Textile and Garment Industry Practices
This domain tests how a garment factory turns fibre into a shipped carton: departments, documents, production terms and quality measures. Numeric efficiency and cost terms appear regularly.
The production chain
Spinning (fibre to yarn) → weaving or knitting → dyeing and printing → cutting → sewing → finishing and packing → dispatch.
Departments and documents
- Design and sampling, CAD, cutting, sewing lines, quality, finishing, stores, merchandising.
- A tech pack or spec sheet carries measurements, construction, fabric and colour; size grading expands one base size into a range; consumption states fabric per garment.
Terms to know
- SAM = standard allowed minute, the time allowed for one operation including allowances.
- Efficiency = (pieces produced × SAM) ÷ (operators × minutes worked) × 100.
- CMT = cut-make-trim, the job-work charge only. FOB = free on board, a price that includes fabric and trims.
- MOQ = minimum order quantity; lead time = days from order to shipment.
Quality
- Fabric inspected on the 4-point system, penalties per 100 square yards.
- AQL sampling at final inspection; DHU = defects per hundred units; in-line and end-line checking catch faults before packing.
Worked example
20 operators work a 480-minute shift and produce 400 pieces at a SAM of 12 minutes. Produced minutes = 400 × 12 = 4,800. Available minutes = 20 × 480 = 9,600. Efficiency = 4,800 ÷ 9,600 × 100 = 50%.
Traps
- Confusing CMT with FOB, which understates the price by the fabric cost.
- Quoting efficiency from pieces alone without multiplying by SAM.
- Ignoring rework time and mending, which lowers real output.