YARN REALISATION

Dr HRM

 In the production economics of a

spinning mill, yarn realisation plays a
significant role.
To illustrate, in the prevailing cotton
cost and yarn selling price, even an
1% improvement in yarn realisation
would lead to a saving of Rs 20 lakhs
per year for a 30000 spindle mill
manufacturing 40s yarn.

 Besides controlling process wastes such as

blowroom and card droppings,
flat strips,
comber noil,
sweep waste and yarn waste,

equal emphasis should also be laid on the

control of reusable wastes (soft waste) such
as
lap bits,
sliver bits,
roving ends and pneumafil
roller waste.

This is because, apart from loss in production,

reprocessing of soft wastes involves extra handling and
deteriorates yarn quality.

 Establishment of norms for wastes is

a pre-requisite for a successful waste
control in a mill.
Yarn realisation (YR) is largely
governed by the level of trash in
cotton, expected yarn quality and
type of machinery.

Achievable yarn realisation can be

obtained using the following formulae
A. For mills reusing the entire usable
wastes in the same mixing

Where t = trash in mixing (%)

Wk = card waste (%)
Wc = comber noil (%)
Wh = yarn waste (%)
Wu = usable waste (%)

 For example,
For t = 3%, Wk = 7% and Wh = 0.5%,
The expected yarn realisation is 87%.
In the above case,
If the mill produces combed yarn with a noil
extraction of 18%, then the expected yarn
realisation will be 70.8%.
In both the cases, it is assumed that the
mill would reuse the usable wastes in the
same mixing.

B.For mills not reusing the usable

wastes in the same mixing

Where t = trash in mixing (%)

Wk = card waste (%)
Wc = comber noil (%)
Wh = yarn waste (%)
Wu = usable waste (%)

 For example,
For t = 3%, Wk = 7% and Wh = 0.5%,
The expected yarn realisation is 87%.
In the above case,
If the mill produces combed yarn with a
noil extraction of 18%, then the expected
yarn realisation will be 70.8%.
In both the cases, it is assumed that the
mill would reuse the usable wastes in the
same mixing.

NORMS FOR WASTES

Norms for different categories of wastes are summarized in Tables

1 and 2.

PROCESS WASTE
Blow room

Amount of waste extracted in blow room is mostly

determined by the trash level in cotton.
In modern blow room lines, greater importance is
attached to the opening of cotton than cleaning.
Hence, cleaning efficiency of about 60% in cottons with
high trash content and 50% in cottons with low trash
level can be considered to be quite satisfactory in these
lines.

Blow room

CONTI..

For good cleaning efficiency, the waste extracted

in blow room should be same as the trash in
mixing.
If, however, the cleaning efficiency achieved is less
than 50% 60%, then the total waste extracted
should also be low.
It should be ensured that the overall lint in waste is
no more than 40% in cottons with high amount of
trash and 50% for cottons with low level of trash.

Blow room

CONTI..

The expected lint loss can be

estimated using the following
formula:
t = trash in mixing (%)
t L = trash in lap (%)
Wb = waste extracted in blow room (%)
L = % lint in waste
Illustrative Examples
1. Trash in mixing : 3.5%
Trash in lap : 1.5%
Waste extracted : 3.2%
Calculate the lint loss in waste.
Refer equation (2),

Blow room

CONTI..

2) Trash in mixing : 5%
Trash in lap : 2%
Expected lint loss : 40%
Estimate the amount of waste to be extracted in blow room

Blow room

CONTI..

Presently, many mills are using Automatic Waste

Evacuation System (AWES) in blow room, cards
and combers, which removes wastes from these
machines either continuously or intermittently.
This system not only reduces the man power
required to collect and transport wastes but also
helps to control the incidence of fly and fluff
generation in these departments and improves
yarn quality, particularly short thick faults.

Blow room

CONTI..

In mills not equipped with filters in

blow room, a proper estimate of
gutter waste should be made, since
gutter cleaning is not done regularly
at the end of every month.
The estimate of gutter waste could
be made based on the quantum of
waste collected and number of days
the blow room has worked.

Cards
Waste extracted in cards is usually in the range of 4% to 7%
depending upon the type of card and mixings.
Between same type of cards and mixing, the waste %
should not vary more than 0.5% from the average.
The card waste is also governed by the cleaning efficiency
achieved in blow room.
Thus, while assessing the waste, combined waste extracted
in blow room and cards should be taken into account.
The combined cleaning efficiency will be generally in the
range of 90% to 98% with modern cards.
To illustrate,
for 4% trash in cotton and 0.12% trash in sliver, the
combined cleaning efficiency is 97%.

Combers
Generally, all cottons respond well to
combing for noil extraction up to 16%.
For levels beyond 16%, the law of
diminishing returns operates and the
improvement in yarn quality is not
commensurate with the additional
cost of production.

COMBERS

CONTI

Higher levels of waste should be extracted only in

such cottons where combing performance is satisfactory
or where the end use requires yarns of very high quality.

Under good working, for every 1% increase in

comber waste, yarn lea strength will increase by 1% and
evenness is expected to improve by 0.15 U%.

Variation in noil % between combers must be

maintained within 0.5% and between heads it must be
within 1.5%.

Yarn waste

Yarn waste in a spinning mill should not

normally exceed 0.1% with conventional cone
winding.

In the case of automatic cone winding, the

yarn waste generally varies from 0.5% in
winders fitted with magazine feed to 0.8% in
winders with auto bobbin feed system.

However, if the yarn under goes additional

processes in post spinning such as reeling,
doubler winding and TFO twisting/ring twisting,
the waste would be somewhat higher.

Yarn waste

CONTI..

A high incidence of yarn waste,

apart from leading to a loss of Rs
6 to Rs 15 per spindle per year
for every 0.1% waste, is an
indication of poor machinery
condition and maintenance, and
inappropriate work practices of
operatives.

Yarn waste

CONTI..

A number of factors such as

vibrating spindles,
spindles out of center,
soft cops,
oil stain on yarn,
improperly built cop bottom,
yarn left over in cops during winding
operatives using excess length while
piecing, leads to high yarn waste.

Sweep waste
Sweep waste in all the departments of a
spinning mill together should be within 1%.

A high sweep waste arises invariably due

to operatives throwing away the wastes
like roller waste, lap bits, sliver bits, roving
ends, etc. on the floor and generation of fly
and fluff.

Sweep waste conti.

The fly frame and ring frame tenters

should be provided with hip bags and
it should be ensured that the roller
waste and roving ends are deposited
in the bags after piecing the broken
ends.

Sweep waste conti.

Good waste, if any, should be picked

before sweeping instead of sorting
out the waste later.
A high price fetched for sweep waste
would give an indication of the
presence of good fibers in the waste.

INVISIBLE LOSS
Invisible loss in a spinning mill occurs due
to a number of factors such as short
fibers (fluff) escaping from the
departments, improper accounting of
wastes produced, weighment errors in
cotton purchased and wastes sold, excess
give away of yarn and inaccuracies in the
estimates of stock held in process.

INVISIBLE LOSS

conti.

Since it would be difficult to accurately assess the process

stock, it is suggested that the invisible loss be assessed
only once in 4 months for control purposes.
This will help in minimising the variation in invisible loss
due to errors in process stock estimate.
From the data compiled every month, a cumulative
average could also be taken for control purpose.

However, not much importance should be given for

estimates made from data less than 4 months.

INVISIBLE LOSS

conti.

To maintain the invisible loss within

0.5%, mill should also ensure that
moisture content in the finished
goods is at par with the level
prevailed in cotton at the time of
purchase.

USABLE WASTE

By exercising good control over

end breaks in various machines
material handling and storage and
work practices of operatives
a mill could maintain the usable
waste below 5%.

CONCLUSION
In many mills, there is good scope for improving yarn
realisation and reducing wastes.
The following 4 steps would be helpful to improve
yarn realisation.
Step 1: Calculate actual yarn realisation and different
categories of wastes
Step 2: Using the formulae given in this article,
estimate the expected yarn realisation for the existing
working conditions.

 Step 3: Compare the actual yarn realisation

with the expected value and actual wastes
with norms.
Step 4: Analyse the causes for deviation and
initiate corrective action. Create awareness
among the workers and technical staff about
the importance of waste control. Good
supervision and proper maintenance of
machinery would help to reduce the waste.