Garment manufacturing process: from buyer order to shipment

The stages below follow one typical order: a men's woven cotton shirt for an export buyer, in three colours and four sizes, with a chest embroidery done by a job worker and a soft wash at a washing unit. A knitwear unit or a home textiles maker will have different operations, but the sequence of records is much the same.

At each stage the useful question is what record it leaves, because that is what the planner, the owner and the buyer ask for when something goes wrong, usually a few days before the ex-factory date.

The process at a glance

1. 1Buyer orderPO by style, colour and size ratio, with quantity and ex-factory date.
2. 2Material list and bulletinFabric per piece, trims and the operation bulletin for the style.
3. 3Material planningFabric and trims needed for the order, against stock and open purchase orders.
4. 4Fabric and trims receiptRolls received by length and shade lot and inspected; trims counted.
5. 5Cutting and bundlingRolls issued by shade lot, lays cut, bundles made by size, colour and shade lot.
6. 6EmbroideryFront panels out to the job worker on a challan and back before sewing.
7. 7SewingBundles through the line, hourly counts per operator, inline and end-line checks.
8. 8WashingSewn shirts out to the washing unit and checked on return.
9. 9Finishing and final checkingTrimming, pressing, measurement and appearance checks.
10. 10Packing and shipmentPacked to the buyer's assortment, shipped against the ex-factory date.

What happens at each stage, and what it records

1. Buyer order

The buyer's PO gives the style, the colours, the size ratio, the total quantity, the price and the ex-factory date. For the shirt, the ratio might be 1:2:2:1 across S, M, L and XL in each colour. The record should hold the PO reference, the colour and size breakdown and the ship date, so a revised PO can be compared with the original. Ratio changes that arrive after cutting has started are the ones that hurt.

2. Material list and operation bulletin

The material list sets the fabric per piece and the trims: thread, buttons, collar and cuff interlining, main and care labels, polybags and cartons. The operation bulletin lists the sewing operations in order, such as collar making, cuff making, front placket, pocket attach, sleeve attach, side seam, hemming, buttonhole and button sewing, each with its machine type and standard minutes. The line's hourly target and the piece rates come from it. Both should be fixed on the order when it is released. The guide to multi-level BOM management covers the general principles.

3. Material planning and purchase

Fabric and trims for the order are compared with stock and open purchase orders. Fabric is usually booked early because mill lead times are long. Trims are often left late, and a missing label or button can stop a line that is otherwise ready. A useful shortage list names the order it will stop and when.

4. Fabric and trims receipt

Rolls arrive with a length per roll and a dye lot. Fabric is inspected for defects, width and shade, often on a four-point system, and shade bands are cut so rolls can be grouped by shade lot. Shrinkage is tested before cutting, because it changes the pattern. The record holds the supplier, each roll with its length and shade lot, and the inspection result. Trims are counted and checked against the approved sample.

5. Cutting and bundling

The order is released to a line and a cut plan is made: how many lays, how many plies of each colour, which sizes go in each marker. Rolls are issued to the cut by shade lot, and one lay should not mix shade lots. After cutting, panels are numbered so every panel in a shirt comes from the same ply, then tied into bundles by size, colour and shade lot, each with a bundle ticket. The record holds the rolls issued, the fabric used against planned consumption, end bits, and the bundles made. Over-consumption is best caught here, while the roll is still on the table.

6. Embroidery at the job worker

The chest embroidery is done on the front panel before sewing, so the front-panel bundles go to the embroidery unit on a job work challan. They come back against that challan and are counted by bundle. A short or damaged return has to be flagged on the order now, because a missing front panel means a missing shirt. The record holds pieces sent, pieces returned, rejections and the job worker's charge.

7. Sewing, with inline and end-line checks

Bundles feed the line in the sequence of the bulletin. Operators log each bundle they complete against their operation, and the line's count is compared with its hourly target. Downtime, such as a machine breakdown or waiting for bundles, is recorded with its reason. Inline checkers walk the line and check operations as they are sewn, so a wrong stitch setting is corrected before it runs through a whole bundle. At the end of the line, checkers pass each shirt or send it back for alteration, with the defect noted. The record shows output per line, per operation and per operator by the hour, which also gives the piece-rate wage. The article on reducing rejection by checking at the operation explains why the inline check matters more than the final one.

8. Washing at the job worker

The sewn shirts go to a washing unit for a soft wash, out on a challan and back against it, like the embroidery. Washing can move measurements and shade, so pieces are checked on return. The record holds the quantity out and back, any short or damaged pieces, and the charge.

9. Finishing and final checking

Shirts are thread-trimmed, pressed and given a final check for measurements, appearance and labels. Pieces that fail are reworked and checked again, or set aside. The record holds defects by type, the rework and its re-check, and the quantity passed for packing. A shirt that has not passed final checking should not be able to reach a carton.

10. Packing and shipment

Shirts are folded, tagged and packed by the buyer's assortment, either one colour and size per carton or a ratio pack. Packed quantities are checked against the order's size and colour ratio before cartons are sealed. The buyer's final inspection is usually done on packed cartons against a sampling plan. The shipment is recorded against the PO and the ex-factory date, and the invoice goes to accounts.

What to record and control at each stage

Where the process usually breaks

• Between the PO and cutting, when a ratio change from the buyer does not reach the cutting master.
• At the cutting table, when rolls are issued without their shade lot, or consumption is never compared with the plan.
• At the job worker, when returns are not counted against the challan and short pieces surface at packing.
• On the sewing line, when hourly counts are written up after the shift and a slow operation goes unseen for a day.
• At end-line checking, when alterations are counted but the line and operation that caused them are not recorded.

How is one order traced back from the carton?

Say the buyer's inspector finds shading between shirts in one carton. The trace runs backwards: carton to the order and the bundles packed in it, bundles to their size, colour and shade lot, shade lot to the rolls issued to that cut, and rolls to the fabric receipt and its inspection. Along the way, the bundle shows which line and operators sewed it and what came back from washing. If every stage recorded its part, the answer comes from a few searches. When the records are in registers, it becomes an argument.

Most shading problems are cheaper to stop than to trace. VK Garments in Gudiyatham tags each roll with its shade lot at cutting and keeps rolls separated by shade lot within each size group, so mixing is caught before sewing and shade-variance rejection at finishing has stopped.

How FleekERP records each stage

In FleekERP each stage is a step on the style-wise work order. The buyer order carries its size and colour ratio, and production planning allocates orders to lines and sizes. Stores issues rolls by shade lot to the cut plan, and consumption is tracked against it per style. Bundles carry size, colour and shade lot, operators log bundle completions per operation on their phones, embroidery and washing are job work steps with their challans, and packing is checked against the buyer's ratio. The invoice syncs to Tally or Zoho. The garments industry page shows the same flow from the factory's side.

How the process differs by plant type

• Woven shirts and trousers: more operations per garment, collar and cuff sub-assemblies, and shrinkage testing before cutting.
• Knitwear: fabric often knitted and dyed to order, with more variation in width and shrinkage between lots, and printing as a common job work step.
• Denim and bottoms: washing is a major stage, shade is often regrouped after wash, and measurements can move.
• Home textiles: fewer sewing operations, long straight seams, and sets of several items packed to one product code.
• Units sewing on job work for other factories: cut panels arrive from the principal, and the record that matters is pieces in, pieces out and rejections against the principal's challan.