INFORMATION SYSTEM MODEL 
FOR ORDER TRACKING IN 
TEXTILE INDUSTRY 
By 
W.P.D.P PERERA 
A dissertation submitted to the Department of 
Textile & Clothing Technology of the 
University of Moratuwa in partial fulfillment of 
the requirements for the degree of 
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN TEXTILE 
AND CLOTHING MANAGMENT 
Department of Textile & Clothing Technology 
University Of Moratuwa 
Sri Lanaka 
January 2005 
University of Moratuwa 
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$2118 
T h e w o r k p r e s e n t e d i n the thes i s in part or w h o l e h a s not b e e n s u b m i t t e d for 
any other a c a d e m i c qualif ication at any inst i tut ion 
Supervisor (X>H..;3amio<A C H 3 A V A * A Y A * a ) 
Candidate (Damitha Perera) 
ABSTRACT 
The project is aimed at finding out the problems in the information flow and 
as well as the crder tracking in the textile industry, and to suggest a computer 
integrated information system model in order to rectify the problems in 
information flow and to improve the way of order tracking. 
The current status of information flow and the order tracking of the industry 
was studied in detail by using information collected from varied sources. 
Different techniques such as interviewing the workers in different 
departments of the organization, direct observing of the current system and 
collecting the related documents from the industry and from the publications. 
After analyzing the current system, it is found that the whole order tracking 
and the information flow depend on one document called 'Route card', which 
consist of all the details of the order. Also it is found that some of the main 
disadvantages of this process are misplacing data, inaccurate data and long 
processing time to get information. 
Finally, a new system is proposed mainly to overcome the major problem 
identified and to build and improve the strong order tracking system for the 
industry. This model replaces the old traditional 'Route card' to a Barcode 
which contain all the details of the order. Each workstation would have a 
barcode scanner along with the PC and once the operator scanned the 
barcode, the system will automatically generate all the necessary fields 
required by new route card and it will display on the monitor at the particular 
workstation. All these data and details distributed among the departments 
using a Local Area Networking system with Client Server Architecture. 
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 
1. Introduction 01 
Textile finishing process-methods and machineries 05 
2.1. Stitching 07 
2.2. Singing and desizing 07 
2.2.1. Singing Process 07 
2.2.2. Types of machines use for singing 08 
2.3. Desiz ing 09 
2.4. Rotation 09 
2.5. Scouring 09 
2.5.1. Machine use for scouring 10 
2.6. Bleaching 11 
2.6.1. Sequence of bleaching process 12 
2.6.2. Machine use for bleaching 13 
2.7. Mercerizing 14 
2.7.1. Benefits of the mercerization 14 
2.7.2. Machine use for mercerizing 15 
2.8. Dyeing 16 
2.9. Finishing 16 
2.10. Folding and Packing 17 
2.11. Information system developing 17 
System and requirement analysis 19 
3.1. Requirement determination 19 
System Analysis 22 
4.1. Process model ing 22 
4.2. Developing DFD's 22 
4.3. Requirements Catalog 26 
4.4. Business system options 28 
System Des ign 31 
5.1 Logic modeling 31 
Data model ing 35 
Developing forms and reports 43 
7.1. Distributing the system 47 
7.2. Hardware and Software limitations 51 
Conclusion and recommendation 52 
References 
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L I S T O F F I G U R E S 
Figure Page 
Figure 1.0 Current information flow between the Head office and 
Factory Operations 03 
Figure 2.1 Sequence of process in cotton fabric mill 06 
Figure 2.2 Two burner gas singing machine 08 
Figure 2.3 Plant for scouring 10 
Figure 2.4 Sequence of bleaching process 12 
Figure 2.5 Cross sectional view of bleaching machine 13 
Figure 2.6 Continuous bleaching machine 13 
Figure 2.7 Plant for continuous bleaching range 14 
Figure 2.8 Entry of cotton fabric to the mercerization machine 15 
Figure 2.9 The system development life cycle 18 
Figure 3.1 Route card 21 
Figure 4.1 Context diagram 23 
Figure 4.2 Detailed D F D 25 
Figure 5.1 E-R diagram for the tracking system 36 
Figure 5.2 Detailed D F D with associate attribution 42 
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Figure 5.3 New E-route card 
Figure 5.4 User login screen 
Figure 5.5 LAN system 
Figure 5.6 File/server architecture 
Figure 5.7 Client/server architecture 
L I S T O F T A B L E S 
Table Page 
Table 1.0 Approximate composition of raw cotton 11 
Table 2.0 Requirements Catalog 26 
Table 3.0 Deterrnining project benefits 29 
Table 4.0 Determining project costs 29 
Table 5.0 Cost benefit analysis sheet for tracking system project 30 
Table 6.0 Data Dictionaries for the related Tables 39 
Table 7.0 Difference between the file and client servers 50 
Table 8.0 Hardware and software limitations 51 
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
I would like to thank my parents, my wife and to my sister for helping and 
encouraging me to write this thesis. My thanks are also extended to Dr. 
Janaka Wijayanayaka (University of Kelaniya), Mr. D. P. D. Dissanayake 
(University of Moratuwa) and Mr. Hari Venkatesan (CEO-Kuruwita 
Manchester Textile Mills Ltd.) who gave me their advice and assistance during 
the preparation of this thesis. Also I am indebted to my colleague Niranjan 
Perera for helping me to write when I was plagued with self-doubts. 
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