Man to Machine Ratio (MMR) in Garments Industry

Man-to-Machine Ratio (MMR) is an important KPI factor in the Garments Industry. We need to know MMR for many reasons like cost control, manpower control, operation control, and a few other reasons. The target of MRR is always to keep it as minimum as possible. I mean a garments factory’s MRR ratio is 1.95: 1, and the target can be 1.70: 1 to improve overall operational efficiency.

What is Man to Machine Ratio (MMR) in Garments Industry?

Man-to-Machine Ratio (MMR) is defined as the total workforce in a factory to the total number of operational sewing machines. The reduction of Man to Machine Ratio is increase operational efficiency in the garments industry.

Types of MMR: Two types of MMR calculation we see in the garments industry; direct and indirect.

1. Direct MMR: If a factory has only production-related departments (Cutting, Sewing, Maintenance, Quality & IE) then this ratio is low and it’s called direct MMR.
2. Indirect MMR: If a factory includes supporting departments like Design & Development, Sampling to finishing to shipment, and documentation then this ratio is high and it’s called indirect MMR.

Why do we need to know MMR?

1. MMR can give an indication of the total investment that the company is doing in people for each machine of a factory.
2. MMR analysis is done to control Overhead Costs.
3. We can reduce manpower by seeing MMR.
4. The garments industry does manpower planning by MMR.
5. MMR gives a clear report on Machine vs Manpower.

How to Calculate Man to machine ratio?

MMR calculation is very easy. To Calculate or measure Man Machine Ratio (MMR) of a factory – Just find how many employees are there (including all manpower). And then, count how many sewing machines are there being used. You can consider only operation machines that are being used in the last 3 months (for data analysis month).

The formula for MMR calculation= Available workmen/ Available operational machines

MRR Calculation:

• Total machine use in production= 320
• Total production related Manpower (workmen)= 593
• Total Manpower including supporting departments (Sampling to delivery) = 745
• Direct MMR= 593/320= 1.85: 1
• Indirect MRR= 745/320= 2.33: 1

I Hope, this content gives clear information regarding Man to Machine Ratio (MMR) in Garments Industry. If you have any queries, please write in the comment box.

Ref:https://www.technopak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KPIs-in-Apparel-Manufacturing.pdf