APPAREL PRODUCTION,
PLANNING AND CONTROL
VARIUOS ISSUES IN PRODUCTION PLANNING
in Apparel Industry
Subject faculty: Dr. Shipra Sharma
PREPARED BY:
HARSHIL CHOPRA
JYOTI RAWAL
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In preparation of our assignment, We had to take the help and guidance of some respected
persons, who deserve our deepest gratitude. As the completion of this assignment gave us much
pleasure, We would like to show our gratitude Dr. Shipra Sharma, Apparel Production, Planning
and Control Faculty, of Nift Kangra, for giving us good guideline for assignment throughout
numerous consultations. We would also like to expand our gratitude to all those who have directly
and indirectly guided us in making this assignment.
We also thank Nift, Kangra for giving us such an opportunity to explore more with constant
learning. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many
individuals and institution. Our thanks and appreciations also go to our classmates in developing
the assignment and people who have willingly helped us out with their abilities.
PRODUCTION PLANNING:
Production planning is the controlling of production & manufacturing process
determined by time frame. It involves everything from scheduling each task in the
process to execution and delivery of products.
Precision in planning equates to on-time shipments of the appropriate supplies and
their timely delivery to the factory.
The main functions of productions planning and control (PPC) are follow-up and
execution of garment export order, job scheduling, material resource planning, facility
location, loading production, process selection and planning, capacity planning, line
planning, estimating quantity and costs of production.
Advantages of an effective production plan and scheduling:
Reduced labour costs by eliminating wasted time and improving process flow.
Reduced inventory costs by decreasing the need for safety stocks and
excessive work-in-process inventories.
Optimized equipment usage and increased capacity.
Improved on-time deliveries of products and services.
PRODUCTION PLANS FAIL DUE TO SEVERAL REASONS LIKE:
Lack of speed, seamlessness and commitment between departments and need for
customer focus,
Reprioritization of orders or frequent changing of plan,
Output as per the plan for the day is not met consistently due to quality issues, viz.
reworks, re-screens, etc. or low productivity in new operations due to learning curve
or high absenteeism on a particular day or continuous absenteeism by critical
operators,
High attrition which is not predicted and manned for,
Handling of fabric in sewing becomes difficult because of the nature of fabric, viz.
silk, satin, lines, spandex, dobby fabrics, etc. if not predicted during risk analysis
and buffered in the plan.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH PAPER ABOUT THE ISSUES IN
PRODUCTION PLAN:
Introduction:
The research paper deals with the factors affecting the lead time in the apparel industry
of Bangladesh. Here one of the key factor affecting lead time is poor production
planning. We would be discussing about the issues in production plan.
ISSUES WITH PRODUCTION PLANNING IN APPAREL INDUSTRY BASED ON
SECONDARY RESEARCH:
Buying behaviour:
There is not a single opportunity for the manufacturer to plan in advance for buying
fabric as the manufacturers tend to have limited access to market intelligence and
international apparel trade trends.
There also isn’t any specific indication from the local buying offices about the next
season’s fashion.
The local buying offices are not the ultimate decision makers and approvals have to
be taken on various stages of production from the headquarters.
These problems consumes around 10% of the lead time as it takes around 10 to 15
days.
Cases are also common when sudden changes in style, color or shade are
regulated in the middle of the production which requires new planning, new material
requirement and sourcing and new work study; leads to prolonged lead time.
Inefficiency in planning:
Inefficient planning has a great effect on Cost, Quality, Lead Time and Technical
Risk as planning is the identification of required manpower and machines to be able
to complete production in least time.
Backdated Production System:
If an outdated and ineffective system such as progressive bundle system is used, it
will make it quite difficult for the production managers to manage or plan the
production effectively, hence leading to prolonged lead time.
Lack of investment in new machinery and technologies with current insufficient size
of skilled workforce also impedes an increase in productivity.
Unskilled middle management positions are also a major reason behind the low
productivity of apparel industry.
Execution Stage:
Execution stage refers to the start of bulk production and receiving the final product.
Though it seems as the major stage in an apparel industry, it only takes 15-20 days
for the production of end product if the development of the order was executed
effectively.
The main issues during execution any order faced in the apparel
industry:
Delay in raw material collection and approval
Late approval of samples
Delay of production process due to:
Labor conflict/ Strike
Imbalance machine Breakdown, shortage of machine or machine
disorder
Productivity might be affected by vital operation
Labor turnover
Lace of skilled manpower
Absenteeism
Production might be hampered due to quality fault
Political violence, religious conflict or clan riot
Human error and miss communication
Got trouble in final QA inspection and subject to rechecking
Conclusion:
In production planning, lead time is very important. Every operation is dependent
on the preceding operation.
If there is delay in producing or sourcing any material, there will be delay
proceeding further. Customer will not get delivery in time. So a productionplan
should be fixed and followed accordingly.
REASONS BEHIND THE PRODUCTION PLAN FAILURE IN GENERAL::
Product development and sampling
This stage fall under pre-production processes. Most factories do
not consider including development stage schedule under plan
which results in no control on pre-production processes.
Out of total lead time most part is consumed by pre-production
functions. As a result, planned cut date (PCD) gets postponed.
Delay in the sourcing of raw material
Sourcing delays also consumed extra time and make it difficult to
start in-house processes on time.
Few export houses experienced that yet after loading of cutting
and stitching, trims such as care label, laces or main label are yet
to be sourced.
Partly stitched garments start piling up in the line and line
supervisor load another style keeping running style aside from the
line until they receive trims.
Inferior quality of sourced goods
Goods are passed through quality checks before using in product
or cutting.
Unorganised factories mostly source fabric from power loom and
face quality related problem.
It may be shade variation/matching, wrong GSM quality, low
quality print etc. If an inferior quality of raw material found, fabrics
are send for re-processing or resourcing.
Production urgency
Pressure and urgency increases when factory starts production
processes (such as cutting, preparatory and sewing), as an order
has already eaten up bigger part of total time scheduled for the
production processes (production to finishing).
Not having much time on hand, managers push everything on fast
pace.
In this stage they forget to care of the quality of the product.
Once they start ignoring standard procedures they get stuck on
stitching quality or related problem arises.
Repair and re-inspection become a main process. These
processes increase production time.
Delay from Sub-contracting Jobs
Few value-added processes such as panel printing, embroidery,
bead work or dyeing process are needed.
For these value-added processes factory normally send fabric or
half stitch garment to sub-contractors for job-works. Sub-
contractors also come with their big commitments on delivery and
quality.
But when the factory receives goods, they had to count some
more days on their delays.
This happens due to an absence of planning at subcontractor
factory.
REFERENCES:
https://www.onlineclothingstudy.com/2011/12/5-reasons-that-fail-production-plan-and.html
https://www.goldnfiber.com/2015/11/challenge-in-production-planning-and-control-in-apparel-
industry.html
https://ordnur.com/garments-2/production-planning-and-control-in-garments/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222478850_Production_planning_and_control_in_te
xtile_industry_A_case_study
