About the Practice
Problem Statement:

Labour problem in rope making

Detail:

Shri. Pandiyan, 36, has been involved in his family profession of rope making. His family members have been involved in this profession for the last 2 generations. Pandiyan has not been to school and has from childhood been involved in rope making. Over the last 17 years he did ropemaking by hand. He had an occasion to visit Singampuneri village and saw a new machine used for rope making. At that time it cost Rs. 2000/- and he didnt have much financial backing for purchase of the machine. However he observed all the parts of the machine and on his return to his village he designed the same machine model with just Rs.350. He has been using these machines for another 6-7 years. This hand operated system has one set of rotating machines viz., Main machine and opposite small machine. Main machine should be rotated by using an adult labour or experienced person while the opposite machine can be rotated with the help of anybody or even children. Sri. Pandian has 2 children. His wife and elder son were involved as family labourers for rope making. His son usually rotates the opposite machine for the purpose of finishing with strong twining. He decided to send his son to school after attaining 6 years of age. So he has to employ another labour outside his family and has to pay labour cost of Rs.40 per day. Unable to bear this expense he has been thinking the idea of automatic rotator instead of manual labour. After 1 year of thinking over this concept he hit upon the idea of fitting a "bearing ". This really served the purpose. Labour Saving Innovation: Fitting a bearing in the opposite side of main machine will replace a manual labour and this facility help automating rotation and twining of rope. Pandiyan initially tried using 20 big size bearing; this is useful for 2 wide rope making for 1/4 inch rope making the twining become difficult and changed this with10 bearing and finally 7-8 bearing for fine twining of rope. Ten bearing usually help twining 50 number standard fine thread; 1 bearing usually help twining 100 number standard thread. The cost of bearing mechanism involved only Rs.55 only. Yes it requires a bearing and welded wooden stick to hold. (The bearing is welded with 2 spikes obtained from bicycle and tied with the other end of the rope). Advantages: * This machine saves one labour * This machine is very simple which involve only Rs. 55 (replaces opposite machine which can cost Rs.500 - 1000). * It is useful for fine twining of thread (beyond 30 number fineness) compared to machine used rope making (upto 30 number fineness). Dissemination of Innovation: By seeing the advantages of the machine neighboring artisan approached him and he readily helped them in installation. So far 4 artisan have adopted this innovation viz., Sri. Ganesan & Sri. Mahalingam of Maharajapuram village,. Sri. Paraman of Suppulapuram village, sri. Sundaramurthy of Katrampatti village. The innovator feels that he didnt give any publicity and so many families involved in such profession may not aware of this model. Therefore greater scope is there for dissemination and adoption of technology. Design Improvement in the Main Machine: The main machine is having bearing attached model type which is molded. If there is any damage occurs in the bearing then the entire mould part has to discard costing money and time. He has introduced small wheel models which help rotating but can be easily removed from the central wheel. Therefore any small repairs or damaged wheels alone removed keeping the main board as such. This is low cost, and easily maintained. Usually 6 bearings are fitted in the conventional main machine, and 2 bearings in opposite machine. Now the cost of main machine is Rs.300 instead of Rs.2000. This new innovation will not require major repairing cost but repairing is almost negligible. Film Rewinding Machine for Thread Winding: Once the thread or rope making is completed the finished thread will be winded manually by using of 100 metre thread. By using film rewinder (obtained from cinema theatre) he completed finishing his winding work within 15 minutes for the given length of 100 metre. Day to Day Survival and Social Work: Sri. Pandiyan nowadays finds difficult to market his ropes as many company made ropes are produced elsewhere. But still such hand worked ropes are preferred by some customers and therefore he takes orders of threads on weight basis. Such threads are useful for tying the bullocks, nose string of cattle and special woolen thread using human hair for aesthetic or religion purpose. From 50 kilo nylon thread he makes 1000 metre length of thread and earns Rs.500 per week by involving 2 labouerers i.e. him and his wife. Sri. Pandiyan wanted to promote one cooperative society by involving 50 rope making families. He expected Govts support for this cooperative endeavor. Due to lack of moral support from the local members he could not go further.


About the Innovator

Knowledge Provider / Innovator: Pandian
Address: Thambipatti Srivilliputhur Virudhunagar Tamil Nadu
City: Virudhunagar
State: Tamil Nadu
PIN Code 626123

Practice Details

Manufacturing Capacity: b) Design Support c) Sub-contracting e) Franchising
Problem Scale: Grave
News Link 5:


GIAN Reference: GIAN/UAL/1020
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