report of loom

stoppages on the same type of looms
having same qualities or not so better
information regarding yarn breakages
may obtain about loom.
Study and define the defects, quality
deterioration cases cause by the yarn
breakages

Properties of yarn selection for

weaving:
During selection of yarn the following properties
are needed to consider in order reducing
breakages of yarns. These are as follows

Twist in yarn
Tensile strength
a)Single yarn strength
b)Lea strength
Elongation
Hairiness
Yarn imperfection ( thin, thick places and neps)

Other Quality Measures:

Machine configuration (weaverroom layout)

Excessive material movements.
Correctly dimensioned transport routes and
good transport equipment are essential to
ensure efficiency.
sufficient stockage space between the
weaving machines, movements to transport
weft yarn can be reduced.
Floor condition has a crucial influence on the
speed of transport. well finished floor, any
vehicle can move faster and with less wear.

Air conditioning:
Air conditioning serves to create an optimal
climate for weaving.
Correctly adjusted relative humidity is crucial for
the running characteristics.
Good air conditioning also fulfils other tasks:
it purifies the ambient air by extracting dust,
by cooling air,creates the right working conditions.

Mainly used for cotton and cotton blends. In

some cases, but is also used where manmade
fibres are woven

Cleaning:
Efficient and effective cleaning is important in
achieving flawless fabric production.
For staple fiber yarns, the air conditioning system is
not enough, travelling cleaners are used.
blow off advisable.
for thorough cleaning of weaving machines, using
vacuum cleaners and compressed air.

Cleaning (Cont):
Compressed air is efficient but simply blows the
dust somewhere else.
For this reason, suctioning off is a far more effective
method.
Central vacuum systems have the advantage that
they simultaneously remove dust and waste.
Heavy soiling increases wear on machine
components and causes stoppages.
With scheduled cleaning work, unnecessary costs of spare parts, stoppages and maintenance can be
avoided

Weaving machine stoppages

Weaving machine stoppages adversely affect
the weaving mill's productivity,
reduce machine allocation per weaver
and increase costs.
To eliminate stoppages, their cause and frequency
must be known.

Weaving machine stoppages

Modern and mill management systems provide information on
the number of stoppages but not about their exact causes.
The efficiencies and stoppage times recorded by these systems
are important as benchmarks, in order to detect sudden and
gradual changes and thus conclude what action to take.
improvements introduced must also be checked.
A control loop is thus created, of action taken and verification
thereof.
To evaluate these analyses, in-depth knowledge of the entire
textile production process is needed.

Downtime
The duration of a stoppage is not only
important with regard to productivity; it also
crucially influences fabric quality.
Stop marks, can be prevented if the
machine is restarted quickly.
Too long stoppage, the width of fabrics may
be reduced.

Downtime(Cont)
Complicated yarn breaks or multiple breaks
must be avoided at all costs.
The weaver's workload can be calculated
from the downtime and the number of
stoppages. From this data it can be seen
how many weaving machines one weaver
can look after, which in turn provides
information on personnel costs.

Long-term stoppages
Include style and warp changes,
machine servicing and repairs.
can be reduced to a minimum by planning
with foresight, teamwork and personnel
training are indispensable.
Keeping sufficient quantities of spare and
wearing parts in stock to cover consumption
will help minimize long-term downtimes and
save costs by avoiding rush orders

Efficiency
Two types of efficiencies.

Weaver efficiency provides information on the

weaver's workload. It takes the frequency of
stoppages (broken ends and weft breaks),
downtime and productivity into account.
Plant efficiency includes all stoppages (broken ends
and weft breaks, warp changes, repairs etc.). The
difference between the two figures can be traced
back to the long-term stoppages.

Efficiency(Cont)
The plant efficiency reflects the productivity
of the weaving facility and can be improved
by reducing short-term (yarn breaks) and
long-term (organizational) stoppages.
Depending on the style mix, increasing
efficiency by one percent results in an
increase in earnings of up to 1000 Euros or
more per weaving machine and year.

Lighting
Correct lighting of production facilities

creates good working conditions,

makes work easier and helps prevent mistakes.
The lighting must be such that parts of machines
or installations do not cast shadows on the cloth.
it makes good sense to install a light source
behind or below the fabric in order to detect
defects quickly and easily.

Machine maintenance
Maintenance must be carried out in accordance
with the manufacturers' instructions.
Unnecessary repairs and long-term stoppages can
thus be avoided, and spare parts costs reduced.
Maintenance is carried out on the basis of
checklist,
making a record of the condition of parts and of
parts replaced.

Machine maintenance
(Cont)
The record file will identify deficiencies and
excessive wear of individual weaving machines.
Lubrication and greasing require special care
and must be carried out by qualified personnel
in accordance with the manufacturer's
instructions.
Machine cleaning must not be neglected under
any circumstances

Style and warp changes

Style and warp changes can easily be

planned in advance.

It is important to make sure that

besides the warp beams, weft yarn and
harness, all other necessary materials
(temples, cams, weft feeder brushes
etc.) are put ready in the order they will
be needed.

Style and warp changes

(Cont)

Checklists are very helpful and

thorough job preparation helps to
avoid wasting time.

In addition, machine reports ensure

that all machines weaving the same
article have the same settings.

Preparation of materials
Good planning benefits
The production process,
Helping to avoid unnecessary waiting time.
Adequate quantities of warp beams and weft
material at intermediate storage points, close to the
weaving machines, production losses can be
minimized.
The weft yarn should be acclimatized for at least 24
hours under the climatic conditions in the weave
room.

Cloth inspection
Immediate inspection after weaving, avoids
the production of further faulty goods.
Avoiding defects is the prime objective.
If they occur, it is vitally important to detect
and remedy them quickly.
Document all defects, so that a subsequent
inspection can be carried out efficiently.