Lab needs money, produce NO pounds! How can be calculated the Pay-Back of a Lab-Investment? (Do you know this assessment?)

First at all, it is necessary to define which are de main Tasks of a Lab in a Dye House. At the same time, it is also necessary to calculate which is the cost of actions done in the production due to the lake of real lab support.

We would like to make following assessments taking as basis the case of a dye house (integrated or commission dyer) involved in fashion.

It is no doubt, that the trend justifying the existence of the textile industry in the western countries is the strategy trying to satisfy the changing demand of a fashion oriented market. But each market oriented company (like the textile industry) has to determine in his strategy, which volume of production resp. sales has to be dedicated to commodities and which volume to specialties.

For these reasons, two kind of behavior and activities has to be achieved internally:

• to be aware that it is recommended to produce commodities at the best possible price and avoiding errors (not loosing money!) - what means: big lots of few items (Color and/or styles) - in order to built a support allowing to resist lakes of demand for specialties and ensure a basic coverage of fixed costs.
• to be aware of the need to produce specialties with the main goal: satisfy "Just in Time" the demand of the customers - what means: small lots of a big number of items - in order to create the necessary "more value added" and ensure the needed margin to be attractive to the capital and to ensure the future of the company

The western textile companies have to define is their strategies the proportion for both activities according to the market they are supplying and according to the internal resources. This balance is the key defining the goals and the future trend of the company.

In the same frame has to be conceived the roles and tasks of the Lab in the dye house. Basically they are 3 basic tasks:

1. Ensure the "attractiveness" of the company for the clients, helping to create new items (Colors, finishing, styles, etc.) in the frame of "active partnership". That means: creation of new recipes for desired Colors - it is today no more possible to found the sales on a Color patent card. Creating a own paten card helps in no more as 20% of the production, the rest is based on "Colors on demand".
2. Support the production in order to create all the necessary information allowing to avoid corrections and helping to improve RFT and JIT.
3. Carry out the necessary controls avoiding errors in production due to variations of raw materials, ensuring quality of effluents, etc.

To A.- In the norm, a Lab has been accepted as necessary for creating new recipes corresponding to :

• new Colors on existing styles
• old Colors on new styles
• new Colors on new styles

It is no an exception, that in some companies, this Lab reports to the sales department and not to the manager of the dye house. Specially in the States (but not only) happens very often, that this Lab is faraway of the dye house, with all the corresponding disadvantages. The dye house HAS TO dye with the recipe and processes supplied by the LAB. The LAB is not always aware of the technical possibilities to produce according to their data, loosing all kind of co-responsibility in the performances of the dye house.

The main goal in this activity (which could be called: Sampling Department, "Musterfärberei" in German) is to deliver as soon as possible the desired samples of Color and styles to the customer. It becomes, consequently, very important the internal task concerning improving productivity of this sampling department. Increasing the requirements concerning Color conformity (due very often to the fact that different dye houses have to produce dyed materials to be make up together - metamerism!) the corrections of Color in the lab becomes a crucial aspect, what can also be defined as: how to match a Color with a very low number of corrections. We can see, this concern, figures going from 8-10 entries per new Color resp. recipe, till 1.2-1.5, depending of the quality of work, not of the quality of equipment, because this becomes more and more very similar everywhere. That means: in order to deliver to the customer a small lot as labdeep (some times till 1-2 kg or 5-10 m), first at all the Lab task take one week or more! The goal has to be more and more: the customer has to receive the first sample in an average of 48 hours… and after conformity, the first lot has to be ready again in no more as 48 hours. That becomes today a very interesting task revising every thing in the way of working, dealing with data bases and all kind of tools allowing to achieve it.

To B.- As very important has to be mentioned: it is absolutely necessary to create a confidence in the dye house, that the data, recipes, processes, etc. coming from this Task in the lab are really useful in then production. It is no only a question of dialog, but first at all this part of the Lab involved in this activity has to revised all the factors which makes a reproducibility Lab-Plant possible. And we prefer the speak of the "Reproducibility Plan-Lab", because this concern we are speaking about the possibility to simulate in the Lab the results of the Dyeing Plan.