Garment Industry, Production and Quality Control
What the exam tests
Factory departments and production systems, cutting and sewing flow, and quality control tools such as AQL, the 4-point system, and defect classification.
Core rules
- Production systems: progressive bundle (bundles move between operators, high work-in-progress), modular/team (small teams complete a garment, flexible), and unit production.
- Cutting room: marker → spread → cutting → bundling/ticketing → sewing.
- Quality control: in-line inspection catches defects early; end-line inspection checks the finished garment; AQL sampling accepts or rejects lots by defect level.
- 4-point fabric inspection: defect up to 3 in = 1 point; over 3 to 6 in = 2; over 6 to 9 in = 3; over 9 in = 4. Holes are graded but capped at 4 points. A common acceptance limit is 20 points per 100 square yards.
- Defects are critical, major or minor.
Worked example
A 50-square-yard roll has a 2-inch stain, a 5-inch slub and a 10-inch hole. Reasoning: 2-inch = 1 point; 5-inch = 2 points; 10-inch = 4 points (maximum for a hole). Total = 7 points. Per 100 square yards: 7 × (100 ÷ 50) = 14 points, which is within the 20-point limit. The roll passes on points, but the hole is still flagged as a major defect for cutting.
Traps
- Counting the same defect twice in the length and width directions.
- Treating AQL as “zero defects” for every characteristic; critical defects often have AQL 0, but not all.
- Confusing DHU (defects per hundred units) with AQL.