Keep Sewing Floors Clean

Simple Guides to Keep Sewing Floors Clean

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"Please share some effective ways on how to improve and maintain cleanliness in production area. Are there equipment used in order to make the factory very clean? I'm currently working in Cambodia, and I noticed that most of the factories are not clean. Most of the threads, fabrics are present in the production floor." I received this via mail from an OCS reader.

Yes it is true that most of the unorganized factories don't care much about keeping their shop floors clean. This is not only in Cambodia, same scenario exists in other parts of the global apparel industry. Rather than discussing much of cleanliness issue you can start on your own to make it better.

Keeping workplace clean is a way of working and living in a healthy workplace. A clean workplace helps to achieve better productivity and protect worker's heath and safety. 

Sewing floor

Here are simple guides for you that can help you keeping your production floor clean.

1. Encourage workers to always keep workplace clean.


2. Don't allow workers (operators) to throw away unused and trimmed threads and trimmed fabrics here and there. Sewing machine scraps can be directly collected into a rubbish bin under the table. Design basket /bag or rubbish bin based on workplace. See two example in the below figures. 

   

   Image Courtesy: www.betterwork.com

   


3. Don't allow operators to keep cutting bundles, stitched or rejected garments, cartons or personal belongings (hang bags, lunch boxes) under machine and under center tables. 


4. Don't allow to pile up WIP on the floor. Use trolley or bins for storing garments.


5. Give instruction to operators to keep their stool/chairs on the machine bed (if there is space) when they leave factory in evening and leave machine at lunch time. This small initiative would help sweepers to clean operator's workplace better way.


6. Keep enough walking space (1 meter) in between sewing lines. And keep walking space clean without any obstruction.


7. You can schedule for dust cleaning from the floor and racks using suction cleaner once in a week. 


8. Don't keep loose cable lying on the floor. Conceal all wiring if wiring is done under table.

It would be great help if you also share how you are keeping your factories clean.

Industrial Engineer

Industrial Engineering Procedure

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Question

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Could you please define what is the Industrial Engineering  procedure? I want to know the exact answer. ... asked by Rukshan

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Answer

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This one is really a tough question to answer. As I don't know if there is a defined IE procedure for the garment industry. So, instead of defining Industrial Engineering (IE) procedure I would to explain things for better clarification. 

In garment production Industrial Engineers do a number of tasks. They use number of tools and techniques, and methods for the tasks. I would say it is not exactly IE procedure but procedures of implementation of IE tools and techniques. 

IE Work Flow Chart

Still if you like to know about IE procedures, it can described with a work flow. Most common tasks of an IE are presented in an order in the following.

Style analysis --> Make operation breakdown --> Thread consumption calculation--> Making line layout on paper --> Select m/c and equipment --> arrange guides and attachment -->Planning for production target --> Setting line when new style is loaded --> Do line balancing --> Record production data --> Make production reports --> Report to higher management (P.S. This is just an example of work flow).

Most IE tasks are aimed to make better work flow, improve utilization of resources, increasing factory performance, and reducing production cost. As IE department get matured in a factory, it includes more tools to help production team to increase the factory performance.

Work flow chart of IE department is shown in the following chart. (Click to enlarge image)

Industrial Engineering Work Flow Chart

Industrial Engineer's Job Profile

If you are new to Industrial Engineering fields, read list of jobs done by Industrial Engineers and Industrial Engineering department.

1. Industrial Engineer's Job Profile in the Apparel Industry
2. Role of the Industrial Engineers in Garment Production Management

Implementation Procedure of IE Tools

IE procedure can be explained as the procedure of using Industrial Engineering tools. To learn how Industrial Engineering tools are used by IEs in garment industry read on the following articles.

• Time Study Procedure
• Standard Minute Estimation Procedure
• Operation Bulletin Preparation Procedures
• Operator Training Procedures
• Sewing Operator Recruitment Procedure 
• Thread Average Calculation 

There are many other IE tools used by IE department. To know more about procedure of other IE tools search by keywords using the search box in top right corner.

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Benefits of Group Piece Rate System over Individual Piece Rate System

Piece Rate System: Benefits of Group Piece Rate System over Individual Piece Rate System

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Piece Rate system is widely used when it comes for calculating payment for the garment factory workers for their work. Piece rate can be defined as how much money (dollar) to be paid to a worker or group of workers for making one garment. Piece rate may be measured for one complete garment or individual operations.

Piece rate can be also explained in term of output. In a Practitioner Briefing, M.L. Phan explained Piece Rate as following.

What is Piece Rate? 

The garment industry in Asia compensates factory workers daily based on what they produce, so piece rate (the number of man-hours it takes to make a single garment) is the standard measure of output. Piece rate also is used in price negotiations between producers and buyers because it avoids the necessity to adjust for currency fluctuations and conversions.

Individual Piece Rate: 

The number of cumulative man-hours it takes individual operators to produce a single piece of clothing. It disregards quality, i.e., whether or not the garment is saleable.

Group Piece Rate: 

The number of man-hours it takes a team to collectively produce a single piece of clothing that meets quality standards and is saleable.

When it comes for use what are the benefits of the Group Piece Rate system over Individual Piece Rate system? Read the comparison on the following table.

Also Read: Which payment system is better for sewing operators in garment manufacturing - Piece Rate or Salary based?

AEPC Annual Export Award

AEPC Annual Export Award Function 2013

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In Dec 2013, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) of India organized its Annual Export Award function 2013 for outstanding export performance for the year 2012-13, at apparel house, Gurgaon.

Dr. K S Rao, Union Textiles Minister, came to deliver awards in presence of Smt. Zohra Chatterji, the Guest of Honour, Senior Officials of Govt. Of India, Officials of AEPC and the captains of the garment Industry were also present.

Indian top tire garment exporters Shahi Exports Pvt Ltd., Orient Craft Ltd., Gokaldas Exports Limited, Pearl Global Industries Ltd., Silver Spark Apparel Limited and Eastman Exports Global Clothing P. Ltd.won the awards in following 15 categories.

For the detailed report on the growth of the Indian Ready made garment Industry read AEPCs Press release.

List of winners against award categories.

Image courtesy Perfect Sourcing.

Congratulation to all the award winners.

IE Guide to Job Interview Preparation

Table of Contents of the Book (IE Guide to Job Interview Preparation)

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Inside the book you will get answers of the following 50 Frequently Asked Questions.

 

	Table of Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48.	What is Industrial Engineering?  What is the basic Functions of Industrial Engineering department in the garment industry?    What is work measurement? What techniques are used for work measurement?     What is Pitch time? What is Needle Time? What is the percentage of needle time of total working during a day? Define Standard Time (SMV and SAM)? How to calculate Standard Time (SAM) of an operation using Time Study method? What is rating (performance rating)? What is line efficiency? What is the formula for calculating Line efficiency? How to measure factory efficiency? How to calculate (production) target for a sewing line? How to set hourly target for an operation? Garment operation breakdown (approximate SAM, Machine, Target)  What is productivity? How to calculate labor productivity and machine productivity? How will you improve productivity of a line? How do you improve efficiency of a line? What is the difference between production and Productivity? What is TMU in motion analysis? How many TMU is equal to one seconds and one minute?  What do you mean by bottleneck operation? How do you find bottleneck operations in a line? What is Line balancing? How do you balance a line? Why it is important to balance a line? Did you work on balancing a line? Why work aids are used in sewing? Name few basic attachments and guides used in a sewing operations. What is learning curve? What is the application of the learning curve in garment production? What is off-standard time? How you would track off-standard time (Non-Productive time)? Thread consumption ratio/factor for different machines? Calculate Thread requirement for this (provide you a garment) sample. How to calculate Labor Cost in production? How to calculate manpower requirement for production? What is Line Setup time and Operation Cycle Time? What do you mean by improving? What is Time Study? Why do you do Time study? What is Method Study? Why Method study is important? Or what are the objectives of method study? What are the steps of method study? Name some special sewing machines. What improvements would you suggest for a sewing floor? What are the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of a factory? What is the difference between an Industrial Engineer and a Production Person? Which one is better method to know factory performance, Productivity or Cost per standard minute (SAM)?  Give me some examples of improvement work you have done in the previous companies (Creative Work). What is Sewing Operator Skill Matrix? What are the benefits of skill matrix in Production? What is throughput time? What should be the throughput time of an average style? How would you find throughput time of a style? What is lead time, order changeover time and idle time? How do you hire sewing operators? Explain Basic Concept of Lean Manufacturing? Name few common lean tools that are used in apparel manufacturing? How many machines are you handling in the current company? Can you work on excel sheet (MS Office Spreadsheet)? How much computer skill do you have?  What all reports do you make in the company where you are currently working? Are you a trained IE or GSD practitioner? What you know about GSD? Can you run sewing machine?    How to measure factory performance? How to measure individual operator performance?            Annexure: Interview Question sets Personal Interview (PI) Preparation

Productivity Study

Productivity Study of Shirt Manufacturing (Survey)

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Last week I was in a meeting with a group of Garment Industry Professionals. We were discussing about the possibility of shirt production per machine per day for a new start-up company. In the discussion we got productivity figures like 8-20 shirts per machine per day (8 hours shift day). The BIG question is what productivity to be considered.

I did quick research on net and found that Laguna Clothing, a Bangalore based shirt manufacturing company makes 3200 pieces with 200 sewing machines in one factory and 7200 pieces with 350 sewing machines in another factory. That means machine productivity of that company is 16 and 20.6 respectively. Operator productivity of Madura Garments Exports is 11 pieces  in conventional line and 18 pieces in lean module.

I know many of you are working in shirt factories. What is your experience about the productivity level of factories those make shirts (Casual and Formal)?

At Online Clothing Study, we are conducting a survey on Shirt Productivity. We request you to participate in this survey. Please feel free to fill up the following survey form. We would not share your personal information. What will only share summary of the survey with all of you.

Learning Industrial Engineering

How I Learned Industrial Engineering (and How You Can Too)?

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For last 3 years I'm writing tutorials on Industrial Engineering topics ... and I learned many things on Industrial Engineering in this process. How did I learn that much of Industrial Engineering?

In this post I will share methods that I used to learn (and still using) Industrial Engineering and how you can too learn it. These are non-traditional learning methods but very effective. You can copy my techniques and learn Industrial Engineering.

Learning by doing: 

I don't have an Industrial Engineering degree. Whatever I know and learned about Industrial Engineering is by doing it myself. I read Industrial Engineering topics in college. I had seen many IEs to practice Industrial Engineering methods and to use IE tools in factories during my Internship and Graduation Project. When I was heading the Production Planning Department in an export house, I used to implement basic Industrial Engineering tools in the factory. I did many mistakes initially but I learned from my mistakes. 

So you can too learn Industrial Engineering by doing and practicing it on the floor. While doing something first time, you might make mistakes. That is the way to learn things. Keep it up. I learned production planning and merchandising also by doing it.

Learning by teaching others: 

I love to teach learners. Earlier I used teach my subordinates. When I was consultant I taught many participants from client companies. When I teach others I learn many things in the teaching process. You might read IE tutorials (articles) in OCS. Do you know how I learned all those topics? All because of OCS readers who force me to learn, so that I can teach them later and can write new tutorials. I get questions on various topics from OCS readers. I prepare the answers and when I prepare answer for a particular question, I need to research and read the topic first. Thus I learn it. 

To learn IE you can too start teaching your subordinates or juniors. You don't need to be master in your subject to teach others. Whatever you know more than others you can start teaching with that only. When you start teaching, you will be asked questions by your students. It is not necessary that you have to know all answers. If get chance you can learn the answer of the question and answer to your students. If don't find your student start teaching others from production department. 

If nobody asks you question, head over to OCS Forum and give answer to the questions that are posted there by other members. 

Learning by asking questions: 

This is the easiest way of learning something. When I meet with Industrial Engineers in export houses I ask different types of questions to them for clarification. I get answers for most of the questions, as they are working on this field for many years they know the answer. You can also start asking question to your seniors, when you need to know something. If you don't have senior or experienced colleague, you are welcome to send your questions to me or post your questions to the OCS Forum. 

Reading articles online and/or off line: 

I read articles on magazines or in the Internet daily. I learn many things by reading and also discover new areas of learning by reading. My reading topics are not limited to apparel production and Industrial engineering only. I read various topics to get ideas.

You can also start reading technical magazines related to Apparel Production Management and Industrial Engineering. If you don’t like to spend money on print magazines, read free articles on the Internet. By reading articles on Industrial Engineering you can increase your knowledge and you can teach others a new topic. 

Discussing topics with your colleagues and seniors: 

This is a great way of learning. Currently I don't have Industrial Engineering colleague. But I spent 2 and half years with a group of IEs. That time we had lot of discussion on Industrial Engineering. Still I practice this process of learning. As I said I regularly visit garment export houses. When I meet with factory IEs, we discuss things whatever we find interesting, within IE or out of IE topics. 

Watching videos on YouTube: 

YouTube is a great source for learning by watching videos. You will find numerous videos on sewing operations for different products, semi automatic and fully automatic sewing machines, and different types of material handling equipment. When you watch videos, observe it closely. You can learn many things like, good movements, workstation layout, working speed, machine types, attachment and guides used and many more things. 

Conclusion: 

There is no end of learning. And nobody can improve his/her performance continuously without learning. I have explained above how to learn Industrial Engineering. But these techniques are applicable to anything you like to learn.

Subcontracting Business

Subcontracting Business Process in Garment Industry

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In my earlier post 10 small business ideas in garment industry, I have mentioned subcontracting (job-work) is one option for entrepreneurs to start business with low investment. In this post I will explain the procedures of subcontracting in apparel supply chain.

What is Subcontracting?

Subcontracting can be defined as doing partial work of a contract that is originally received by other. The companies those do subcontracting are called as subcontractors. They are also known as job-workers.

In the garment industry, a subcontracting unit is a factory that mainly does garment stitching work. They don't need to set-up other facilities and staffs for layer cutting, garment finishing, and packing activities. In apparel supply chain garment exporters receive original contract from apparel brands, international buyers or retailers. These export houses get their excess production done from subcontractors.

An export house can also work as a subcontractor. When an export house doesn't get enough direct business they take work from other export houses. So there is no fix definition that sub-contractors only sew garments. They can take subcontracting work from cutting to packing, provided they have in-house facilities for these.

Reasons behind Subcontracting Stitching Work

Followings are few visible reasons for existing subcontracting business in apparel industry.

Uncertainty of order volume round the year - Garment exporters set up their factory based on average order quantity. When they get excess orders in pick seasons, export houses prefer getting production done from subcontractor. It is also found that exporters get production done for part of their total orders from outside in all seasons. By getting production done from outside, exporters save on overheads cost. They don’t need invest on building and machines those could not be utilized in full year.

Getting Control over manufacturing cost – This applies to brands. By sourcing fabrics and other raw materials, brands can reduce manufacturing cost of garment. Also brands can controls quality of raw materials keeping sourcing on their hand.

Keep away labor issues - Domestic brands are changing their sourcing strategy. They now started sourcing garment based on Cut to Pack, instead of FOB orders. In this process they don't need to set up factory. This way brands can focus on developing designs and retailing their clothes. Brands like UCB, ITC outsource their products from subcontractors. Brands give work to subcontractors those provide cutting, make and pack services.

Exporters and brands sometimes face problems in terms of quality standards of the product when production gets done by subcontractors. However stitching quality can be controlled.

Where does subcontractor get work from?

Following are the major sources of work for subcontractors.

Export garment manufacturers – as mentioned above, in pick seasons garment exporters book orders more than their own production capacity. In such situation, they look for subcontractors to get production done. In this business process, many times exporters get production done at lower cost than it would cost then by producing in-house.

Brands - Domestic brands those don't have their own manufacturing facility, give cut-make-pack orders to subcontractors. Fabric and trims are sourced by brands and given to subcontractors.

Designers - Designers need small quantity of garments in particular designs. They prefer sourcing fabrics and accessories by their own. They just need to stitching work by others. So they reach to subcontractors.

Work Flow of Subcontracting Business

Following is the simple process flow of subcontracting job. To make explanation easy, I am considering that subcontractor are getting work form exporters.

• A subcontractor sets up factory with sewing machines and contact with exporters for work. They show their expertise in products  and facility they have to exporters and possible clients. 
• Garment exporters contact with subcontractors in their location, show their samples to subcontractors and fix price per piece for making garment (in most cases – stitching only). 
• Subcontractor gets cutting from exporters instead of fabrics. 
• All trims and accessories are normally provided by exporters. If required, trims can be purchased by subcontractors. And expenses are billed to the exporters. 
• Subcontractor stitches garments. A partial garment stitch or complete garment stitching is done. Subcontractors employ pieces rate operators for sewing. Stitching quality is checked by quality assurance team from export house. 
• Stitched garments are sent back to the exporter after inspection. 
• Exporters check quantity received and product quality. 
• Subcontractor generate invoice for each orders
• Subcontractors receive payment for their work

This is all about subcontracting in apparel manufacturing. You are welcome to add other features of this business process, if you find something is missing here.

Make Garment Inspection Report - Simple Method and Advanced Method

How to Make Garment Inspection Report - Simple Method and Advanced Method

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If you are already working in garment production, you might know that garments are inspected at various stages in manufacturing process. Common Inspection stages practiced by garment factories have been explained in this article.


In this post, I will show you how to make quality inspection reports for manufacturing process. Here the term 'Garment Inspection' means all kind of garment checking other than final shipment inspection.


The simple steps involved in making quality inspection reports

1. Design quality inspection format(s)
2. Record quality inspection data while inspecting goods - online or off the line
3. Analyse data and make summary of the reports

Do you use minimum formats to record inspection findings? I hope you do. Otherwise you were not reading this post.


Let come to the main topic. How to make garment checking report (inspection report)? In this post I have explained simple to complex form of data collection and report making . Use one that match to your requirement and follow the procedure.

Making an Inspection Report:

First define what is the purpose of making a quality inspection report in your factory. Then according to the information requirement you have to design inspection format. For your information common quality measures are Percentage Defective of garments in a production lot, DHU etc.

Your objective of garment inspection might be one of the followings. Method of making inspection report explained accordingly.

1. Do you like know how much Defective Garments are made in last production day? Use simple method -1.

Simple Method - 1:

To measure percentage defectives of a garment lot you need to follow below procedure. A sample format is shown in the following for data collection.

• Employ one quality checker at the end of the line (at the end of the process). Checker needs to check 100% garments coming out from the line.
• Record total number of pieces checked by the checker during the day
• Record total defective (including rejected garments) garments kept aside while checking garments
• Calculate percentage defective garment in the production lot.

Defective Percentage = (Number of defective garments X 100/Number of total garments checked)

http://jvz5.com/c/258303/14023

2. Do you need to know how many Defects are produced by your tailors? Follow the simple method -2

Simple Method -2. 

To measure total number of defects or Defect per Hundred  Units (DHU) of a garment lot you need to follow below procedure. A sample format is shown in the following for data collection.

• Make the format as Figure-2 for data capturing
• Record numbers of defects found in checked garments. You can extend this format for recording number of defects for defect wise. 
• Sum up total pieces checked and total defects found in those checked pieces
• Calculate Defects per Hundred Units (DHU)

DHU = (Totals defects found X 100)/Total pieces checked

3. Do you like to make measurement checking report? Follow simple method-3.

Simple Method -3: Measurement Checking

Garment measurement checking is required to ensure the fit of the garment.
For measurement checking use following procedure

• Design format with list of measurement points, size wise measurement specified by buyer/designer, allowance (+/-)
• Record actual measurements while you are checking garment measurements
• Verify actual measurement with buyer specified measurements and tolerance level. 
• Comment on the report

4. Want to know what are the major defects in a garment lot? And like to find DHU and Defective percentage data in a single format? Follow the advanced method.

Advanced Method

Read the following procedure and implement it.

• Design detailed data collection format - it should include defects categories, total defects, total defective pieces, accepted pieces etc. 
• While checking garments (stitching division) record defects found under defect categories, record total defective pieces found.
• Sum up number of defects in each defect categories and calculate total defects.
• Calculate DHU and Percentage Defective of the inspected garment lot
• List down defects in descending order of number of defect found. You can also make bar graph (Pareto chart) with total defects in each categories. See following figure-3 for example of Pareto chart.

Fig-3: Pareto of Sewing defects

Conclusion:

The actual fact - many garment manufacturers fill complex inspection format. But they don't make any inspection report and don't draw any conclusion from the collected data. It is also important to summarize report, otherwise no action and decision can be taken at post inspection.

There is a big difference between recording on a blank inspection form and making quality report. A filled format says nothing if collected data is not summarized, comments and action plan are written at the end of the inspection report. Mention clearly what action to be taken by production team and quality controller based on the product quality report summary. Like, if it is in-process checking mention what errors are frequently happening. If it is final inspection or audit mention whether audit is Passed/Failed/ need to be rechecked.

You can use inspection report data in many ways.You can go deeper and dig down more about  defects generation with the facts that you have collected in the above inspection reports. You can even track the reasons of occurring particular defect.

To find the root cause of defect generation use problem solving tools like Fish Bone Diagram or 5 Whys

Production Between a Traditional Bundle System Cost

Comparison of Cost and Production Between a Traditional Bundle System and a Unit Production System

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I was earlier complaining about not having much study materials on the net for us. Study materials like articles on various topics related to Garment Production, Technology, Did-it-Yourself Guides, Tutorials etc. Do you also think so?


Now I would say that I was wrong. Actually there are enough study materials for learning from the net. Just we need to become smart in searching in Google.


Yesterday I discovered one such valuable document (A Research Report) from Fashion Institute of Technology's Advanced Apparel Manufacturing Technology Department (AAMTD). This research report is the result of work performed under sponsorship of the Fashion Institute of Technology and the United States Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency.


You can Read this research Paper. This report explains facts related to Traditional Bundle System (PBS) and Unit Production system (UPS) and Apparel Production Methods. And shows comparison of Cost and Production between PBS and UPS installation.


Comparison in Brief from the report

"A manufacturer that was using a bundle system switched over to a UPS. Data critical to an analysis of the two systems was collected prior to and after the changeover and then was critically analyzed. Analysis revealed that with the UPS installation weekly output increased by 9.6%; the number of workers decreased by 10.3%; production time per unit decreased by 17.3%; and, unit production costs decreased by 12.3%", as reported by author of this research paper. 

Calculate Cost of Manufacturing Apparel Products

How to Calculate Cost of Manufacturing Apparel Products

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Estimating correct manufacturing cost is essential for a successful business. You might be preparing garment cost sheet and need to find manufacturing cost per garment. But don't know exactly how to do it and don't have full confidence calculating the same. Don't worry. Read this post and learn the basic method of determining Cost of Manufacturing (CM) of apparel products.

Cost of manufacturing can be defined as the cost incurred by the factory to run the factory making garments. Factory running cost includes direct labor cost and manufacturing overhead. Here manufacturing overheads are indirect workers wages, staff salary, power and fuel cost, repair and maintenance cost, factory rent, administration cost etc. This cost is also known as operating cost. Cost of Manufacturing is determined for per unit garment.

There are two ways to find Cost of Manufacturing (CM) for a particular style/order. 

1.  Based on Standard Time (SAM) of the product
2.  Based on Daily Production Average

1. CM Calculation Based on Standard Time (SAM) of Product Making

To get better accuracy in cost estimation one should prefer this procedure. But to many small size companies no such resources available to measure product SAM and data for the following parameters. Following parameters are essential for cost calculation in this method.

1. Product SAM: Standard time of the garment. Standard time of a garment is measured by using Time Study and using synthetic data. 
2. Target Efficiency:  Target efficiency percentage is at what % you are expecting running a specific product and order quantity. 
3. Operating Cost per day/machine - Operating cost is factory running cost. Operating costs are all cost incurred to run the business other than material cost. Calculate monthly operating cost and then calculate daily operating cost. Calculate per machine operating cost.

Formula:
Cost of Manufacturing = (Operating cost per day per machine* SAM)/(Target Efficiency% * Working hours * 60)

In the following table an example is shown for calculating manufacturing cost using SAM and Daily Production figure. 

In the  above example, garment SAM is 21 minute, target efficiency 60%. So, actual time would be 35 minute to make a garment. Factory works 8 hours in a day and operating cost per day per machine is Rs. 1022.

Cost of manufacturing is Rs. 74.52

2. CM Calculation Based on Daily Production Figure

This method is widely used by garment manufacturing factories. Cost of Manufacturing  calculation is done based on historical production data. This is an easier method compared to above one.

Information needed to find Cost of Manufacturing

1. Daily production: Find average daily production of a particular style (garment) based on earlier (historical) production figures. Calculate daily average production of the factory. 
2. Manpower involved in production: How many sewing machines or sewing operators are utilized to produce above quantity. 
3. Operating cost per day/machine: As explained above.

Formula
Cost of Manufacturing = (Operating cost per Day / Total garments to be produced per day)

See the example method -2 in the above table. In the example, daily product is 550 pieces. 40 operators worked to produce these pieces. Operating cost per machine is Rs. 1022 per day. 

So cost of manufacturing is Rs. 74.33

P.S. Data used in the above examples are hypothetical.

Critical Path Management of Fashion Industry

5 Key Steps of Critical Path Management and Common Fashion Industry Problems

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Do you face problem in meeting your production plan? Problem in shipping goods on time? 

If yes, do you know why your plan failed? 

One reason might be that you are not doing your plan correctly. You might be not using right planning tool.

Production Planning, Work Scheduling and making Time & Action Calendar for orders are very common tasks for garment industry professionals. But my question is that do they use appropriate tools for planning production, scheduling task and executing plans? 

I thought you would like to learn about Critical Path Management (CPM) and how to manage critical path of an orders. Here I have shared The Fast React Guide to Critical Path Management (Part 1), by Fast React Systems Ltd – Europe

This is a management brief the management brief to read and learn. 

This document contains following topics

• Why is Critical Path (CP) more important now than ever before?
• What exactly does Critical Path involve?
• The 5 Key Steps of Critical Path Management and Common Fashion Industry Problems
• Why is good CPM now so vital?
• 5 key steps of good CPM

1. Define the events, durations & persons responsible
2. Set targets and priorities for each event
3. Update task status daily
4. Manage the exceptions, fast track & re-plan
5. Measure your actual performance KPI & Continuous Improvement

Increase Garment Production and Floor Performance

Tips to Increase Production and Floor Performance

There are many heavy duty theories for improving production in garment industry. Many of us go for implementing such difficult-to-understand and difficult-to-apply methods. Somehow we forget to apply simple things those have enough potential to bring improvement in production.


Floor performance can be improved by saving time, increasing production, saving cost of production, increasing workers heath and safety etc. All these possible by taking care of small things. To make your factory better and improve overall performance, keep your eyes in small things as well. Bring changes that gives you greater benefits.

Following are the simple and easy to apply tips. Most of these tips are on prior preparation and discipline. Practice and get BIG benefits from small changes in your daily work. Read the full list.

1. Don't accept incomplete production file from merchandising team to start production functions
2. Prepare line loading plan in advance to avoid waiting after production starts
3. Balance lines to avoid bottleneck
4. Keep enough WIP to feed the line whole day
5. Don't allow to generate excess inventory. Excess WIP in line may reduce line/batch performance
6. Provide extra bobbin to operators. This simple practice saves time in refilling the empty bobbin
7. Feed defect free cutting to line
8. Save time by quick replacement of broken needles and empty thread spools 
9. Only feed ready cuttings (component) to sewing lines. Don't allow re-cutting and trimming of components in line
10. Use of UBT machine - it improves quality and improves performance
11. Keep floors and table tops neat and clean - it improves employee productivity
12. Don't keep any obstruction on the walking space in floors
13. Design workstation layout considering motion economy
14. Keep spare machines for quick replacement at the time of machine break-down
15. Schedule regular machine maintenance and follow the schedule
16. Use work aids, guides and attachment wherever applicable
17. Avoid parts matching at machine (by operator), if required keep one helper for part matching 
18. Capture hourly production data and make hourly production report, display it in front of the line
19. Don't give back defective garments to the running line. 
20. Don't distract operators from their work
21. Bonus tip: Keep drinking water dispenser as near as possible to sewing section

Start implementing tips that you find easy for you to implement. You can also share your tips that you practice in day to day work.

Resurgence of Sewing

The Resurgence of Sewing (Infographic)

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Do you love sewing?

You might find the many reasons here why to love sewing. If you love sewing you can start business from home or in a small scale on your own terms.

Read the the recent changes in the sewing industry and why people love sewing in the following infographic.

This infographic is created by Prasad of Terrysfabrics.