Work system design

 Cost Structure
1.Washing and Ironing = Rs 10 per cloth, Heavier Bedspread
12Rs.
2. Only Ironing = Rs 3 per cloth
3. Operating in a 10*10 room ( Collection, Ironing & Delivery)
4.Types of clothes processed: All type
5.No of Employees = 5

Item Type number of items
Shirts 150
Pants 70
Shorts 30
T-Shirts 60
Jeans 40
Salwar 5-10
Bed Spread 3-5

 Every day after 10 (closing time) they will sort out and
segregate the clothes depending on the colour(white and
other light colour separation)
 Next morning clothes are taken to dhobi ghat to be washed.
(no special treatment except mentioned segregation).
number of workers=2.
 1 worker collects(or delivers) clothes from MDP and faculty
quarters before 9 am in morning.
 Rest 2 workers stay at their workplace to deliver the clothes
to the students who come to collect it.

 After washing the clothes at Ghat, one of the workers
returns while one remains there at ghat until all the clothes
are dried. Sometimes they use drier to fasten the procedure.
 At around 3 pm, 2 workers start ironing the clothes while 2
workers are responsible for delivering the clothes to
faculties and MDP.
 One worker is dedicated to deliver the clothes to the
students who come to collect them.
 At night, they segregate the clothes again according to the
customers. This procedure has a lead time of 2 days during
normal days(normal temperature and humidity)

Collection of clothes
 Instead of the students carrying the clothes to the laundry facility,
the workers will come to collect the clothes at the hostels everyday.
 Timing : - Arrival : 9 am
- Waiting Time : 1 hour
 Average clothes collected in one visit = 1000 ( For all the three
hostels)
 Venue for collection of clothes : New Hostel Basement
 No of workers involved in collection of clothes = 3
 Each worker will carry one trolley with him to collect the clothes

 Transportation of clothes from hostel to laundry facility as well as
from facility back to hostels will be done with the help of cycle trolleys
 No of trolleys : 3
 The capacity of the 3 trolleys will be different
according to the hostel strength.
 The trolley for hostel 5 will be largest in size
and the one for hostel 2 will have least capacity

 System for tagging used will be the existing one itself
 The learning curve for the existing technique is quite high
 The workers take very less time to perform that task
 Efficient technique as the mark does not get washed away
 Tagging will be done on one of the cloth which will be used to tie the
others together for a particular customer (student)
 Tagging on the other clothes will be done at the laundry facility
 During the transportation back to the hostels, stacking of the clothes
with similar tags will be done and the stacks will be arranged
according to the hostel floors

 The clothes collected from different hostels will be aggregated at
Dhobi’s work place in college and labelling is done
 Now these aggregated clothes should be segregated depending on
the category (shirt, jeans etc.,)
 As the aggregated quantity is high, transporting this load of
clothes to the Ghat is a challenge. We may be required to use an
auto-rickshaw to do the ferrying
 The schedule of the auto-rickshaw would be as follows:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Pick’s up
segregated clothes
to Dhobi Ghats in
the morning
Pick’s up segregated
clothes to Dhobi Ghats
Delivers segregated clothes
from Dhobi Ghats in the
evening
Delivers segregated
clothes
from Dhobi Ghats in the
evening

• Washing and drying are continued
•All clothes are delivered to workplace at college by
evening
• Clothes are again segregated based on tag and
Ironing commences
Sunday
• Continues to iron the clothes, stacks them into
trolley and brings them to respective collection
points by evening
• Delivers the ironed clothes and collects the clothes
that need to be washed and tags them at the
collection point
• Brings and aggregates all clothes to the workplace in
college and segregate them
Monday
• Segregated clothes are transported to dhobi Ghat
using an auto-rickshaw
• Washing commences and drying is done
Tuesday

•All clothes are delivered to workplace at college by
evening
• Clothes are again segregated based on tag and
Ironing commences
Wednesday
• Continues to iron the clothes, stacks them into trolley
and brings them to respective collection points by
evening
• Delivers the ironed clothes and collects the clothes
that need to be washed and tags them at the
collection point
• Brings and aggregates all clothes to the workplace in
college and segregate them
Thursday
• Segregated clothes are transported to dhobi Ghat
using an auto-rickshaw
• Washing commences and drying is done
Friday
•Workers may take some rest Saturday

 The workplace at college is cramped, but since the new
model doesn’t require unwashed clothes (they are collected
and sent directly to ghat very next day) to be stocked up the
work place can be well utilized
 The work place is hot and humid so installing an exhaust
fan may help the worker to work with ease

An Ergonomic Study of Muscular Fatigue during Ironing Clothes
Present Situation:
Board Height: 82 cm
Weight of Iron: 2.92 kg (Heavy Type)
Avg. No. of clothes Ironed per day : 265
No. of workers to be studied: 2 (Men) {weighing 75kg each with avg. height of 5’10”}
Cost of Ironing: Rs. 3.00 per cloth
 Due to use of heavy weight iron the workers were suffering more fatigue and
muscular strain.
The movement of iron over the cloth was not standardised according to the type of
the cloth.
Iron temperature was controlled using bundle of clothes tied together to absorb extra
heat. Heat control was necessary as the material of few clothes could not be recognised
easily i.e. whether 100% cotton or Polyester cotton blend.
This setting of temperature was adding inefficiency to the ironing process and was
based on experience, failing to which can cause burning of the cloth.
Electric switch was mounted far away from the table, forcing them to use long iron
wires which obstruct operator during ironing.

Suggested Improvements For Increased Efficiency
 Operators were encouraged to use light weight (0.77 kg) or steam iron (1.29 kg) to
reduce muscular strain and fatigue.
Lead time to iron a cloth was reduced by 60% by the use of light weight iron and 50%
by the use of steam iron as the movement of iron base plate was easy over the cloth.
Switch board was mounted near the ironing board and the wire length was reduced
by 1/3rd of the previously used wire.
They were suggested to have training of reading garment labels in order to recognise
the type of ironing and temperature suitable for ironing that garment.
The ironing was suggested to be done in two batches with proper time interval in
order to reduce fatigue.
Estimated improvement in time and cost will be 2 Rs

Work system design

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Work system design