Capacity Planning In Garments Industry. prepared by Shohag

1. Assignment
Topic:- Capacity Planning In Garment Industry
Subject:- Appareal Production & Engeneering
Course Code:- GMT3101
Md. Golam Kibria Al-Amin Ahammed Shohag
Lecturer ID:- 171-004-0-145
Department of AMT Section:- AMT- 01
BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology Batch:-171
Date:-20-06-2019

2. Capacity Planning In Garment Industry
Factory production capacity is derived from the resources available at the
manufacturing plant. It is calculated simply by the amount of machines
available and hours per day determined to work to be realistic, one has to
determine the efficiency level of the operators and incorporate the
percentage to derive actual capacity.
Production Planning and Control (PPC):To ensure proper
execution of production at the right time and on time delivery/shipment
production planning is required. Production planning department’s
responsibility is very sensitive to the apparel manufacturing point of view.
Production planner distributes line wise production from the buyer order
list, set target to meet on time shipment date and execute everything for
production. A wrong production plan can not ensure the right time
delivery, which is not a good sign of the apparel industry. Production
planner distributes line wise production from the buyer order list. Here in
this article, we will have a detail discussion of what are the things required
Production Planning and Control in Garments and how you can execute
it.
Example: if a factory has 100 machines and working hours are 8
hours per day and 26 days per month. the efficiency level of operators is
observed to be at 80% . The production capacity available time per
month would be calculated as below:
Available monthly production time capacity :
100 machines x 480 Mins x 80 / 100 = 38400 Mins / day.
38400 Mins x 26 days = 998400 Mins /month or 16640 hours/month

3. Benefits of Production Planning in the Apparel Industry
1. Keeping a sequence of production order
2. Estimating production as per line wise capacity
3. Achieving targeted production
4. On time production and delivery to the customer
SPECIAL MACHINE PRODUCTION CAPACITY
Once planning production, it has to be known that if any special operation
is required within the garment which requires special machine or
machines. if so , the output capacity for those garments have to base
upon special machine production . The management can then decide if
those machines be worked overtime or if required to meet shipment date,
additional machines be purchased.
To calculate special machine capacity per month , the available machines
are 10 , work hours /day are 8 hours , efficiency level is 80% and working
days per month is 26 days.
Special production capacity in time / month =
10 machines x 480 Mins x 80 / 100 = 3840 Mins / day
3840 Mines x 26 days = 99840 Mins / month or 1664 hours /month.

4. PRODUCTION CAPACITY AND TYPES
MAXIMUM CAPACITY:
Total hours available under normal conditions in a given period of time.
POTENTIAL CAPACITY:
Maximum capacity adjusted for efficiency.
COMMITED CAPACITY:
Total hours previously allocated for production during a certain time
period.
Total hours available under normal conditions in a given period of time
AVAILABLE CAPACITY:
Difference between potential capacity and committed capacity for a
certain time period.
REQUIRED CAPACITY:
Sam or SAH necessary to produce a specified volume in a certain time
period.
EXCESS CAPACITY:
Difference between potential capacity and required capacity.
Lets say ABC garments company has 20 operators who work 8 hours a
day. The plant has 90% efficiency level. Working shift is 8 hours a day in
which 1 hour is mainly for lunch and tea time break. So their potential
capacity for next 10 days will be, 20 machines x 7 hours /day = 140
hours/day x 90% efficiency = 126 potential production hours /day.

5. Potential capacity for 10 days = 10 days x 126 hours = 1260
hours potential capacity.
Lets say ABC garments company has 10 operators who work 8
hours a day. The plant has 90% efficiency level. A customer brings
in order for 6000 units of style “a” that needs to be delivered in
10 days. The plant already has a committed capacity of 300 hours
for the 10 days period.
Working shift is 8 hours a day in which 1 hour is mainly for lunch
and tea time break.
It was established that style “ a” has a production time of 5 SAM.
The order of 6000 units requires 30,000 SAM (500 hours). What
factors should be considered in deciding whether to accept the
order or refuse?

6. Things to Follow up by Planning Department
A production planner has to follow up below-mentioned work to
implement production planning to progress production step by step.
1. Fabrics, trims, and accessories in-house status
2. Fabrics, trims and accessories inventory and inspection report
3. QC file and approved sample receiving
4. Size set /sampling requirement of the buyer
5. PP meeting result;pass or fail
6. Bulk cutting approval from buyer
7. Cutting production
8. Embroidery production
9. Sewing production
10.Washing production
11.Finishing production
12.Backlog of finishing
13.Shipment

7. Factors of Garments Production Planning
These factors are key to develop a production plan for the apparel industry.
Style name
1. PO number
2. Color
3. Product category/type
4. Style Description
5. Order Quantity
6. Price of every single unit Garments
7. Ex-Factory
8. shipment date
9. Current Production status
10. Planned final audit date
11. Goods input date to sewing
12. Planned Capacity / Day / Line
13. Line Efficiency
14. Number of Lines
15. Name of a line for production
16. Working Hour/Day
17. Production Unit
18. Weekend / Holidays during prod
19. No of Working Day Required of every style
20. Sewing Output Finish Date
21. Wash Input Date
22. Planned Capacity Per Day of washing
23. Production Unit of washing
24. No of Working Day Required to complete washing
25. Wash Completing date
26. Dry Process; apply or not apply
27. Goods Finishing Start Date
28. Planned Capacity Per Day of finishing
29. Weekend/Holiday during production in finishing
30. No of Working Day Required to complete finishing
31. Goods Will Ready for final Audit
32. Factory Wise Planned Production Capacity Sewing
33. No Of line /Production Unit in the facility
34. Factory Wise Planned Production Capacity Wash

8. Implementation of Garments Production Planning
Implementation of production is not a very easy task for the garments
industry as its change with time. Production plan implementation starts
with cutting and finish with the packing of garments, long working
between start and finish. A factory may get fabrics delay or trims or may
fabrics can be failed in inspection for shade or visual defects, these
problems hamper time and production planner has to change plan, may
input next lot for production because you cannot keep line stop from
production. So anything delay, next lot can be inputted for production
keeping shipment date in mind. Plan updates every day depending on the
current situation.
Finally, Production planning is a continuous process as the production of
a different lot is going on but you also required to maintain a good control
system. By monitoring, you can identify whether your planning is
perfectly working or not, if not then control is required to take corrective
action.

9. Line Balancing in Garment Production
Introduction:-Construction of a quality garment requires a great deal of
know-how, a lot of coordination and schedule management. Clothing
manufacturing consists of a variety of product categories, materials and
styling. Dealing with constantly changing styles and consumer demands is
so difficult. Furthermore, to adapt automation for the clothing system is
also so hard because, beside the complex structure also it is labor
intensive. Therefore, garment production needs properly rationalized
manufacturing technology, management and planning. In garment
production, until garment components are gathered into a finished
garment, They are assembled through a sub-assembly process. The
production process includes a set of workstations, at each of which a
specific task is carried out in a restricted sequence, with hundreds of
employees and thousands of bundles of sub-assemblies producing
different styles simultaneously (Chan et al, 1998). The joining together of
components, known as the sewing process which is the most labor
intensive part of garment manufacturing, makes the structure complex as
the some works has a priority before being assembled, Furthermore,
since sewing process is labor intensive; apart from material costs, the cost
structure of the sewing process is also important. Therefore, this process
is of critical importance and needs to be planned more carefully (Tyler,
1991). As a consequence, good line balancing with small stocks in the
sewing line has to be drawn up to increase the efficiency and quality of
production.

10. Experimental:- In the production of garment, at first garment
model is designed. Then, according to model requirements, a sort of
fabrics are cut as well as classified due to their sewing sequences. Then,
cut fabrics are sewn and assembled in order to form garment. After the
sewing and Pressing process, garment is controlled for eliminating sewing
faults, and finally it is sent to package and expedition.
1. Sewing line flow
The whole trousers manufacturing cycle includes a sequence of
different phases of assembly operations. In the production of
trousers, there are mainly four sequences of phases namely (i) prep
reparation of pockets, fly and labels, (ii) production of back of
trousers, (iii) production of front of trousers, and (iv) Assembling of
fabric parts. As seen in Fig.1. At first pockets, fly and labels are
prepared in order to be ready for insertion to fabric parts. Then,
both back. And front pockets are inserted to back and front fabric
of the trousers, respectively. Fly is sewn on the front fabric. Front
and back fabrics of trousers are prepared individually. Then all fabric
parts are assembled in order to form trousers sequentially: Back and
front fabrics are assembled. Zipper is attached and, belt and
waistband are attached and sewn as well. Finally, hems, pockets,
belt loop bar tack seams are done and, by this way the sewing
Process of trousers is finished.
2. Time study
In order to balance the sewing line as well as to increase the
efficiency of the line, at first a detailed work and time study was
carried out to find the task durations However, the time required to
complete a task depends on a lot of factors such as the task, the
operator, the properties of fabric and sub materials, working

11. environment, quality level of the product, the hour of the day,
psychology of the operator etc.
3. Model building basics:-
In the creation of a model, the decision of right atom at a right place
is critical issue. An Atom can be a machine, a counter, a queue or a
product etc. To create our sewing line model, mainly six different
types of Atoms that were used in our model are as follows:
A Product: This atom represents the products/customers/raw
materials that comes into An atom through an input channel and
leave the atom through an output channel
B Source: The function of this atom is to produce products into the
model
C Queue: This atom represents the waiting area for customers or
products.
D Server: This atom corresponds to a machine or a counter. Atoms
coming to a server undergo a process and stay in this atom for a
certain time (the process time).
E Assembler: The atom which is used for assembly operation
F Sink: The products or customers leave the model through this
atom and finishes The schedule.

12. Simulation model of sewing line
To analyze the real system and create the model, some conjectures
were Considered:
• The 8 hour working day of the system.
• Only one worker is at each machine.
• Allowances are not taken into consideration.
• Delay times (machine breakdowns, changing apparatus) are not
taken into Consideration.
• There is no energy problem in the system.
• Fabric loss is not taken into consideration.
• Raw material is unlimited.
• The supervisor’s job on the line was ignored.

13. MAN POWER ALLOCATION AND PRODUCTION PLANNING
Needless to mention that you can't ignore making a project plan
before you jump into the business set-up. Every day I get mails
asking 'how to start garment business in small scale' and many other
questions related to business start-up in garment industry. Most of
the email senders seem completely new to garment manufacturing.
If you are looking for ideas for starting small business in the garment
industry, read 10 Small Business Ideas in Garment Industry before
you start reading following business plan.
This article is written to give you an idea how to make a business
plan for garment manufacturing start-up. What all things you can
start working before the approach for an expert's help. Instead of
telling you how to start garment business, I will share what are
primary things you need to know, when you are ready to start your
business. There are two ways to a start business. One, first get
customers (buyers) and make products according to them and sell.
Second, make your product first and then get customers to sell your
product. Whatever way you choose to do business, you need to
work on the following things to make your project successful.
Select Product Category
What type of garments you are going to make? If you plan to make
knits garment (T-Shirts, Polo), you would not try to make woven
products (Shirts, Trousers) at the same time. Again in woven and
knits there is wide range of product categories. Narrow you product
profile as much as possible. Let’s say, you are going to make woven
shirts - Formals and Casuals. Write name of the product in your note
book and move to the second point.

14. Estimate Production Requirement
How many pieces are you planning to make daily? 50 shirts or 500
shirts per day? It would be difficult to decide the figure at this stage
but you have to estimate a rough number. Later you can modify this
figure depending on the budget and customer demand. Otherwise
you can't move forward making your business plan. When my
clients ask me question how many machines and what all machines
they need to buy for their garment manufacturing set up, I ask them
what (product name or type) do they want to make and how many
pieces of garments they are planning to make per day. Read 'How
to Calculate Production Capacity of a Factory'.
NumberofMachines
On the above I have said to you to estimate production
requirement. If you have decided the production figure, and
product type, number of sewing machines and other equipment
requirement can be calculated. Calculation can be also done in
reverse way. In case you have a plan of setting specific number of
machines, and product type, estimated production per day can be
calculated. Here is the resource “How to Determine Machine
Requirement for a New Factory" for your further reading.
TypeofMachines
Next step is to find what types of machines are required to make
garments that you have selected from the wide range of product
categories. For example, read Types of Machines used by Shirt
Making Factory. It is also important to find number of machines to
be purchased in each machine type. This step would help you to
calculate capital investment in machines.

15. With sewing machines, make a list of other essential machines,
equipment and set up requirements. For example, pressing tables,
cutting room machines, Boiler (steam generator) for pressing table,
diesel generator for power back-up, finishing room equipment,
furnishings etc.
RawMaterialsRequirement
You have already selected the product that you are going to make.
Now make a list of raw materials required to make the garment with
average consumption. This would help you to prepare your budget
on material sourcing. A sample material list for knitted garment with
projected cost has been published here.
FactorySpaceRequirement
Now move one step ahead. How much space is required for
installing machines and office for staff? To set up factory you need
space for installing machines, office space and setting up
departments for production and associated processes. Calculate
space requirement. According to that you have can plan for a
factory building or rent a space. Estimate rent amount for the
project budget.
ManpowerRequirement
You have already planned for machines and materials. Now plan for
the requirement of man power for the business. Manpower is one
of the primary resources for a business. In manpower planning,
include number of staffs, supervisors and workers (operators and
helpers) you need to hire to make projected garments and to run
business smoothly. Also estimate salaries for each employee and

16. add to your budget to running cost. Get an idea from the market
how much salary you need to pay to managers and workers.
ProjectCost
I frequently get asked by people, how much money one needs to
invest for the small size garment business? Here it is. To know the
estimated budget you have to prepare cost of the project. You need
to calculate total capital investment, Rent, EMI amount (if you are
taking loan), salary for staff, workers’ wages and running costs. Also
include finance required for sourcing raw materials for initial
months and other expense etc. To run your business without
financial problem, prepare monthly cash flow requirement for at
least one year.
InternalProcessFlow
Make detailed process flow of an order. This will help you to decide
what all departments you need to set up and you can plan hiring
people accordingly. You can cross check about your equipment
requirement process by process. Read the Garment Manufacturing
Process Flow Chart for the export orders. If you are new to garment
manufacturing, read Apparel Manufacturing -An Overview'
SupplierListing
This process is not essential at first place. But you can start working
on finding good and reliable suppliers for fabrics, trims and other
necessary items required to manufacture your garments. Start
establishing suppliers with your region, then go to other state and

17. even you can source from international market for the quality and
cost effective materials.
ReachtoYourCustomers
You have finished the major part of making the garment
manufacturing project. Now make a list of potential customers and
start contacting them for business leads.
If you are new to garment manufacturing and want to enter into
garment business seek help from an expert. An expert's guidance
will help you to save your time, money, and efforts. You can also
learn many things about the business insights from an expert. Wish
you all the best for your upcoming garment business project.
171-004-0-145
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