PRODUCT DESIGN EXECUTION

PRODUCT DESIGN EXECUTION

Hunaiza Iqbal 6th semester

Product lifecycle Product: crew neck line T-shirt Brand: Levis Manufacture production unit: Combined Fabric Ltd. (CFL) Combined Fabrics Limited is a WRAP Certified vertically integrated Knit apparel manufacturing facility founded in 1990.

Pre-production cycle (order generation and order obtaining cycle) In combined fabric ltd the pre- production cycle is generally of 45 to 60 days. The merchandisers of CFL use pre- production chart to condense the risk of error and mistake in their merchandise. To gain orders from international market CFL work efficiently and try to produce the accurate sample according to designers spec sheet to gain bulk orders. 1. PRE- PRODUCTION CYCLE OF CFL INCLUDES THESE STEPS: To obtain order the merchandising department follows this merchandising calendar of pre- production at CFL. Color standard received Lab dipping send Style sheet received Proto send Proto comment received Fit sample send Fit sample received Size set send Size set received Sale sample send Size sample received Pre-production sample send Pre- production received Bulk- production send Bulk-production received

The pre- production team at CFL work firmly to obtain exacting what the spec sheets describes, each stage of pre-production is send to buyer, (designer brand: levis) to get approval before going on to next stage of production.

2. ORDER FOLLOW-UP ( MERCHANDISER FOLLOW UP) The merchandiser follow up is very important to execute any order in a professional way. In CFL there are lot of activities involve in executing any order like handling of Color Standard, Lab dip, Samples, Printing, Embroidery, valueaddition works, Washing, Lab-Test, Packing, Production and QC Meeting etc Merchandising Follow up at CFL is followed by merchandisers to handle any order efficiently to ship out on time. CFL merchandiser follow up Moring tea Sample Preparation: Follow up of all BB L/C on receipt of Master L/C in respect of Yarn, Knitting, Dyeing, Printing, Embroidery, Value-addition works and Accessories. Follow up of Selection of Knitting Machines in respect of Dia and Gauge for corresponding GSM. Follow up of Lab-dip Preparation, Submission and Approval. Follow up of Batching in respect of Fabric requirement Follow up of Dyeing in respect of Cutting and Finishing requirement. Follow up Cutting in respect of Production and Finishing requirement. Follow up of Accessories Development, Submission, Approval, Procurement and Inventory. Follow up of all Samples, Pattern Correction, Graded Nest, Size Set and arrangement of Pre-production Meeting. LUNCH BREAK Follow up and Arrangement of all Inspection as per Buyers requirement. Follow up of all Lab-Test of Garments and Accessories. EVENING TEA

3. THE PRODUCTION CYCLE( YARN ARRANGEMENT/ MANUFACTURINGEND PRODUCT) CFL production cycle is minimum of 60 days to maximum 70 days. These are the following steps which are followed in their production cycle. Knitting fabric starts Knitting fabric finishes Dying starts Dying finished Cutting starts Cutting finished Stitching starts Stitching finished Washing/printing starts Washing/printing finished Packing starts Packing finished

In CFL the yarn is not manufactured, but the knitting process is in house. In CFL 60% of knitting is done in house and 40% is done from commercial sources. Knitting of single ( pique, jersey ) and knitting of double ( rib, interlock) is done in house. Specialized workforce is hired to knit fabric according to buyers demand and to produce quality knitted fabric.
Pique, Jersey, Fleece, French Terry, Herringbone Fabrics. Interlock: (Interlock waffle. mini waffle. thermal, mini thermal and many more). Rib With &without lycra : (ranging from 1 x 1 Rib upto 12 x 1 Rib) Feed, Auto and Engineered Stripes : (in a wide range of jersey & pique fabrics.) *Lycra Jersey, Pique and Fleece.

Once the fabric is knitted then before doing to other dept. the knitted fabric is crossed through Inspection Machine to avoid the damaged fabric, before going in dying dept. ( t- shirt of levis fabric is knitted according to requirements of buyers) Then the approved fabric is send to dying dept, (if the fabric needs to dye because CFL use dye yarns to get knitted fabric). Our in-house dyeing facility consists of 63 machines that can handle 3000 Kgs per month of both Cotton and

Polyester fabrics on high temperature and soft flow dyeing machines.( fabric of tshirt of levis is dyed in light brown color according to requirement of buyer)

DYING MACHINES

Then dyed fabric in wet form is send to SLITTING MACHINE , because the fabric after dying get out of proportion in tubular form.

SLITTING MACHINE

Then fabric is passed through standard machine, this helps to dry the fabric, apply application as buyer wants on the fabric, which includes stain defender, winking repel, water repel, oil repel, whiting finishes etc. ( this machines doesnt fully dry the fabric because the producers wants to control shrinkage of fabric). (2 kinds of finishes are given on the fabric of t-shirt of levis, oil repel and stain defender ) Tumblers compactor machine, in knitting to control shrinkage is tough task thats why CFL uses this machine to dry fabric, because this machine help to control shrinkage. Dimensional stability and lustrous finish in fabrics. Soft Finish Low Shrinkage.(soft finish is given on the fabric of t- shirt of levis)

. TUBALAR KNIT FABRIC COMPACTOR: Tubular Knit Compactor" for the dimensional stability of knit fabrics.This machine will spread steam and SHRINK all types of tubular fabrics at speeds up to 50meter/minute. This Compactor is used in place of the conventional Finishing Calender and provides all the features of the Calender id addition to elimination length shinkage of cotton and cotton blends. The "Tubular Knit Compactor" offers the following features/functions: CLOTH ENTRY, METAL DETECTOR, CROSSLINE and CONTROL OVERFEED.

After all finishes, dying before the knitted fabric goes to cutting dept. the quality assurance check the fabric and elicit the faulty, defective fabric. In this all the perimeters are checked, color fasting are checked. CUTTING DEPT. In this dept. the lapping of fabric is done, ppc dept. give the lay plan to control the wastage and fully consume the fabric. Fabric is cut through knife cutters. Each pattern of similar product is given code and packed in bags to send to other dept. ( pattern of crew neck line of levis are cutted and given code)

PRE- INSPECTION DEPT. the quality assurance again checked the quality of patterns before they move to stitching dept.

PRINTING DEPT. curring machine, are used to get graphic on fabric. This dept specializes in a variety of printings which are oil based, waster based, crack bases, pearl cent based, discharge print, figment print, gel based print. Some prints are applied through machine and some are applied by hands. ( t- shirt front embossed with oil based print as according to the spec sheets given by levis ( buyer)

Embroidery dept. If any dept requires detail work of embroidery, then the patterns move to embroidery dept. ( neckline of levis t- shirt embroidered as according to requirement of buyer)

STITCHING DEPT. CFL have total of 16 stitching units in their production dept. and each dept is specializes in each produt category. ( t- shirt of levis got stitch as they requirements stated on tech pack, specifiaction sheet) Clipping dept. Finishing hall. In this dept. various kinds of washes or finishes are given to stitched fabric according to buyer requirement. In this dept pressing is done, quality is checked again by controllers. ( only pressing finishes were given on shirt as tech pack stated)

PACKING HALL: in this hall packing is done and products are placed for shipments.

4. UNIT SWOT ANALYSIS Strength: high variety is offered to buyers, highly flexible working environments, promises of high quality products, price premium, merchandising, production and marketing dept working together on in CFL and its really beneficial. On time performance , QMT dept. Weakness: energy crises, cutting crises, trouble shooting, low labor productivity. Unskilled labor, highly depend on yarn manufactures, less control on yarn quality, late deliveries from yarn manufactures, Opportunities: to grow more through backward integration with yarn manufactures, produce more for Pakistani brands; grow more in basic product line. Threats: dollar prices (exchange rate), national and international competition, govt. policy, trade barriers. 5. QUALITY ASSURANCES As CFL is specializes in knitting products, and they have to deal with national and as well international buyers. CFL confidently, proves that have fully control of quality and they produce high quality products. To control the shrinkage of knitted fabric they have high specialized machinery plus highly qualified operator those who operate that machinery. The tolerance is lesser than 0.01% in their fabric. Quality is checked and assured at every stage of production to ensure to achieve optimum level of quality according to demand of buyers thats why from last 14 years they are working for chaps, LEVIS etc. 6. COMPLIANCE/ CERTIFICATION Combined Fabrics Ltd. recognizes its social responsibility towards the community and is working towards this direction in making this world a better place to live. The management continues to discourage forded and child labor. They follow the local laws for both labor and environment and believe in team work toward achieving the high quality. ISO 9001 : 2008 ISO 14001:2004 certified labs helps us keep everything well documented and organized. CFL hold records of our customers for a minimum of one year. Moody international : ISO 14001:2004 CERTIFIACTE IN MANUFACTURER AND EXPORTERS OF KNITWEAR MODDY INTERNATIONAL: ISO 9001: 2000

W.R.A.P. (Social & Environmental) : combined fabric ltd have been certified by wrap (Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production) which deals with both social and environmental compliance. The Company is registered with SMART (Self monitoring and reporting tool for the companies who voluntarily try for the betterment of environment) which is part of Environment protection department of Pakistan for our effluent treatment plant. Also registered with the EPA approved lab for Complete environment monitoring.

7. PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED IN THE PROCESS There are some problems in CFL production dept. The main problem is related to the work behavior of labor force, labor is not well skilled, they working style was very casual. Because of the labor non serious attitude the whole production is slow and leading CFL to reduce efficiency and productivity. Then there main problem is that they are not backward integrated, so they are heavily dependable on the suppliers of yarns, and something they have less control on quality as well. By depending of supplier of yarns their production process lends to be slow, because until unless yarn is not knitted the whole process of production cannot take place. Then energy crises is the main issue which is really affecting the whole production process, CFL can research more and can come with latest innovative ideas to deal with economic situation. The quality controllers have very less space for checking quality so; CFL should have proper subdept. of quality controller and assurance, in each dept e.g. stitching, cutting, etc.