Manual on Quality Assurance for Khadi Prof. R. B. Chavan and his team Dept. of Textile Technology, IIT Delhi and MGIRI, Wardha Jointly prepared by KVIC and IIT, New Delhi Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Industrialization A Collaborative Project of KVIC & IITD Maganwadi, Wardha-442 001 CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 QUALITY ASSURANCE NORMS FOR KHADI 15 3 ESTIMATION OF STATISTICAL PARAMETERS 34 RELATED TO KHADI 4 TEST EQUIPMENTS 50 5 TEST METHODS 54 6 TECHNOLOGY OF KHADI PRODUCTION 109 7 PROCESS MONITORING AND CONTROL 123 8 TRAINING 169 9 MARKING, CODING AND PACKAGING OF 172 SAMPLES 10 APPENDIX 176 FOREWORD I am glad to know that the Manual on Quality Assurance for Khadi jointly prepared by KVIC and IIT, New Delhi, is being circulated for wider consultation and field-implementation. This is the most important exercise of our efforts at Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Rural Industrialization, Wardha. From its very inception, Khadi movement led by Mahatma Gandhi has been extremely conscious about the Quality-Assurance of its various products. It was felt recently that these efforts need to be backed up by latest professional technical input. Hence, Prof. R. B. Chavan, IIT Delhi was requested to lead an expert team to prepare a comprehensive manual for Khadi sector. Technical experts from KVIC and its institutional network were fully involved in this exercise. The manual covers the various aspects of Quality standards which a customer expects all the time. It is a manual for Khadi institutions as well as the Khadi Technical Staff for improving the quality standards of Khadi. The objectives of training envisaged in this manual, is the basic inputs for improving the Quality standards. A product which comes to the market should always specify the details of products. This is clearly indicated in the marking or coding of sample which enables the customer to identify the product. The chapter on process control of hand-spun yarn is specially designed to take care of quality of Khadi at the first stage itself. I hope that the present manual would be useful to all those engaged in the production and sale of Khadi or willing to take up Khadi activities. Khadi sector has the advantage of very strong and dedicated network of hundreds of Khadi institutions led by veteran khadi experts, I am sure they will use this manual in a professional manner. I would extend my thanks to the members of expert committee for Quality Assurance of Khadi and specially Prof. R.B.Chavan and his team, Dept. of Textile Technology, IIT Delhi and MGIRI, Wardha who took all pains for bringing out the manual, KVIC officials and experts involved in this task deserve my appreciation for this accomplishment. Mumbai 29th August, 2003 (Dr. MAHESH SHARMA) CHAIRMAN, KVIC PREFACE Manufacture of khadi fabrics is considered to be heritage based production activity. Being based on human skill, it provides livelihood to a large section of the population. Although heritage based technologies have longer life compared to science-based technologies, they are faced with challenges on and off. The globalization process through World Trade Organization is one such challenge the khadi sector is presently facing. Due to this the production and sale of khadi is dwindling, posing a serious threat to its employment generation capacity. Due to stiff competition from mass-produced fabrics being available from India and foreign countries, the attraction of khadi is decreasing day by day. If no timely action is taken, there is danger that the khadi production may reduce to negligible level. One of the ways to protect the khadi production is to provide Quality Assurance inputs so that quality khadi is produced to meet the requirements of the customers. The preparation of Quality Assurance Manual for Khadi is one of the steps in this direction. Khadi yarn needs much improvement in terms of consistency in count, strength, uniformity, appearance etc. Poor quality of yarn results in poor performance in looms, poor fabric appearance and inferior fabric properties. Also the dimensions of fabric change to an unacceptable level after the first wash. There are also serious complaints of colour fading of dyed and printed khadi. This has resulted in a general notion that khadi essentially is a low quality fabric. Although no one desires to make khadi equivalent to mill fabric, but there is considerable scope to improve the quality of khadi with the retention of its specific characteristics. For this purpose a system comprising of a set of procedures is required for ensuring quality production. This would need objective evaluation of essential properties of fibre, yarn and fabric and also the fastness properties of dyed and printed khadi to keep the entire production process under control. It was thought that the objective evaluation to maintain the quality would be possible if there are norms available for comparison, which are achievable under practical working conditions. In the present manual, attempts have been made to provide guidelines for selection of cotton fibres depending on their fibre characteristic to produce yarn of desired count group, quality norms for NMC yarn of cotton, muslin and polyvastra of different count groups are suggested on the basis of experimentally tested values of yarn samples collected on all India basis and carefully analyzing the test results. Similarly the constructional parameters of most popular varieties of khadi fabrics and the corresponding reed counts based on warp cover factor, Punjam and ends per 100cm for fabric of medium construction mentioned in the book “Khadi Mein Naya Nap Taul” authored by Shri Dwarkanath Lele. Spinning and weaving productivity data as achieved under actual working conditions are given. The norms on important fastness properties of dyed and printed khadi are suggested. One of the major contributions of the manual is the chapter on process control in spinning, weaving and chemical processing which covers the information on common faults, their reasons of generation and possible remedies. A list of essential test equipments and test procedure for important quality parameters are given. Brief information is provided on training, marking, coding and packing. Appendix includes formats for reporting test results, conversion tables, selected mathematical calculations, list of laboratories providing testing facilities, list of charkha manufacturers etc. Textile production including khadi is complex phenomenon due to involvement of large number of processes starting from fibre to finished fabric. It is worth mentioning here that the quality and productivity norms for Indian textile industry were prepared based on the results of 40 years of R & D and consultancy work carried out by Textile Research Associations. This only indicates that evolution of norms is a slow process and has to be evolved over a period of long duration. The evolution of norms is also a continuous process; therefore, it is necessary to revise the norms periodically on the basis of progressive changes. The khadi group at IIT Delhi under the aegis of KVIC sponsored project undertook the work on preparation of Quality Assurance Manual for Khadi about a year back. For this purpose an expert committee consisting of experts from Department of Textile Technology, IIT Delhi, KVIC and from selected khadi institutions was constituted. The evolution of quality norms for yarn and fabric are based on the careful analysis of the test results for various parameters. All the aspects relevant to quality, productivity and the various chapters included in the manual were extensively discussed in the expert committee meetings followed by open discussions during the two-days workshops held at Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Industrialization (MGIRI) and Khadi Gramodyog Prayog Samitee, Ahemedabad. The workshops were attended by large number of participants from khadi institutions on all India basis. The present manual is the out come of such extensive discussions of the expert committee members and the unanimous decisions taken during the meetings. The khadi group at IIT Delhi is totally aware that the manual is not complete in all respects. The completeness of the manual is also not expected in such a short time. The only satisfaction is that the beginning has been made in this direction and it is hoped that the manual would get updated periodically as and when additional data related to quality is available. It is envisaged that one of the major tasks of implementation of quality norms in khadi sector would be to educate the existing staffs at KVIC and khadi institutions. For this purpose it would be essential to organize exhaustive training programmes on all India basis imparting training to managerial and technical staffs of KVIC and khadi institutions. Training of spinning and weaving operators would also be essential. It would also be good idea to involve the technical staff of khadi vidyalayas in these training programmes. Successful implementation of quality assurance in khadi sector would depend on the careful planning of such training programmes by KVIC, khadi institutions and establishment of quality laboratories with essential test equipments and employment of qualified quality control staffs in khadi institutions. The manual is written in English. However, it would be essential to do authentic translation in regional languages for better understanding of the manual. The khadi group at IIT Delhi is grateful to KVIC for sponsoring the project and providing an opportunity for us to work for technologically neglected khadi sector. This has also given us an opportunity to fulfill to some extent our social obligation towards society. In fact it is vision of KVIC chairman, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, who has shown keen interest in involving IIT faculty in this task. IIT group is also thankful to the CEO, Dy CEO (S&T), Dy CEO (Khadi), Director (S&T), Director (Khadi), Project Manager (CSP, Hazipur), Director (Khadi Co-ordination) for their cooperation whenever needed in the completion of this manual.