Today was day one for doing punch bags and it went slightly better than expected. I was there for a few hours and didn't offer much advice as I was monitoring what needs to change in order to improve the numbers. I was not about to interfere and make changes slowing things down as we are all learning still.
In just over 8 hours 75 bags were completed which is roughly one every 6 minutes and the order we have to complete is 550 punch bags of various sizes and weights.
The sand filling which is basically river sand filled into a tube weighing 8kg which run down the inside center of the bag before waste fabric is then compacted around this until you achieve your desired weight required.
The sand filled tubes should be prepared in advance so this is not part of the process and then you would require less man power. This still needs to be fine tuned and will have a system in place for the next orders, The tube itself could be slightly bigger with this one toady being 180mm in width and for the bigger bags a 300 mm tube would be far better. Each tube is double sealed and we are using a thickness of 120 micron to guarantee no splitting or leakage later on.
The guys are not used to production lines and packing stock to order is not the way to speed things up. Having everyone filling the same sized bags would be far quicker and what I will put in place tomorrow. I understand that they have 3 stores completed that can now be dispatched, but we have another 20 stores remaining who need their stock in store by Friday this coming week.
The textile waste sample that I collected yesterday will also increase the production line as this would literally be pouring the material into the bag by hand and packing it in firmly. The weight is already in the material and would not require pounding down which this material currently requires.
I am still amazed that these other companies have been doing this for years and the material they have all been using is not fit for purpose. There should be very little need for the wasted minutes spent compacting the material and as we all know labor is an expensive cost these days.
I have a budget in place and it is not about chasing a bigger profit, but rather offering a superior product whilst achieving profit. I have a few more purchases to make in order to make this tick over like clock work which will also increase the overall profitability.
The river sand I can purchase for less than half the price I am currently paying if I buy in bulk which the savings would cover all the labor costs and packaging materials used. I also need a conveyor belt system for filling the sand tubes and this should be in place within the next 4 weeks.
I do not find the overall quantity numbers challenging and will at some point really soon be supplying the entire county's needs. After that we need to see the costs of making our own skins and see how viable that would be. If not that is fine as I have now cornered the market on the waste textile fabric and after doing the research there is no other to be found locally like the one I have tied up.
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