Cutting Room

costs
The cutting room has a greater effect on
excessive manufacturing costs than any
other department concerned with the
actual production of garments.
• Internal costs – those incurred in the
cutting room itself.
• External costs – those incurred by other
departments as a result of the
malfunctions of the cutting room.
 Internal costs
• Labour : Effective utilisation

• Material : 40% to 50% of the cost price of

most of the mass produced clothing and
largest cost component of a garment

• Efficiency
Pattern accuracy Marker waste Spreading waste

The factors influencing materials untilisation

 External costs
• Coordination
• Defects
• Matching
• Accuracy
• Sewing
• Shading
• Quality
 Production Process in the Cutting
room

• Planning
• Spreading
• Cutting
• Preparation for sewing
 Production process in the Cutting Room
Spreads

Markers
Planning
Production

Manual
Spreading
Machine

Machine

Die Press
Cutting

Computer

Shade marking
Preparation
for sewing Ticketing

Bundles
 Cut order planning
• It translates customer orders into cutting
orders.
• It is the process that coordinates customer
orders with all the variables of marker
making, spreading, and cutting to
minimize total production costs and meet
customer demand for timely products.
• It seeks most effective use of labor,
equipment, fabric and space.
 Responsibilities of Cut Order
Planning
• Examining incoming orders and piece goods
width and availability
• Determining volume, size ratios, and sectioning
procedures for marker making
• Determining whether file markers are available
or new ones are needed
• Developing specifications for optimum marker
making and fabric utilization
• Determine most effective use of spreading and
cutting equipment and personnel
• Issuing orders for marker making, spreading and
cutting
 Most common considerations
• Number of sizes in order
• Number of colors in order
• Max/min number of sizes allowed in marker
• Maximum spread length
• Maximum ply height
• Percentage of overcut or undercut units
• Fabric cost per yard
• Usable cloth width
• Width variation
• Common lines among pattern pieces
• Costs of marking markers, spreading, cutting, bundling
• Fabric roll change time
 Results of
Cut Order Planning

Cutting Orders
Leads to

Marker planning Lay planning

• Marker planning is to determine the most
efficient combination of sizes and shades for
each order and to produce the best fabric yield
and equipment utilization
• Lay is a stack of fabric plies that have been
prepared for cutting
• Lay planning is the basis of managing cutting
room labor and table space
 Marker Making
• Marker is a diagram of a precise arrangement of
pattern pieces for a specific style and the sizes
to be cut from a single spread.
• Marker Making is the process of determining
the most efficient layout of pattern pieces for a
specified style, fabric, and distribution of sizes
(requires time, skill and concentration)
 Marker Making

Manually produced Computerized marker making

 Dimentions of marker
• Markers are made to fit the cuttable widths of fabrics.
• Blocked or sectioned markers contain all of the pattern
pieces for one style in one or two sizes.
• Continuous markers contain all the pattern pieces for
all sizes included in a single cutting. Splice marks are
points in marker where fabric can be cut and the next
piece overlapped to maintain a continuous spread. They
are planned in continuous marker.
 Types of Markers
Open marker – Marker made with full
pattern pieces

Closed Marker – marker made with half

garment parts pieces for laying along the
folds of the tube (tubular knit)
 Marker Modes
Is determined by the symmetry and
directionality of fabric.

• Nap either way (N/E/W)

• Nap one way (N/O/W)
• Nap up and down (N/U/D)
 The term Nap is used to indicate the fabric
is directional.
N/E/W –with symmetric, non directional
fabrics, pattern pieces can be placed on a
marker with only consideration for
grainline
N/O/W – all the pattern pieces be placed on
a marker in only one direction
N/U/D – all patterns pieces of one size to be
placed in one direction and another size
placed in opposite direction. eg. corduroy
 Requirements of marker planning
1. Nature of the fabric and the desired result in
the finished garment
• Pattern alignment in relation to the grain of the
fabric
• Symmetry and asymmetry
• The design characteristic of the finished garment
2. The requirements of quality cutting
3. The requirements of production planning
 Marker Efficiency
Area of patterns in the marker plan X 100%
Total area of the marker plan

• It is determined by fabric utilization

• Minimum waste
Factors effecting marker efficiency

• Fabric characteristics
• Characteristics of Pattern pieces
splitting pattern pieces and creating a seam ,
reducing seam allowances, hemwidth, adjusting
and modifying grainline, etc
• Grain Orientation
• Fabric utilization standards – 90 to 97% which
lead to 80 -85% achievement
 Plotting

The process of drawing or printing pattern

pieces or markers on paper so they can
be reviewed or cut.
 Duplications of marker
• Carbon duplicating – small no. of copies only
are made (6–8)
• Spirit duplicating or hectograph carbon
system – uses alcohol and it is a messy process
many copies can be produced
• Diazo photographic method – the master
marker and light sensitive paper passes under
high intensity ultra violet light and the light
sensitive paper is developed using amonia
 Spreading

Spreading is the processes of superimposing

lengths of fabric on a spreading table cutting
table or specially designed surface in
preparation for the cutting process
A spread or lay-up is the total amount of fabric
prepared for a single marker.
 Spreading mode
• Spreading mode is the manner in which
fabric plies are laid out for cutting
• Direction of the fabric: it may be positioned
in two ways face-to-face (F/F) or with all
plies facing-one-way (F/O/W)
• Direction of the Fabric Nap: it may be
positioned nap-one-way (N/O/W) or nap-
up-down
Spreading modes

F/O/W
N/O/W

F/F
N/O/W

F/F
N/U/D

F/O/W
N/U/D
 Requirements of Spreading
process
• Shade sorting of cloth pieces
• Correct ply direction and adequate lay stability
• Allignment of plies
• Correct ply tension
• Elimination of fabric faults
• Elimination of static electricity
• Avoidance of distortion in the spread
• Avoidance of fusion of plies during cutting
 Setup for spreading
• Verifying cutting orders
• Positioning materials
• Preparing cutting tables
• Preparing machines
• Loading machine
Reloading and delay time may use upto 70% of
the time required for the entire spreading
operation.
 Methods of spreading

• Spreading by hand
• Spreading using a travelling machine
(100 to 150 yards per minute)