A Paper on

Development in Garment
Manufacturing

By: Atul Dwivedi

Abstract

“One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of
one extraordinary man”

Men are here on earth are only developing the new technology.

In Fashion Business is all about quick response, lots of saying, short run of multiple goods,
speed of market, Flexibility high quality and cost saving. This is necessitates only increasing
demand for new technology. Technological development only making the apparel industry to
gets increases its production and quality.

As today’s customer s are not purchasing goods or services with closed eyes every company
wants to produce best quality with optimum price to compete each other. New garment
manufacturing Technologies only making them to achieved their Costumer needs and
compete.

As a result technology suppliers are striving hard to innovate and develop new technologies
keeping with demands of Garment Industry.

In this paper I have highlighted some new technologies introduced in garment industry.
Technology adoption Cycle:-

“No technology or machine is best, it is only better”

What is garment manufacturing?

Garment manufacturing is the process of making the garments.

Process Involved in manufacturing the garment

¾ Spreading

¾ Pattern making

¾ Cutting

¾ Stitching

¾ Finishing

¾ Checking

¾ Packing
In coming lines I have discussed all the developments in technologies in the all respective
processes involved in the manufacturing the garments.

Spreading

1) Pin Table

Spreading is most important process in garment manufacturing. Spreading on checks fabric is

quite difficult in the industry. For this a new technology has been introduced is Pin table.On
this there are several pins are operated with the help of air pressure and fabric is spread on it.
The next layer is spread on it and fixed with pins so mismatching with checks does not occur.

2) Automatic Spreading Machines:-

Features :-

# Cloth end auto-stop and return staring place.

# 5 minutes power auto-shut off.

# When emergency stop, laid cloth won't be pulled

As per the features of the spreading machine, the fabric is laid on the table automatically and
it auto stop and returns to starting place.

Due to this machine the production of the garment industry has been increased.

3) CAD/CAM

Stand outs in the CAD /CAM technology used for for silhouette pattern development, pattern
detailing system, grading, digitizing, maker making, plotting, cutting operations, embroidery
system, texture mapping by small, medium and large companies throughout the world. In
recent years, the company has excelled in the fashion technology sector with innovative
solutions focused on providing agility and flexibility to creative and productive processes,
bringing automation and security to apparel production.
Cutting

1) Computer Controlled Pattern Cutting Machine

This kind of cutting machine is associated with

CAD software and the pattern design used to
make on CAD.
This machine automatically cut the panels as per
the patterns made on CAD with the speed of 900
mm/min.

Stitching

Quilting is a sewing method done to join two or more layers of material together to make a
thicker padded material. A quilter is the name given to someone who works at quilting but
technology makes the quilter as a machines.

Features of Quilting machines:-

Computer controlled machines that sew each pattern with great accuracy at a very high
speed.
¾ Complete one double bed quilt in just 3-5 minutes.
¾ The pattern can be enlarged or reduced by giving just one simple instruction. When
the machine is quilting, the computer screen displays the quilting stitch position.
¾ If the thread breaks, the machine stops automatically.
¾ Automatic thread trimming.
 2) Automatic fully controlled Stitching Machines

The machine time is 1.2 seconds per belt-loop, which

ensures increased productivity. The feed mechanism
incorporates a computer-controlled programmable X-Y
method to allow the operator to change the number of
stitches and sewing sizes.This is only a machine used for
single opration and can be operate at speed 0f 2500
RPM.Other manchines are also available with the same
technology i.e. fully computer controlled This machine
can be set at required no of Stitches/ inch, X and Y
direction movement of needle and feed dog direction.

Automatic trimming and suction also takes place in these machines. Pattern can be saved in
control panel

Fusing

Continuous fusing machines

Because of developments in fusing machines the production and quality of the garment
industry has been tremendously increased. Its speed is around 2-12 mtr/ min and can heat up
to 200 C. The outer body is insulated so it does not allow to heat to come out.
3D Heating System Preheating System

The new developed 3D heating system is the revolution

in heating technology and assures most efficient fusing.
The 3D heating system allows fusing on three lanes by
using different temperatures. This means that open and
sandwich fusing can be effected at the same time.

Finishing

There are several other developments in Press for making the Garments; the most
complication is with shirts. The technology used in garments finishing is shown in figure
below.

Collar and cough pressing

Placket Pressing

This

machine has been especially designed for pressing collars and cuffs of both blouses and
shirts. It can also be used as a neck press. The flexible, adjustable forms allow pressing of
different sizes and even the pressing of shirts with short sleeves.
 ¾ Adjustable pressing forms for cuffs: After form changes the upper pressing form
adjusts itself automatically to the shape of the lower form.
¾ Heating: Flexible heating mats guarantee an even distribution of temperature and
pressure over the whole surface. The temperature is set digitally.
¾ Pressing pressure: The pressure can be adjusted very sensitively for all different kinds
of fabrics.

Continuous Shirt body press:-

This press is used for pressing the
body of the shirt.

One rotating heads which carry

two panels rotates clockwise. The
shirt used to clam on the panel
and when machine starts the
heated pad press the body of the
shirt at the same time we can
clamp another shirt on the face
side panel.

The whole process takes only 5-

10 sec/ shirt.

Its capacity is 2700 shirt/ day.

Automatic Pressing (An advanced technology used in garment for pressing)

This technology has been introduced by VEIT KANNEGIESSER that is a unique technology:
The pressing plates are heated by an oil bath. This has the following advantages:
• Absolutely constant temperature even at high speeds
• The ironing buck does not cool down even when processing wet shirts or for short
interruptions
This technology is consisting of the combination of shirt body press, automatic unloading
device and transfer system is suitable for smaller and larger productions. The automatic
unloading device (2) removes the shirts from the pressing form (1) and hangs then gently on
the transfer system (3) . The H-TS transports the pressed shirts to the shirt folding table.If
necessary, it can be enlarged with up to four extensions.
Its production rate is around 1800 shirts/day.

Dolly Press

This press is consisting of following features.

¾ Automatic loading of shirts.
¾ Production rate is 3000 shirts/ day
¾ Water spraying unit
¾ Up to 60 Programs feeding
¾ Seam tensioning elements
¾ Special shaped shoulder forms
¾ Electrically heated pressing plates for the shirt
pocket
¾ Integrated suction plate
¾ Stretch-control

Development in software:-

ERP Software

ERP means Enterprise Resource and Planning. It is an integrated system including all process
and flow of any manufacturing organization. All modules Sale & distribution, Material
Management, Production & Planning and Financial Accounting System are integrated in
EMS ERP.
EMS ERP helps Garment Industry in arranging quick response by giving actual time answer
to the fast changing customer needs. It gives you the information on the current status of sale
order, Inventory control, production and finance.

ERP has as extremely powerful and versatile capacity-planning feature which lets you view
data wise and capacity utilization of your production, and also lets you do a planed verses
actual analysis of the order wise.

Advantages of our ERP with respect to others

• Improve business performance.

• Support business growth requirement.
• Provide flexible provides integrated real time decision support.
• Eliminate human error as well as procedural delays.
• Provided competitive advantage by faster access to accurate and relevant information.
• Service qualities & implementation provided by high class business analyst and
System Analyst and software engineers
• On the Competitive Price other than ERP softwar

3D Body scanner:-

BODY SCANNING IS A NEW TECHNOLOGY that is helping to shift the focus of apparel
production from large quantities of cookie-cutter clothes to one-of-a-kind articles with
individualized sizing and design features. A suite of technological advances, including body
scanning, has given rise to an emergent strategy of "mass customization" -- bringing
consumers into the design and production stages, resulting in well-fitting, made-to-
measure garments at competitive prices and turnaround times

Body scanners will play a critical role in mass customization because they enable retailers to
rapidly collect three-dimensional (3D) data for each consumer. Computer software can then
analyze the high-resolution images of the body to extract precise, standardized tailoring
measurements. In conjunction with advanced design and production processes, body scanners
will thus allow consumers to benefit from a modern form of custom tailoring.Traditional
mass-production clothing will also be improved as a result of body scan technology. Industry
and academic researchers are beginning to use large amounts of anthropometric (body
measurement) data captured by body scanners to adjust the sizing systems of ready-to-
wear clothing lines so that everyone in the target population is better fitted

Flexible Manufacturing System in Garment Industry

Flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is a manufacturing system in which there is some
amount of flexibility that allows the system to react in the case of changes, whether predicted
or unpredicted. This flexibility is generally considered to fall into two categories, which both
contain numerous subcategories.

Most FMS systems consist of three main systems. The work machines which are often
automated CNC machines are connected by a material handling system to optimize parts flow
and the central control computer which controls material movements and machine flow.

In this system the garment parts are automatically advanced to the next process machine.

In this process the breakdown of garments is carried out in such a way that almost all the
operation are divided of same time.

The main advantages of an FMS are its high flexibility in managing manufacturing resources
like time and effort in order to manufacture a new product.

Radio frequency Identification (RFID), A Breakthrough in Traditional garment

What is RFID？?

The name RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is being associated with a few Chinese
names which usually highlight its different features. These include Electronic Sensor Chip,
Short-Distance Card, Sensor Card, Non-Contact Card, etc. In fact, RFID does have a unique
Feature – the non-contact automatic identification technology. Generally speaking, an RFID
system consists of 3 parts – tag, reader and antenna. After the tag has entered the magnetic
zone, the reader receives the signal and re-delivers it out. And by sensing the radio wave
obtained from the non-current tag or the so-called passive tag, it then delivers the product
information, which has been stored in the chip. It can also do so by actively transmitting the
signals of the frequencies regarding the current tag and the so-called active tag. After the
information is received by the reader and gets decoded, it will then be transmitted to the
Central Processing Unit for data processing.
The garment-manufacturing industry always aims for new product development and
efficiency improvement in production. In past years, advanced computer technologies already
facilitate new manufacturing operation and build up management tools. Today’s
manufacturers are looking towards more advances and benefits with their focuses shifted to
many different types of networking tools. These tools do enable them to seek better
opportunities on more complicated areas working with RFID like inventory control and
supply-chain management, as well as the B2B e-commerce transactions. However, while
employing this latest technology, manufacturers are facing a long-standing problem – how
the new technologies can bring better coverage and practicality to the running of the
enterprise.
Advantages if RFID in Garment Industry

a)Workers attendance card

b) Product Flows

c) For keeping the records of the work done by each staff in sewing department.
d) For collecting the data regarding production progress and staff performance for future
analysis.

e) For better flows and maintain WIP

Conclusion
Today’s era for success says,

“Give the customers what they want, not what you have”
For being best in your competitors you must follow your customers, and provide then right
thing, at right place, at right price in right quantity.

Then and then only you will succeed. For achieving this garment industry need to develop
and advanced their technology. Without advancement you can produce but you can succeed.

References
1. www.apparelviews.com
2. www.imagesretail.com
3. The Technology of Clothing manufacture by Harold Carr and Barbara Latham

About the Author

The author is a student of M.F.Tech with National Institute of fashion Technology,
Gandhinagar.