The Cooperative's 150-Stole Ikat Order
A weaver cooperative in western Odisha has 10 members and receives an order for 150 cotton stoles in a three-colour double-ikat pattern, to be delivered in five weeks. The buyer wants all 150 stoles to look identical and has approved a 30% advance. Current capacity is 12 stoles a week across the group; the order needs 30 a week. The design requires about 40 kg of yarn, dyed in indigo, madder and an overdyed green. Last season, two dye lots differed visibly, and 8% of woven pieces were rejected for motif misalignment. The cooperative's quoted price gives an 18% margin, but the buyer now asks for a 20% discount and free sampling. Members are willing to work overtime, but the dye house can handle only one 20 kg batch per week.
1. Assess whether the cooperative can accept the order on the buyer's terms. Show the capacity reasoning and propose a realistic response.
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The arithmetic rules out the full order in five weeks. At 12 stoles a week, 10 weavers produce 60 stoles in five weeks, not 150. Even optimistic overtime at 20 stoles a week gives 100. The order requires 30 a week, which is 2.5 times normal capacity and cannot be met without new weavers or a simpler motif.
The dye house constraint is equally serious: 40 kg of yarn at one 20 kg batch per week means at least two dyeing weeks, and three colours may need separate baths. Dyeing cannot simply be compressed without risking shade variation.
A realistic response is a phased contract: 90 stoles in five weeks and 60 in the following two weeks, with the buyer's written agreement. If the buyer refuses, offer 60 stoles in five weeks at the quoted price and decline the balance. Do not accept a 20% discount: an 18% margin cannot absorb a 20% price cut, and overtime plus an 8% rejection rate would turn the order into a loss. Offer instead a 5% discount on a larger confirmed quantity, or charge separately for sampling. Ask for the advance to cover yarn and dye costs before work begins.
2. Design a dye-lot and colour-consistency plan for the 40 kg of yarn. What records and tests would you insist on?
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Colour consistency in ikat depends on treating all yarn for one colour as one logical lot, even when the dye house must split it across batches.
- Single yarn source. Buy all 40 kg from one mill lot. Mixed yarn lots take dye differently and no recipe can fully correct that.
- Divide by colour, not convenience. Calculate the exact warp and weft quantities needed for each of indigo, madder and green. Dye all yarn for a given colour in the same week, using the same water source, mordant, temperature, liquor ratio and time.
- Standardise the recipe. Write a batch card for each colour: weight of yarn, mordant percentage, dye percentage, temperature curve, time, pH, and who dyed it. Use the same weighing scale and thermometer.
- Sample first. Dye a 500 g control sample, dry it, and compare against the approved shade card in daylight. Only then dye the bulk.
- Record and label. Give each skein a batch number and colour code. Keep a retained sample from every batch.
- Test. Wash a sample of each batch for colourfastness and shrinkage before weaving. Check under daylight, not only tungsten light.
If two batches differ, do not blend them randomly across one stole. Use the difference as a deliberate colour-block layout, or keep each batch for a separate product grade with the buyer's approval.
3. The 8% rejection rate for motif misalignment is a quality problem. What production controls and pricing changes would you introduce?
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Misalignment in double ikat comes from small errors in tying and in placing the weft. It cannot be inspected out at the end; it must be controlled during tying and weaving.
Production controls: create one approved master stole and a full-size motif map. Use a tying jig or marked frame so that each weaver ties the same section at the same measured interval. Assign motifs by section: one experienced weaver sets the central motif, others weave borders and repeats. Inspect at three points-after tying, after 25% weaving, and before finishing-rather than only at final checking. Keep a correction log so recurring errors are traced to a specific weaver or tying batch.
Pricing: the quoted price already assumes an 18% margin. Add the real rejection cost: if 8% fail, the effective cost per good stole rises by roughly 8.7%. Either price in a rejection allowance or reduce rejection through controls. Do not promise 'all 150 identical' if hand-tying cannot guarantee that; offer 'matched within an approved tolerance' with a sample. Charge for the master sample and any extra sampling. If the buyer demands zero visible variation, quote a higher price for extra inspection and slower production, or decline that specification.