Product Assembly

What stage does it take place?

Sewing stage

Product assembly general

• Cut, stitch, make, trim are bundled together

• Production & quality assurance - stitching

Sourcing

• Find supplier for cut, make, trim

• Finding suppliers for services needed to make a product

Production capacity

• How many sewing machines does the supplier have available

• This can inform how many pieces the supplier can prodcue per day, week, month, etc.

Composite unit

• Supplier who has all/most production processes in one factory

Inhouse

• Company does the work itself within its own organization/facilities

• Does not source from an external supplier

Outsource

• Source from a third party/external supplier

Stitching layouts

1. Product line layout/line layout

• Machines are arranged according to the production sequence

• Focuses on mass production

• Most production countries that have mega unit + sufficient workers use this

• One person one specific specialization/part of the garment

2. Process layout/skill center

• Similar machines/skills are grouped together

• Focuses on the skill

• Has limited human resources as in doesn’t have sufficient workers to work

Garment production processes - pre assembly operations

1. Production pattern

2. Marker

3. Fabric spreading

4. Cutting

5. Offloading

6. Bundling/grouping

Production pattern

• The finalized pattern used for garment production

• Graded into size ranges (S, M, L)

• Seam allowances

• Notching and markings

Marker

• Layout of garment pattern pieces on fabric

• Ex. Gerber Garment Technology (GGT)

Fabric spreading

• Laying fabric in multiple, aligned layers before cutting

• Thick fabric = less layers as cutter has max thickness to cut through

Cutting

• Cut fabric layers into pattern pieces

• Fusing → joining two fabric layers with heat, pressure and adhesive to enhance strength or other function

• Notching/drill holes → marking/cuts made along the edge of the pattern pieces to provide accurate positioning marks for sewing

Offloading

• Remove cut fabric pieces, count them, attach bundles, group them

• Shade marking - grouping cut fabric pieces based on shade/colour variation

Bundling/grouping

• According to production process bundle the pieces of a garment together

Assembly production systems

• How the cut pieces are organized and move through the sewing/assembling operations to create the final garment

• Quality depends on: factory expertise, worker skill level, equipment

Vendor samples

A prototype provided by the supplier so buyer can test and evaluate the product

Assembly sequence

The assembly process of a garment

Make-through (whole garment production process layout)

• Entire garments are assembled by individuals start to finish

• Requires high skill level of workers

• Most commonly practiced in EU

• Highest production cost

• Exclusive very small production runs, highest prices apparel but highest quality

Modular production

• One team works together to assemble products

• Each person in the team is multiskilled so can therefore complete different steps of the operation

• Work is divided amongst the team

• Most flexibility = team can easily adapt to new styles

Progressive bundle

• Assembly line

• Different individuals for each step

• Manually moving bundles which come in contact with floor, hands, leaving stains

• Multiple bundles cut for assemble of multiple garments

• Operators perform same operation everyday → highly efficient

• High volumes of identical garments

• Most common

• Low flexibility → individuals specialize in one specific are (e.g shoulder stitching, neckline, etc.)

Unit production

• Assembly line

• Component parts for a single garment are loaded on a carrier

• Mechanical movement - greater efficiency

• Eton systems - UPS ceiling-mounted conveyor designed to move garments from one station to another

• Individuals perform same operation every day

• High volume runs

• Low flexibility

Salary

• Make (in mass production manufacturing) get paid per piece

• This can lead to overworking

• Very flexible productions - the design of the product assembly features individuals with specific abilities.

• If the demand changes factories may change the workers therefore it is more flexible for companies to pay in piece rate (evil)

Key quality factors during sewing

• Focused on quality of the product in the stitching manufacturing stage

• “make” is the suppliers responsibility to ensure quality of product

1. Seam and stitch quality

2. Alignment and matching

3. Measurements within tolerance

4. Component attachment accuracy

5. Appearance and workmanship

6. Thread tension control

7. Machine setting control

8. Defect prevention

9. Operator skill and compliance

Finishing processes

• Finished product > check & rework > iron & pack > dispatch and deliver

• Wet processing - if garment needs washing

• Trimming threads

• Inspection

• Pressing

• Attachment of tags

• Folding/hanging

• Packaging for shipment