4.

7 CUTTING DEPARTMENT BASIC WORK FLOW Cutting department receives the order for cutting a garment style from the production manager. Cutting order is an authorization by the production manager to cut a given amount of styles, from the spreads. It comes in for m of a package file that carries the following details: Sampling average, weight of garment (base fabric consumption only), and other trims averages. Measurement sheet Design worksheet of the garment Purchase order Fabric requisition sheet CAD mini marker Marker planning- length of lay etc., size ratio and colors in which the patterns are to be cut. ACTUAL CUTTING PROCESS Solid cutting Spreading Spreading is the process of superimposing plies of fabric on a horizontal table in a manner, which permits these plies to be cut simultaneously into product components acceptable for assembly. For this, first of all a thin brown paper sheet is spread on the cutting table using an adhesive tape to prevent the bottom plies from shifting during cutting. Then the actual spreading process begins with the laying of first fabric layer on this brown sheet and subsequently the other plies are laid. The spreading of this lay is done either manually or automatically by the spreading machine. While manual spreading is time consuming, the use of traveling machine gives faster and more accurate results. The length of the lay depends upon the quality of the fabric & length of the marker as specified by the CAD. Where as

the lay height depends upon the thickness of the fabric and the capacity of the machine.

Cutting The lay is cut with the help of electrically powered straight knife cutting

machines or CAM m/c. The machine is moved thr ough the lay following the pattern lines of the Marker and the reciprocating blade cut the pieces of the fabric progressively. Notches are also added. For smaller components like collars, ribs etc. That need high accuracy, band Knife-cutting machine is used. It is a non-portable cutting device, which cuts the fabric as it is passed across the blade. The garments are kept aside as and when they are cut. Spread

Place Maker

Cut Pattern pieces

Block cutting Jacquard, stripes and checks cannot be spread with the spreading machine due to requirements of matching so they are spread manually. Often structures like jacquard and checks are spread and cut in single number for accuracy. The plies are spread one at a time, matching the stripes with those in the previous plies. Then block are cut out from this spread for specific number of pieces. The size of the block is dictated by the CAD room itself, which sends a mini marker for the cutting of the blocks from the lay and placement of the patterns on the blocks. Accordingly the cut blocks are manually marked on the top with marking chalk and using the hard paper patterns. T he plies in the block are aligned to the match the stripes and a rough cutting of the fabric following the markings of the pattern is done. The cut shapes are again checked for alignment and the stripes superimposed. A final precise cutting occurs to finish the patterns. Cutting of striped fabric is a much more time consuming process. The wastage involved is also more due to cutting in two stages.

Spread

Match

Mark block

Match

Mark Patterns

Cut Patterns

Match

Final precise Shaping of patterns

Sorting and Ticketing The pieces cut out from the lay are now sorted out size wise. All the components of one garment size are bought together. It is very important to take care that pieces cut from two different bolts (bundles) of fabric are not mixed up. This is because within a lot there are bolt-to-bolt variations in the color shade. The sorted pieces are now ticketed. Ticketing is the process of marking the cut components for shade matching precision, and sequence identification. The worker secures one end of the stack and puts on the ticket using ticket gun as he flips over the cut parts. The ticket contains the size, bundle number and piece number and serves as important means to track the parts of the garment in the assembly line from start to end. Cut panel checking The ticketed panels are now sent to the checking area for inspection of every individual piece for any objectionable faults. Panels having faults like wrong grain line, inappropriate size, incorrect shape and any fabric defects like holes, cut, shade variations etc. that cannot are not within the acceptable quality parameters, are removed from the cut lay. A cutting component checking report is filled for the total quality cut, checked and approved. The rejected pieces are sent back and an equal number of fresh panels are separately cut, replaced in the set and ticketed with the same number as the rejected ones. Other mend able faults are marked with an alteration sticker and passed on. These will be spotted out during garment finishing or washing.

Bundling The checked components of one style and in one size are now clubbed and bundled using ties. The size of bundle depends upon the requirement of the production plant. Each bundle will contain pieces of the same style and same size only. The cutting department

issues the amount required by the production department when asked for.

Embroidery The cutting department is responsible for sending the cut components of a style for Embroidery as stated in the production package. They check for any embroidery and follow up these departments accordingly. Blocks of panels are sent are sent for embroidery, which are re-cut after receiving back. To avoid mixing of the patterns the panels of the same size are stitched together temporarily before dispatch for the embroidery. Fusing Fusing is also carried out in the cutting room itself. The parts to be fused are separated from the bundle. The fusing material (like interlining) is cut according to the size of the components to be fused. The components along with the cut fusing material are kept between two papers sheets and the pack is passed through the fusing machine. By means of the temperature and the pressure fusing takes place at a particular speed and for a particular time. The pack comes out at the other end on the conveyors and the pieces are removed and re bundled. Length of spreading table Width of spreading table Height of spreading table Table top type Spreading mode No of clamps nozzles per square meter. Five blow motors per table, each supplying air to the particular zone of the table 40 meter 6 feet (72) 3 feet (36) plain, card board type face one way, nap one way 14

Two air channels on the bottom side of the table surface, along with 12 air

4.8 EMBROIDERY DEPARTMENT

Functioning of the Department: The embroidery section is a department which comes into picture only when the Particular style demands. The embroidery section is the centralized and the second largest embroidery unit in Asia. The embroider y section receives the garment, style and the embroidery details from the merchandisers in the form of the hard copy format which is generally maintained in company, the department will maintain the file for all the formats received and they will also get a sample of the garment on which the embroidery has been already done and they will use this as their reference sample / piece. As soon as the department receives the details they check the design that has to be done and they scan the design using the CAD software and then they digitize the design and check for the number of stitches involved, area the design has to cover, the style of the stitch involved for the design, thread colours required, thread tex, starting point of the design on the garment while performing the operation etc., all these things are calculated and tabulated in the softcopy format and give to the merchandiser and after an approval from them they start the further operation. After the design has been finalized then they do the embroidery for the samples that has to be produced to the buyer, these samples are done for about 6 7 garments and it is something done against the actual or exact order quantity. After the samples have been generated then they conduct the pilot run in the embroidery section. Once the order has been confirmed and the exact order quantity that has to be produced is known then they start the bulk production during the production the embroidery action on the garment is done in two ways one is after the entire garment has been sewn and the other case is after the garment panels has been cut and before sewing them into a complete garment. The embroidery section receives the garments from the sewing floor or from the cutting department and then they start their embroidery process. After the embroidery is been done for the first set of the garment or the cut parts received then they send them to the trimming and the checking section for every machine there are operators for this process

The operators are provided with hearing aids in this department because of the maximum noise that is been produced by the machines.

Start Receive designs from the merchant Scan and punch design Strike- off of design Samples to be done against orders Conduct pilot run of the styles Start bulk production Trimming & checking Packing Delivery Style reconciliation End