Tools of merchandising

Time And Action Calendar

Introduction
Basis for all merchandising planning.

It is designed to control the key events needed to get the right apparel
products, in the right mix, at the right price to the right customer at the right
time.

Also called as Merchandising calendar, Key events calendar or Critical path
calendar.
A planning tool.
It is the central mechanism from which all marketing schedules and all
merchandising and manufacturing plans evolve.

It is the clock that drives merchandising product development schedules,
manufacturing planning and shipping schedules.

It sets forth the starting and completion dates for all critical events necessary
to achieve a successful season.
The calendar includes information about the name of the buyer, season, style,
wash and quantity.

The calendar includes the target dates for each event such as pre production
garment approval, lab dip approval, pattern approvals and when graded sates
of pattern should be sent out.

The person who is responsible for an event must sign it off in the system when
the system has been completed so that everyone can monitor the status of the
line development.


Time and Action (TNA) calender is one of the most
important tools for managing a project.
In garment manufacturing each order is not less than a
project to a merchant. Because, from order receiving to
order completion involve number of tasks of various
duration and requirement of resources.
Few tasks come one after another and others move at
the same time. Like number of processes, lot of people
are involved to accomplish an order. Secondly each
order is unique in terms of process and time demand.
So, a detailed plan with well defined responsibility is
must for each orders to finish it before time or on time.

Key Elements.
Line preview dates by season.

Line release dates by season.

Start ship date

End ship date

Weekly sales plan

Weekly shipping plans



It is the merchandisers deadline for having all prototypes and
pricing for a new product line completed.

Merchandisers work back from this date to create their
product development plans.

It is the date of seasonal sales meeting where the
merchandising team presents the line to the sales force.

Line Preview Date
Line Release Date
It is the merchandisers deadline for having all sales samples
ready for the sales team to begin presenting the new line to
the customers.

This deadline is crucial to the success of the sales effort, since
most sales representative schedule their earliest
appointments with their most important customers.
Weekly Sales Plan
It measures the effectiveness of a product line for the merchandising
department.

A graphic analysis of this plan can project increase or decrease in overall sales
for a season.

Weekly Shipping Plan
It shows season to date as well as shipping statistics for a specific week or
monthly time period.

It helps to determine whether or not the product mixes being delivered to
distribution meet the shippability.
Determination of Lead Time
CPM is used.

It is the key to a successful merchandising calendar.

It determines the critical functions necessary to perform an activity or
series of activities required to achieve an overall objective.

After the critical functions are selected, each one must be analysed to
determine the time required to accomplish it.

A typical merchandising calendar may have 25 to 50 functions for a
product line.
Procedure
In the column "Key Processes" list down processes as
per your style requirement. Go through style detailing
to identify all key processes to be involved. Few
processes are mentioned in tech pack and buyer
comments and some processes to be understood from
the style (physical sample).
Do backward and forward planning for deciding
planned date for the task. Take advice from respective
department heads for the capacity availability and time
requirement for the processes. Then add dates against
the tasks. Where processes required multiple days add
planned completion date.
Product Development
S. NO Process Start Date Finish Date
1 Order Confirmation 25-3-2008
2 Ordering Bulk Fabric 25-3-2008
3 Receipt of Size Breakdown 27-3-2008
4 Order Sewing/Finishing Trims 27-3-2008
5 Fit submission 27-3-2008 17-4-2008
6 Fit Approval 24-4-2008
7 Wash submission 27-3-2008 23-4-2008
8 Wash Approval 30-4-2008
9 Receipt Sewing Trims 29-4-2008
10 YTS submission 24-4-2008 8-4-2008
11 YTS Approval 1-5-2008
12 GTS submission 1-5-2008 12-8-2008
Time and Action Calendar
S. NO Process Start Date Finish Date
13 GTS Approval 14-5-2008
14 Hand Over Production file to PPC 10-5-2008
15 Receipt of Head ends 05-5-2008
16 Shade Shrinkage Process 05-5-2008 08-5-2008
17 Taper Ready 09-5-2008
18 Patterns Ready 10-5-2008
19 Receipt of Bulk Fabric 12-5-2008
20 Size Set making 13-5-2008 15-5-2008
21 Size Set Review 15-5-2008 17-5-2008
22 Shade Band Approval 19-5-2008
23 PPM 19-5-2008
Production & Delivery
S. No Process Start Date Finish Date
1 Bulk Cutting 21-5-2008
2 Sewing 23-5-2008 29-5-2008
3 Inspection 23-5-2008 29-5-2008
4 Washing 25-5-2008 31-5-2008
5 Finishing 27-5-2008 2-6-2008
6 Pressing 27-5-2008 2-6-2008
7 Final Checking 27-5-2008 2-6-2008
8 Packaging 27-5-2008 2-6-2008
9 Internal Quality Audit 05-6-2008
10 External Quality Audit 08-6-2008
11 Quantity delivered to internal Warehouse 08-6-2008
12 Goods Dispatched from warehouse to Buyer 08-6-2008
ACTIVITY LEAD TIME
BUYER RETAIL NEED STOCK ON 1st week FEB
IN WAREHOUSE OF IMPORTER OFFICE
IN NEW YORK 15th JAN
NEW YORK PORT 15th DEC
GOODS EXPORTED 15th NOV
PRE PRODUCTION SAMPLES 30th SEP
ORDER CONFIRMATION - Lead time for Prod
90 days lead Time 15th AUG
SALES MAN SAMPLES 15th July
(With Actual Fab / Trims )
FIT SAMPLE APPROVAL 30th June
FINALIZATION ON PRICE OF SAMPLES GIVEN BY BUYER 13th June
APPROVAL OF 2nd PROTOTYPE SAMPLE 20th April
APPROVAL OF 1st PROTOTYPE SAMPLE [ Style ref] 05th April
SAMPLE PACKAGE RECEIVE FROM BUYER 20th March
TIME 'n' ACTION CHART
BACKWARD PLANNING
ACTION DAYS PRIOR TO DELIVERY
COLOR
color satndards received from buyer 65 days
1st lab dip submit to buyer 60 days
comments from buyer 55 days
2nd lab dip submit to buyer 50 days
comments from buyer 45 days
TRIMS
care labels approved by 60 days
Buttons approved by 60 days
threads approved by 60 days
others 35 days
ALL TRIMS APPROVED BY 60 days
ALL TRIMS EX SUPPLIERS 40 days
ALL TRIMS IN FTY 30 days
SAMPLES
fit sample submit 65 days
fit sample approval 58 days
2nd fit sample submit 51 days
2nd fit sample approval 44 days
size set submit 33 days
size set approval 31 days
green seal sample submit 30 days
green seal sample approval 25 days
gold seal sample submit 10 days
gold seal sample approval 5 days
TESTING PROCESSES
prod fabric submitted for testing 65 days
test report available by 60days
prod garment submitted for testing 35 days
test report available by 30 days
PLANNED CUT DATE 30 days
PRODUCTION
fabric delivery local 35 days
fabric in fty imported
begin cutting 26 days
begin sewing 24 days
begin washing 15 days
begin packing 8 days
Final audit 4 days
EX FACTORY DATE 0 days
EX COUNTRY DATE
Critical Path Method
Critical Path
An activity is any discrete part or task of a project which takes resources
and time to complete.

Activities exhibit precedence relations.

Activities with their precedence relations form a project network.

The longest chain of activities considering task dependencies is called
critical path.
It requires mutually dependent activities to be coordinated to make the
process network, the longest chain of which is called the 'critical path.'
These critical path enables PMs to know which
activities (tasks) are essential for Project
Completion (can delay the project), and which
activities are not. It also gives a clear idea on how
to accelerate the projects (eg by adding more
resources to the tasks on the critical path).
Because it is the longest path, it determines the
duration of the project and hence the finish date
of the project given the start date
Significance of CPM
CPM is the key to successful merchandising calendar.

It determines the critical functions necessary to perform an activity or
series of activities required to achieve an overall objective.

When a critical activity is delayed it forces all subsequent tasks to be
delayed.


Requirement of cpm
Time consumed in product development is the biggest issue.
Approvals and bulk fabric in house consumes approx 75% of the
total pre production activity time and as far the most time
consuming task. Whole supply chain needs a system which
Reduces time spent in PD.
Co-ordinates internally for all pre -production activity each.
Producing a high quality clear cut specifications for manufacturing
and quality purposes

About 60% of the delays are at Pre production stage and remaining
at the production stage and reduction of such time can help the
company in meeting the delivery dates on time. Controlling the
delay would enable the company to reduce the deviation from the
schedules lead time and honor the delivery date.

Determining Critical Path
The activities involved in development, execution and delivery need to be
analyzed.

Determine the time required to accomplish them.

Determine the critical path.

Critical functions are represented through
PERT Charts
Gantt Charts




PERT Charts

PERT is a method to analyze the involved tasks in completing
given project, and identifying time needed to complete the total
project.

PERT chart tell a manager
list of operations necessary to finish a project
time needed for each operation
critical activities activities that consume the largest part of project-
completion-time


Gantt Charts

A series of parallel horizontal graphs which show schedules for functions
plotted against time.


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Project Scheduling and Control Techniques
Gantt Chart
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Program Evaluation and Review Technique
(PERT)
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Graph or bar chart with a bar for each project activity that shows passage of time
Provides visual display of project schedule
Gantt Chart
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History of CPM/PERT
Critical Path Method (CPM)
E I Du Pont de Nemours & Co. (1957) for construction of
new chemical plant and maintenance shut-down
Deterministic task times
Activity-on-node network construction
Repetitive nature of jobs
Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
U S Navy (1958) for the POLARIS missile program
Multiple task time estimates (probabilistic nature)
Activity-on-arrow network construction
Non-repetitive jobs (R & D work)
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Project Network
Network analysis is the general name given to certain specific techniques which
can be used for the planning, management and control of projects
Use of nodes and arrows
Arrows An arrow leads from tail to head directionally
Indicate ACTIVITY, a time consuming effort that is required to perform a
part of the work.
Nodes A node is represented by a circle
- Indicate EVENT, a point in time where one or more activities start and/or
finish.
Activity
A task or a certain amount of work required in the project
Requires time to complete
Represented by an arrow
Dummy Activity
Indicates only precedence relationships
Does not require any time of effort
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Event
Signals the beginning or ending of an activity
Designates a point in time
Represented by a circle (node)
Network
Shows the sequential relationships among activities using
nodes and arrows
Activity-on-node (AON)
nodes represent activities, and arrows show precedence relationships
Activity-on-arrow (AOA)
arrows represent activities and nodes are events for points in time
Project Network
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AOA Project Network for House
3
2 0
1
3
1 1
1
1 2 4 6 7
3
5
Lay foundation
Design house
and obtain
financing
Order and
receive
materials
Dummy
Finish
work
Select
carpet
Select
paint
Build
house
AON Project Network for House
1
3
2
2
4
3
3
1
5
1
6
1
7
1 Start
Design house
and obtain
financing
Order and receive
materials
Select paint
Select carpet
Lay foundations
Build house
Finish work
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Situations in network diagram
A
B
C
A must finish before either B or C can start
A
B
C
both A and B must finish before C can start
D
C
B
A
both A and C must finish before either of B or D can
start
A
C
B
D
Dummy
A must finish before B can start
both A and C must finish before D can start
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Concurrent Activities
2 3
Lay foundation
Order material
(a) Incorrect precedence
relationship
(b) Correct precedence
relationship
3
4 2
Dummy
Lay
foundation
Order material
1
2 0
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Network example
Illustration of network analysis of a minor redesign of a product and its associated
packaging.
The key question is: How long will it take to complete this project ?
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For clarity, this list is kept to a minimum by specifying only immediate
relationships, that is relationships involving activities that "occur near to each
other in time".
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Questions to prepare activity network
Is this a Start Activity?
Is this a Finish Activity?
What Activity Precedes this?
What Activity Follows this?
What Activity is Concurrent with this?
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CPM calculation
Path
A connected sequence of activities leading from
the starting event to the ending event
Critical Path
The longest path (time); determines the project
duration
Critical Activities
All of the activities that make up the critical path
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Forward Pass
Earliest Start Time (ES)
earliest time an activity can start
ES = maximum EF of immediate predecessors
Earliest finish time (EF)
earliest time an activity can finish
earliest start time plus activity time
EF= ES + t
Latest Start Time (LS)
Latest time an activity can start without delaying critical path time
LS= LF - t
Latest finish time (LF)
latest time an activity can be completed without delaying critical path time
LS = minimum LS of immediate predecessors
Backward Pass
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CPM analysis
Draw the CPM network
Analyze the paths through the network
Determine the float for each activity
Compute the activitys float
float = LS - ES = LF - EF
Float is the maximum amount of time that this
activity can be delay in its completion before it
becomes a critical activity, i.e., delays completion of
the project
Find the critical path is that the sequence of activities and events
where there is no slack i.e.. Zero slack
Longest path through a network
Find the project duration is minimum project completion time
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CPM Example:
CPM Network
a, 6
f, 15
b, 8
c, 5
e, 9
d, 13
g, 17
h, 9
i, 6
j, 12