Apparel Manufacturing - An Overview Overview:

Apparel production, also known as garment production is a process where fabric is being converted into garments. The term apparel production is basically used when garments are manufactured in a factory. Traditionally apparel manufacturing factories has been divided into two sectors as domestic and export. A factory produces bulk quantity of garments for a style or design at a time. Prior to start production of an order factory needs to gone through some activities which is known as pre-production. Pre-production process includes sampling, costing, production planning, sourcing of raw material and production pattern making. Fabric cutting, printing, embroidery, sewing, thread trimming, washing, ironing, folding and packing are the production functions.

Pre-Production Processes in Garment Manufacturing

The processes that are done prior to start of bulk garment production are known as pre-production process. From sample development, approvals, research and development work for orders, testing of raw material to pre-production meeting are pre-production process. Pre-production processes are very important for the efficient production. A typical garment export house generally has following pre-production processes: Meeting with buyers in this stage designer of a manufacturing house shows their creations, latest designs to buyers. On other hand if buyer already had fixed design of a style and need few changes on it related to fit, fabrics or trims they discuss those thing with the merchandiser of the manufacturing unit.

Development of initial samples for the buyer- In this stage after receiving buyers concept or instructions on the new style, samples are made with available fabrics and trims Development of fabric sample, bit loom, print and embroidery artwork- fabric is developed as per the buyer requirement. Fabric development means sourcing of customer specific fabric with matching properties, dyed and finished for solid colors. For the solid color lap dip approval is very important process. Until lap dip sample is approved merchants re-submit lap dips. In case of yarn dyed fabrics merchants develop fabric sample with specified design, stripes or checks. These fabric samples called as Bit Loom. Other approvals such as print and embroidery artwork approval and color approval are done. It may be done later stage at time of pre-production. Costing of garment (complete cost as well as manufacturing cost) merchants prepare cost sheet with details cost break up such as raw material cost, manufacturing cost, overheads and margin. Costing is very a critical stage. Because whether a company will get order or not depends on their costing. If they garment cost is very high then manufacturer may lose the order and on other hand if factory keep their cost low, they will not earn profit from the order. Estimation of the garment cost should be done on data based. Pattern making, correction of pattern, pattern grading Pattern master prepares first fit pattern, then redevelop pattern adding buyer comments and rectification on fit sample. After fit approval pattern master grade pattern for size set samples only for specified sizes. Once order is ready for production they grade pattern for whole size range. Fit sample, size set sample making and approval from buyer- Each sample has certain purpose. Samples are made in sampling department and sent to buyer for approvals. Correction of fit samples according to buyer comments If sample is not approved or further work is recommended by buyer. Correction is done and re-submitted to buyer. Approval of fabric swatches, print colors, embroidery design, beadworks

Production planning, Material planning and line planning to start production on time and ship the order on time planning is must. Planning is needed for material sourcing, production capacity, line planning. Scheduling of jobs and responsibility is defined at this stage. Placing order for fabrics, trims, accessories and packing materials- Sourcing of raw material. Testing of fabrics and other raw materials physical properties are being tested for bulk fabric. This test can be done in in-house testing labs. Study of approved sample for operation break down, work content, critical operation and line setting. Also finding best ways for producing the garment most efficiently in the production stage. Pre-production meeting once pre-production (PP) sample is approved (also called sealer sample) and most of the trims are sourced, merchants or production planning department conduct pre-production meeting with production team, quality team and sourcing team. All important comments, procedures to be followed, dos and donts are discussed. Scheduling of PCD (planned cut date) and shipment date is announced to all teams.

Production Process Flow for Woven Garment Manufacturing

If you are new to the garment manufacturing, you may find it difficult how garments are actually made in a factory? After receiving of fabrics, raw materials are passed through various processes before it is ready for shipment to the buyers. Some processes are necessary, where few processes are done based on customer demand and style requirement. A detailed process flow is also important for production planning and Time and action calendar making. A single process flow does not fit for all orders. Like you may need printing or embroidery on the product or you may not. Buyer may ask for washing garments prior to finishing. Sometime they may not. In this article I am showing you a process flow that is commonly used for woven products manufacturing. I prefer to show it in a flow chart instead of explaining the same with words. In the below process flow chart, processes those are shown in main flow are necessary processes like, spreading, cutting, sewing, checking, pressing etc. Processes those are shown side column are done in case it is required.

SAMPLING:
Sampling is a process where factory develop garment samples according to buyer's specified design. This is also known as product development stage. Samples are required at various stages to get approval from buyer on a particular design. As per the development stages samples are named as Proto sample, Fit sample, Size set sample, Sales man sample, production sample, Top of production (TOP) sample and shipment sample. Broadly garment samples are categorized as development samples and production samples. Samples that is made in development stage are as following 1. Proto Sample 2. FIT sample 3. Salesman Sample/Photo shot Sample 4. Size set Sample 5. Pre-production Sample In production stage factory need to submit few more samples that includes 1. Top of Production Sample 2. Shipment Sample 1. Proto Sample: This samples are proto type of new design created by designers. This is the first sample in product development stage. Proto sample is made to communicate the design of a style or a line or to present garment structure. In proto samples fit and fabric detailing is not been considered. 2. FIT Sample: Once proto sample is approved, FIT is being made with actual measurement. Modification on the pattern is done to get desired fit of the garment. FIT is one of the most important factor to be considered during sample development. FIT sample is being tested on live model or Dress form for to verify garment fit and fall. 3. Salesman Sample: Salesman samples are made to put on display in the retail showroom. Salesman sample (SMS) are displayed for assessing customer's feedback and according to customers response buyers forecast demand of an particular style. Sales samples are made with actual fabric and trims and accessories. Buyer pays for salesman samples to the developer. 4. Size set Sample: The purpose of the size set is to check fit of the garment in different sizes. In this stage factory develops samples in multiple sizes. Generally, buyers ask size set sample in jump sizes, like S, L, XXL. Buyer check size set sample and give feedback to factory if anything need to be corrected. 5. Pre-production Sample: All the above samples are made in sampling department. Buyer wants pre-production sample (PP sample) to be made in actual production line, so that operators know what are they going to make. This sample is made with actual fabric, trims and accessories and made by sewing line tailors. PP sample must be approved by buyer or buying house merchants (technical persons) prior to proceeding actual production. 6. Top of Production Sample (TOP sample): Once production is online, few pieces is taken out in the middle of the production. Production pieces are sent to buyer as TOP sample. All buyers does not asked for TOP sample. Purpose is to cross-check whether factory is following PP sample specification or not. 7. Shipment Sample: When style is being finished and packed for shipment, 2-3 finished and packed pieces with all packing details are kept for future reference. Shipment sample is kept by factory merchants and buyer's merchant. The approved shipment is sent directly to warehouse and merchants at the buyer do not get garment out of the shipment. That is why they keep shipment sample for future reference.

C OSTING:

A business is all about making profit. So correct costing of a product before order finalization is very important. Costing of garment is the cumulative cost of raw materials, direct labors and direct and indirect overheads. After developing sample or directly receiving buyer's sample factory needs to send FOB (freight on board) price of the garment. To decide FOB of a garment factory makes cost sheet including raw material cost, total of direct labour costs of each processes, factory overhead. An FOB is the sum of garment cost, factory margin and taxes.

Garment CM cost estimation using SAM or SMV

n the clothing manufacturing, supplier gives final manufacturing cost to buyer prior to order confirmation. For that factory prepares cost sheet estimating costs in different cost heads. Cost heads like Fabric, Trims and Packing materials, Labor cost and Overheads. At costing stage, supplier only get one sample of the garment and specification of fabric and trims for the reference. For raw material cost suppliers directly take price quote from fabric and trim suppliers. For labor cost it is very important to estimate as near as it will be during actual production. The scientific method for estimating CM (Cut and make) cost of a garment involves following steps
1. Determine SAM of the garment (refer garment SAM calculation) 2. Calculate average line efficiency and

3. Calculate direct labor cost per minute

How to calculate the minute cost of the operator?

Formula: #1. Labor cost per minute = (Monthly salary of an operators/Total minutes available in the month) at 100% efficiency. But no line can perform at 100% efficiency, so labor cost per minute increases when line efficiency goes down. So correct way to calculate labor cost per minute is #2. Labor cost per minute = Total salary of the labors in a month / Total SAM produced by those labors in that month. Example: Operator monthly salary is INR 5000.00 Total available capacity per month (in minute) = 26 working days*8 hours/day*60=12,480 minutes So, per minute cost of the direct labor = 5000/12480 = 0.4006 INR at 100% efficiency Formula for the projected labor cost per pieces CM cost = (SAM of the garment * Minute cost of the labor)/Line efficiency(%) (Minute cost determined from above formula#1. If you use second formula then don't divide by line efficiency) If Sewing SAM is 15 minutes and line perform at 50% efficiency then estimated garment make cost = 15*0.40/50% =12 INR And Cutting SAM is 2 minutes and cutting room perform at 50% efficiency then estimated cutting cost = 2*0.40/50%=1.6 INR

So, Total estimated CM cost of the garment = (12.00+1.60) = 13.60 INR Following above formula easily one can estimate garment CM cost and use it for the product costing.

Why do you need to consider line efficiency in CM costing?

Line output varies depending on the line efficiency. When a line performs at lower efficiency than standard (100%) line will produce less units in a day compared to what line could make at 100% efficiency. But factory spends same amount of money as salary whether line perform at 100% efficiency or less. So, per unit cost will increase when line performs at lower efficiency. Note: For the calculation of labor cost per minute, instead of average operator salary you can take cumulative of all operators salary (monthly) and divide total amounts by total minute available to the line (total operator * total minutes per operator per month) to have more accurate value.

Garment Costing Sheet

A cost sheet makes the job of garment sample costing easier and faster. If you use a cost sheet there is a less
chance to miss any particular costing heads when you are in hurry. Many times it is needed to know how we reach to the final FOB. A well designed cost sheet will help you trace all details of costing. Cost sheet will also gives cost break up for future reference. Following one is a sample cost sheet. This sheet is filled with indicative numbers. COST SHEET Women T-Shirt Yarn dyed feeder stripes XYZ Country USA Viscose Buyer: ABC Fabric jersey GSM/width 150/34-31" Amount Particulars Details (INR) Fabric Costing Yarn Price as per supplier list Per Kg 250.00 Knitting charges Per Kg 25.00 Greige Fabric Cost Per Kg 275.00 Average dyeing cost 20.00 Product Style no: Weight loss on dyed fabric: Fleece brushing /Peaching Loss Due To Printing Sub total Interest on yarn prices:/margin Dyed Fabric Cost: Garment costing Avg. Fabric Consumption (gram) CMTP Charges Stitching: Cutting: Finishing: Packaging: 9.00% 26.55 321.55 32.16 353.71

10.00%

210.00

74.28

20.00 2.50 6.00 4.50

Embellishment Trims Sub Total Overhead cost Margin (after overhead) Ratio/Rejection Charges for On Board Total price of a apparel Fob prices: US$ Internal Price FOB

2.50 4.00

39.50 113.78 13.65 25.49 5.10 1.00 159.02 $ $ 3.25 3.25

12.00% 20.00% 4.00%

Rate: 49.00

Further details of Packing, Trims and Embellishment costing have been shown in the following table. The following checklist indicative one, you can add more on particulars according to your style requirement.
Trims Particulars M/label W/care Tag Thread Fusing Twill tape Mobilon tape Zipper Patch label Button Packing materials Tissue Board Hanger H/tag Poly bag Blister Carton Other Label logo Consumption 1 1 N/a 10 mtr N/a N/a 30 cm N/a N/a N/a Total N/a N/a N/a 1 1 N/1 1/10 Rate Amount (INR) 1.00 0.50 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.50 1.50 0.00 1.50 0.00 0.00 4.50

Total Embellishment Embroidery/appliqu N/a Printing Rhin stud Lace Rib Collar Crochet lace Enzyme wash Dori N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a N/a Total

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.50 2.50

PRODUCTION PLANNING:

After receiving the order factory plans for raw material requirement for the order. Raw materials like fabrics, sewing threads, packing materials, hang tags and other accessories. Factory plans timelines like when to start cutting, when to submit pre-production sample, when to finish sewing and finishing, final inspection date and shipment date. In production planning stage job responsibility for different processes is defined.

Functions of Production Planning and Control (PPC) Department in Apparel Manufacturing

Production planning and Control department is one of the important department for the apparel manufacturing
company. In the context of the apparel manufacturing primary roles of the Production Planning and Control (PPC) department has been listed below. Each functions has been explained briefly just overview about the task. To know details about the task read related articles. Job or Task Scheduling: Preparation of time and action calendar for each order from order receiving to shipment. The job schedule contains list of tasks to be processed for the styles. Against each tasks planner mentions when to start a task and what is dead line for that task. Name of responsible person (department) for the job is being listed. For example, scheduling planned cut date (PCD), line loading date etc. Material Resource Planning (Inventory): Preparation of Material requirement sheet according to sample product and buyer specification sheet. Consumption of material (fabric, thread, button, and twill tape) is calculated and estimated cost of each material. Loading production: Planner defines which style to be loaded to the production line and how much quantity to be loaded. Process selection & planning: Processes needed to complete an order vary style to style. According to the order (customer) requirement PPC department select processes for the orders. Sometime extra processes are eliminated to reduce cost of production. Facility location: Where a company has multiple factories (facilities) for production and factories are set for specific product, planner need to identify which facility will be most suitable for new orders. Sometimes there may be a capacity shortage in a factory, in that case planner need to decide which facility will selected for that orders. Estimating quantity and costs of production: Planner estimate daily production (units) according to the styles work content. With the estimated production figure, production runs and manpower involvement planner also estimate production cost per pieces. Capacity planning: PPC department plays a major role during order booking. They decide (suggest) how much order they should accept according to their production capacity. Allocating of total capacity or deciding how much capacity to be used for an order out of total factory capacity. Regularly updating factories current capacity (production capacity). To know more read the article - How to calculate production capacity of a factory

How to Calculate Production Capacity of a Factory?

In Apparel Manufacturing, Production capacity is one of the most important criteria used for vendor selection
by the buyers. It is because; the production time of an order is directly proportional to vendors production capacity. So it is very important that marketing and planning personnel should aware about the production capacity of their production units.

Capacity of a factory is primarily expressed in terms of total machines factory have. Secondly, how much pieces the factory produces on daily for the specific products? In general, total numbers of machines in a factory mostly remains same for a period. But factory may produce various types of product during the season. According to the product (style) category, machine requirement may change and daily average production in each style may vary. So to be specific during booking orders, planner should know exactly how much capacity he or she needed to procure the order in a given time period. A factorys capacity is presented in total minutes or hours or in pieces (production per day). The method used to calculate capacity has been explained in the following. To calculate Daily production capacity (in pieces) one needs following information. 1. Factory capacity in hours 2. Product SAM 3. Line efficiency (Average) 1. Calculation of factory capacity (in hours): Check how many machines factory has and how many hours factory runs in a day. For example suppose, Total number of machines = 200 Shift hours per day = 10 hours So total factory capacity (in hours) = 200*10 hours = 2000 hours 2. Calculation of Product SAM (SAM): Make a list of product category that you manufacture and get standard minutes (SAM) of all products you make from work study engineers. If you dont have product SAM then calculate the SAM. Or you can use average SAM of the products. Suppose you are producing shirt and its SAM is 25 minutes. 3. Factory Average Efficiency: This data is collected from industrial engineer. Or calculate it with historical data. Suppose average line efficiency is 50%. Read the article - How to calculate efficiency of a production line or batch? Calculation of production capacity (in pieces): Once you have above information use following formula to calculate production capacity. Production capacity (in pieces) = (Capacity in hours*60/product SAM)*line efficiency For Example: Suppose a factory has 8 sewing lines and each line has 25 machines. Total 200 machines and working shift is 10 hours per day. Total factory capacity per day is 2000 hours (200 machines * 10 hours). If factory is producing only one style (Shirt) of SAM 25 minutes and used all 200 machines daily production capacity at 50% = (2000*60/25)*50% Pieces = (2000*60*50) / (25*100) Pieces = 2400 Pieces [Note: Production will vary according to the line efficiency and during learning curve or in the initial days when style is loaded to the line] Production (capacity) planning is normally done based on sewing capacity. Having knowledge of the capacity in other processes (internal or external) is also very important. Otherwise planner may fail and will not be able to meet the dead line. Other departments such as Cutting room capacity, Finishing room capacity, Washing Capacity and capacity of the value added jobs. Line planning: Preparing detailed line planning with daily production target for the production line. Most cases line planning is made after discussing with production team and Industrial engineers. Read - What is Line Planning?

What is Line Planning?

In this article, line means sewing production line or production batch. Each line contains a set of
machines to make garments for mass production and set of machines vary depending on product category. Line planning is scheduling and allocating of orders to production lines according to product setting (product is being made in the line) and due dates of production completion. A line plan defines when a style is going to be loaded to the line, how many pieces to be expected (target) from the line and when order to be completed. For example, please refer to the following Table-1, where a simple line planning has been shown in spread sheet. During booking orders or allocating orders to the production line, planners must check what is running on the line and how many days it will take to complete the running style. Benefit of Line planning: It helps production manager as well as line supervisor with information such as what is the daily production target for line. They set their line (machines and manpower) accordingly. Line plan also provides information such as how many days style would run, what is the next style going to be loaded?

Follow up and execution: Whatever plan is made is executed by PPC department. PPC department keeps close look whether everything is progressing according the plan. Chasing other department heads on daily basis to keep plan on track. They update order wise completed tasks on the Time & action Calendar. When they found something is going to be late they expedite and create an alarm about the delay.
C UTTING:

In this stage fabrics are layered on a table layer by layer up to a certain height. Then by means of a cutting machine fabric are cut into garment shapes or pattern and separated from the layer. Fabric layering is possible both manual spreading and automated spreading. Cut parts are then numbered and bundled and send to sewing room. For details about cutting process see cutting room overview. The quality of end product (garment) is very much depends on the good cutting quality. Secondly, fabric the main raw material of the garment represents about 70% of total garment cost. That is why cutting is an important process like others where control the fabric saving and garment quality.

Cutting Room Overview

Garment production starts with the cutting process. In this process, fabric is being cut into components (shapes or patterns of different garment parts, i.e. front, back, sleeve, collar shapes etc.). In mass production multiple layers of fabrics are laid on a table and large number of garments is being cut at a time. The laid fabric stack is called as lay. The cutting process includes number of sub-processes and flow of the processes is as following. Each process is briefly explained in the following.

1. Pattern / Marker: According to the design and fit, patterns of different garment parts are made on the pattern paper and cut into pattern pieces. For manual marker these pattern pieces are used for marker making. On the other hand in CAD system patterns are made in computer. Later using a plotter markers are made on sheet. In the second case cutting department receive ready marker. 2. Cut ratio receiving: Prior to cutting, cutting department get a job sheet from planning department or merchandiser or production manager that includes total quantity of garment pieces to be cut, sizes ratio of the garments and colour-wise size break up. According to the size and colour ratio cutting team prepare one marker or multiple markers. Marker length and number of lay to be cut are planned in this stage. 3. Fabric receiving: Fabric requirement for an order is calculated according to the average consumption of the fabric from the marker. In case of multiple colour order, colour wise requirement is made. Fabric department issue fabric to cutting against the fabric requirement (generally requisition slip is used). 4. Fabric relaxation: This process is optional. Specially used for knits fabric. During rolling of fabric it get stretched. So it is essential to bring the fabric on stable form otherwise garment would shrink after making. To relax the fabric roll or thn is opened and spread and kept for about 24 hours. 5. Spreading (Fabric Layering): In this stage fabric sheet is layered one above another maintaining pre-defined maker length and correct ply tension. Fabric is layered up to a certain height to avoid cutting quality problem. Spreading is done by manual layering or automatic layering machine can be used. During layering of the fabric, fabric edge is aligned at one side. 6. Marker Making: After layering of a lay, pre made paper patterns (or ready markers made by plotter) are placed on the top layer of the lay. In manual marker making, marking is done around each pattern shape using marking chalk. This process is called as marker making. In a marker all garment components are placed. 7. Cutting: Lay is cut following the marked lines on the top of the lay. Cutting is done using straight knife or other cutting means. In cutting process garment component are separated. On the basis of pattern shape different cutting method/ machine are selected. 8. Numbering: Separated garment components are numbered to ensure that in stitching all components from same layer are stitched together. It is important to avoid shade variation in a garment. Between the cutting and sewing processes cut components may be passed through other processes like printing and embroidery. There is maximum chance of mixing of the components. If

there is layer number in each component then at the time of stitching only correct components will be stitched together. 9. Sorting: According to production system (Make through, progressive bundle or one piece flow system) cut components are sorted. In sorting all component of a garment placed together. Size wise sorting and in case multiple colours are cut in a single lay, colour wise sorting will be required. 10. Bundling: As per the production line requirement a certain number of pieces with all component are tied together. This process is known as bundling. Each bundle is marked with bundle number, style name, size number and quantity of pieces in that bundle. At this stage cutting are ready to send to production line for stitching.

Cutting machineries and equipment for garment manufacturing

In the majority of cutting rooms today, the cutting process makes use of hand shears, a mechanized knife blade in one of the several possible types, or a die press which stamps out the garment shape. Some of the methods currently in use are described below:
Hand Shears Hand shears are normally used when cutting only single or double plies. The lower blade of the shears passes under the plies, and some distortion of the fabric might occur which can be avoided with practice. Both left handed and right handed shears are available for left or right handed people. The major disadvantage of the method lies in the time it consumes and the consequent high labour cost per garment, but it is appropriate for made to measure garments.

Straight Knife A straight knife is used where the quantities for cutting do not justify purchase of a computercontrolled cutter. The elements of a straight knife consist of a base plate, usually on rollers for ease of movement, an upright or a standard carrying a straight, vertical blade with varying edge characteristics and an electric motor above it, a handle for the cutter to direct the blade, and a sharpening device. The base plate on its rollers slides under the glazed paper which is spread below the bottom ply of fabric in a lay. Normally, available blades heights vary from 10 cm to 33 cm and strokes vary from 2.5 cm to 4.5 cm. The greater the blade movement, the faster the blade cuts the fabric and the more rapidly and easily the operator can push the machine. The straight knife is a common means of cutting lays in conventional cutting rooms because it is versatile, portable, cheaper than a band knife, more accurate on curves than a round knife and relatively reliable and easy to maintain. Even if a band knife is used for the main cutting operation, a straight knife would be used to separate the lay into sections for easier handling. Round Knife - The elements of a round knife are a base plate, above which is mounted an electric motor, a handle for the cutter to direct the blade, and a circular blade rotating so that the leading edge cuts downwards into the fabric. Blade diameters vary from 6 cm to 20 cm. Round knives are not suitable for cutting curved lines in high lays because the blade does not strike all the plies simultaneously at the same point as a vertical point does. Therefore, a round knife is used only for straight lines or lower no of lays of relatively few plies. Band Knife A band knife comprises a series of three or more pulleys, powered by an electric motor, with a continuously rotating steel blade mounted on them. One edge of the blade is sharpened. The band knife passes through a slot in the cutting table in a fixed position and the section of the lay to be cut is moved past it. Band knives are used when a higher standard of cutting accuracy is required than can be obtained with a straight knife. Pieces to be cut are first cut on a block, and then cut exactly on a band knife. Notchers Many garments require that notches be cut into the edges of them to enable alignment during sewing with other garment parts. Specialized notching equipment provides greater accuracy because a guide lines up the notcher with the cut edge to give consistent depth of notch at a consistent right angle to the edge. Drills and thread markers Where reference marks are needed away from the edge of a garment part, such as for the position of the pockets, darts and similar features, a hole is often drilled through all the plies of fabric in the lay. The drill mounting includes a motor, a base plate with a hole to allow the drill to pass through, and a spirit level to ensure that the base is horizontal and hence the drill vertical. On many fabrics, the drill is used cold and the hole remains visible until the sewing operator comes to use it. On looser weave fabrics, where the hole may close up, a hot drill is used which will slightly scorch or fuse the edges of the hole. A hypodermic drill may be

used which leaves a small deposit of paint on each ply of fabric. If it is important that no mark remains on the fabric, a long thread may be passed through the lay which is then cut with scissors between each ply, leaving a few centimeters visible on each garment panel. All drill holes must eventually be concealed by the construction of the garment. Computer controlled cutting knives This method provides the most accurate possible cutting, at high speed, and to keep the larger systems fully occupied they are frequently used in a central cutting facility that supplies a number of separate sewing factories. A typical computer cutting system has a table with a cutting surface consisting of nylon bristles which support the fabric lays but are flexible enough to permit penetration and movement of the knife blade which is supported only at the top. The bristles also allow the passage of air through the table to create a vacuum, reducing the height of the lay and holding it in place. The carriage supporting the cutting head has two synchronized servomotors, which drive it on tracks on the edges of the table. The cutting head contains a knife, automatic sharpener and a further servo motor which rotates the knife to position it at a tangent to the line of cut on curves. A sheet of airtight polyethylene covers the top of the lay, which assists the creation of a vacuum and allows significant compression of the lay. Control cabinet houses the computer and the electrical components required to drive the cutter, its carriage and the vacuum motor. The spreader spreads the lay on a conventional cutting table equipped with air floatation. Paper is spread below the bottom ply so that the lay can be moved onto the cutting table without distortion and so that the bottom plies are supported during the cutting operation. This paper is perforated to enable the vacuum on the cutting table to operate to compress the lay. The cutting table does not need to be as long as the lay and its bristle surface can consist of a conveyer which assists in the transfer of the lay, in sections, from the spreading table and of the cut work onto the bundling Tables. Die Cutting Die cutting involves pressing of a rigid blade through the laid fabric. The die is a knife in the shape of the pattern periphery, including notches. Free standing dies generally fall into two categories. They can be of strip steel, manufactured by bending the strip to the shape required and welding the joint. These cannot be sharpened and must be replaced when worn. Alternatively, they can be heavier gauge, forged dies which can be resharpened but which are five times the price of strip steel. They provide a high standard of accuracy of cutting but, because of the cost of the dies, they are only appropriate to situations where large quantities of the same pattern will be cut. Die cutting also offers much faster cutting than knife cutting for the same depth of cut. It is proportionally more economic for small parts which have a greater periphery in relation to their area.

Cutting Room Terminology

Common Terminology Band knife Bias Cut Bakers Trolley Block Cutting or Blocking out Bowing Definition
An endless blade vertical knife, around which the work is moved over the large cutting table Cut on the Bias cut at an angle to both the warp and the weft of the cloth, at 45 degree. A wheeled rack used to transport sections of the lay from the cutting table to the band knife and from the band knife to the sorting operations. Cutting roughly around a part which is subsequently cut very precisely, by various means. Also for splitting the lay, to assist handling to the band knife. A fault in woven cloth in which the weft is not straight across the piece but has curve.

Clicker Press Cross Damage Die cutting End loss Face one way spreading Face to face spreading

Used for parts of intricate nature and repetitive, also for parts requiring a high degree of accuracy. Cut on the crosses Cut at right angles to the grain of the cloth (On bias). A fabric fault. It may be generated during handling fabric inside factory or faulty fabric sent the fabric supplier. Used where accuracy is important and there is enough repetition The cloth at the end of the lay that is not covered by the marker The face side of each ply faces the same way (up or down) Method of spreading in which the cloth is alternately facing up or down, as a result of continuous to and fro movement of the roll over the lay. Used for directional fabric where the pile (direction) is required to lie in the same direction on all the plies. The geometrical layout of the pattern pieces in a garment, which is cut around to produce the parts of the garment a) A man who prepares the pattern layout and/or who marks the layout onto the lay or onto a paper or a cloth. b) A piece of paper, cloth etc. representing the layout.

Face to face one way spreading Layout (pattern layout) Marker

Notch

A small cut into the part, which aids the location during assembly by indicating to the operator some requirement for matching with other notches or positions in the garment Method of finishing the cloth so that it is folded to half its width Means colour in cloth. It is commonly used to imply that a particular bit/roll of cloth is different in shade from another bit. Process of numbering parts to ensure they are of same shade A local thick place in the yarn in a cloth usually caused by error but in some cloths it is introduced purposely

On the fold Shading Shade Numbering Slubs

SEWING

OR

STITCHING:

Garment panels are stitched together in sewing room by means of sewing machines. In sewing 2D fabric patterns are converted in 3D forms. An operator run the machine and using sewing threads garment parts are joined together. Various types of sewing machine are available for sewing. Machines are selected according to the seam and stitch requirement. In industry traditionally sewing machines are laid in a raw. Cut parts are feed at the start of the line, passed through the line and at the end of the line a complete garment come out. Each machine is run by individual operators and an operator sews only one or two operations of the garment. A line consist of sewing operators, helper to feed them with cut parts, thread and other trims, quality checker and one fully or partially devoted supervisor.

Garment Production Systems

In simple a garment production system is a way how fabric is being converted into garment in a manufacturing
system. Production systems are named according to the various factors, like- Number of machine are used to make a garment, Machines layout, Total number of operators or tailors involved to sew a complete garment and Number of pieces moving in a line during making a garment. As the fashion industry evolved and demand of ready made garments are increased, the need of mass production system becomes the primary path to meet the demand. Simply because tailor shops are not able produce the volume and supply across the world. Mostly used production systems are as following. Make through system: When a tailor alone makes a complete garment, then it is called as make though systems. The tailor even makes pattern (use readymade pattern), cuts fabric and does finishing of the garment. For example, tailors in the tailor shops do all jobs from cut to pack. In this system tailors are not depended to others. Progressive bundle systems: In Progressive bundle system, each operator does different operations of a garment. All sewing machines needed to make the garment are laid in a line. Cut parts are fed in a bundle form. When an operator receives a bundle of cut components, she opens the bundle and does her operation (job) for all pieces of the bundle. After completing her job she moves the bundle to the next operator who is doing next operation. Numbers of people are involved in sewing a single garment. Major benefits of this system are as operators do only single or limited operation, their performances increases. Secondly, product consistency can be maintained garment to garment. Most of the export oriented garment manufacturers adopted progressive bundle system as a main production system. Section production system: This system is similar to the progressive bundle system. But the difference is that, instead of one line, work is divided into sections. Machines of similar operations are clubbed together instead of spreading over in all lines. For example, when a mans formal shirt is being made in a section layout collars, cuffs and sleeves are in the preparatory sections and then send to the assembly section. This system is popular to improve line balancing and utilization of human resources. Modular production system: In Modular production system sewing operators work as a team. Neither they sew complete garment nor do they sew only single operation. Multi-skilled operators form a group and each of the team members do multiple operations. In modular system, operators help each other to finish the garment quickly and team is fully responsible for quality and production. In modular, always team performance is measured instead of individual operator performance. This system is very successful where quick response is needed. One piece flow system: Instead of making a bundle of multiple pieces, bundle is made with all components of a single piece. Sewing machines in One-piece-flow system can be laid in a straight line or modular line. Main difference is that, operator will receive one piece from back and move one piece to his next operator after completing his work. Benefits of One-piece-Flow system are less through put time, Less WIP in the line. Overhead production system (UPS): in overhead production system, garment components are clamped in a hanger and the hanger moves on an overhead rail. In the hanger components of a single piece is clapped. So this is also one kind of single-piece-flow system. Piece rate production system: Piece rate system also one of the most popular production system in small and unorganized factories. Though people called it piece rate system, actually it is not a production system. Whatever Production system is used as mentioned above, when operators are paid according their works (how many pieces produced), is named as piece rate system.
THREAD
TRIMMING :

After stitching, all hanging thread are cut by means of hand trimmer. Auto thread trimming machines are also available to perform this task. All loose threads inside a garment are removed as well. Garments without any loose thread and long tail are basic quality requirement.

WASHING:

This process is performed when buyer want washing or special finishes to the garments. For light color garment washing is carried out to remove dirt and stains though buyer does needed washed garment for orders.
FINISHING:

Generally this process includes checking of garment, measurement checking, ironing, and spotting. After sewing of the garments, all pieces are checked by quality checker to ensure that garments are being made as per buyer quality standard. Checking normally is done for visuals appearance and measurements. Spotting is required to remove stain in the pieces. Various chemicals (solvents) are used to remove various kinds of oil stain, marks and hard stain. Each garment then ironed to remove creases by means of press.
PACKING
AND FOLDING:

Each pressed garment is then folded with tissue or card board. Folding varies product to product and also buyer to buyer. Hang tags, special tag and prices stickers are attached with plastic Kimble or threads. Folded and tagged garment are then packed into poly bag. During packing garments are randomly checked by internal quality controllers to ensure that only quality goods are being packed.
OTHER PROCESSES:

In current fashion trend very few garments are made without value added processes, like printing, garment dyeing, special washing, embroidery, adda work (hand embroidery with lot of bead work)
FINAL INSPECTION
AND DISPATCH:

Once garments are packed (also known as shipment), before dispatching quality inspection of the garments is carried by buyer quality assurance (QA) department. Many times a third party quality auditor is hired for this final inspection job. If the packed goods meet the buyers quality standards, shipment is accepted by buyer. Factory then dispatches goods to the buyer.