Comments on: SPESA Trip Report: Kathleen pt.1

By: John Hunter

John Hunter — Sat, 19 May 2007 00:44:46 +0000

Great post.

By: crackers

crackers — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:40:41 +0000

I had a long talk with those guys too. They were thinking upwards of $35k, more like $65 for an operation like mine, but the machines are much more expensive.

Anyway, the point about height is what I started out responding to. Len is about 6 or 7 inches shorter than I am, but pointed out that the level of our elbows is what counted, and the variance of elbow height is significantly less than the variance of height. In other words, his elbow was surprisingly close to mine. He stated that you’ve got a 4 inch window of height to operate around.

By: Mike C

Mike C — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:47:22 +0000

I know Amy (Fit Couture) really loves her system (Optitex) but it wouldn’t be useful for me. It still blows my mind that people can’t visually translate the two dimensional pattern into 3D automatically.

The utility of the software isn’t for visualizing the garment.

Even I can take our 2-D patterns and figure out what they are going to look like on a person.

Any benefits from visualization are secondary.

By: Eric H

Eric H — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:43:59 +0000

I heard an interview once with a posture and chair design expert (All Things Considered or perhaps Fresh Air) in which they said that the best posture from an evolutionary and spine stress standpoint is a semi-standing one, sort of what you might get by leaning your backside against a bar stool or table. Sitting puts your spine in a bad position and is ergonomically inefficient because all of the material handling has to be done with your wrists and shoulders, while standing allows you to use the greater leverage of your largest muscle groups. A happy medium for office workers was that Swedish chair that uses a semi-kneeling position and opens the thigh-abdomen angle to take stress off the spine, but this seems difficult to use in a factory where the worker moves from machine to machine. The expert said that knock-offs of the original kneeling chair didn’t get it right and don’t have the same benefits.

My dad swore by his kneeling chair, but I never got used to it.

By: nadine

nadine — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:08:56 +0000

I was super sad to missed SPESA this year due to teaching conflicts but I’ve attended Bobbin a few times in the past. I also agree that TSS is amazing. In the past they showed a cap sewing set up which was interesting. On the topic of standing while sewing, initially I thought it was excellent and many of the sewing operators in sit down positions get ankle problems from the sewing pedals. I’ve seen a lot of repetitive motion issues with a traditional factory floor set up. However, a friend went to work for Coach who uses a lean set up for their rather large in house sample team. So many complaints from the workers from the standing. My friend said sewing on his feet all day was hell. Other people working on their line have expressed that throughthe grapevine too. No scientific info to back this claim up. So now I’m not so sure if a pure standing arrangement doesn’t also have fatigue issues for workers. While I am still totally impressed with the pod set up and reduction of product handling.

By: Ryan Brady

Ryan Brady — Wed, 16 May 2007 10:20:29 +0000

Yes, anti-fatigue matting will help with the standing issues. Kathleen is correct though…standing is a much better position than sitting, even for 8 hours a day. The optimal situation is to have seating that supports a sit/stand posture which allows more more blood circulation (and therefore less fatigue) than sitting, but also gives the operator the option to relieve some stress on the lower body from constant standing.
Having the worker go from station to station not only reduces the incidence of RSI’s but also improves blood circulation, reduces worker boredom and develops worker skills more than the single worker/single station model does.

By: Lisa Bloodgood

Lisa Bloodgood — Tue, 15 May 2007 23:58:29 +0000

I just reread the part in the book about sewing standing up, on page 111. Since another part of the book says you need nice, thick mats in your shop, both for the people sewing and the people standing at the pattern and spreading tables, then standing all day wouldn’t be nearly as bad as standing in heels in a retail store where the floor quality is questionable. Also, since the sewers would have breaks and lunches, they wouldn’t be standing for 8 hours straight. I’d think the cool shops doing production this way would make an allowance for someone who needed to sit that day.

It’s funny how different the people in the booths at the show treated you. Didn’t they take customer service classes??? The inattentive and/or snooty ones, that is. (I thank cashiers when they actually count back my change so I can actually see I got the right amount of money back. I often count my money in front of the ones who don’t.) I had to take tons of hours of customer service training when I worked at (the now defunct) House of Fabrics, so it’s irritating when people don’t treat you like they should, especially when a woman asks the question and the answer is directed to the man with her. Yeesh!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 15 May 2007 23:42:30 +0000

Okay, I have a question – say you go to modular unit like America’s 21 – How do you organize your work teams? by height? Seriously!!!!
I am from Winnipeg, where we have large population of Filipino, Chinese or East Indian immigrants who work in the factories doing sewing. The height disparity between ethic groups and ages with ethic groups can be quite different. What about the lonely tall girl? which team does she go on? (Not that I know anything about that)

By: Oxanna

Oxanna — Tue, 15 May 2007 23:31:18 +0000

In this system, you sew standing up. It’s easier to sew this way, you have more control too, particularly females. Our center of gravity is in our hips (and don’t we know it). Sewing standing up allows us to put some English in it. Besides, you’re moving around, your body feels better and you’re less likely to have repetitive stress injuries if you’re doing a wide variety of operations.

Interesting method, which seems to be great for results! And avoids repetitive stress injuries – a very good thing.

Although I have to admit to some reservations. Does someone really want to stand for 8 hours a day? From my own experience in retail, your legs get very sore, and there’s that issue of stress on the sciatic nerve. (Speaking from painful experience. Admittedly, heels and fancy shoes do contribute to the problem, which wouldn’t be an issue in a factory.) Also, some women have issues standing for prolonged periods due to feminine health problems. I’d definitely be concerned about this, especially since most production sewers are women.

Thoughts?

By: Esther

Esther — Tue, 15 May 2007 23:18:33 +0000

Did Optitex split off from TukaTech? I noticed Tukatech redesigned their website and Optitex has it’s own. The screenshots of Optitex are very similar to the drafting software that I use now, which was acquired through Tukatech some years ago. Tukatech no longer has screenshots of its drafting software. I am a bit confused.

It is so hard to stay up on everything! Thanks for posting info from the show.