Production planning management in a garment industry

Production planning management in a garment industry Submitted by; GARIMA SHANKHDHA R Major departments of apparel industry Layout of a plant of both department and machines should be the expression of purpose the most important is that the layout of the plant should be even such as to facilitate the flow of material to pass through various operations involved in the manufacturing of the garment the size of the plant will increase based on the number of machines to be placed on a production floor, which is the main floor and the heart of all operations Let us see the various departments: Merchandising department Merchandising is a process through which products are planned, developed, executed and presented to the buyer It includes directing and overseeing the development of product line from start to finish Marketing and merchandising department: A team of merchandisers and marketers work together under a profit controls head Merchandisers handle the foreign buyers The teams are made according to the buyers being handled Merchandising is the department which mediates marketing and production departments Sometimes, merchandising department will have to costing and pricing also In any case, the merchandiser is the person whose responsibility is to execute the orders perfectly as per the costing and pricing So it is a very valuable department Following are the main responsibilities of merchandisers Two type of merchandising done in garment exports   Marketing merchandising Product merchandising Marketing merchandising Main function of marketing merchandising is    product Development Costing Ordering Marketing merchandising is to bring orders costly products development and it has direct contact with the buyer Product merchandising Product merchandising is done in the unit This includes all the responsibilities from sourcing to finishing i.e first sample onwards, the products merchandising work start and ends till shipment A Merchandisers key responsibility is as follows:                     Product Development Market and product Analysis Selling the concept Booking orders Confirming Deliveries Designing and Sampling Costing Raw Material Flow Monitoring Production Follow Ups Payments Follows Internal & external communication, Sampling Lab dips Accessories & trims Preparing internal order sheets Preparing purchase orders Advising and assisting production, Advising quality department about quality level Mediating production and quality departments     Giving shipping instructions and following shipping, Helping documentation department Taking responsibility for inspections and Following up the shipment Internal and external communication of merchandise department: Earlier, we had seen the importance of communication with buyers By the same way, internal communication is also very much valuable As the other departments will follow the instructions given by the merchandising department, they have very high value Other departments don’t know the buyer’s instructions; they know only the merchandising department’s instructions So it is the sole responsibility of merchandising department to instruct other departments the specifications and instructions of buyer’s orders clearly Even a small omission, mistake or deviation of instruction may create big problems Sometimes, they may not be correctable Hence all the instructions to be double checked before being informed to other departments Prevention is better than cure Department structure Functioning of Merchandise Department Production planning and control: The production process involves the planning and control of how goods will be manufactured This usually includes the identification of raw materials required, the quantities of components needed to manufacture items, and the human workforce required to produce these products These functions are the tasks carried out by the Production Planning and Control Department Production Planning Process The production planning process within the production department involves the planning of what materials are required for the production of supplies and what is required to put these materials together Issues to consider when conducting the production planning process include: • Future Demand Planning – what is the trend of customers’ orders? Are there any upcoming events that might increase or decrease the number of orders? • Lead Times – What are the time frames to manufacture an item? Are all the materials and tools required to manufacture an item available? • Components Availability – are the components required to manufacture an item in stock? If the components are to be ordered this has to be taken into account and included in the time required to manufacture the item • Workforce Availability – this takes into consideration the skills and availability of the workforces The above considerations will be taken into account by the production team during the planning activity as a reference to organize the work involved according to the skills and machinery available By drawing up thorough production planning procedures that take into account all the materials and time required to manufacture a product, it is possible to calculate the production planning tools required and the cost of manufacturing Production Control Process Production quality control involves the monitoring of the product manufacturing to ascertain that the products are produced according to the methodology specified and that the product performs to the planned functionality These functions are performed by the Quality Control team Their role is to check products to ensure that they meet the company’s manufacturing standards Quality control inspection will then proceed to identify any flaws in the established process The ultimate aim of production control is to minimize the number of product rejections and ensure that the process of production is optimized Importance of Production Planning and Control To summarize the planning and control functions within a production department involve three main activities: • Production work is initiated • The work carried out is measured and monitored • Any necessary alterations are made These three main activities are referred to as the classic feedback control loop The feedback control loop may yield results that indicate a necessary change in raw materials, manufactured items and so on Sampling The Details Attached to the Garment Sample After the confirmation of order, each sample sent to the buyer has the following details attached to it, with the help of a tag It contains the details pertaining to both, what the buyer has demanded and what supplement fabric/trim etc they have used (if applicable)         Ref no Color Fabric Composition Description Quantity Style n0/ Size Store There may be a separate sampling department in a company But as the merchandiser is the person who is interacting with the buyers regarding samples and other requirements, this sampling department will work under the supervision of merchandising department Also as the samples are to be made according to the buyers’ price ranges and quality levels, merchandiser has to advise sampling department suitably Types of samples:       Salesmen samples or promotional samples Proto samples or fit samples Counter samples or reference samples or approval samples Wash test samples Photo samples Fashion show samples    Pre-production samples Production samples Shipment samples Workflow of Sampling Development samples or enquiry samples When we work with some buyers continuously, we will have to keep on sending samples to them very often Whenever they have enquiries, buyer may need samples Buyers may like to see the garments in a new fabric For one enquiry, they may need samples in different fabrics to choose from If they want to develop new style in new fabric, then also we will have to send these samples We may have to spend too much on these samples But these samples are inevitably important to develop business Sometimes, even the buyer is not so confident of some enquiries, if our samples are good and attractive at reasonable prices, they will bring orders to us Also we will have to send samples to the newly contacted buyers to show our workmanship, product range, quality standards and price level These samples should be sent so that they would attract the buyers So it is better for a company to have a separate sampling department so that they can create new styles in new fabrics to impress the buyers Salesmen samples or promotional samples Some buyer needs these samples for getting the orders from their customers If the buyer is having salesmen in his office, then the buyer will ask us to make samples in each style The salesmen will book the orders from their customers, by showing these samples Buyer will place the order to us accumulating the quantities If we have sent samples for styles, some times, we may get orders for all styles, styles or style Some times, we may not get order for even a single style Expected sales may not be possible, due to poor quality, unsuitable colours, improper measurements, unmatched prints or embroidery, etc of salesmen samples Or it may be due to local business recession or competition or unsuitable prices Any way, we have to make these salesmen samples perfectly with sincere interest to get orders We might have spent more money, time, etc for making these samples But as we don’t get orders, we can not blame the buyer He too can not help us in this regard To avoid this embarrassing situation, it is better to discuss about the cost of these samples with the buyer before proceeding for sampling Normally the sampling will cost us approximately to times of the garment price We can not expect to get the full cost from the buyer Of course these samples will help us for our business Hence we can ask the buyer to accept or times of garment price as the sampling cost, for the styles which we don’t get orders Some genuine buyers will agree for this Photo samples or fit samples These samples are to be made after getting the order sheets These samples are needed to check the measurements, style and fit So they can be made in available similar fabrics but in the actual measurements and specifications Some buyers may need these samples if they want to print the photos of garments on photo inlays, packing box, hang tag, etc These samples may be needed for local advertisement or buyer’s promotional occasions In any case, the samples will be worn by the highly paid models The buyers will arrange the photo shoot session, by spending huge money to the advertising agencies So the buyers will need these samples strictly on time If they don’t get samples on time, the buyers will have to pay more compensation to the advertising agencies and models Buyers will ask us to make the photo samples according to the intended model’s body fit So it is important to strictly adhere to these measurements Buyer may ask these samples to send either from production or before starting production Counter samples or reference samples or approval samples These samples are to be made in actual fabrics with actual trims If the order is for colours, buyer may need samples in any one colour and swatches (fabric bits) in other colours These samples should be strictly as per the specifications in the order sheets We have to get the approval for these samples from the buyer before starting production After getting the approval, the approved samples should be followed in production Some times, buyer may comment on fabric, measurements, making, etc We have to follow his comments carefully in production Some buyer will mention that the order sheets subject to the approval of counter samples So these samples are very important Wash test samples If these samples are sent before starting production and if we get some remarks or comments on these samples, we can correct them in production But some buyers will need us to send these samples from production before shipment In this case, these samples may be considered as ‘shipment samples’ If these samples are rejected due to some complaints, then we will not have any excuse and we will be in real trouble Pre-production samples These samples are almost like approval samples They have to be made in actual production fabric with actual bulk trims They will represent that the production will be like these samples Production samples These samples are to be sent before shipment to get the buyer’s confirmation for shipment Hence these samples are needed to be perfect in all manners Buyer may check these samples for everything or anything Sometimes, they may wash test also We should not get any remark or comment We have to get only ‘OK’ from the buyer Then only we can ship the goods and we can be sure of getting payment So these samples are to be sent with more and more care Shipment samples These samples are to be sent after shipment They should be sent in actual packing with all labels, tags, etc (Generally these samples will not be tested by buyer for anything And even if we get some comments from buyers, we can save ourselves by saying that these samples were sent from the left over garments after the shipment; hence there might be some mistakes If we expect any comments in these samples, it is better to inform the buyer during sending these samples) Fabric sourcing Fabric sourcing department is basically engaged in determining how and where its merchandise i.e fabric will be obtained It works in co—ordination with the merchandising department and looks after the delivery of the required goods within the scheduled time and cost A fabric sourcer must have knowledge about all varieties of fabric in order to execute their function effectively Storage Location system of storage is followed i.e fabric packages are stored in two areas   Checked fabric and Unchecked fabric Such system maintenance of the store makes it easy to locate the fabric whenever needed in future Fabric Issue The fabric store issues the fabric for cutting on challan All fabric is not issued at one go; instead it is issued as required The challan contains information regarding style no, color, buyer’s name, and quantity to be issued and issued for which production unit Fabric Sourcing Workflow Functioning of the Department Purchasing department The purchasing department is similar to the sourcing department but the main difference is that the sourcing department works for sourcing the fabrics alone while the purchasing department works for sourcing the accessories and trims However, the working procedure is the same The working is as follows The merchandisers give the tech-pack and the BOM (Bill Of Materials) for a particular style to the purchasing department and the concerned person will start the further process and for costing purposes the in—house price is given like, the cost involved in the production and also the price involved for a unit involved with respect to the complete procedure involved for its production In the process of doing the in-house pr ice , suppose the cost of 100 pieces of button is Rs.32 then a Taxes of 2% + 14% of exercise duty + 10% of per unit price is added as the transportation charges and this all together makes the in—house price (a hidden margin of 5% is also taken into consideration) This breakup is given to the merchandiser by the purchasing department for the costing purpose, the cost sheet is made by the merchandiser s and the order is confirmed by the buyer based on the cost sheet given by the merchandiser After the order is being confirmed by the buyer the merchandiser will sit with the other concerned departments and then the exact quantity required and the breakup of the trims and accessories with respect to colour, size, M OQ, etc., will be given by the merchandiser to the purchasing department in the form of a sheet which is generally followed in the industry for all the orders irrespective of the buyer Once the purchasing department receives this format, then the PO is sent to the concerned department for accessories and trims Once the first shot of the raw materials is sent by the supplier then the lab dips is done and is approved by the buyer After receiving the goods from the supplier they are checked for the quantity and also checked according to the inspection criteria specified by the buyer and replaced if any of them are not meeting this criterion This department also keeps in track of all the quantities received in-house timely The goods are generally received in breakups as suggested by the merchandiser according to the requirements stated by the planning and the production department and this breakups will have specified date and quantity and if this breakups is not being mentioned then the order is being placed with the supplier several times for small quantities and PO’s have to be sent all the time so, in order to overcome this a breakups are being is given Then the purchase department has to follow up with the supplier for deliveries as and when the merchandiser asks for the new set of the materials for that particular style and then the department also has to maintain the receipts and al so they have to maintain the documents of the inspections that are being carried out for those materials Finishing department The costs involved in this department are excessive in almost every factory surveyed, it is vital that this department is thoroughly investigated since there is a great potential to achieve a large financial saving The time taken to finish the garments is surprisingly high Some of the companies are examining the garment as many as times, and the number of repairs is excessive Finishing departments are over-staffed in most of the factories studied; the time taken to finish a garment is surprisingly high Garments are being examined as many as five times and the repair rate in most of the factories is shocking This is obviously driven by the fear of order rejection or re-works Work content can be reduced by installing a proper work control system and a culture for quality product production Layout and control The layout and work flow was generally poor and disorganized Not one of the finishing departments have adequate systems of control, the emphasis is only directed to delivery and not productivity, this is understandable in the present circumstances but must be re-thought since it is excessively expensive Finishing Time Finishing times are excessive in almost every company; with the average finishing time per garment varying from 11.2 minutes to 57.6 minutes Bundle System / Operator control None of the finishing departments use bundle systems for control, nor any of them have any form of scientific performance measuring techniques There are no monitoring controls except to record the number of repairs Finishing department Headed by the section in-charge with ironers and with few helpers in the pressing section, garment is ironed to the specified size, pinned up along with a cardboard back support to hold the garment stiff If it is a shirt cardboard collar, PVC collar ring etc are to be placed at this stage if it is of stiff standup collar shirt then a small butterfly is placed near the collar button Now the garment is ready for packing Packing department The packing supervisor heads this section with packers and helpers after the garment is nearly pressed and folded to size and color; tags are from the top button to show the trademark, label, size, color code etc the garment are put in to a poly bag closed with cello tape The buyer specifies the ratio of the packing only cardboard cartons are used for packing purposes Thank you [...]... Finishing department The costs involved in this department are excessive in almost every factory surveyed, it is vital that this department is thoroughly investigated since there is a great potential to achieve a large financial saving The time taken to finish the garments is surprisingly high Some of the companies are examining the garment as many as 5 times, and the number of repairs is excessive Finishing... in order to overcome this a breakups are being is given Then the purchase department has to follow up with the supplier for deliveries as and when the merchandiser asks for the new set of the materials for that particular style and then the department also has to maintain the receipts and al so they have to maintain the documents of the inspections that are being carried out for those materials Finishing... in the pressing section, garment is ironed to the specified size, pinned up along with a cardboard back support to hold the garment stiff If it is a shirt cardboard collar, PVC collar ring etc are to be placed at this stage if it is of stiff standup collar shirt then a small butterfly is placed near the collar button Now the garment is ready for packing Packing department The packing supervisor heads... Photo samples or fit samples These samples are to be made after getting the order sheets These samples are needed to check the measurements, style and fit So they can be made in available similar fabrics but in the actual measurements and specifications Some buyers may need these samples if they want to print the photos of garments on photo inlays, packing box, hang tag, etc These samples may be needed... case, these samples may be considered as ‘shipment samples’ If these samples are rejected due to some complaints, then we will not have any excuse and we will be in real trouble Pre -production samples These samples are almost like approval samples They have to be made in actual production fabric with actual bulk trims They will represent that the production will be like these samples Production samples... mistakes If we expect any comments in these samples, it is better to inform the buyer during sending these samples) Fabric sourcing Fabric sourcing department is basically engaged in determining how and where its merchandise i.e fabric will be obtained It works in co—ordination with the merchandising department and looks after the delivery of the required goods within the scheduled time and cost A fabric... Finishing departments are over-staffed in most of the factories studied; the time taken to finish a garment is surprisingly high Garments are being examined as many as five times and the repair rate in most of the factories is shocking This is obviously driven by the fear of order rejection or re-works Work content can be reduced by installing a proper work control system and a culture for quality... issued at one go; instead it is issued as required The challan contains information regarding style no, color, buyer’s name, and quantity to be issued and issued for which production unit Fabric Sourcing Workflow Functioning of the Department Purchasing department The purchasing department is similar to the sourcing department but the main difference is that the sourcing department works for sourcing... must have knowledge about all varieties of fabric in order to execute their function effectively Storage Location system of storage is followed i.e fabric packages are stored in two areas   Checked fabric and Unchecked fabric Such system maintenance of the store makes it easy to locate the fabric whenever needed in future Fabric Issue The fabric store issues the fabric for cutting on challan All fabric... received in- house timely The goods are generally received in breakups as suggested by the merchandiser according to the requirements stated by the planning and the production department and this breakups will have specified date and quantity and if this breakups is not being mentioned then the order is being placed with the supplier several times for small quantities and PO’s have to be sent all the ... communication, Sampling Lab dips Accessories & trims Preparing internal order sheets Preparing purchase orders Advising and assisting production, Advising quality department about quality level Mediating... functions are the tasks carried out by the Production Planning and Control Department Production Planning Process The production planning process within the production department involves the planning. .. The above considerations will be taken into account by the production team during the planning activity as a reference to organize the work involved according to the skills and machinery available