General Steucture of Denim Garment Unit

This article mainely covers the central structure of a denim garment unit. It covers the core
structure along with the brief structural description of departments. The departments and
functions given here is the most exercised structure but it vary unit to unit to with certain
specifications.
Table of contents

Fabric inspection department (FID)

Sampling

Cutting

Work in Process (WIP)

Stitching

GDP & Washing

Finishing

Quality assurance & Quality control

Merchandizing

Product development (PD)

Production Planning & Control (PPC)

Industrial engineering (IE)

Fabric Inspection Department (FID)

Fabric inspection department is a very important department it provides a base to the
company because no order can be run without the working report of FID. When an order is
booked and company wants to start working on it, firstly PCR activity report is generated for
that by PPC and is forwarded to FID who gets MS (Merchandiser Sheet) on the behalf of that
PCR activity report and starts working. The tests performed in FID are;

Visual fabric inspection test

Skew test

Shrinkage test

Shade matching test

Ounce test


Visual fabric inspection test
It is the first test performed in FID to check the fabric visually for weaving defects. Fabric is
taken from the store room by the help of PCR activity report and rolls are brought for
checking. An inspection machine is used for this purpose which has diagonal glass surface
and lot of tube lights on its top, fabric roll is adjusted on one side of the machine and a
specific length of fabric is unrolled from the roll to pass over the machine and to reach on
other side where observer is standing. When machine runs, fabric also starts unrolled from
roll and pass on a smooth speed so that observer easily mark fault if there is any under the
light of several tube lights. Some of the defects, which are noted during this process are;

Miss pick

Stains

Double pick

Wrong drawing

Double ends

Short ends

Knots

Broken ends

Slob

Startup mark

Poly thread

Loose ends
There are two systems to evaluate defects; one is japan10 point system and other
is Americans 4 point system. Japanese system is not used, now American system is
mostly used in the industry. Actually it is the system to score a fault by seeing its length
against 4 points as shown below.

Faults length (inches)

1-3
3.1-6
6.1-9

Points
1
2
3

 9.1-39.37(1 meter)

According to the table 1, score is allotted to any defect having any specific length to
calculate DHU (defects per Hundred Units). At the end, average of all rolls is calculated
according to the given below formula;
Point per 100 square meters =
Total points * 100 / total fabric inspected*average width
It gives us average DHU per roll, we have DHU tolerance limit so if final score lie within the
tolerance then fabric is passed and if it cross the tolerance limits then rejected. Different
companies use different DHU tolerance limits, majority uses 15 points per roll in square
meters length and 28 points per roll in linear meters length but normally calculations are
based on square meters length. On the behalf of this evaluation, fabric is also categorized as
A grade, B grade, C grade etc.
Skew test
Skew means twist, tilt, slanted or distorted, as it is showing its meanings this test is done to
check the skew in the fabric which is produced when warp or weft changes its position due
to very high twist in yarn. It is required in woven and especially in denim to accommodate
the shape of body as body is not flat, it also has curvature, slanted and also flat portions but
at the same time it is also a fault so a specific amount of skew is accepted. Silhouette of the
garment will also be disturbed, if it crosses the tolerance limit. The method used to find it
out in FID is that fabric of specific amount of length is taken from a roll normally 1 meter
each side when folded, after folding both sides from opposite to each other (one sides
right, others will be left), a cut from 3-4 inches of edge is marked and fabric is torn and
same with the other side is done. After doing this, one side of folding is fixed in hands by
equaling the edges of fold and a jerk is given to get a final shape after shredding process
which results in difference of sides as one side is fixed in hands. That difference is noted and
according to the given formula skew is calculated.
1.

Difference between sides = X so X / 2 = Y

2.

Percentage is taken by dividing Y with width of that roll Z;

3.

Y / Z * 100 = Skew in %age

If the result is out of tolerance range then the fabric would be rejected.
Shrinkage test
It is a very important test performed in FID because your bulk totally depends on the
shrinkage results. Customer provides us all required information about the product but his all
measurements are the measurements which are finally required so in order to achieve that
we have to be very careful during this test. On the behalf of FID test report, decisions are
made and during Marker Making in GGT seam allowances plus shrinkage is added and then
pattern is finalized to get final results after all processes like stitching and washing, now if
this shrinkage test is not conducted rightly then definitely all further results based on this
would suffer a lot.

Before wash, 4-5 swatches from different fabric rolls are cut and traced of 25 cm 2dimensions
with the help of irremovable ink and that is then over locked by O/L machine to make legs.
Then washing standard from PD is taken and according to that standard washing process is
preceded. After washing process, shrinkage of those 4-5 legs is taken and that is reported
sampling room that prepares 8 samples according to the shrinkage report. After that 100%
taking swatches from all the rolls makes legs, and then these 100 % legs and 8 samples are
taken together to washing. After washing, samples are sent back to sampling for their
working and legs are given to FID. FID makes a shrinkage report by noting the difference as
before wash is 25 cm, that difference is then multiplied with 4 to get results out of 1 square
meter. Warp and weft shrinkage is determined separately according to the above-described
method.
Shade matching test
It is also very important test to be performed in FID. It is a natural phenomenon that during
dying process, there is a shade variance between lots and rolls even sometimes within a roll
so it is very necessary to know about shades exist in roll because during spreading and
cutting processes if garment pieces are from different shades then the final garment would
be rejected by the customer as it will be having different parts from different shade families
like front panels from one shade and back panels from another shade which will create a
prominent difference and final look of the garment would be suffering, giving a bad
impression to observer. This test is done under the light of tube lights or any other specific
light source according to the demand. The method to perform this test is that swatches are
compared with original sample and difference of color tone, hue is noted upon which
families are created, means less the difference marked as 1 and greater the difference then
number 2 would be marked and so on up to the highest difference between swatch and
sample. As this is performed by simple naked eye so it is recommended that the observer
must be having a good sense of colors and no color blindness problem as well.
Shrinkage and shading reports are used to compare with the fabric sourcing report because
after this step fabric is allocated to cutting department and finally the quality manger and
merchandiser sign shrinkage and shading reports. Shrinkage and shading reports are
forwarded to cutting department from where these move to next departments
Ounce test
In knitwear, fabric is deal in Kgs while in woven it is deal in meters. In knitwear GSM (grams
per square meter) is found while in woven and especially denim, ounces are used rather
than GSM. Method of calculating ounces is that a disk of fabric is cut with the help of GSM
disk cutter then that is weighed on electronic weighing balance. That weight is then divided
with 0.339066 to get ounces. It is important during packing and shipping of an order.

Sampling Department
It is another very important department. After FID, main task is done here that is to
observe the trend of fabric after stitching, problems during stitching are identified before
bulk starts and all setting of machines and gauge sets are finalized here. It minimizes the
risk factor in bulk production as all same working is done here as in bulk; it is a type of
preventive action. The samples are prepared here are known as PCR which stands for
Production Control Run/Production Confirmation Run and commonly known as Pre Production
Samples. The main jobs of this department is to check the first time marker measurement,
before wash and after wash measurements, after comparing before and after wash
amendment are recommended and shrinkage decision for the bulk production is taken.
During marker measurement; parts quantity is noted, parts direction and overall
measurements like waist, hip, thigh, knee, bottom, back rise, front rise and inseam are

taken. Shrinkage is added weft wise in some parts like waist, hip, thigh, knee and bottom
while warp wise shrinkage is added in some parts like inseam, front rise and back rise.
Customer gives his requirements of before wash and after wash as well so before wash
sample prepared are checked for before wash measurements and also after wash
measurements are taken and both are compared to see that what is the trend of garment
after wash and how much difference is between ours and customers standard
measurements. On the behalf of that comparison amendments are done and final decision
for the bulk production is taken..

Garber Garment Technology (GGT)

CAD stands for Computer Aided Designing and CAM stands for Computer Aided
Manufacturing. It is the latest advancement in the field of garment industry. GGT has almost
abolished the time consuming method of manual pattern making where people had to suffer
if they needed variety of sizes because in manual pattern making you have to prepare
patterns of each part for each size separately while GGT is very fast to solve such kind of
problems by the help of rule table where reading or pattern points are known only and
pattern design system PDS where pattern is in front of the user, this process is technically
given name of grading, no need of each pattern only one base size is required and after that
prepare
as
many
pattern
as
you
want
from
that
base
size.

There are some others brands that are can also be used for the purpose of CAD systems.

LECTRA

INVESTRONICA

RICH PEACE

BULL MARK

First I would like to discuss the hardware parts of the GGT one by one.
Digitizer
It is a some kind of scanner that is used to scan the original pattern as it is to the computer
with the help of a mouse and a digitizing table. This pattern will be the base pattern and will
be used for grading process.
Computer
No need to discuss this part so deeply except that it is used to process the input by
manipulating the software (Accu Mark, grading and pattern system).
Plotter
It is a kind of printer which is used when marker is made to print the marker for cutting
process.
Before discussing the software part, first the flow of GGT should be viewed.

Cutting Department

Cutting is the process to separate fabric parts as replicas of the pattern pieces in the
marker plan.
The most important and crucial process in the garment industry is cutting process. There is a
general saying that cutting makes a company or breaks a company which shows the
importance of cutting process. Its fault can not be tolerated and any mishap in cutting will
result in wastage of fabric. If during cutting by mistake a pattern is cut wrongly e.g. short
length or unwanted cut on the pattern then what will happen? Definitely that mistake will an
impact to the whole spread and all pieces of that specific part will be damaged and would
not be used resulting in waste of fabric, and fabric is money so finally we will get a loss in
terms of money. Hence this process should and must be handled very carefully to avoid any
nonconformance to the plan.
Before cutting there is a prerequisite of this process and that is spreading; spreading means
to superimpose fabric layers or plies to get optimum number of pieces in minimum time to
make best utilization of cutting blade. Spreading can be manual and automatic as well;
majority of the industry is using manual spreading method. It has two basic types;
1.
2.

Face up / Single ply

Face to face / Double ply
Spread height
Spread height is a very important factor which defines the life of cutting blade. Number of
plies per spread, depends on type of fabric and height of blade, common industry is using 4
to 4.5 inches of height for a spread regardless the focus on certain number of plies which
might be different for different fabrics. Spread height is also a very important factor in
cutting because objectives of cutting are to get optimum number of pieces within minimum
time and best utilizing the cutters blade therefore we cannot afford to cut plies one by
one or so many plies because in both cutting objectives are disturbed.
Points to be considered
There are some points which should be considered during spreading to increase efficiency
and minimize the wastage and cutting problems.

Shade sequence, the process to organizing all the shades in a fabric roll in a specific
sequence to avoid shade difference at the end of the process.
Alignment of plies; the plies should be aligned properly both length and width wise.

Correct ply tension; this factor becomes very important in manual spreading where
tension depends on lay-man. It should be proper not so tight and not so loose because in
both cases final patterns after cutting will be disturbed.

Fabric faults; fabric faults should be eliminated during spreading otherwise our
patterns would suffer.

Distortion of spread; during the manual cutting, the spread may be distorted due to
the base plate of the cutter so to avoid this glazed paper can be used.
Cutting types and cutting instruments
The most important tool of cutting process is cutter which converts our theoretical plan into
reality. There are many types of cutting instruments which can be used for cutting purposes.
As I have discussed before that there are two methods of spreading so cutting has also two
types;

1.
2.

Manual cutting
Automatic cutting
Manual cutting is the type where we make marker and take a print through plotter which is
used then for cutting by laying that on the spread. Cutting instruments which are used for
manual cutting;

1.

Hand shear

2.

Straight knife

3.

Round knife

4.

Notchers

5.

Drills and shear markers

Straight knife is very popular and mostly used in the industry
Automatic cutting
Automatic cutting is the type where we make marker but dont use plotter rather this
we simply give command to our automatic cutting system which firstly do spreading and
then cutting. Cutting instruments used for automatic cutting are;

1.

Straight knife

2.

Die cutter

3.

Laser cutter

4.

Plasma cutter

5.

Water jet cutter

6.

Ultrasonic cutter
Folding
Folding is a process of writing all required information on pieces after cutting process. This is
an important process to avoid mix-up of bundles. This process provides the following
information on every piece like;
Order #, Cut #, # of plies, side e.g. Left or Right, Size and Bundle #
Cutting Losses

 Apart from the fabric loss due to the fabric flaws, there are two causes of fabric loss in the
production process:

Marking loss or marker fallout, this is formed because of the gaps and other nonusable areas that take place between the garment panels of a marker and called as buffer
loss.

Spreading loss, which is the fabric loss that exists during the spreading process other
than the loss caused by the marker arrangement; these include the end loss, width loss,
splicing loss and remnant loss.
Points to improve cutting room efficiency

Careful handling

Advance machinery

Proper maintenance

Training and development

Pleasant working conditions

Minimizing the wastages; use end cutters to minimize end loss, use electronic sensor
to for proper alignment to minimize width loss.

Purchasing of good quality fabric

Good marker planning

Safety of employees

The documents generated by cutting department contains.

Inspection report

DHU report (Defects per Hundred Units

Cutting tracing repot

Work In Process Control (WIP) Department

WIP has the responsibility to receive pieces after counting from cutting department and feed
those pieces into the dry line / lines according to the PPC plan with by keeping the sequence
of small parts first, back panels and then front panels. They have the right to receive total
required pieces and responsibility to make a smooth feeding. If pieces get shortage due to
WIP people then they are bound for re-cutting and if shortage is due to stitching people then
that is their headache for re-cutting. This section is only one who completely knows the
status of lines and orders as well and keeps update relevant departments like PPC even PPC
makes plan of induction after consulting with WIP. After assembly 2, WIP again receives
semi-finished garments and feeds to GDP & washing department and then to
finishing.


Stitching Department

Stitching department is the backbone for all production departments. Before discussing the
operations of stitching I would like to share some information about some basic
terminologies.
Stitch
Stitch is a specific configuration of sewing thread in a repeated unit for the purpose of
making a seam or stitching.
Stitching
Stitching is the series of stitches use to finish the edges or for
decorative purpose on a single or more than one plies of material
Seam
It is a line where two or more plies of material are attached.
Stitch types
Basically there are two types of stitches,
1.
2.

Lock stitch interlacing

Where

Chain stitch Inter looping

Inter-lacing
It is the process of passing one thread over or around other thread or loop of another
thread
Inter-looping
It is the process of passing a loop from another loop of another thread and

Lock stitch

Chain stitch

More stable

Consumes less thread per

inch

Less stronger

More downtime

Lower
bobbin)

thread

(uses

Can use up to two needles

maximum

Less stable
Consumes
per inch

more

More stronger

Less

thread

downtime

(delay

time)

Lower thread (uses looper)

Can use more needles up

to 33
According to ASTM American Society for Testing and Material there are 6 basic types of
stitches;

1.

Class 100 single thread chain stitch

2.

Class 200 hand stitch

3.

Class 300 lock stitch

4.

Class 400 multi thread chain stitch

5.

Class 500 over edging

6.

Class 600 cover stitch

On the basis of these stitch types, machines are designed for stitching process, the
machines which are used on the basis of these types are;

1.

Lock stitch

2.

Over lock / Safety

3.

Interlock / Flat lock

Seam types
Now, lets discuss the seam types, according to ASTM standards there are 6 basic types
of seam.

1.

Super Impose (SS)

2.

Lapped Seam (LS)

3.

Bound Seam (BS)

4.

Flat Seam (FS)

5.

Edge Finishing (EF)

6.

1.
2.

Ornamental Seam (OS)

Needle
A very important machine part is needle without it stitch formation process is impossible
because it passes the thread across the material therefore it is very important to have the
basic information it. There are two basic types of needle;
Straight needles
Curved needles
Straight needles are further divided into two categories; Point needle / sharp tip needle and
second are Ballpoint needle / Displace needle.
Point needle is used for heavy fabric because ballpoint needle will not penetrate to a heavy
material easily and it might be broken. It has three level of sharpness;

1.

Light

2.

Medium

3.

Heavy
Ball point needle is used for delicate fabrics because point needle will cut the yarn called as
needle chew, leave marks which cannot be removed and that will be more prominent in
washing. It has three shapes;

1.

Flat

2.

Square

3.

Spear
Stitching department starts working just after receiving pieces from WIP department with
the help technical sheet provided by PD department and style bulletin provided by Industrial
Engineering. Technical sheet contains all the information required with the addition of a
graphical sketch to show the shape and measurements of the garment. Style bulletin is a
document which contains number of operations in a sequence required to complete a
garment and on the behalf of this document; layout of stitching department is set by adding,
removing or changing the positions of sewing machines. Machine gauges are set and
according to the operation performed on which machine; seam allowance has been added in
marker making to avoid any measurement problem. Stitching department follows the sewing
sequence of style bulletin which is shown below.

Small part section

Back panel section

Front panel section

Assembly section

Small part section

Small part section is the area where only small parts are prepared and transferred to the
sections concerned. Small parts which are required first means parts of back panel are
prepared on priority base. Here in this section; the operations like, small parts tracing if
necessary, pair making, back pocket hemming, coin / watch pocket hemming, facing
attachment with pocket bags, bone pocket making if there is any, loop making, embroidery /
mock stitch on parts, belt making, are performed. After these operations, parts are taken to
quality checking table where parts are checked for all operations and in case of any quality
issue or missing operation, those are noted by the quality checker of quality department and
is sent back for re-work on that and when parts are confirmed as OK by the checker then
parts are transferred to the concerned sections e.g. back pockets to back panel section and facing plus pocket bags to
front panel section and belt to assembly 1 etc. Quality department check the following point of quality for the
small parts;

Strictly follow Tech Book and sample about thread variation

Use needle according to fabric construction

Check pattern as per Tech Book/Sample

Make all sizes as per teck book/sample

Check SPI(stitch per inch) at all operations

GGT pattern put small final table

Check label with cut details

Back panel section

It starts working from the back yoke attachment with back panel with chain
stitch. Second operation is feedo top stitching on yoke. Back rise attachment with chain
stitch and then feedo top stitching normally. Then back pockets are attached with lock stitch.
Last step is label (size, brand etc) attachment. After all this, panels go for quality checking
same as in small part section.
Front panel section
Front panel section starts working by attaching coin pocket with facing. This patch
is attached with pocket bags and then with front panel, sometimes with the addition of twill
tape. Then notch-patching operation is performed. Single and double flies attachment
operation is done after notch patching. Then making of J stitch is done. Crotching
operation is performed to join the left and right panels after J stitch making. Extra flies
cutting and label (care, shading, etc.) attachment are the next operations respectively. Same like previous sections,
quality checker checks the panels for various defects like uneven seam, missing stitch, broken stitch,
waist measurement etc. if rejected then send back for rework otherwise panels are sent to
assembly 1 section. It is notable that all labels which are attached during stitching process,
are put in poly bags to avoid any damage of label during washing process because it is the
requirement of customer that size, care, brand etc. label should be attached in stitching not
in finishing.
Assembly section

 Assembly section is divided into two further sections; Assembly 1 and Assembly 2
section.
Assembly 1
Assembly 1 starts working after bar tack operation on J stitch where after bar
tack operation, back and front panels are sent to matching area to match the bundle #, cut #, and
size. First operation of assembly 1 is inseam attachment with normally chain stitch machine
and after that double needle feedo topstitching. Outseam attachment with normally single
needle lock stitch machine is the next operation. Then waistband is attached with waistband
attachment machine by using a folder for the easy take in of waistband by folding it to the
required position. This waistband attachment machine can operate up to 12 needles at a
time but usually 3 to 4 needles are used.
Assembly 2
Assembly 2 is the last section of stitching department where some operations
like; close waist band ends, loop attachment, bottom hemming, bar tacking on loops and
eyelet making, are performed to give the finishing touch to the garment in stitching
department. Same like all previous sections; final quality checking is done after assembly
1&2 for waist and inseam confirmation and other stitching defects. The pieces which are
rejected by quality checker are sent back for rework and are not counted in the production
output; only the OK pieces are considered the production output. After quality checking,
pieces are handed over to WIP again who transfers these pieces to GDP and washing
department.

GDP and Washing Department

Dry Processes
These processes are totally handled with dry like sand, sand paper etc. as inputs to give a
special look to garment. There are main three dry processes which are used in industry;
1.

Scraping

2.

Grinding

3.

Sand blasting
Scraping
Scraping is the process to remove the color of the garment from the required area. Sand
papers are used to rub the surface of garment which results in removal of color.
Grinding
Grinding is the process to destroy or tear off a garment at the pointed area with the help of a
grinding machine. As a result we get a garment giving rough or destroying effect that is the
reason it is also called as destroy effect. Grinding machines are used for some simple areas
like bottom hemming but some sensitive areas where grinding machine cannot reach or
there is a risk of seam damage, then pistols are used. These pistols have the same grinding
material on their tip and can easily reach to any area due to small size and light weight.
Sand blasting
Sand blasting is the process of throwing sand with the help of pressure gun to a particular
area of garment. When sand is thrown with a high pressure, it gives an effect of color
removal. The difference between sand blast and scraping is only that in sand blast more
area is targeted at a time while in scraping; as it is manual work less area is covered.
Wet Processes
These include all kind of washings and all kind of sprays. Some of those are written in this
report.

1.

Spray (KMnO4)

2.

Pinning effect

3.

Rinse wash / garment wash

4.

Resin wash

5.

Stone wash

6.

Enzyme wash

7.

Bleach wash and many more washes

8.

Garment dye

9.

Over dye / Tint dye

Spray
Spray of KMnO4 is used on garment for giving dirty look. Actually dirty look means that
garment will be looked dirty after some use because spray totally removes the color of
garment area where it is used but garment gives a yellow look on that area so to eliminate
that effect, garment is sent for neutralization process and after this process garment gives a
white look at the spray area.
Rinse wash
Rinse wash is also called simple garment wash and soaking as well in the industry as it uses
only detergent and water to give softness and removal of stains.
Resin wash
Resin wash is special kind of wash which is used to give a hard feel and contracting effect as
well; actually resin is the name of chemical which is used in this wash. The simple process is
that a garment is coated with resin chemical according to the requirements of customer. If
there is a need of contracting effect then simple clips are used for this purpose to hold the
specific contracted area and the garment is hanged to be dried under the simple sun light.
When it gets dried then it is put into the oven for a specific time from 5 to 20 minutes and
temperature from 150 to 250 centigrade depending upon the garment type and customer
requirement. After this step, garment is taken out and that contacting effect becomes
permanent.
Stone wash
Stone wash is the process of using small stones called pumice in washing process which
gives a rubbing effect on garment.
Enzyme wash
Enzyme wash is another very special wash which gives a smooth and clear look of garment.
The process for this is that a coating of enzymes is given to a garment and a time of 20
120 minutes depends on the requirement is given; during this time enzymes eat the rough
fibers and color of garment which results in a clear and smooth look of garment.
Bleach wash
Bleach wash is the wash which is used to give whiteness or lighter shade to a garment. It is
often used after stone wash or enzymes wash.
Garment dye
Garment dye is the process to dye a grey / white garment completely to get a required
shade.
Over dye / Tint
Over dye / Tint dye is a process to dye an already dyed garment to get a new effect with the
mixture of two colors. There is little bit difference between over dye and tint dye; over dye is

the process to dye an already dyed garment while tint dye is the process where color is
given to some required areas rather than the whole garment like whisker style.
Washing focuses on required shade achievement; light shades are preferred because darker
can be given another process cycle to match with light but light can not be treated like this
to match with darker one and not on measurements. Another very important point which
should be discussed here, time and temperature are two very important factors of dyeing
and washing and an appropriate ratio of both should be used otherwise our garment will be
damaged.

Finishing Department (Beauty Parlour)

This department takes semi finished garments from GDP and washing department and does
all required processes on garment to give it final shape for packing. Working of this
department starts from garment stock area. Stock area issues garments for finishing
processes on the basis of order no. and shipment plan provided by the PPC department,
priority is given to the orders which have to be shipped earlier. Flow of garments in finishing
department is given below to provide an over view about working style of finishing
department.
1.

Loop cutting

2.

Trimming

3.

Inside checking

4.

Buttons & rivets attachment

5.

Pressing

6.

General checking

7.

Card Attachment

8.

Super final checking

9.

Final measurement checking

10.

Packing
Loop cutting
Loop cutting is the process of cutting extra loops which were attached in stitching
department.
Trimming
Trimming section starts working after receiving garments from loop cutting section. The
process of cutting extra threads on a garment is called trimming. In this process, threads are
cut from both out and inside of the garment. A line incharge and quality checker as well
checks the garment to confirm for missing threads. If quality checker confirms the garment
as OK then it goes to inside checking and he / she rejects then garment goes back to
rechecking.
Inside checking
Inside checking is a very important section that checks the garment

completely from inside for missing threads during trimming, stains during washing and
dyeing, small holes or cuts (raffo, filling of cuts or hole with hand stitch in such a way that
they look like a normal garment) during stitching and all stitching faults like open seam,
open fold, broken stitch, missing stitch etc. The results of this process may be one of three;
alteration, stains and raffo. In case of any stitching fault, garment will go to alteration
section; in case of stains, garment will go to the stain removing section and in case of fabric
damage like unwanted cut or hole, garment will go to raffo section. A very important point
here is that if these faults are minor and stains are removable then garment will be OK after
these process but if these fault are major and stains are irremovable then garment will be
rejected and go to B-2 section. This process is very important because inside checking will
not be conducted again in any next section.
Buttons & rivets attachment
In this section button and rivets are attached as per customer requirement.
Press
Press is the process to remove all unnecessary wrinkles and creases from the garments to
give them a good look. Before the starting of this process, quality checker checks the
measurements of randomly selected garments one by one to see after wash trend of
garments by making a specs sheet; if measurements are in minus then during pressing
those areas are stretched to accommodate that little bit difference and if measurement are
in plus then go for normal pressing because in the final measurement section, OK pieces will
be sent to packing while the pieces with plus measurements will be sent to washing where
those pieces will be given high temperature causing contraction and again pressing will be
done. Different types of pressing are being used in industry like steam pressing, iron
pressing and top pressing,
General checking
It is the process of checking a garment from outside for its shape, stitching faults, trim and
accessories missing, bar tack missing etc. This checking is conducted on 100% by the
production people and main focus is look of the garment. After checking, checker has to
attach his code # on the garment for proof that he checked that garment.
Super final checking
Super final checking is the process of checking a garment in depth for every parameter and
normally conducted by the QC department. Checkers code sticker is attached to the
garment; in case of any problem regarding this stage that code will be the proof of checker
who checked that garment. In case of any problem missed by general checkers, super
checkers send garments back to them for rechecking but once they forward and defect is
noticed in packing then these checkers will be responsible.
Final measurement checking
This is last step before garments are entered into packing section where 100%
measurements are checked like waist, inseam, thigh, knee etc. and defect like wrong labels
are pointed out. In case of OK, garments will sent to packing and in case of / +, respective
action will be taken.
Packing
The garments received from finishing floor are sent first for size sticker, hang tag clips and
spare kit (if require) attachment. Then garments go for leg stickers if necessary and a person
is standing at the end makes sure that no garment is missed for the necessary stickers. After
this, ratio wise sizing is performed and then shading process to make families of available
shades to make it possible that one shade would be packed in one carton. After shading,
according to the customers instructions garments are packed first in poly bags and then
in carton. There are two types of packing;

1.
2.

Solid
Sorted
Solid is that kind of packing in which one size is packed in one carton while sorted is the kind
in which packing is done according to the given ratio.
When garments are packed, all required information is pasted on the carton plus barcode
according to the customer demand. Carton barcode sticker is optional but per garment,
barcode sticker is must because open price is not offered. After packing, internal audit is
conducted and if internal auditor is satisfied then company calls the external audit for final
audit and after final audit, order is ready to ship now.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control Department

Quality Assurance
It is a process based approach which focuses on right first time operations. It uses
preventive actions rather than corrective action and there is a saying that prevention is
better than cure.
Quality Control
It is a product based approach which is used to segregate good one from bad one. It uses
corrective actions after occurring of a problem by living within the tolerance limits.
Quality assurance department is using Statistical Process Control (SPC) to standardize the
processes that will result in right first time operation. Daily DHU report of every production
department is prepared by the inline quality persons, by the help of that report a summary is
made which clearly points out the problematic area e.g. if there is more faults at waist band
attachment, when problem is pointed out then quality assurance tries to find the root cause
of that problem and finally makes such kind of arrangements so that problem would not be
created again.
Now we discuss the working of supportive departments which have a lot of contribution in
the output of production departments.

Product Development Department (PDD)

Product development means to create something new by transforming your ideas into
reality.. This department plays a great role and converts all customers information and
requirement into technical form. After confection approval (CA), this department generates a
document called Merchandiser Sheet which has all details regarding an order for the purpose
of procurement and initial work in FID on that order. Second main document generated by
this department is Technical Sheet which contains all technical information regarding that
order with the addition of a graphical representation. This technical sheet contains all
measurements and stitching sequence with the reference for requirement of machines to be
used. This technical sheet is firstly issued to sampling department and after sampling, PD
does some essential amendments and then final sheet is issued to all production
departments.

PPC Department

PPC stands for Production Planning and Control and Production Planning and
Coordination. It is the backbone of a company as it performs the above mentioned very tough tasks. This

department starts working from Inquiry step to dispatch of an order. All problems in production, quality,
finishing etc. are looked after by the PPC department. The process of working of PPC is that
from inquiry step, it gets involved when merchandiser informs PPC about quantity and
expected date of a new order. By the help of WIP, PPC gets the vacancy status of lines and
by consulting with IE, the difficulty level of garment, PPC gives its expected date of feeding
and delivery if it matches with customers expected date, well & good, if not then
merchandiser negotiates with customer for changing the date. To make a plan, PPC requires
fabric availability status, CA, trims and accessories availability status.
On the basis of CA, PPC makes the cutting plan; on the trims and accessories availability
status, plan for stitching is prepared and on the basis of stitching plan, shipments plan is
finalized. PPC knows the status of every running order with the help of; productivity report,
cutting stock report, stitching report, finishing and packing report and dispatch report.
Forecasting plan
To know the flow of orders, a forecasting plan is prepared by PPC after consulting the
difficulty level of the product with IE department. This sforecasting plan gives an idea about
the order run time. It is an attentive plan, planned on actual dates and later on it might be
changed to meet the circumstances as it is impossible to plan 100% in apparel industry but
if the difference between decided dates and actual running dates is more than the tolerance
then the matter is discussed with merchandiser. It also provides an rough idea about the
feeding and expected outing date.
Follow-up
The second main job of PPC is follow up of processes to find progress, problems that disturb
the flow of process etc and PPC then tries its best to resolve the issues to make a steady
flow. Master order status report proves to be very helpful for follow up as it has all
information regarding fabric & trims availability and order progress status.

Industrial Engineering Department

Industrial Engineering is defined as the process of productivity improvement through

standardization of operations for ease in work and best utilization of all available
resources. Some people defines it in a very simple way that to get maximum outpu t with minimum
input. It is mainly used in industry for the objectives;

Piece rate development

Capacity calculations

Lines balancing

Method standardization

Performance evaluation

To achieve these objectives, IE uses the tools;

Motion study to minimize the motions by decreasing distance between

operations and departments.

Time study to calculate the accurate time to complete a specific procedure or

operation.

Ergonomics study of interaction of workers and their environment, factors involve

are temperature, noise, fluff, music, sitting height and ventilation.

Learning curve is a graph between time and learning of an operato