Useful Formulas for Industrial Engineers

12 Useful Formulas for Industrial Engineers (Poster)

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I love formulas for mathematical calculations. Because a formula helps me getting the result quicker and it specifically mentions what all data I need to collect to find result of the desired thing.

In garment manufacturing, industrial engineers, production managers and planners measure factory performance on daily basis. Performances are measured using standard formulas. I guess you are already using such formulas for calculating performance.

Don't you think, it would be a good idea to have a poster of commonly used formulas in your work space? A poster is very useful tool for many reasons. I have made one poster for you and sharing it with you.

Following are the common formulas those are used by garment industry professionals.

Formula#1:

Daily Line Target = (Total working minutes in a day X No. of operators in a line X Line eff%)/Garment SAM

Formula#2: 

Individual operator target = (Total working minutes in a day X line efficiency %)/Operation SAM

Formula#3: 

Individual operator Efficiency% = (units produced X operation SAM X 100)/Total minutes worked

While you are developing skill matrix for sewing operators, you need measure individual performance. Secondly, if you plan to start performance based incentive scheme for individual operator, measuring individual operator efficiency is essential.

Formula#4: 

Line Efficiency% = (Line output X garment SAM X 100)/(Number of operators X minute worked in day)

Note: include helpers and worker doing manual operations in case you have included SAM of those operations.

Formula#5: 

Machine Productivity: Line output / No. of machine used

Machine productivity is measured in production per machine per shift day.

Formula#6: 

Labor Productivity = Line output / No. of total manpower (operators +helpers)

Formula#7: 

Line WIP (work in process) = Total pieces lie on the line for a particular order line
WIP of the line of an order is equal to Total pieces loaded till date minus Total piece out till date.

Formula#8: 

Standard Time = (Observed time X observed rating) + Allowances

Allowances – Relaxation allowance, contingency allowance

Formula#9: 

Machine utilization% = (Actual Machine running Time X 100) / Time available

Formula#10: 

Cost per minute = Total cost incurred in labor / Total available working minute in a day X no. of labors

Formula#11: 

Production Cost pet unit = Total cost incurred in production in a day/ no. of garment produced in a day

Formula#12: 

Man to Machine ratio = Total manpower of the factory / Total no. of sewing machines (utilized)

Poster: 12 useful performance measuring formulas (Click to enlarge the image).

suitable for printing and hanging near your work space when you need to see it most.

Note: Our purpose is to provide you correct information. Still if you find any formula that is not correct you may comment in the below comment box.

Meaning of SAM in Garment Industry

What is the Meaning of SAM in Garment Industry?

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As defined in the book Introduction to Work Study, ILO,

SAM is the time value arrived at for a task based on the average rate of output which qualified workers will naturally achieve without over exertion provided that they know and adhere to the specified method and provided that they are motivated to apply themselves to their work. 

Here SAM stands for Standard Allowed Minute.


In garment industry, specifically in production SAM is used for measuring work. In the factory work study department (also know as Industrial Engineering department) measure and calculate SAM for sewing operation using standard calculation method. Read 'How to calculate SAM of the garment' 

SAM is used many ways directly and indirectly. Some of those are

• Factory as well as individual operator performance is measured by means of SAM
• Labor cost and associated cost ratios are measured by SAM 
• Operators payroll and incentive amount is calculated based on earned SAM
• Latest production scheduling systems like line balancing system and performance measuring systems use SAM as one of the primary parameters. 

An organised garment manufacturing company can not think about managing and controlling shop floor without using SAM of the garment and  individual operations. Even apparel buyers do negotiation of garment manufacturing price based on garment SAM. 

To derive most appropriate SAM value of a garment, factories use PTS based systems. Standard Time is also derived from time study method.