INTRODUCTION

Garment industries use highly specialized machines and equipment on a daily basis, they face the daunting task of continually managing these assets to ensure operations run smoothly. Coordinating and scheduling preventive maintenance (PM), processing employee work requests and managing facility repairs and modifications are just a few of the daily tasks that need to be completed. All of these tasks are complex and time-consuming, and present challenges that require an efficient maintenance department in place to prevent productivity snags.

IMPORTANCE OF MAINTENANCE
It helps in identify the cause of failure, e.g. whether the failure is due to design defect, or a wear out failure. It also helps in deciding the type of maintenance and maintenance decision like replace and repair. It provides the necessary information regarding the life and reliability of the equipment. With the help of this tool spare parts management got initiated. Good machine maintenance is an investment in productivity. Well maintained machines are more reliable, safer and last longer. Basic maintenance is not expensive and can often be done by workers. Workers should be taught simple machine maintenance skills such as machine cleaning, adjusting thread tension, changing broken needles, bobbin changes and emptying the dust filter

OBJECTIVES OF MAINTENANCE
To increase functional reliability of production facilities. To maximize the useful life of the equipment. To maximize production capacity from the given equipment. To minimize the total production cost. To minimize the frequency of interruption in production by reducing breakdowns. To enhance the safety of the manpower.

DIFFERENT TYPE OF MAINTENANCE

Running maintenance Preventive Maintenance

Shutdown maintenance Scheduled maintenance

Planned Maintenance Maintenance Corrective Maintenance Predictive Maintenance Unplanned maintenance Emergency maintenance Breakdown maintenance

PLANNED MAINTENANCE
In planned maintenance the maintenance action is carried out with some fore thoughts, prior planning, record keeping and control action. These can be further classified as Preventive maintenance Corrective maintenance Predictive maintenance

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
It is based upon the principle that prevention is better than cure. It is a set of activities that are performed on plant equipment, machinery, and systems before the occurrence of a failure in order to protect them and to prevent or eliminate any degradation in their operating conditions. It the maintenance carried out at predetermined intervals or according to prescribed criteria and intended to reduce the probability of failure or the degradation of the functioning and the effects limited.

It has three types Running maintenance Scheduled maintenance Shut down maintenance

RUNNING MAINTENANCE

Running maintenance includes those maintenance activities that are carried out while the machine or equipment is running. Example lubrication, adjustment of nuts and screws, tightening of loose nut and bolts.
SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE

Scheduled Maintenance is any variety of scheduled maintenance to an object or item of equipment. Specifically, Planned Maintenance is a scheduled service visit carried out by a competent and suitable agent, to ensure that an item of equipment is operating correctly and to therefore avoid any unscheduled breakdown and downtime. Good example of PM program is car maintenance. After so many kilometres or miles oil should be changed, parts renewed.
SHUT DOWN MAINTENANCE

It is a set of preventive maintenance activities that are carried out when the production line is in total stoppage situation. These are performed generally after three or six months. These involve the inspection of plant items which are known or suspected to occur.

CORRECTIVE MAINTENANCE
In this type, actions such as repair, replacement, or restore will be carried out after the occurrence of a failure in order to eliminate the source of this failure or reduce the frequency of its occurrence. It also includes the different types of actions like typical adjustment of redesign equipment. The difference between corrective maintenance and preventive maintenance is that for the corrective maintenance, the failure should occur before any corrective action is taken. Types of corrective maintenance Breakdown maintenance

BREAKDOWN MAINTENANCE

It is an emergency based policy in which the plant or equipment is operated until it fails and then it is brought back into running condition by repair. The maintenance staff locates any mechanical, electrical or any other fault to correct it immediately. It is feasible for the small factories where There are few types of equipment. Machine and equipments are simple and does not require any specialist. Where sudden failure does not cause any serious financial loss.

PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE
As the names implies it involves the prediction of the failure before it occurs, identifying the root cause for those failures symptoms and eliminating those causes before they result in extensive damage of the equipment. Type of maintenance performed continuously or at intervals according to the requirements to diagnose and monitor a condition or system. Also called condition based maintenance.

UNPLANNED MAINTENANCE
Maintenance action which is carried out without any fore thoughts or prior planning is called unplanned maintenance. Emergency maintenance is one of the examples of unplanned maintenance. In this type of maintenance the maintenance action is executed with the help of all available maintenance resources in least possible time, without any major time lag. Examples are gas leakage in chemical plant, fire hazards, breakdown of boiler, turbine etc.

CLASSIFICATION MAINTENANCE PROBLEM BASED ON TIME SPAN

Maintenance problem which are carried out in a short period of time are known as short run production system. It may be hourly, daily, weekly and monthly. Hourly- inspection of correct lubricant, level of coolant, sharpness of cutting tool. Daily- cleaning of machine, tightening of nuts, correcting cooling, inspection of various indicators, minor adjustment of parts. Weekly- Major Adjustment, lubrication, tightening of parts. Monthly- checking for insulation, corrosion, safety guards, checking of worn-out and distorted parts.

KANSAI MULTI-NEEDLE MACHINES

Kansai is a Japanese company that manufactures multineedle double chain stitch machines for purposes like attaching elastic, attaching waist band, attaching line tapes which is ideal for underwear, sportswear, ladies clothes etc. There are up to 2-33 needles available.

MAINTENANCE OF KANSAI MACHINE (BASED ON TIME SPAN)

DAILY MAINTENANCE
Machines should be blown off every day to remove lint and trash. Remove lint and dust from the thread passages. To check whether needle is correctly set and not damaged. Check to see that the machines are being lubricated regularly. Oil levels should be checked daily and additional oil added if necessary. Using compressed air, which has a straw (shown in red above) to direct air to a desired spot, blow out lint and loose threads.

WEEKLY MAINTENANCE
If compressed air is used, make sure the air system is regulated properly and has humidity dryers, filters and lubricator in the air lines. Check Machines for wear on critical moving parts Check for shake in needle bar due to worn needle bar bushings Check for excessive movement in stitch forming devices, etc. Check condition of critical screws Check for missing screws Check the thread stands are in proper condition and the top eyelets are oriented properly. Thread stand eyelets are smooth and not grooved or damaged. Cones are held in a vertical stationary position Check to make sure the feed dog are not broken or damaged Check to see that the cutting knives are sharp and are trimming properly. This can be checked by placing a single end of thread between the knives and observing if the thread is cut by the knives Check for defective screws that are difficult to tighten properly

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE
Check for rusted areas due to excessive moisture in production area. Machine eyelets and guides are smooth and not grooved, rusted or damaged Check the condition of the tension disc, if worn out, should be replaced. Check condition of mechanics tools to see that they are being maintained properly. Check the looper points for sharp surfaces or burrs. Observe excessive wear of loopers Check to make sure loopers are shaped properly according to original factory condition.

LUBRICATION OF KANSAI MACHINE

Use Kansai special genuine oil To extend machine life, be sure to replace the oil after the first 250 hours of operation. Clean the filter element every six months. If just a little or no oil flows out from the nozzle with the proper amount of oil in the machine, check the filter element. To clean the filter element, remove oil reservoir. Before installing new cams, be sure to grease the cam grooves.

CLEANING THE MACHINE

At the end of each day, remove the presser foot and the needle plate and then clean the slots of the needle plate and the area around the feed dogs.

STORAGE OF PARTS AND EQUIPMENT

To ensure that spare parts and equipment remain in good condition and last for a long time they should be stored properly. Stored tools and equipment will be easy to find when needed. Some parts of the machine should always be kept in the inventory in case of breakdown of machine like needles, bobbin cases, nuts and bolts, tension guides so that they can be replaced easily. A record of all the spare parts should be maintained, causes of machine breakdown due to which parts were replaced.

PARTS OF KANSAI MACHINE TO BE KEPT AS SPARE PARTS

Thread tension discs Needle bar and needles Feed dog Pressure foot Motor Looper Pulley belt Criticals nuts and screws