by [TC]²
Make, Cut and Patterns
By: Harpreet Singh
PGDGMT
National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, India
June 2007
The title of my article does not suggest reversing the order of drafting patterns, cutting them and finally, making the garment. I am not thinking of recycling apparel. It merely tells you how I tackle each process, in that order, in my article.
Make
Time is of essence in the rag trade as styles go out of fashion every season. We start with a new set of styles every season, and the process of designing new styles begins one whole year in advance. This leaves very little time for making the styles en masse. To counter this paucity of time, we need swift manufacturing systems. Most of the garments today are manufactured, after they are cut, using an assembly-line that is quicker than the traditional make-through system.
An assembly-line was first used to make cars, and has been borrowed from there to make apparel. The system has since evolved and today, more efficient and productive variations of the same are used. This was demonstrated to us by our professor by a small exercise. One day, he brought with him a bagful of dismantled pens. It was the Penville Plant Kit, an educational tool sold by [TC]². To explain the tool, I quote from the [TC]² website.
“The Penville Plant Kit provides a hands-on, interactive opportunity for apparel manufacturing managers, apparel manufacturing engineers, apparel designers or line personnel to understand three different types of manufacturing systems. Participants in the Penville Plant exercise produce ballpoint pens using the Push, Kanban and Team Systems of manufacturing. Guiding participants through the transition from traditional batch manufacturing to demand-flow manufacturing that uses teamwork and cross trained employees, the kit vividly demonstrates how the use of flexible manufacturing methods can result in greater efficiency and productivity over more common manufacturing methods.”
After the exercise, what struck me was the reduction in work-in-process (WIP) between operations as we moved from traditional batch manufacturing to demand-flow manufacturing. Also, the inventory carried by the firm at a given point in time, is considerably reduced. This increases the efficiency of the business as the capital locked in inventory is now greatly reduced. This also reflects on the company’s bottomline.
Garments are made of cloth. Cloth is the most important and perhaps, the only raw material that goes through various stages of cut and sew operations. It constitutes seventy percent of the entire cost of a garment. The total fabric required for a given order is estimated on the average cloth consumption per single unit. Cloth, once cut, passes from one operation to another till the finished garment comes out at the end of the assembly-line. As the time for each operation differs, we have some units as WIP between operations. If one were to implement measures as mentioned in the Penville Plant Kit, would one end up with reduced inventory? The answer is no.
The entire amount of fabric for a particular order is purchased and held in the fabric store at the time of executing the order. The entire inventory of fabric has to be cut and made into garments. Thus, even if one were to reduce WIP between operations, WIP is lying in the form of rolls and bales in the fabric store. Hence, it becomes imperative to have a system that is swift and fast in order to complete orders well before their scheduled time of delivery. We can work towards faster systems of production by adopting measures like line-balancing, conducting time and motion studies, having a hybrid system of manufacturing (combining two or three different systems in a line when number of operations are too many; for example, making of men’s formal jackets), using workstations, using floaters, implementing Theory of Constraints and using efficient material handling techniques.
Cut
Fabric has to be cut before it can be made into a garment. Making garments can be swift and fast as mentioned in the previous section. But, even if the systems are working at the optimum at all times, the output of the line i.e., the number of garments that are produced by the line in a given day, is more or less fixed. One day, the lines might make a few pieces more. On other days, they might fall short by a few pieces. The deviations would be narrow and on an average, the output for the day would be the same. Thus, to be able to produce consistently, the lines would need to have a constant and timely supply of cut garments from the cutting room. Thus, the efficiency of the cutting room becomes even the more important. The cutting room would have to remain on top always. If the cutting room is efficient, the lines can easily meet their daily targets. It is the cutting room that keeps everything ready before a garment is made by the line. In other words, all the preparatory work is done by the cutting room. It checks the fabric, does the lay lot planning, lays the fabric, makes the marker, cuts the cloth, does the ticketing, sends the cut pieces for embroidery or printing, sends other cut pieces for fusing and finally, does the bundling of the cut pieces before introducing it to the line. Thus, without the efficiency of the cutting room, the efficiency of the whole plant would suffer.
Patterns
Patterns are the building blocks of a garment. Without them, constructing garments would be impossible. Patterns help convert a flat, two-dimensional cloth into a shapely, three-dimensional garment. Thus, making patterns would require skill and a sound knowledge of different shapes and sizes. However, pattern makers have an empirical approach to making patterns. I realized this when I interacted with pattern makers during the course of my diploma project and later, during the course of my job. All of them exhibited similar traits. They were very secretive of their craft and did not part with their knowledge easily. Some of them, I found, were in the habit of looking at patterns to see if they were correct. They seldom used the measuring tape then. They all felt the need to have real size patterns in front of them. Their knowledge was absolutely hand-me-down; from one pattern maker to the other. They had all learned their skill working as a drudge under some senior pattern maker who in turn had worked similarly under someone. Thus, I sincerely feel we should abide by what Jacob Solinger has to say on this. I quote from his book Apparel Manufacturing Handbook:
“A knowledge of the geometric principles of drafting is necessary for good draping as well as good pattern drafting. Good draping and good pattern drafting are draping and pattern drafting that can accomplish the desired end without time-consuming empirical methods or little or no “cut and try.” The draper or pattern maker should visualize the approximation of the pattern before steps are taken to develop or draft the actual pattern. This visualization should be the result of applying geometric theorems. Many drapers and patternmakers would save a great deal of time, fabric, and effort, if they mastered the principles of developing and interpreting geometric theorems. Empirical drafting and draping systems can be very disastrous when one attempts to make patterns for radical style trends and designs without being able to calculate the limitations of the empirical method. These limitations cannot be fathomed properly unless one comprehends the principles that govern the development of a sound drafting or draping method. The geometric principles that govern apparel pattern drafting and draping are basically the same as those that govern sheet metal pattern making. Drafting an apparel pattern is the process of applying geometric principles to calculate the two dimensional perimeter that can yield a required three dimensional perimeter. In mechanical or engineering drafting this is termed as “surface developments.” For drafting apparel patterns, one must integrate this surface development with the principles that control fabric drape and apparel fit and drape.”