UNIT-I – Introduction to Apparel Industry

Introduction to apparel industry, Organization of apparel industry, Standards and

Specifications, Time and Motion study

UNIT-II - Pre-production Processes

Recording measurements, Preparation of specification sheet/Tech-pack, Pattern making,

Fabric development and sourcing, Sampling, Production planning & control

Case studies on
 Three-dimensional human body measurement systems used in apparel industry
 Use of Techpacker software for creating tech-packs

 Introduction to Apparel Manufacturing

Introduction

The clothing industry in its long history has

been on a journey characterized by hand sewn,
highly customized and craft oriented products to
mechanized production, from computerization
to robotic systems. During the past few decades
the situation has changed drastically. There have
been tremendous technological advancements in
the Garment Manufacturing Technology in the
infrastructure, various departments of garment
industry, machinery and equipment used for
garment assembly and fabrication and other
allied aspects of an industry.
The apparel business over the past 150 years,
has evolved from highly custom fitted, haute
couture clothes to assembling of individual and
hand sewn garments followed by mechanization
and heavy automation. Today, the industry
works with robotized mass production and
distribution having large scope in mass
customization of garments.
One thing that is constant in fashion is change.
Fashion changes are very dramatic and highly
sophisticated in selection of colours, fabrics and
trims.

The world authority of  colour,  fabrics  and 

style  forecasts drives the apparel
manufacturing business now. As a result the
apparel manufacturer has to meet the demands
of the market in consideration with the
manufacturing facilities so as to stay in business.

Factors Influencing Apparel Business

The various factors that influence the apparel

business are:
1. Change: Change is an accepted and
expected phenomenon by most
manufacturers, retailers and consumers.
Generally two types of change have an effect
on apparel business:
 Fashion change relates to color,
fabric trends styling & silhouettes and
 performance to reflect fashion trends
evolution across seasons. The terms
Spring Fashion, Fall Fashion, Winter
Fashion, Summer Fashion follow the
fashion scene. The most familiar
combined terms are such as
"Spring/Summer" or "Fall/Winter.
Typically, when a designer launches a
new collection it contains garments to
be worn during a particular time of year
which follows the trend books.
 Seasonal change is modification of
products available on the market and
used by consumers according to the
time of the year. Factors such as
weather, holidays, sports , beginning
and end of the school year, cultural and
religious traditions have an impact on
apparel/fashion.
2. Quality: A subjective term for which each
person or sector has its own definition. In
technical usage, quality can have two
meanings:
1. the characteristics of a product or service
that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or
implied needs;
2. a product or service free of deficiencies.
 According to Joseph Juran, quality means
“fitness for use;” according to Philip Crosby,
it means “conformance to requirements.”
3. Timing: Apparel professionals plan &
implement product changes based on
customer’s needs & wants. Some firms
develop 5 products lines per year; some
might introduce styles on a monthly &
weekly basis. Managing change requires
careful timing. A fashion or seasonal
product that hits the market a few days late
may be totally un saleable.
4. Price: It is the value or cost of apparel
fixed for sale. The price quoted affects the
sale of products. The manufacturer’s price
should be as competitive as possible in the
market to make good sales.

 Introduction to Apparel Manufacturing

References

1. Kalpan N S (2004), Changing trends in Apparel Industry,Abhishek

Publications, Chandigarh.
2. Frings Gini Stephens (1999), Fashion Concept to consumer, Prentice
Hall New Jersey.
3. http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.aspx
4. http://heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/trend/
trends_2012.html
5. http://www.promostyl.com/anglais/trendbook/women.php
Organization Structure of Apparel Industry
Introduction

Organization structure is the identification or

grouping of the work to be performed for the
purpose of enabling the people to work together
to get the objective, and to share the work
among themselves in and effective and efficient
way so that everyone knows whom to contact for
a specific problem.
1. Features of an organization
2. Organization Structure of
Apparel Industry
3. Levels
4. Sectors –list of sectors and
garment types

Features of an Organization

1. Well laid objectives, principles, rules and

regulations
2. Executive leadership with well organized
and coordinated group of people working
for company goals
3. Proper division of work and
responsibilities for the employees and team
work
4. Clear and well defined policies
5. An effective system of communication and
networking
Levels

1. Level 1 – mill level – textiles materials,

zippers, thread, trims and buttons are
manufactured and sold to apparel firms.
2. Level 2 – Apparel manufacturing level –
apparel firms are responsible for the
marketing, merchandising and production
of products.
Apparel manufacturers have two types of
organizational structures
 those that perform all or nearly all of
their manufacturing in their own
facilities and by their own employees.
 those that contract some or all of the
manufacturing functions to other firms.

In level 2 apparel retailers also interact with

apparel contractors. This means that
retailers sometimes hire the contractors to
produce apparel that they want to sell in
 their stores.
3. Level 3 - Retail level - retailers are also
identified by store type in their traditional
roles – retail level.
Apparel contractors are sources of many goods
and services. Apparel firms that hire
contractor services often buy materials,
design and sell the products produced.
Sewing contractors may use the materials
and patterns provided by manufactured or
retailers and provide equipment and labor
to produce the finished garments according
to the manufacturer’s or retailer’s
specifications. Many manufacturers and
retailers hire specialty contractors to
perform processes for which they lack skills
or equipment. Special operations such as
making belts, pleating, printing,
embroidering are contracted as needed for
certain styles in a line. During peak of
seasonal production period, many
manufacturers hire contractors to
supplement their production. At the same
time in level 3 manufacturers enter the retail
business through factory owned business.
This makes the manufacturer to have direct
contact with the consumer which aid in
decision making process during product
development.
4. Level 4 – Consumers – who are the target
 and purpose of the entire textile and apparel
industry. Satisfied consumers make
business growth and profitability possible.
(

Structure of the industry

1. Size Structure: The structure of the

organization depends on the various stages
it incorporates into its functioning.
2. Manufacturer Structure:
1. Manufacturers own
Account: This type of organization
does every stage of garmenting, from
Design to selling. The manufacturer
should be able to anticipate or follow
very closely the changes in fashion. They
should anticipate possible fluctuations
in the level of demand. Manufacturer
should finance the operation of the
business. The manufacturer can
produce garments as per global sourcing
method or according to domestic
sourcing method.
Advantages:
 Maintaining good quality
control to product
 Accurate work scheduling.
 Disadvantages:
 The manufacturer must
maintain a large constituent pay
role
 Monthly repair and overhead
cost are high
 More time, money and effort
must be developed to human
resource an employ demand
 Large amount of capital are tied
up in machinery and facilities.

2. Sub contractor
These are small factories does the orders
given by the manufacturer. They should
be able to perform a good factory
management with low overheads; they
should maintain continuity in
production. Sub contractor should make
sure that the customers’ are reputable
and financially secure. Recognize and
select the most profitable opportunities
for obtaining high
productivity levels from his labor force.
They are known for CMT-cut, make and
trim.
Sub contractor working methods:
The manufacturer can produce
garments via subcontractor in the
following ways:
1. Cutting
The manufacturer can supply the
subcontractor with
 Cut garments ready for
sewing
 Raw materials and cutting
markers
 Raw materials and graded
set of patterns.

2. Making Up This is the main

function of the sub contractor i.e.
Production of the garment
3. Trimming Trimming is the process
of attaching trims and accessories to
be used with the garment. The
manufacturer may or may not
supply trimming to the
subcontractor.
4. Finishing This is usually refers to
pressing, final inspection and
packing. One or more of these can
be performed by the subcontractor
or the others can be with the
manufacturer.
 5. Quality Control The
manufacturer usually operates in-
process and final quality control
procedures to ensure the quality of
garments. The subcontractor will
have his own quality control system
and the manufacture will have a
separate quality control to ensure
the QCD, (High Quality, Low Cost
and Time Delivery of Products)
Advantages
 In person with small
amount of capital can go into
business
 No capital investment or
maintenance is necessary
 Highly paid technical work
is seasonal

Disadvantages
 The manufacturer have
less control over the quality of
their product
 Delivery date and
deadlines are some time missed
Organization Structure of Apparel Industry
References
1. Solinger Jacob (1980), Apparel
manufacturing handbook –analysis,
principles and practice, Van Nostrand, New
York.
2. Cooklin Gerry(2006), Introduction to
Clothing Manufacture, Black well, UK
3. Tyler J David (2008), Carr and Latham’s
Technology of Clothing Manufacture, Black
well, UK.
4. Kunz Grace and Glock Ruth (2004),
Apparel manufacturing: Sewn Products
analysis, Prentice Hall New Jersey.
5. Kalpan N S (2004), Changing trends in
Apparel Industry, Abhishek Publications,
Chandigarh.
6. Frings Gini Stephens (1999), Fashion
Concept to consumer, Prentice Hall New
Jersey.
7. Make a tour to the local apparel
manufacturing unit to understand the
organizational structure of the industry.
 Fundamentals of apparel production

Men, Materials and Machines

Every production process works hand in hand

with the following three elements :
Good information and knowledge of the men,
material and machines will help a industry to
run a efficient qualitative and quantitative
production process.
1. Materials - The raw materials being
processed
The raw materials that are required for the
apparel manufacturing ranges from fabrics,
sewing threads, buttons, laces, zippers,
fusing etc. These are manufactured in
specialized industries depending on the
quality of the material required. Many types
of materials are sewed into the variety of
products of the apparel and allied
manufacturing industries. A knowledge of
the working properties and characteristics of
these materials is therefore of prime
importance for the formulation of efficient
qualitative and quantitative production.
2. Machines - The processing
equipment/s
The machines – Today’s apparel
industry uses the most sophisticated and
 technologically very efficient machines.
Heavy duty industrial machines make the
manufacturing fast and produce high quality
products with in short periods of time.
3. Men - The persons involved in
executing the process
The men –in olden days tailors made
garments but now with mass manufacturing
the garment was divided into components.
Tailors are now called operators and they
became highly specialized in sewing certain
parts of the garment.
Fundamentals of apparel production

References

1. Solinger Jacob (1980), Apparel

manufacturing handbook –analysis,
principles and practice, Van Nostrand, New
York.
2. Cooklin Gerry(2006), Introduction to
Clothing Manufacture, Black well, UK
3. Tyler J David (2008), Carr and Latham’s
Technology of Clothing Manufacture, Black
well, UK.
4. Kunz Grace and Glock Ruth (2004),
Apparel manufacturing: Sewn Products
analysis, Prentice Hall New Jersey.
Apparel Production Layouts and Production Systems
 Definition of Plant Layout

Plant layout is the physical arrangement of

production equipment, administration
equipment, utility equipment, storage
equipment, transportation equipment, raw
material, labour and service facilities used in a
factory to produce and ship a saleable item. A
good infrastructure permits the product to be
produced with minimum unit cost in the
shortest time span.

Apparel Production Layouts and Production Systems

General areas

Most plants may be divided into general areas:

1. the administration area
2. the sales area
3. the production area
4. employee-service areas (rest rooms,
dressing rooms, lunch rooms)
Apparel Production Layouts and Production Systems

Types of production layouts

 Any apparel production layout may be classified
into one of the two production layout categories:
1. The Process Layout – this layout has
one specific kind or class of production
equipment in specific designated /classified
areas.
2. The Product Layout – this layout has
the production equipment arranged in a
sequence necessary to make a garment.
No matter which type of production layout the
company uses the space, labour, raw materials
production equipment, power and time the
above factors involved will always be the same.

Apparel Production Layouts and Production Systems

Selection of site for an apparel plant

The important factors required for the selection

of site for an apparel plant are :
1. The type, cost and amount of labour in the
area.
2. Public transportation for getting labour to
the plant.
3. Distance and access to suppliers(raw
materials) and clients(buying houses,
retailers)
4. Cost of space – real estate prices for
renting, buying or building infrastructure.
5. Cost and availability of utilities- water,
 electricity, gas, internet and telephone.
6. Government taxes, subsidies and business
licensing costs etc.
Factor 1 refers to the degree of skill in apparel
process ( cutting, sewing, finishing, packing etc)
available in the area, in what numbers and wage
rate at which they are available. Supervisory
help is available and capable trainers if needed
to train new labour. If the availability is low then
the plant faces pressure in terms of quality and
delivery on time.
Factor 2 refers to if the labour is available
whether they can reach the production plant. If
the labour is available in walking distance the
costs will be much lower compared to bringing
the labour from far of distances through public
or private transportation. This adds to the
running cost of the plant.
Factor 3 refers to the distances the raw
material travels before reaching the production
plant and the distance the garment travels after
it is made to the final destination. With the
apparel production centers coming up in all
parts of the globe the developed nations moved
their manufacturing to the under developed and
developing countries of the world. The distance
the raw materials and final product travels add
to the cost in terms of time, fuel and
infrastructure.
 Factor 4 refers to the real estate costs for
renting, buying or building new facilities. This is
directly related to the land costs, infrastructural,
building material costs and labour cost
for construction.
Factor 5 refers to the cost of utilities such as
power, gas, water, wood, internet and phone
facilities. Some of the state governments in India
have subsidized the above facilities to build
infrastructure and bring various manufacturing
facilities to their states hence increasing the
employment facilities for its people while
improving the economic conditions of the area.
Factor 6 refers to the various permissions,
licenses and local property taxes and their costs
to the manufacturer.
The total cost per unit produced is hence related
to these six factors, as well as the time for
receiving supplies and delivering finished
garments.

Apparel Production Layouts and Production Systems

References

1. Solinger Jacob (1980), Apparel

manufacturing handbook –analysis,
principles and practice, Van Nostrand, New
 York.
2. Cooklin Gerry(2006), Introduction to
Clothing Manufacture, Black well, UK
3. http://www.ap-apparelpark.com/
brochure.pdf

 Infrastructure Required for an Apparel Industry

Single storied versus Multi storied plants

Single story plants are preferable because

building cost is less per square foot and intra
transport costs less. Whereas, multi storied
plants are essential for large plants where land
 costs are prohibitive for building single storied
plants. In this, raw materials and finished goods
storage plus receiving and shipping would be
located on the lowest floor, cutting on the top
floor, sewing and pressing production lines on
the middle floor, with administrate office on the
first and second floor. Sometimes raw material
is stored on the top floor, near the cutting room.
In some cases, one or two sewing or other
processing operations such as fusing may be on
the cutting room floor.
This depends on what is produced, the volume
of production and the area of relative floors. In
some cases one or two sewing or other
processing operations for example fusing may be
on the cutting room floor. This arrangement
entirely depends on what is produced, the
volume of production and the area of relative
floors. In any case the flow would require bolts
of material to go, cut work and finished work to
come down. When such production
arrangements have to be made on different
floors there is a need to build infrastructure
keeping in mind the amount of work going up
and coming down.
Infrastructure Required for an Apparel Industry

Basic production line layouts

 There are four basic production line layouts
involved in the production line’s total area:
1. Square
2. Rectangular
3. L-shape
4. U-shape
Within each of these areas, the work can flow
without back track in one or more of five types
of flow lines:-
 Straight line
 Zig-zag line
 Looped line
 L-line
 U-line

 Infrastructure Required for an Apparel Industry

General rules governing plant layout efficiency

There are general rules which tend to govern the

degree of efficiency of any apparel
manufacturing plant layout. These principles
should be kept in mind when the plan for a plant
layout is made.
1. All other things being equal, items having
 the greatest increase in bulk space from cut
to finished work should receive priority for
the shortest transportation distances within
the factory walls.
2. All other things being equal items having
the smallest percentage of sewing time per
(a) Truck load or cut work and
(b) Square yard of cloth should receive
priority for the shortest total transportation
distance within the factory walls
3. Minimize the number of fixed floor space
obstructions such as post or pillars
4. Plan adequate utility lines (electric and
steam lines, etc) throughout the layout to
permit changes without
addition construction costs and with
minimum change costs.
 In production lines with under
pressing operations require steam,
water pipes or steam lines should be
installed parallel to electric feed rails.
 Work stations such as hand-iron
under pressing or pocket creasers; use
equipment that can be moved as readily
as a sewing machine. Hence such work
stations should contain a small portable
steam generator
5. Centralize personnel facilities (lavatories,
etc) with regard to minimum average
walking time per employee
 6. Flexible types of equipment for processing,
storage and transportation may used.
 Infrastructure Required for an Apparel Industry

Government regulations for plant layout

Approval of layouts for a plant are determined

by the state and community codes. These code
regulation depend on the locale in which the
plant is located. Code violations can be
expensive when government fines for not
following the regulations laid. They are as
follows :
1. Lighting at work places or passages
2. Passage space between work places or
areas
3. Dimensions of work areas
4. Dimensions for rest and lavatory facilities
5. Electric power systems regulations
6. Steam power regulations
7. Processing equipment
8. Conveyor and transportation equipment
9. Storage equipment
10. Storage area dimensions
11. Stairway dimensions and conditions
12. Waste disposal requirements
Infrastructure Required for an Apparel Industry

References
 1. Visit the nearest apparel production unit
and analyze its production layout and line.
2. Solinger Jacob (1980), Apparel
manufacturing handbook –analysis,
principles and practice, Van Nostrand, New
York.
3. Cooklin Gerry(2006), Introduction to
Clothing Manufacture, Black well, UK
4. Tyler J David (2008), Carr and Latham’s
Technology of Clothing Manufacture, Black
well, UK.
5. Kunz Grace and Glock Ruth (2004),
Apparel manufacturing: Sewn Products
analysis, Prentice Hall New Jersey.

 Major Departments in an Apparel Industry

Introduction

Mans first clothes were made from natural

elements: animal skin and furs, grasses and
leaves, and bones and shells. People first started
wearing clothes between 100,000 to 500,000
years ago. Clothing was often draped or tied
however, simple needles made out of animal
 bone provide evidence of sewn leather and fur
garments from at least 30,000 years ago.
When different cultures discovered the
advantages of woven fibers over animal hides,
the making of cloth, drawing on basketry
techniques, emerged as one of humankind's
fundamental technologies. Humans had to
invent weaving, spinning and other techniques
and the machines needed in order to make the
fabrics used for clothing.
Before sewing machines, nearly all clothing was
local and hand-sewn, there were tailors and
seamstresses in most towns that could make
individual items of clothing for customers. After
the sewing machine was invented, the ready-
made clothing/mass manufacturing industry
came into existence.
There has been tremendous growth and
development in the apparel/garment industry
with technological advancements happening in
all sectors of textile, machinery, accessories for
sewing, computer technologies, automation,
Robotic systems and infrastructure.
Apparel production has become a more
organized structure with categorization into
various departments.
Major Departments in an Apparel Industry
Design department

The design department can be considered as the

research and development department of a
clothing factory, because it is in this department
that the prototypes of garments are developed
and prepared for selling and production. For
most factories the process of product
development involves seven stages;
1. Forecasting:
Fashion forecasting is information that
offers effective and highly accurate trend
predictions to the fashion, style and related
industries. Fashion intelligence and industry
experience shape the reports which are
creative, inspiring and highly focused on
various product. This provides analysis of
current and future fashion trends and a very
comprehensive coverage of Colour & trend
direction, 18 months in advance of the
season followed by design reports for each
trend, 12 months ahead.
2. Designing
The designers work in different ways. Some
sketch their ideas on paper,
while others drape fabric on a dress form
and some others use computerized design
system. These systems are becoming widely
used and provide the designer with a highly
 versatile and flexible tool for creating new
designs in the shortest time. The designer
with the help of forecasting trends of style,
colour and fabrics develops the
illustrations/sketches for haute couture or
readymade or mass market.
3. Collection Planning
This process is in effect the pre production
phase of sampling and the objectives are to
set out in detail the styles, fabrics and colors
which will represent the company’s
proposals for the forth-coming season. The
designer works in close co–operation with
the marketing department and tighter they
attempt to determine the best possible style,
fabric and price combinations. Using the
sketches of core collection, various
alternatives and approaches will be
examined:
 Developing the variations from the
core designs,
 Trying the same cloth on a number of
different designs,
 Modifying some of the ideas to make
garments more acceptable to a wider
range of customers,
 Addition of ‘fill-in’ type garments for
which there may be a steady demand
throughout the season.
  Inclusion of garments which some of
the larger buyers have indicated an
interest.
 Balancing the contents of the
collection so that it contains the
optimum style and price combinations.

4. Pattern Making
Pattern making may be done manually by
a trained patter maker with a paper and
measuring tools or by using an auto CAD or
by draping fabric directly onto the dress
form. The resulting pattern pieces are used
to construct the garment in required size.
Various shapes and sizes of pattern pieces
can be produced for various styles of
garments.
5. Technology
Technological innovations in the garment
industry have been tremendous. Each and
every department of the apparel industry
has the scope of highly efficient machines.
Use of sophisticated and advance ,machine
improves the quality of the product and
maximizes the profits of the company.
6. Production of sample garments
Sampling unit within the industry makes
sample garments supervised by the pattern
maker or the designer. Sampling is a
 continual process during the development of
new product. A sample needs to conform to
the design, fabric and color trends along
with the perfect fit analysis. Cost of each
sample must be accurately calculated in
order to determine the cost price and then
the selling price.
7. Pattern Grading
Pattern sizing and grading done on
computer or manually is link between
pattern design and generation and
preparatory stages of cutting in different
sizes. It is the process where patterns of
different sizes are produced from the
original master pattern.

Major Departments in an Apparel Industry

Production department

In a large, more sophisticated environment the

production department has three main groups of
functions:
1. Manufacturing Functions:
 These are concerned with the actual
production of garments and include
 Cutting room,
 Sewing room,
 Pressing room,
 Finishing,
 Final inspection,
 Packing.

2. Service Functions:
While the service sections mainly assist the
production department, they also extend
their services to other departments within
the organization. The main service
departments are
 Production engineering,
 Personnel and Training,
 Machinery and
Equipment maintenance,
 General maintenance,
 Technical stores.

3. Control functions:
These cover control services, which provide
production management with regular and
up to date information on the overall and
detailed performance of the factory. The
main control functions are:
 Production Planning,
 Budgetary control,
  Quality control.
Major Departments in an Apparel Industry

Marketing department

The marketing department carries out three

major functions, which according to the size and
organizational structure of the company, may be
combined or may be separate entities.
The primary functions of this department are
1. Marketing
2. Merchandising
3. Sales
4. Other functions
1. Marketing:
It involves all the activities for direction the
flow of goods from producers to consumers.
Regardless of the size of the company and its
organizational structure, the marketing
function deals with the following subjects
1. Marketing calendar
2. Product pricing
3. Price evaluation
4. Bracketing prices
5. Product planning
6. Customers.

2. Merchandising:
This is a specific activity, which concerns
itself with product development, overall
 production strategy and the delivery of
merchandise to customers. Merchandising
not only has to adjust rapidly to market
variations, but also has to anticipate these
changes.
Distribution is the second major element of
marketing and is involved with the physical
movement of merchandise from the factory
warehouse to the retailer shops or central
stores. Most clothing factories use what are
called as direct channel of distribution
whereby goods are delivered to the retailers’
premises or sub-distributors without going
through a second party such as wholesaler.
Apart from the physical distribution of
goods, merchandising section is responsible
for:
 The warehousing of finished goods,
 Allocating customers orders,
 Packing the orders when necessary,
 Deciding on the appropriate methods
of transportation,
 Continuous inventory control,
 Ensuring that garments are delivered
with a fresh and attractive appearance.

2. Sales:
The third element of marketing is ‘sales
 promotion’. This is aimed at motivating
retailers and public alike to purchase
merchandise product under a specific brand
or designer name. Promotion is based on
effective communication. The four channels
of communication used are:
 Advertising,
 Publicity,
 Personal selling (one –to – one
selling),
 Presentations (fashion Shows).

3. The other functions of the marketing

department are
1. Market Research:
It is another activity of the marketing
department. It deals with gathering,
processing and presentation of
information, which will serve as basis
for future decisions and planning. Some
of objectives are to determine:
1. The market potential in a
particular area,
2. What share of market might be
achieved,
3. Characteristics of given market,
4. The distribution requirements
for the market concerned,
5. Whether it is necessary to divide
 a market into separate territories,
6. The organization and staff
required to service the market,
7. The viability of selling through
the company’s own staff or through
agents.

2. Selling:
The actual selling of company’s products
can be achieved through the following
channels:
1. Show room based staff,
2. Representatives,
3. Agents.

3. Sales Forecasting and

Budgeting:
The sales budget for a season is derived
from sales forecast and its preparation is
a highly important function of
marketing department. The sales
forecast provides the basis for all
other planning and such must be
accurate. Two related forecasts for sales
budget are:
1. Forecasting selling prices of
different categories of garments in
final collection.
2. Forecast volume of sales for
 each category of product.
The sales forecast is also a key
document for the production and
operations departments because apart
from forecasting the quantity of sales, it
also details the anticipated dates for the
initial bulk deliveries of merchandise.
The marketing department plays a
decisive role in determining the overall
and detailed selling strategy of an
apparel industry.
Major Departments in an Apparel Industry Main Functions and Scope

Finance Department

The finance department is responsible for

managing all the financial administrative affairs
of the company and has a very important
influence on many of the policy and commercial
decisions taken by management. The financing
of a company’s operations require precise
timely planning and control in order to ensure
that adequate funds and credits are available
when needed.
Apart from the money to pay suppliers, salaries,
expenses, etc funds have to be on hand to
finance stocks of raw materials and finished
goods. In periods when trading is difficult and
revenues are down, provision has to be made to
cover such periods.
Some important functions performed by this
department are:
1. Providing management information
2. Budgeting
3. Garment costing
4. Administration.
1. Management Information:
In the world of business, success or failure is
ultimately measured by money and
therefore it is essential that the financial
pulse of the company is under continual
measurement. This department is directly
responsible for providing the management
with up-to-date information on the current
and future financial status. Some typical
reports prepared for management are:
balance sheets, stock levels and values,
production costs, operating statements for
different departments, cost rejects, returns
etc.
2. Budgeting:
The object of budgeting is to plan and
control the company’s activities so as to
maximize profitability, and the starting
point for all budgeting is the sales budget.
This is usually drawn up before the
beginning of each financial year or season
 considering the sales to be established and
new customers, general economic trends at
home and abroad, manufacturing capacity
and availability of finance. Other budgets
considered are: labour costs, material costs,
overheads, and departmental budgets.
3. Garment Costing:
It is the ‘identity card’ of the garment and
contains all the information required for the
pre-production and production stages
making garments. The costing sheet shows
the detailed costs for:
 Material,
 Labour,
 Fixed and variable overheads,
 Other expenses.
The information for garment costing comes
from various sources: sample section,
cutting room, break down time values and
costs involved in cutting, sewing and
finishing, costs of trims and materials,
overhead costs from finance department.
4. Administration:
All the departments in a clothing industry
require administrative support for their
operations to ensure orderly and systematic
functioning.
 The procedures covered are;
 Preparing orders to supplies,
 Checking goods inwards,
 Timing and methods for stock taking,
 Imports and exports,
 Obtaining credits for returned goods
and materials,
 Issuing credits for customer returns,
 Negotiating and issuing tenders for
major projects,
 Purchase of office furniture and
equipment etc.
A clothing business has ‘up-front’
departments such as design, marketing and
production and the fact that they function
smoothly is the result of good administrative
support.

Major Departments in an Apparel Industry Main Functions and Scope

Purchase department

The primary objective of purchase department is

to obtain the right materials, in the right quality,
at right time and price. As purchasing
department and raw materials stores are
operational departments, they are responsible to
the operations manager, and in management of
finished goods, warehouse is responsible to
the marketing department. The main functions
of this department are:
1. Information:
It provides information to all concerned
regarding new products, materials and
service.
2. Suppliers:
The approval of a product and its price is
normally given by the department for whom
the product is intended, but this department
must ensure that the supplier is stable and
reliable.
3. Prices:
While the price, quality and quantity of
materials are usually specified by the
operations department, the purchase must
be made at the most advantageous terms for
the company. Other terms and conditions
such as freight costs, insurance, discounts,
credit terms, etc. are also negotiated before
the order is placed.
4. Progressing:
This is concerned with ensuring that the
 ordered materials arrive at the correct time,
and the makes sure that the production plan
can be executed without any hold – ups due
to late or non – delivery of raw materials.
5. Verification:
A well managed business, checks the prices,
quantities, colors etc. of delivered materials
as specified in the purchase orders.
6. Speculative Buying:
When market conditions are particularly
favorable, this department recommends
ordering materials such as fusibles, linings
and sewing threads which are not required
foe immediate use assuming scarcity of
these materials or hike in prices.
7. Store Keeping:
The staff here are responsible for receiving,
storage and issuing of materials.
8. Stock Management:
The management of the raw materials and
technical stores is expected to maintain and
provide accurate and up –to date
information on the stock levels of all items
carried. This information is essential for the
purchase department to study the frequency
and type of order placed with suppliers.
9. Purchase Order:
 This is the means by which the company
places orders with suppliers and it is an
important contractual document which
binds the company to considerable
expenditure. It is therefore, most important
that the purchase order is unambiguous.
Major Departments in an Apparel Industry Main Functions and Scope

Packaging and ware housing

The final group of operations in the production

of clothing prepare finished merchandise for
delivery to the customer. These operations come
under the heading of material handling systems
and are no less important than other systems
used in the factory. The warehouse is an integral
link in the manufacturing chain and should
receive the same thought and planning as is
given to other production systems. Even before
the goods reach the warehouse, the goods are
packed. Packaging may have two major
functions:
1. Distribution
2. Merchandising
The ‘Distribution’ function deals with packing
the apparel or allied product in a manner, which
permits the apparel manufacturer to ship the
product at lowest cost and /or in the shortest
time to the purchaser, without diminishing the
quality of the product.
 The ‘Merchandising’ function deals with
presenting the apparel product in a manner
designed to stimulate consumer desire for the
product.
Both these functions have the same scope with
respect to retaining the product’s durability and
style specifications during the journey from the
factory to the retailer.
Major Departments in an Apparel Industry Main Functions and Scope

Quality control department

Quality control is the process of maintaining the

given standards in the product, from the design
phase to the consumer’s use of the product for
the given life with the given conditions. Quality
control by the name is basically a systematic
regulatory process which:
 Establishes standards appropriate to the
quality objectives of the company,
 Has techniques for measuring the degree
of conformity to these standards,
 Uses statistical methods for analyzing the
significance of deviations from these
standards,
 Reports on the findings of the analyses and
when necessary, recommends and follow-up
on corrective procedures.
The word ‘Quality’ itself is a concept and implies
a degree of excellence the nature of which is
dependent on the reasons for the garment being
purchased. A term very often used to describe
the quality characteristics of a garment which
together provide the reason for purchasing it is
‘fitness for purpose’ and A-J Chuter has defined
this as being:
1. Quality of design,
2. Quality of conformance,
3. Quality of delivery and service.
This definition contains all that is to be followed
in a clothing factory.
Most of the routine decisions will be made by
the quality manager who will have an in – depth
understanding of the company’s products and
will be highly conversant with customer’s
attitudes and requirements regarding garment
quality.
The inspectors employed by the department
work in various sections of the factory, each
being responsible for a specific pre-production
or production activity. They all report to the
quality manager and not to the managers or
supervisors of the various sections or
departments, because inspectors do not have
direct control over production workers but act in
a strictly advisory capacity. Responsibility for
the quality of operations coming off a section
belongs to the production supervisor or
departmental manager, but they work closely
with the inspection team to maintain standards.
1. Quality Audit:
The work passed by inspectors is also
subject to audit by means of a random
sample drawn at specified intervals from the
work passed by each inspector. The
objectives of the audit are two folds;
 to ensure that a minimum of faulty
work is being let through,
 to verify whether the specified
standards are being interpreted
correctly by the inspector.
2. Quality Monitor:
This can be considered as high-level audit
performed at management level, and takes
place at regular intervals of say once a week.
A random sample of latest production is
taken from the finished goods warehouse
and collectively appraised, with discussion
on overall quality. Alternatively, discussions
made can lead to an agreement on the use of
a new or different process technology, which
could improve existing quality without an
increase in cost. Quality monitors provide
managers and technologists with regular
and up-to-date feedback regarding the
overall effectiveness of their own sphere of
 operations.
3. Quality Circles:
These are similar to monitoring sessions but
with the participation of the section or line
supervisor, the operators and quality control
personnel. They are responsible to meet the
quality achievements of the unit over a
particular period.
Quality is everybody’s business in a clothing
factory starting from design and follows the
garment through, until it is hung finally or
stored in the retailers shop. This is called
“Quality Chain”.

Major Departments in an Apparel Industry Main Functions and Scope

References

1. Solinger Jacob (1980), Apparel manufacturing handbook –analysis,

principles and practice, Van Nostrand, New York.
2. Cooklin Gerry(2006), Introduction to Clothing Manufacture, Black well,
UK
3. Tyler J David (2008), Carr and Latham’s Technology of Clothing
Manufacture, Black well, UK.
4. Kunz Grace and Glock Ruth (2004), Apparel manufacturing: Sewn
Products analysis, Prentice Hall New Jersey.
5. Kalpan N S (2004), Changing trends in Apparel Industry, Abhishek
Publications, Chandigarh.
6. Frings Gini Stephens (1999), Fashion Concept to consumer, Prentice
Hall New Jersey.
 An important contributor to the global GDP, the
global apparel market stood at US$ 1.9 trillion in
2018.
 EU and the USA dominate the global apparel
market with a combined share of over 41% while
they account for only 11% of the world population.
 While, highly populated Asian countries, such as
China, India and Japan, home to ~38% of the world
population collectively account for a market of
21%.
 The global apparel demand is expected to boost at
a steady CAGR of 5% to grow from the current US$
1.9 trillion to reach US$ 2.6 trillion by 2025.
 Among the top ten markets of apparel, Asian
giants China and India are expected to deliver the
most promising growth rates of 10% and 12%,
respectively, when compared to the world
aggregate of 5%. China at US$ 450 billion, is set to
become the largest apparel market in the world by
2025, while India will be propelled to fourth on the
list with an expected market size of US$ 164
billion. Higher economic growth and rise in per
capita income of individuals will lead to the growth
in the apparel market in these developing
countries. Global apparel market has grown at 5%
y-o-y to reach US$ 1.9 trillion in 2018.
  Global apparel market will grow to US$ 2.6 trillion
by 2025.
 EU and USA account for 41% of the global apparel
market but are slowing down as compared to
countries like China, India and Brazil, which are
expected to grow at a much faster pace.
 Global T&A market has grown at a CAGR of 4%
since 2005 to reach US$ 823 billion in 2018.
 Apparel dominated T&A trade with a share of 57%,
followed by fabrics with a share of 19%.
The Organisation of a clothing factory
 In every clothing factory, the first stage
is fashion forecasting and sketching ideas
in the design development process.

 The next stage is the development of the
sample garment, which involves collection,
planning, pattern making, grading and
production of sample garment and costing of
garment based on the working sketches.

  The line or the products are then appraised for
production the patterns adopted for the
production requirement.
 For handling these tasks there are specific
departments in a clothing factory.
 
Principle of management
Management, according to one of the most
common definitions, is "the accomplishment of
desired objectives establishing an environment
favourable to performance by people operating in
organised groups."
According to Henry Fayol there are 14 principles of
management which are:
1. Division of Work: allows for job
specialisation. Work should be divided among
individuals and groups.
2. Authority and Responsibility: Right to give
orders. Responsibility involves being answerable
by whoever assumes authority assumes
responsibility.
3. Discipline: Common efforts of workers.
4. Unity of Command: Employees should have
only one boss.
5. Unity of Direction: A single plan of action to
guide the organisation.
6. Subordination: Of individual interests to
general interests of organisation.
7. Remuneration: An equitable, uniform
payment system that motivates and contributes to
success.
8. Centralisation: Degree to which authority
rests at the top of the organisation.
9. Scalar Chain: Chain-like authority scale.
10. Order: Arrangement of employees where they
will be of the most value to the organisation.
11. Equity: Justice and fair dealing
12. Stability: of tenure of personnel
13. Initiative
14. Esprit de corps: Harmony, general good
feeling among employees
 The management function is essential for all
organised activity and at all levels of the
organisation from the managing director down
to a supervisor responsible for a small section
within the factory.
 While the managing director has full executive
control and authority for conducting the
 affairs of the company, the supervisor has the
similar powers on a far smaller scale.
 
 In order to achieve the specified objectives of
the company, management has to perform five
basic functions to coordinate group activity:
 
Inspection of garment
 Packing: - before entering the finished goods
warehouse, garments are boxed or bagged.
Packaging of the garments
 Service function- while the service
function mainly assists the production
department, they also extend their
services to other departments within the
organisation. The main service
departments are production engineering
(project planning and development),
recruitment of staff and training,
machinery and equipment maintenance
(maintenance of building, air
conditioning, power supplies) and
technical stores (holds the entire item
required for repairs and maintenance).
 
          Control function- These cover
control services (such as quality control)
which provide production management
with regular and up-to-date information
on the overall and detailed performance
of the factory. It enables those
responsible for production to anticipate
and correct deviation from plans. The
main control functions are production
planning and control, budgetary control
and quality control.
 
3.6 Operations Department
Operations department is one of the names given
to the department that has the overall
responsibility for planning, controlling and
coordinating all activities concerned with the
logistics of raw material supply and the production
of garments.
The functions of operations department are as
follows:-
         Pre-production planning and
control:-
Another function of the operations department is
the pre-production planning and control, which
plans and controls all the activities leading up to
the actual production or garments. In effect, it is
pre-production planning and control which
organises and manages the route from the
customer to the cutting room. The overall objective
is to ensure that the logistics of supply and
production are planned in such a manner that:
         The sales programme is achieved
on time
         Labour, machinery and other
sources are utilised to the best
         The pre-production phase for an
order is ended when the production
order, graded patterns and all the raw
material are issued to the factory.
Production planning and control
(PP & C):-
 
 
-          Cutting room: - Here all the processes
required to trim piece goods into cut garments
are performed.
 
Sewing room: - Apart from actual sewing this
include operations such as fusing, under-
pressing, and in-process inspection.
Sometimes the sewing room use outside
contractors for operations which the factory is
not equipped to carry out, such as pleating,
embroidery and quilting.
 Pressing room: - This department gives the
garment its final finish by a process called top-
pressing.

 Final inspection:- Although this is not strictly

a production function, it is tied in with
production because the inspection department
gives the 'go' or 'no-go' for every garment
produced.

The most important function of the operations

department is the production planning and control
because without it, the department is like a bus
driving along the road without a fixed route,
destination or timetable.
Production planning includes marker planning
(manual or computerised technique) and cut
planning and cutting room production planning.
 

As soon as the production plans are issued, the

operations department begins the control
procedure necessary to maintain up-to-date
picture of the progress of each production order.
Generally, the department requires information on
the three stages of production-
a) When the cutting of a production order has to
be started;
b) When a production order has to start being
issued to the sewing room;
c) the styles and qualities of the finished garments
which have entered the warehouse.
The department would receive information from
the sections concerned on a daily or more frequent
basis.
Where system such as CIM (computerised
integrated manufacturing) is employed, then
the information is available in real time (relating to
computer system that updates information at the
same rate as they received data).
For the operations department, the principle of
their global control system is two questions:
 
         Have the garments been started and
finished on time?

What goes in between is the responsibility of

production management.
 

Conclusion:
The principles of management are the same for
every clothing factory and the only difference is
that of scale. While the basic purpose of factories
may vary, all of them rely on the effectiveness of
management in all the attainment of their
objectives.

i. Forecasting and planning

Planning means looking ahead or to foresee, to
assess the future and make provisions for it.
Planning also means to decide in advance how to
allocate available potential resources to fulfil set
objectives. These resources can be classified in the
following groups:-
 
What?
This concerns the materials required from the
cloth, linings and trimmings to other ancillary
material needed to produce garments such as
chalk, marker paper, pins etc.
 
Where?
This the resource of space for storage of raw
material or production areas of the warehousing of
the finished goods.
Who?
Includes planning human resources, not just the
production operator, but also manpower for
managerial, supervisory roles and service within
the factory.
How?
The question here is, how will the work be
performed? The answer is in evaluating methods,
capability of existing machinery or whether
conditional machinery required. This planning
element takes into account every section within the
factory and not just the sewing room.
When?
This is the axis of all planning and time scale
dictates which activity has to be performed and
when it should be completed. It also includes the
what, where, who and how elements to be
coordinated, to ensure that they are available when
required. This is the most important of all
planning functions. The coordinated planning of
these five elements bridges the gap from where we
are to and where we need to go.
 
ii. Organisation
An organisation is not an end in itself but rather a
means to achieve the required results. There has to
be a structure which makes it possible to attain the
planned objectives. Wherever the responsibility of
management is vested in more than one person,
there must be a pattern of relationship between the
various management responsibilities. This involves
delegation of work into or major responsibilities
into specialist areas. This division creates the
organisation structure. The main objective of an
organisation chart is to define the management
relationships within the company.
 
iii. Staffing
This function is basically concerned with people
and training and its short and long term objectives
or to provide the organisation with right types and
quantities of managerial and non managerial staff
as an when they are needed. It involves the
following factors:-
 
a.      Recruitment: Sources could be school or
job centres in universities.
 
b.      Selection: No magic formula to ensure the
person taken is right but there are some
physical psychometric psychological tests if
interpreted by an expert could get the
company right staff.
 
c.       Training: Systematic selection helps in
obtaining the best labour but this effort is
wasted if employees are not given the right
training. This applies to all levels because even
a new manager requires some degree of
training by his supervisors.
 
iv. Direction: The function of direction is
concerned with getting employees to accomplish
their set tasks effectively.
Just planning, organising and staffing will not
work, like starting an engine of a car will not make
it move.
It is the function of direction which breathes life
into planning and organisation.
The behaviour of a group largely depends on the
type of manager it has and good managers will
always provide subordinates with the information
necessary for intelligent action.
Obviously, the more an individual knows about his
or her own work and environment, the more
intelligently they can work.
 
v. Controlling: The managerial function of
control is the measurement and correction of
performance in order to ensure that the company's
objectives are accomplished as plan. The function
involved three steps:-
 
         Establishment of standards:
Standards are criteria against which actual
results can be measured. They can be physical
 and represent quantities of products or
materials, or they can be stated in monetary
terms, such as costs and income. All these
standards are used as the basis for the second
step.
 
         Measurement of performance: This
involves the comparison of actual results with
those planned.
 
         Correction of deviations: When
organised planning and control procedures are
operated, it is relatively easy to expose
deviations and to apply corrective measures.
Feedback is central to the correction of
deviation; this informational input provides
the basis for all operational decision regarding
the non-achievement of the plans.
 
Various sections of garment industry
 
Design Department
The design department can be considered as the
research and development department of a
clothing factory, because it is in this department
that the prototypes of garments are developed and
prepared for selling and production. For most
factories the process of product development
involves seven stages:
 
i.        Forecasting: This stage commences with
the evaluation and interpretation of the
market's future needs in terms of fashion and
price. Apart from intuition and common sense,
these forecasts are based on the accumulated
knowledge, expertise and experience of the
company to make a fairly accurate prediction
of the types of garments customers will buy
and the prices they will be willing to pay.
 
ii.     Designing:
In garment
manufacturing, the
first step is designing the
sketch for the dresses that
have to be prepared. For
this purpose the designer
first draws several rough sketches in the sketch
book. The designer does not go for details at
this moment but rather lets creativity flow on
the paper. There may be many sketches. Later,
these sketches are analysed by a panel of
 designers. They finally select a few of them.
These sketches are rendered in detail
separately or in the form of a single collection.
The designer also draws working drawings
along with the sketch. Working drawings are
flat drawing of the sketch and it helps pattern
maker understand the patterns involved in the
construction.
 
iii.   Collection
Planning: This
process is actually the
pre-production phase
of sampling, and the
objectives are to set
out in detail the styles,
fabrics and colours which will represent the
company's proposals for the forthcoming
season. The designer works in close
cooperation with the marketing department
and together they attempt to determine the
best possible style, fabric and price
combinations for company's customer.
 
After approval of the design, finalised plan
becomes operative and the actual production of
samples begins.
 
iv.    Pattern making: This function connects
design to production by producing paper
templates for all the components, such as
cloth, lining and fusible, which have to be cut
for a garment. Industrial pattern making has
two basic stages, the block pattern and the
garment pattern.
 
Purchasing Department:
The primary objective of the purchasing
department is to obtain the right materials, in the
right quantity, at the right time and price. Since
purchased materials are the largest components in
the cost of a garment, purchasing is an extremely
important and specialist function within a clothing
company.
 
The main functions of the purchasing
department are:-
✔      Information: - The purchasing office is
the company's 'window on the world' and
provides information to all concerned
regarding new products, materials and
services.
 
 ✔      Suppliers: - Purchasing department
ensures that the supplier is stable and reliable.
This is particularly important where a new
supplier does not have a known track record.
 
✔      Prices: - While the price, quality and
quantity of materials are usually specified by
the operations department, the purchase must
be made at the most advantageous terms for
the company. Other terms and conditions such
as freight costs, insurance, discounts and
credit terms are also negotiates before the
order is placed.
 
✔      Progressing: - This is concerned with
ensuring that the ordered materials arrive at
the correct time, without any hold-up caused
by the late or non-delivery of raw material.
This system employed to progress orders can
be manual or computerises, and is basically a
diary detailing the orders placed and their
confirmed delivery date.
 
✔      Verification: - In a well managed
business, a standard procedure is to check that
prices, quantities, colour, etc. Of delivered
 materials agree with the particulars specified
in purchase order. The storekeeper checks
quantities and the materials are then specified
by quantity assurance personnel. If everything
is found to be in order, the purchasing
department approves the supplier's invoice for
payment on the due date.
 
✔      Speculative buying: - When market
conditions are particularly favourable, the
purchasing department may recommend
ordering materials such as fusible, linings and
sewing threads which are not required for
immediate use but there are chances that later
on these materials would become difficult to
obtain, or there will be a sharp increase in
their price.
 
✔      Storekeeping: - The storekeeping staff is
basically responsible for the receiving, storage
and issuing of materials.
 
         Receives goods inward and checks them
according to procedure specified by the
purchasing department.
 
          Stores the goods so that no deterioration
or damage occurs through, say, exposure to
sunlight or crushing.

Structure of the Textile and Garment Industry

The textile & apparel is a series of interrelated

activities which originates with the manufacture of
fibre & culminates in the delivery of a product into
the hands of the consumer. The textile and apparel
industry is a major contributor to several national
economies, including both small & large scale
processes globally. Garment manufacturing is
labor intensive, which is characterized by low fixed
capital investment; a wide range of product
designs and hence input materials; variable
production volumes; high competitiveness and
often high demand on product quality. Although
the manufacturing process is associated mainly
with apparel & household linens, it is also used in a
variety of industries and crafts such as upholstery,
shoe-making, sail-making, bookbinding and the
production of varieties of sporting
goods. Sewing is the fundamental process, with
ramifications into a variety of textile arts and
crafts, including tapestry, quilting, embroidery,
appliqué and patchwork. Further, it is a sector
where comparatively modern technologies could
be implemented even in poor countries at
moderately low investment costs.

With concern to the employment as well as

production, the textile sector is one of the prime
industries in the world.

The textile and garment sector also has the high

potential market segment for value added products
where design and research and development
(R&D) are key competitive factors. The luxury
fashion industry utilizes higher labor in design and
marketing segments. The same applies to market
sectors like sportswear where both design and
material technology are vital. In this article I will
discuss structure of textile and apparel industry.

Structure of the Textile and Apparel

Industry
The clothing or garment industry is a labor-
oriented, low wage industry but a vibrant,
innovative sector, depending on the type of market
segments upon which the industry focuses. The
high-end fashion sector is considered modern
technology, with comparatively well-paid workers
and designers and a high degree of flexibility.
There are wide varieties of garment types that the
apparel manufacturers have to handle, which can
be broadly divided into two categories: outer
garments and inner garments.
The core operations of industries servicing this
market sector are mostly situated in developed
nations and often in certain geographical locations
within these nations. The other kind of major
market sector is bulk production of standard
products like t-shirts, uniforms, underwear, etc.

Manufacturers for this type of standard product

market sector are mostly seen in developing
countries. For lower- to medium-priced products
in the market, the responsibility of the retailer has
become more and more important in the
organization of the supply chain. The retail market
sector has turned out to be more intense, leaving
more market power to multinational retailers.

Textiles are responsible for the key raw material

input to the garment industry, developing vertical
supply chain relationships between the two
containing sales and distribution functions. The
textile and apparel sectors involve:

 Acquiring and processing raw materials, that

is, the preparation and production of textile
fibers.
 Manufacturing of textile yarns and fabrics.
 Dyeing and finishing of textile
materials, which provide visual, physical and
aesthetic properties that consumers demand,
such as bleaching, printing, dyeing and
coating.
  Conversion of textiles into garments that can
be either fashion or functional garments.

Textile industry:

The textile industry is primarily concerned with

the design and production of yarn, cloth, clothing,
and their distribution. So in the textile business
generally needs more investment compared to the
garment sector and it is an extremely automated
area. It comprises yarn manufacturing, fabric
manufacturing and dyeing and finishing, and these
three functions could be carried out in integrated
plants. On the other hand, the textile sector suffers
from the higher lead time as well as high
investment cost, which results in relatively large
minimum orders.
Fig: Organizational structure of textile industry

Apparel industry:
Garment industry starting with the textile industry
(producers of cotton, wool, fur, and synthetic fiber)
via fashion industry to fashion retailers. The
fundamental manufacturing process of the apparel
industry has not undergone much change over the
past century, and is considered by the progressive
bundle system. Work or operation is planned in a
manner that each operator is specialized in one or
a few operations. The fabric is first cut into various
garment panels and then grouped by components
of the garment, tied into bundles and sent to an
assembling (sewing) section for making a garment.
An operator receives a bundle of cut garment
panels and executes his or her single operation and
keeps the bundle in a buffer. A buffer of about one
day’s work is common at each operation. It takes
about 40 operations to finish a pair of pants, which
entails about 40 days of in-process inventory.

Supply chain of apparel industry is as

following:

Level 1: Textiles and finding manufacturers (Mill

Level)

Level 2: Garment manufacturers, contractors,

retail product development (Garment
Manufacturing Level)

Level 3: Manufacturer-owned retailers, outlets,

catalogue retailers, warehouse

↓
Level 4: Consumers

You can see in below image with details,

Fig: Structure of apparel industry

Though numerous advances in the industrial

engineering segment for systematizing the
operations and reducing the production time of
each individual operation have taken place over a
period of time, the basic method has remained the
same. However, the apparel industry, especially
sewing technology has remained significantly less
automated compared to many other
manufacturing industries.
The new technologies, systems and innovations in
the clothing sector have improved efficiency at
each production stage and enhanced the
harmonization between stages and provided a
more seamless interface between them. The major
breakthrough innovation was the use of computers
in apparel manufacturing in areas like pattern
making, marker planning and computerized
automatic cutting machine.
This machine has made it possible to cut
increasingly thick layers of cloth accurately. These
advancements are mainly associated with the
preassembly phase of production, where
technological developments have been more
important than at the assembly stage.

The organization structure of a medium-

sized garment industry is shown in figure:
Fig: Organization structure of an apparel industry

References:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_industry
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_industry
3. Apparel Manufacturing Technology by T. Karthik,
P. Ganesan, D. Gopalakrishnan
4. Garment Manufacturing Technology Edited by
Rajkishore Nayak and Rajiv Padhye
5. The Apparel Industry by Richard M. Jones
   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN5oLGSjepQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSn7iz-bFN8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nUjGNDImIk

Standards of Garment Construction

Clothes Are Made Of Parts
Have you ever looked closely at your clothes? How is a
shirt or pair of pants put together?
Most articles of clothing are made of many pieces sewn
together or connected in some way to make a complete
garment. Standards of garment construction are
general principles related to how well an item of
clothing is built, whether or not it functions well, and
the quality of its general appearance.
But why worry about garment construction? We want our clothes to look good and last for a
long time. Good standards help ensure both of these considerations. If you're learning how to
make clothing, it's important to begin with a solid foundation. Learning and understanding
garment construction standards will help you to improve your skills and produce well-made,
stylish items. Even large clothing companies set standards because they want the clothing
customers purchase to meet their level of quality.
Clothing should be well-made for its intended purpose

No one, whether a hobbyist or a large fashion house, wants to

be known for poor quality clothing with shoddy
workmanship. Have you ever bought an item of clothing only
to find out that seams were loose, or a collar didn't lay well?
That's what happens when clothing isn't made with an eye to
standards. By following standards of garment construction,
you can create aesthetically pleasing, long-lasting clothing for
yourself and others.
Standards Of Garment Construction

Style and Function

In general, garments should be attractive and durable.

Whether an evening gown, rustic jacket or informal pair
of work pants, the clothing should function well and be
made in a manner appropriate for its intended purpose.
How the clothing is made shouldn't get in the way of
how well it works.
The item of clothing should fit the body well, with
shoulders, sleeves and other elements falling in the right
places. If the garment is meant to be more tailored
and fitted, which means contouring more closely to the body's shape, it should taper in
the proper places and not have unsightly gaps or bubbles of fabric.

Clothing should look good and fit well

The overall appearance of a clothing item should be unified and
cohesive. Any fabric patterns, like stripes and plaids, should match
well and be used appropriately. Patterns should meet at sleeves and
other connection points in the corresponding horizontal or vertical
manner. If blue stripes are running down the front and back of a shirt,
they should also run down the sleeves. The garment should be
constructed with the fabric grain, the horizontal and vertical threads
used in the weaving process, running in the right direction.

Construction And Details

How a garment is made should be inconspicuous. You
want to see clothing as a cohesive whole, and not notice
awkward construction details. Seams, where the edges
of two pieces have been sewn together, should be neat
and uniform. All stitching should be straight and well-
executed, and the proper types of stitches should be
used in respective areas. You shouldn't see loose
threads or the remains of any basting stitches,
temporary stitches that hold pieces in place while a
garment is being made.
Clothing should be made of quality materials. This
includes the textiles, any decorative trim like lace and
ribbon, and any notions. Notions are the small items
like buttons, zippers and other fasteners. And the
notions should be properly executed. Buttonholes
should be the proper size, well-placed and well-sewn,
whether done by hand or by machine. Any buttons
should be securely fashioned. The same is true of
zippers and other fastening devices.

Stitching should be neat and notions properly attached

ISO Certification for Textile and Apparel Industries

ISO 9000 is a family of standards for quality

management. It is maintained by the International
Organization for Standardization and is administered by
the accreditation and certification bodies. ISO
9000 addresses quality management standards as to
what an organization needs to fulfill. It assesses the
 organizations ability to meet customer and regulatory
requirements, quality management system, and provides
guidelines for performance improvement. It is one of
the renowned international standards that have been
implemented by countless companies in more than 150
countries.
 
ISO standards aim at:
 A set of procedures to cover all key processes
in the business.
 Monitor the process and ensure its
effectiveness.
 Quality requirements of customers.
 Checking outputs for defects, and taking
corrective actions in appropriate places.
 Applicable regulatory requirements to enhance
customer satisfaction.
 Achieve continuous improvement of
performance.
 
ISO 9000:2000 and ISO 9001:2000:
 
Earlier till December 2000, there used to be ISO
9000, ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 standards.
During December 2000, the International Organization
for Standardization merged all of them into a revised
ISO 9001 standard. To distinguish between the earlier
standards and the revised one, the later was referred to
as ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 9000:2000. For all practical
purposes, ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 connote the same,
and 2000 indicates the year of its revision.
 
Application in the Textile and Apparel Industries:
 
Textile and apparel industries have many complicated
activities and challenges involved in the course of its
operation. Their operation incurs heavy expenditure to
the manufacturers. Many textile and apparel industries
have implemented ISO standards to lower its operating
costs and improve the quality of its output, ultimately
increasing the level of customer satisfaction. Textile
and apparel industries account for a sizable percent of
manufacturing jobs in a global perspective. They
employ millions of people directly and indirectly. They
form a massive industrial complex and prove to be a big
contributor among the manufacturing industries of any
country.
 
Some textile and apparel industries view ISO
certification is only necessary as a factor for exports.
But, the main matter of concern in textile industry is
that an imperative relation exists between the quality of
the materials and the quality of the final product. ISO
standards enable the industry to enhance the quality of
raw material input, thereby strengthening the quality of
the ultimate product. This will result in a systematic
approach to management, incessant performance
improvement, factual approach towards the decision
making process, and a mutually benefiting suppliers
relationship. Thus is helps the manufacturers in
'Weaving a Quality Industry'.
 

Market for ISO Certification:

 
As every day passes by, global competition is heating
up. Textile and apparel industries are in the midst of
major changes. To keep pace with the market scenario,
industries rely more on quality and innovative fabrics,
and apparels, and quick response to the needs of the
customer. Innovations in the fields of nano-textiles,
nonwovens, electro textiles, medical textiles, and geo
textiles are providing new opportunities for the
manufacturers and tap the market. Simultaneously,
these opportunities also encompass them with critical
challenges. Organizations today engage in many
international trade activities, and this certification
proves a pre-requisite for their survival in international
competition. ISO certification helps the companies in
market creation and penetration.
 

Benefits of ISO:
Implementation of ISO helps the textile and apparel
industries to enhance their product and process quality,
minimizes defective supplies and reworking.
Furthermore, it can also be used as a marketing tool. As
it is a well-recognized standard for quality, it shows the
customers that the company takes quality
seriously. ISO certified companies focus more on the
quality of its products and operations. It also motivates
the employees in improving quality. The cost of
implementing ISO is comparatively cheaper to the
benefits derived out of it. Many ISO certified
companies positively assert that their total costs went
down to a considerable extent regarding quality
maintenance after the implementation of ISO.
 SPECIFICATION OF APPAREL

A garment specification (spec) sheet, or

measurement table, is a technical document that
contains all construction details of the
garment. It looks like a technical diagram or a
sketch of a garment, including all of its
measurements. Spec sheets are used by
designers to communicate design concepts to
manufacturers.
  

Apparel Product Specification Sheet and Its

Importance in Product Development
Apparel product specification sheet, also known as spec
sheet or BOM (Bill of Material) is an important sheet
containing details of the new styles/ designs. It contains
all the important data regarding the style.
Essentially, spec sheet should be issued to the
development merchandiser by the buyer whenever a
sample needs to be made. This will enable product
development team to know exactly what is supposed to
happen with the construction and trims for each style.

When the factory has a complete set of detailed

instructions, the execution of accurate samples will
improve the turnaround time and simplify
communication during each stage of manufacturing and
quality control. 

In essence, the Fashion Spec Sheet is the “blueprint” for

sample development and garment production, as it
contains all the necessary components required to
manufacture it. The Fashion Spec Sheet is also useful as
a resource document for purchasing materials and trims.

It is important to pay attention to the spec sheet and

update it as the style progress towards becoming a
production style. During the sampling process, it is
highly likely to change certain style details, fabric and
trim specifications. Some changes are significant hence
chances are, a buyer will send an updated spec sheet yet
some changes will be minor hence may not get an
updated version. It is vital to make a note of the
changes, including the date and the time of the change
occurred. Its good practice to keep a hard copy of the
email in the file.

In an unlikely event if buyer disputes any of the

changes, having a clear paper trail will put the
manufacturer in a position of financial security. If the
factory ignores or fails to follow any of the information
on the Sheet, they will be at fault and have to face the
consequences such as heavy discounts, re-do the
samples or cancel orders.
Fashion Spec Sheets include detailed technical
drawings, also known as flats, along with construction
notes, finished garment measurements, fabric yields and
material and trim details. If available cuttings of fabrics
and trims should also be attached to the sheet.

Some designers even choose to also include the

measurement grades between sizes as well as the
detailed size gradation for the garments. The more
information it contains, better for the development team
as it reduces the confusions and misunderstandings.

Listed below are some of the essential information

specification sheets should contain.
Product sketch: Product sketch should include front
and back line drawing with the measurement details for
the garment. Every product components and special
comments must be marked on the sketch.

Fabric details: Fabric quality must be mentioned in the

spec sheet. If possible material swatches, Product code,
Fibre content and supplier details (pre-approved
vendors).

PoMs (Points of Measure): The various size

measurements of the required item. The 'point of
measure' will be used to check that the measurements
are correct on the finished garment.

Print placement: Information regarding the type of

print on the garment and its placement.

Embroidery placement: Information regarding the

type of embroidery, its size and placement.

Workmanship Instructions: Details of stitch type,

seam class with seam diagram, thread size to be used
for different component, and SPI (stitch per inch)

Garment washing instructions: Details of wash

finishes for items such as denim garments.

Accessories details: Trim details, fastenings required

with product codes, fibre content and supplier details.

Label placement: Requirement of different labels.

Placement details for brand logo labels and care labels
in the garment.

Comment section: Used by the factory to make a note

of anything related to the construction of the garment.

The Points of Measure (PoM) are very important to

ensure accurate execution of the garment during its
production.

In summary, it is very important to request a spec sheet

from buyer for each design.

Often development team do not request or follow up on NEW spec sheets for repeat orders. This is a
risky practice. Even with repeat orders such as school uniforms or basic products which include solid
colour round neck T shirts and similar product categories have small changes. This may be a
measurement point, placement of a label, stitch pattern or any minor detail. Sometimes these
changes occur based on customer feedback or buyers internal risk assessment meetings. Failing to
have an updated version of the old spec means, manufacturing plant exposing themselves to buyers
claims. 

What is a Specification Sheet in Fashion?

A garment specification sheet is a technical
document that contains the construction details of
the product, a technical diagram/ sketch of the
garment, measurements of the product. Here
fashion is referred to the apparel and clothing
products. The fashion designer communicates the
design concept through the specification sheet.
The stitch class and seam type are mentioned in
the sketch. The diagram also communicates
different measuring points by English letter
(symbol).

To make the garment pattern, grading of the

patterns for different sizes, developing a sample
and sourcing of the materials, the spec sheet is
followed.

The initial specification sheet is made for

developing a proto sample. Later the specification
sheet (measurement chart) may be revised after
checking the sample FIT and garment construction.
In the sampling stage, the quality inspector and
buyer QA follow the instruction in the specification
for the sample checking and sample approval.

At each stage of sample approval, buyer adds

comments of the specification sheet (tech pack).
All the comments on the sample and modifications
on workmanship and material are incorporated in
the next sample development and bulk
production.

In the bulk production, the revised and approved

garment specification sheet is referred for internal
quality checking and the final shipment inspection.

The specification sheet also coined as a spec sheet.

The specification is part of an apparel tech pack
though many uses both the term interchangeably. 

A measurement sheet and garment diagram are

shown in the following image.
 Part of the apparel tech pack

9 Key Points of Garment Specification Sheet

The garment specification sheet is an important

document for manufacturing any garment. The
main object of providing garments spec sheets to
the manufacturer is to facilitate the whole process
of garments manufacturing. As its importance in
the readymade garments sector, today I will present
here a detailed discussion about the garments
specification sheet.
Garments Spec Sheet Used in Apparel Industry:
Definition of Garments Specification Sheet:
A garments specification sheet is a document of a
product that contains the sketch of garment
design, fabric construction, etc. It is provided by
the buyer to the garment merchandisers at the
beginning of a garment export order. Garment
merchandisers normally receive garments
specification sheets in soft copy (PDF file) from the
buyer.

Garments Specification Sheet

By following this document, the garment
merchandiser can run the other merchandising
procedure of that product such
as consumption, costing, etc. It should be noted
here that, garments specification sheet can be
corrected after developing the sample. In the RMG
sector, it is also known as garments spec sheet,
specification sheet, or garment spec.
Key Points of a Garments Spec Sheet:
Normally garments specification sheet contains
the following key points:
1. Sketch or design of the product,
2. Measurement chart,
3. Printing instruction,
4. Embroidery instruction,
5. Stitch instruction,
6. Garments washing instruction,
7. Accessories instruction,
8. Different label instruction,
9. Necessary comments related to the product.
All the above key points have discussed below:
1. Sketch or design of the product:
Sketch or design means the basic outlook of the
required item. It is confirmed by the buyer. He can
make it by using the computer.
2. Measurement chart:
A measurement chart or measurement sheet
contains various size measurements of the
required item. By following this sheet pattern has
to develop.
3. Printing instruction:
Printing instruction contains various information
about the required print for the item. Printing
instruction means print size, print location, etc.
4. Embroidery instruction:
Embroidery instruction contains different types of
information about the required embroidery for the
definite item. Embroidery instruction means
embroidery size, embroidery location, etc.
5. Stitch instruction:
Stitch instruction contains various info about the
stitch required for the item. Stitch instruction
means stitch type, stitch thread types, etc.
6. Garments washing instruction:
Sometimes garments have needed various wash
effects which are instructed here. Garments
washing instruction means types of wash, softness,
hardness, etc.
7. Accessories instruction:
Accessories instruction contains different
information about the required types of
accessories needed for the garment.
8. Different label instruction:
Label instruction contains various types of labels
such as main labels, care labels, size labels, etc.
 9. Necessary comments related to the product:
If buyers seemed to deliver some comments
related to the required clothing manufacturing
methods then he can use this option.

Phases of Apparel Specification Development

Specifications are developed in phases as a product begins to evolve and take

form. Specifications are often general at first and evolve in greater levels of
specificity, as the requirements for a product need to become definite and exact.

General specifications are based on the line plan summary and initial sample
making and evolve into different phases.

1. Design specifications
2. Style specifications
3. Engineering specifications

Sketch Size & fit specs Equipment

Fabric swatches Material specs Work station, layout

Trim swatches Detail drawing Elemental method

Fabric & Trim description Marker specs, description Production- sample,

standards

Garment description Spreading specs Handling

Critical measurement Cutting specs Quality specifications

Sample Break down Accepted quality levels

Fit standards Packing specs

Materials specifications requirements Sample

Time Study in Apparel Manufacturing

It is important to remove waste from every process to achieve better efficiency and
improve productivity while maintaining certain quality standards. In particular, the
garment manufacturing industry, which is dependent on human intervention at
every level of production, is more sensitive (prone) to it. The entire sequence of pick,
aligns, sew and dispose of a garment part is a motion and unless done right in a
defined manner, generates excessive movement or unnecessary motions, which is a
waste that eats into the profits of the company. The exacting motion needs to be
timed for standardizing the outcome. Both ‘motion’ and’ time’ have been integrated
and refined into a widely accepted approach to ‘work system’ improvement to be
used together in order to achieve rational and reasonable results.
Today, Time Study and Motion Study form the base of a garment factory, without
which one cannot accurately cost, plan production, produce efficiently or benchmark
its self. While the use of Pre-determined Motion Time Systems like GSD is still at
infancy in India, majority of factories are using time study to calculate the work
content of an operation.
 In fact, much of the difficulty with time study is a result of applying it without a
thorough study of  the motion pattern of the job… Motion study can be considered
the foundation for time study. The time study measures the time required to perform
a given task in accordance with a specified method and is valid only so long as the
method is followed. Once a new work method is developed, the time study must be
changed to measure time for new method after allowing adequate time for
unavoidable disturbances, machine delays, rest to overcome fatigue, and personal
needs.
 Integrated Time Study Board

(Pic Courtesy: Techtime Data Systems Ltd. UK)

It is a direct and continuous observation of a task, using decimal minute stopwatch,
computer-assisted electronic stopwatch, or videotape camera, the timekeeping
devices to record the time taken to accomplish a task which is having repetitive work
cycles of short to long duration.
The whole exercise of timing different operations is done to calculate the SAM
(Standard Allowed Minute) or SMV (Standard Minute Value) of a garment, which is
a common way of expressing work content of a garment in terms of minute value.
This is very important to plan production and improve upon productivities.
The work content (Standard Allowed Minute) of a job or operation is calculated as:
basic time (observed time) + operator rating + relaxation allowance + additional
allowance (e.g. bobbin replacement).
Once a task has been identified to be studied, it is broken down to smaller element as
per sequence. For example; a task ‘pocket attaching in a shirt’ can be broken down to
‘picking up the front by two hands and place on the sewing table’, ‘picking up the
pocket by right hand and placed on the front’, ‘align pocket with the starting mark
and slide both under needle’… and so on. Then time for each elements to be recorded
in a time study sheet for minimum 20 cycles or pre-decided number of cycles of the
task. After removing the extreme fluctuation the average time for each element of the
task is separately calculated, which is the basic time.

                          Video Time Study

During work the operator may take time out for personal needs, for rest, and for
reasons beyond his or her control. To ensure that the calculation of SAM is accurate,
it is critical to build in ‘Relaxation Allowance’ for realistic application in planning
production schedules. Allowances for such interruptions to production may be
classified as [1] Personal allowance, [2] Fatigue allowance, and [3] Delay allowance,
together these are termed as “PF&D allowance” in common parlance. After all these
allowances are added to normal time, SAM value is arrived at. Personal allowances
are basically to take care of personal need of individuals like washrooms, drinking
water, etc. Although the amount of personal time required will vary with individual,
more than with the kind of work, it is a fact that employees need more personal time
when the work is heavy and done under unfavourable conditions. It is said that for
light work (like garment sewing jobs), where the operator works 8 hours per day
without any organized rest periods, 2 to 5 per cent time on average will be allowed
for personal needs. It is observed that on a hot and humid day without proper air
cooling system in sewing floor and a drinking water facility at distant may result in
13% personal allowance! Fatigue Allowance has significant importance in garment
sewing operation due to nature of work.
At present there is no complete satisfactory way of measuring fatigue. Time needed
for rest varies with individual, with the length of interval in the cycle during which
person is working under load, atmospheric conditions under which the work is done,
besides many other factors. Delay allowance is the most controversial allowance and
must be dealt with carefully. These may be avoidable or unavoidable. It is expected
that the machines and equipments will be kept in good conditions. When there is a
breakdown or repair is necessary, the operator is usually taken off the job and such
delays do not enter the SAM value. Sometimes there are occasional unavoidable
interruptions like bobbin refill, re-threading, etc. These are also referred to as
“machine delays” in industry parlance and must be included in SAM value. For
example lockstitch machine operation is allowed 9% as “machine delays”.
As delay allowance are often related to nature of work thus also called “work
allowance”. Work allowances are basically unavoidable portion of delay allowances.
There are many methods to time the operator on a certain operation and can be as
simple as using a stopwatch to implementing IT tools like videos. It is also important
to have engineers with training to record time. In India, all major fashion institutes,
teaching garment technology courses like NIFT and Pearl Academy and/or B. Tech
courses in production and industrial engineering are training students in this area. In
Sri Lanka, special courses have been designed for the same like Management Service
Certificate in Time and Work Study. The Time Study is an important tool to increase
efficiencies and improve productivity and needs expert intervention. National
Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), India is also a very specialized institute
imparting training in this area.
Time Study with Stopwatch
Time study engineers in most cases make use of a stopwatch, time study board and
pencil to record time. First the engineers observe the operation to be timed to break
it up into small elements, preferably keeping the sewing and handling elements
separate. The observer keeps an eye on the operation; once one element or a part of
an operation is over, he looks at the stopwatch, notes down the time in the time study
sheet and repeats the process for the subsequent elements. In an incentivized
manufacturing operation, operators generally work at a fast pace and conducting a
time study correctly demands skill and experience. Generally 20-25 cycle readings
are observed. The work content is calculated using the calculator. Problems
associated with this technique are that it is time consuming, requires special
expertise and experience to carry out, has scope of manual error during data capture
and calculation, cumbersome mathematics to arrive at SAM, even though
ergonomically designed time study boards are available.
Standard PDAs and PC-based software for accurate time study and easy
computing
Here too, time study engineers follow similar steps but instead of a separate time
study board and stopwatch, the time study engineers use a stopwatch integrated time
study board and/or software programme or even standard PDAs and PC-based
software to conduct time study and sampling data. No time consuming calculations
needs to be done, as they are executed automatically. The software obviates the
stopwatch, clipboard, calculator, charts, paper and pencil in doing a time study. All
you need to take to the worksite is your portable PC, running, at the least, Windows
98/95. All calculations are completed instantly and during the study, partial results
can be observed on screen as the study proceeds.
The study board offers simplicity of design with tough construction. This unique
product provides the optimum data collection system for the Industrial Engineer.
The software can store and manage tens of thousands of studies – a formidable (and
cumbersome) task even when using a spreadsheet. The reporting modules allow for
the extraction of select information and this can be either printed or exported to
third party software. Information is used optimally in this way to generate standard
elements of work and synthetic operations.
This easy-to-use intuitive software takes time study to the next level by dramatically
decreasing the time required for an engineer or manager to do a time study and have
all computed results like Personal, Fatigue and Delay (PF&D) allowance, etc.
available in a consistent format on paper and in a spreadsheet or database. It will
seamlessly integrate into your organization, whether you use an incentive rate
system, work standards without incentive, or just historical data for labour costing,
cost estimation, production scheduling, measuring productivity, capacity planning
and/or line balancing. The software outputs its results in three convenient ways: (1)
on-screen; (2) to a discrete data file for each study; and (3) to optional comma-
delimited text file (.csv file) format.
Videograph ‘motion’ to reduce subjectivity in time study
Observing operation live and recording time from analogue or digital stopwatch by
time study engineers are subject to manual error. In a videographic option, instead of
recording time from live operations, the engineers first capture the operation cycle in
video and then observe the video to record the time. In the traditional time study
technique described earlier, the important aspect of motion study is being ignored.
Here engineers can record the time of various motions at leisure and can rewind any
operation, if required. This method ensures perfection, increases consistency and
traceability so as to improve costing and planning.
The latest level of technology involves integrated video imaging using any
inexpensive, basic digital video camera, loading the video file in the Laptop, doing
the video time study [VTS] to get the activity description and timing. The video
should mainly capture the subjects under time study – like the operators for hands,
eyes, body movements, machine elements like starting, stopping, machine
movements, as required by the study. The process is 95% faster than time study and
can also be used in estimates and methods analysis. Specialized software can split the
movie into motion elements automatically or by a simple mouse click, deriving
timing for each motion element.
When wasteful motions (foreign elements) are found in the element, it is possible to
separate the wasteful part. The speed of the movie can be adjusted to accurately
separate and document the elements, the time unit can be set either in seconds or
in TMU (time measurement units; 100,000 TMU = 1 hour). Another software option
is to analyze by the multiple still picture where the frame interval selection is
possible.
Technically, VTS does not require elaborate planning. You can take the Camcorder
and shoot the operation – usually after telling the operator. As you have a total
record of the operation, you can fill up all the data from the video. You can even
catch sub-second actions using the VTS. In fact, VTS deskills the time study process
so that it can be used by staff at any level. It also encourages operator involvement
and enhances Kaizen/Poka Yoke/SMED programs with accurate results.
Video time and motion study accurately documents and times any task identifying
and documenting non value added activities. Video supported analysis creates an
unchallengeable history of the current process state. Each and every task observation
can be instantly replayed for review and analysis. Best practices can be identified,
isolated and consolidated into a new video presentation of the desired future process
state – an ideal solution to the training needs.
The video module includes powerful integrated task timing capabilities including
slow motion, fast motion, timed jumps, instant rewind, side by side comparison
playback, completely eliminating the need for expensive time stamping video and
players. Video supported analysis creates an unchallengeable history of the current
process state. Select best practice clips for training the future process state. Feed into
your value stream mappings. The package may also include PDA and Excel software
modules for mobile real time data collection.
Time Study has its place, but it is reactive and subjective and all too often simply
records how long it takes to do things wrong. This probably is the reason why experts
urge the industry to adopt the practice of applying a “Pre-determined Motion Time
System” (PMTS), as this will facilitate predictive method, time and cost analyses.
However, it is important to choose carefully, as an incorrect choice – or one based
solely on cost – could prove to be just as expensive as any other. Key factors of
consideration should be: whether or not the system is currently owned, maintained,
updated or supported by anyone; whether or not modern software is available;
whether or not there is a training team available; whether or not technical support
and assistance is apparent; whether or not a local representative is at hand. The next
issue of StitchWorld will discuss PMTS is detail…
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