Common Handloom product
2.25 Handloom Awards
National awards are as below
Sant Kabir Award – for weavers who made some innovative product
National award (Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay & National Merit Certificate) for Handloom weavers
National award (Design development)
National award (Marketing of Handloom products)
West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh are a few states with schemes to award weavers.
Following challenges with the percentage of agreed handloom weavers in Orissa were observed on a survey of 201 participants.
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112 Shortage of raw material, ineffective co-operative government machinery, and infrastructure bottleneck challenges are faced by more than 90% of weavers in Orissa, as shown in Table 2.26. It is also found that hank yarn is sold at a high price to individual weavers than to master weavers to stop entrepreneurship skills or self-employment in Orissa. Weavers could Table 2.26: Selected challenges faced by handloom weavers with % of agreed handloom weavers[32]
Challenges faced by weavers % of agreed weavers
Ineffective co-operative system and ineffective government machinery
91%
Exploitation by the master weaver and the middle man 33%
Shortage of raw material 100%
Lack of working capital 71%
Infrastructure bottleneck 90%
Lack of product diversification 6%
Competition from the power loom sector 42%
not weave with ornamentation as designed fabric due to proper infrastructure. Warping is challenging in the traditional method in the rainy season and requires ample open space [32].
It is also found that weavers who have adopted power looms did not achieve the desired result due to a lack of electricity and infrastructure for pre and post-weaving activities. 89%
of weavers feel that the handloom can survive with its unique design capability over the power loom[32].
Seating system
A literature review is done considering the ‘adjustable chair design’ keyword through a keyword search strategy. 561 articles were found, but only 37 were found relevant to this topic for review. Research on seating systems has considered the following design variables, as shown in Table 2.27.
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113 Table 2.27: Selected seat components in bold and design variables for the seat for a weaver of
handloom
Seat component Design variable in the seat
Seat pan Height, width, length, angle, contour
Lumbar support Height, Depth, Contour
Foot rest Height, angle
Table 2.28: Indian anthropometric data of selected design variables for the seat of a handloom weaver
Anthropometric variable Male Female
95
percentile 5
percentile 95
percentile 5
percentile
Sitting height 893 757 809 698
Eye height, sitting 805 678 731 574
Acromion height, sitting 608 484 558 462
Elbow height, sitting 220 158 265 124
Knee height, sitting 567 497 520 462
Popliteal height, sitting 471 380 441 365
Hip breadth, sitting 405 272 429 259
Buttock to knee length, sitting 615 489 585 459
Buttock to popliteal length, sitting 512 399 494 384
Maximum body breadth 482 379 449 319
Abdominal depth 327 227 270 201
Omphalion height, (sitting) 221 154 260 165
Anthropometric body dimensions of India were selected based on the design variables of required seat components for the weaver of handloom in Table 2.28.
The anthropometric variable of seat design is shown below in Figure 2.56 showing each variable.
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114 Figure 2.56. Anthropometric measures for seat design
In Figure 2.56, all the representation belongs to each number is given below in Table 2.29.
Table 2.29: Dimensional representation of Figure 2.56 1 Sitting height 2 Eye height 3 Shoulder height 4 Elbow rest height 5 Thigh clearance
6 Popliteal height (Stool height) 7 Knee height
8 Buttock – Popliteal length 9 Hip breadth
10 Knee to Knee breadth
A subjective framework for seat comfort based on a heuristic multi-criteria decision-making technique and anthropometry was developed for automobile seat comfort based on feedback by users [68]. Automobile seating is designed for sitting, putting brake, operating the accelerator, and handling steering by the driver. The driver uses hand and leg both during driving, but it is not in a regular dynamic pattern like a weaver does in a handloom. Seat-back
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115 angle, seat-bottom angle and foam density, height above the floor, and pressure of armrests are the affecting factor in seating posture. Seat length and width should be between 35cm to 40cm. The seat height should be less than the distance from knee to feet. A seat bottom posterior backward inclination of 5 degrees is preferable but should not exceed 0-10 degrees.
135 degrees of thigh trunk angle is a neutral position for tension in the thigh muscles. The optimum seat-back inclination is 110 degrees in a normal sitting posture [69]. The backrest should have an adjustment in both vertical and horizontal planes for proper lumbar support [70]. Seat-back inclination range of 110 - 120 degrees is better when the seat is subjected to vibration, especially for operators who work for a long time. Also, these effects can be minimized by attenuating seat and seat material [71]. Range of seat-back angle 95 – 120 degrees found in bus and airplane, but a train seat was found till 145 degrees. Seat pan angles are 11-16 degrees in buses, 5 to 7 degrees in an airplane, and 10 degrees on the train [72].
The adjustable height range of the seat pan should be 40cm to 47cm from the floor based on Indian anthropometric data [73].
Although the chair has the adjustment facility, weavers lack adjustment knowledge and the importance of doing it [74]. The direction of hand movement significantly affects shoulder strength when working at or above shoulder level. The optimum position that maximizes shoulder strength is vertically downwards [75]. The optimum and preferred hip joint angle is 79-130 degrees, knee joint range is 84-147 degrees. Similarly, optimum and preferred elbow, ankle, and shoulder joint ranges are 80-167 degrees, 77-130 degrees, and 0-63 degrees, respectively. The optimum or preferred neck flexion angle is 33-66 degrees, and the wrist range is 133-206 degrees [76]. Also, it should be noted that the pedal position far under the workstation is preferred for leg comfort [77]. One researcher checked differences in pressure sensitivity of the body area in contact with the seat and found that the area of the seat touching the shoulder is more sensitive than lower down the back and the area between the shoulders [78]. The differing sensitivity in the buttock and thigh areas are essential factors along with anthropometry data of the regional body dimensions during seat design. Height adjustment is a crucial design variable in the prolonged use of a seat [79]. The concave surface under ischial tuberosities in the seat pan area with the downward angle in the front of 18 cm and a maximum 8-degree forward inclination angle has improved seating comfort than the plain seat pain area [80]. Previous studies indicated that flat or rearward sloping seats promote lumbar kyphosis, while forward sloping seats preserve the lumbar lordosis;
therefore, forward sloping seats are popular among researchers to study [81].
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116 Pre weaving activity plays a critical role in weaving as the output of pre weaving is input for weaving. The warping drum and creel is to be designed in sheet metal to synchronize between pre-weaving and post weaving activities properly. Earlier, this process was very tedious. Warp yarns were lying on the ground, requiring much space to do this activity.
Therefore, yarn wind directly from the hank to the warp beam.
Primary finding of literature is all about necessity of pre-weaving, improvement of handloom productivity, lower energy requirement, material suitable for implementing automation, design for manufacturing, assembly and dis assembly, controlling picks per minute by adjusting take-up motion
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