Anita Racine
Makes Recommendations for In-House Training Programs

Are you considering an in-house program for sewing machine operators or modular manufacturing training? Are you always looking for ways to improve your existing in-house training program? Professor Anita Racine's research may be of interest to you. Ongoing training for current employees and entry training for new employees are critical for the competitiveness of New York State apparel and sewn products manufacturers. Appropriate content and teaching strategies as well as communication and encouragement are important in developing and improving in-house training programs.

Professor Racine conducted research at the Textile/Clothing Technology Corporation's demonstration factory. Better known as [TC]2 and located in Cary , North Carolina , the demonstration factory has two “cells,” or team modules, set up to teach the modular method of production. Professor Racine studied the [TC]2 set-up by interviewing and observing the operators, supervisors, and other employees. The [TC]2 modular manufacturing cells as well as computer simulations and videos are used for training seminars, providing hands-on modular manufacturing experiences for participants. Findings included:

• Training delivered by an employee who knows the equipment or system well is often more effective than training by outside consultants. This suggests that train-the-trainer programs, where your potential trainers are taught new technologies or systems and then teach others, will work well for many firms.

• Information delivered in short blocks accompanied by practice on the floor equipment in the job setting is very effective. This allows the workers to learn a concept, apply it, and test it in a real work situation with the actual equipment.

• Workers should be trained for more than one function, operation, or machine. This crosstraining makes workers more flexible and encourages team work in a modular cell or traditional bundle system.

• Educational technologies such as interactive multimedia, computer simulations, and distance learning options are all used by [TC]2 and are appropriate for use in individual apparel factories.

Professor Racine teaches courses in apparel design and pattern making, including computer-aided design (CAD). Her expertise extends to garment appearance and its relationship to pattern shaping and grain line at the sample-making stage before production. She also advises the Cornell Design League, a student apparel design club.

Some questions you might ask Anita Racine:

• How can I improve the aesthetic appearance of garments by correcting shaping and grainline problems during sample making--before production?

• How can the reasonably priced AutoCAD software program be used to design garment patterns from my existing block patterns or basic slopers?