Departments such as Cutting, Sewing and Finishing are primary departments of a

garment factory. The name of the departments itself explains that what are the main
functions of these departments. Within each department there are number of steps
through which raw materials are passed to make a finished and packed garment.
These steps or sub-processes may vary product to product. Most common steps in
each departments in apparel industry have been listed below.

Cutting Department:

The main role of a cutting department is to cut garment components from fabric rolls
or fabric thans as per style specifications. And send cut components to sewing
department in bundles. A cutting department of a garment manufacturing unit
includes following sub-processes

Fabric relaxation

Fabric spreading / layering on cutting table

Marker making

Cutting - manual cutting (using scissors), machine cutting, automatic cutting.

Numbering of garment plies (parts)

Shorting and Bundling

Inspection of cut components

Shorting of printed and embroidery panels

Re-cutting of panels

Fusing garment components

Also Read: Cutting room overview

Sewing Department:

Sewing Floor

Sewing department is the heart of a manufacturing unit. Cut components are

assembled in sewing department in assembly line. List of sub-processes those are
done in sewing department includes.

Making garment parts

Sewing full garment

Making garment accessories like dori, tabs, cords etc.

Checking of stitched garments

Alteration work of defective garments

Also read: Apparel Manufacturing - an overview

Finishing Department

In Finishing department garments are nicely pressed and packed into poly bags. A
finishing department has following sub-processes.

Washing of garment (Some factories may have separate washing

department)

Buttoning and button holing

Thread trimming

Checking of washed / unwashed garments

Stain removing

Ironing or Pressing

Final checking of garments after ironing

Mending / repair work

Tagging

Folding and packing

FINISHING DEPARTMENT
Functioning of the Department
The finishing department is the department which comes after
all the departmentsand it plays an equally important role in the
final appearance of the garment. Thisdepartment includes
majorly of the following steps,

Trimming:
This involves the removal of the extra threads from the garment
at the stitchedareas.

Inspection
:The inspection carried out here is according to the AQL system
andsometimes it depends on the buyer also i.e., if the buyer
emphasizes for a100% inspection then the company has to
do as specified.


Semi

pressing:
This happens when a garment is difficult to inspect in the
crushes manner asit comes from the washing department
hence, they do a partial pressing forthe garments and then
inspect it and trim it and then send it to the completepressing
process.

Pressing:
The pressing is done after the garment has been completely
inspected andthe garments are pressed on the basis of how
they will be folded during packaging. Tagging section:
Once the garments are been done with the inspection and
complete pressingthen they are sent for tagging the labels and
the labels include the size labels,price tags and miscellaneous
labels if any required by the buyer. Once thetagging is done the
garments are folded accordi
ng to the buyers specification
and also they are either folded plainly or sometimes they are
folded after they
are put to the hangers as per the buyers specifications again.
The packing material, PCB details, number of size ratios that
are supposed tobe put in are all suggested by the buyer and
the packing is done according tothese specifications.
Packing:
The packing is generally done in the carton boxes and there
are severalcriteria for the packing of the garments they are as
follows,There are generally two kinds of packing the
garment,1. The garment is individually packed/wrapped in the
poly bag whosedesign will be specified by the buyer i.e., either
with the hangerattached or plain poly bag packing and then the
entire garments (asper the packing criteria) is arranged in the

carton box.2. The other method is that the garments are just
folded and arranged inthe carton boxes without putting them in
the poly bag.The packing criteria followed in each carton box as
already mentioned is done indifferent ways which is as follows:

Solid Packing:
In this method of packing, the carton box includes garments of
single color and same size
Ratio Packing:
In this method the carton box includes garments of same color
but of differentsizes according to the ratio.

Mixed Packing:
In this method the carton box includes garments of different
colors but ofsame size or garments with different colors and
different sizes in a particularratio form. After the packing is
done the garments are kept in the godown/stores until the
buyersends the buyer QC for the inspection purpose before
delivering them and once theQC check them according to the
AQL system and then decide if the garments has tobe accepted
or rejected.
Cutting section is one of the most important section for manufacturing garments in Garments Factory.There is a process or
sequence which is strictly followed in the cutting section of a garment manufacturing industry.

Process Sequence in Cutting Room:

Marker Making

Fabric Spreading

Placing Marker Paper on to the Lay

Fabric Cutting

Numbering

100% checking & Parts Replacing if needed.

Shorting & Bundling

Sewing/Assembling
Operation of Cutting During Garments Manufacturing are given below in details:

Marker

Making:

The measuring department determines the fabric yardage needed for each style and
size of garment. Computer software helps the technicians create the optimum fabric

layout to suggest so fabric can be used efficiently. Markers, made in accordance to

the patterns are attached to the fabric with the help of adhesive stripping or staples.
Markers are laid in such a way so that minimum possible fabric gets wasted during
cutting operation. After marking the garment manufacturer will get the idea of how
much fabric he has to order in advance for the construction of garments. Therefore
careful execution is important in this step.Computer marking is done on speciallized
softwares. In computerized marking there is no need of large paper sheets for
calculating the yardage, in fact, mathematical calculations are made instead to know
how much fabric is required.

Fabric

Spreading:

With the help of spreading machines, fabric is stacked on one another in reaches or
lays that may go over 100 ft (30.5 m) long and hundreds of plies (fabric pieces) thick.

Cutting:
The fabric is then cut with the help of cloth cutting machines suitable for the type of
the cloth. These can be band cutters having similar work method like that of band
saws; cutters having rotary blades; machines having reciprocal blades which saw up
and down; die clickers similar to die or punch press; or computerized machines that
use either blades or laser beams to cut the fabric in desired shapes.

Sorting/Bundling:
The sorter sorts the patterns according to size and design and makes bundles of
them. This step requires much precision because making bundles of mismatched
patterns can create severe problems. On each bundle there are specifications of the
style size and the marker too is attached with it.

Sewing/Assembling:
The sorted bundles of fabrics are now ready to be stitched. Large garment
manufacturers have their own sewing units other use to give the fabrics on contract
to other contractors. Stitching in-house is preferable because one can maintain
quality control during the processing. On the other hand if contractors are hired
keeping eye on quality is difficult unless the contactor is one who precisely controls
the
process.
There are what is called sewing stations for sewing different parts of the cut pieces.
In this workplace, there are many operators who perform a single operation. One
operator may make only straight seams, while another may make sleeve insets. Yet
another two operators can sew the waist seams, and make buttonholes. Various
industrial sewing machines too have different types of stitches that they can make.
These machines also have different configuration of the frame. Some machines work
sequentially and feed their finished step directly into the next machine, while the
gang machines have multiple machines performing the same operation supervised
by a single operator. All these factors decide what parts of a garment can be sewn at
that station. Finally, the sewn parts of the garment, such as sleeves or pant legs, are
assembled together to give the final form to the clothing.
Read more: http://textilelearner.blogspot.com/2012/02/process-sequence-of-cutting-section.html#ixzz3YU4VuH4j