Buying House/Garments business system The buying house is a most important part for any kind of business.

In garments business it plays

a vital role. Buying house is a platform where garments treading are done by the communication with buyer & seller. And this communication is maintained by a merchandiser. Merchandisers are the driving force to keep the process in order along with others working in this apparel industry. In Bangladesh an experienced merchandiser working in a well reputed garments manufacturer. In the apparel industry, merchandisers are the BRIDGE between the management (and industry) and the buyers. He/she builds up the relationship with the buyers, and acts as a seller. Merchandiser has to look after every job, such as - buying the raw materials (required to produce the products), making the garments, finishing it, documenting (over all views) all the relevant papers and records, finally shipping out the goods. Merchandisers are the responsible person to make the products. In my view, the merchandiser is who creates a good relationship between exporters & buyers. The responsibilities that Merchandiser bears on the jobs

Represents as a buyer to the factory Represents as a seller to the buyers Looking into the business to flourish more in future Offer the deal in a more competitive mode without compromising the Quality To satisfy the buyers to progress more of the future business.

Merchandises aim is to impress the buyers by means of 1. Right product 2. Right quality 3. Right quantities 4. Schedule time

So as a textile engineer we have know the detail working process of a buying house, their responsibility. Now we discuss about three important questions which answer give us a clear sense about the garments business system. The first question is

1. How to prepare an order sheet for a specific style of garments?

Answer: Before prepare an order sheet a buyer must satisfy on that specific buying house or merchandiser. Firstly a buyer gives a sample to the merchandiser. When complete the sample matching buyer want to know the price. After selection the price the buyer want a PI (PROFORMA INVOICE) letter. This is a type of letter where a seller is offer to a buyer to sell a specific product. Then the merchandiser sent him a PROFORMA INVOICE letter which contains all information about the product like product type, product price, product quantity, lead time, shipment date etc. It should be contain product information clearly & must be agreed from both sides. It may be in Microsoft excel or word form. We attach a PI letter of PANDORA SWEATERS LTD. It will make a clear sense about PI. After receiving the PI letter, buyer sent the main order sheet to the merchandiser. It also called POD (Purchas Order) sheet. This is the most important sheet for production. This is a type of sheet where a buyer orders to seller to buy a specific product. The order sheet may in two forms. Thats are I.
II.

Manual order sheet (Like in form of Microsoft word or excel) Web page (Where the product order details are in buyer web page & buyer gives a vendor number to the merchandiser. And the merchandiser get that order sheet from the web by access of that numbers)

An order sheet of PANDORA SWEATERS LTD is attached with this paper. This gives a clear knowledge about an order sheet.

The second question is

2.

What would be the ORGANOGRAM to complete an order up to shipment?

Answer: All the process of manufacturing a garments product goes throw a sequence of work. It maintained some steps from getting order to shipment. The main working diagram is given below:

Receiving sample A sample is received from buyer is called receiving. This sample may be a garments or sketch of a garment. This is sometimes called technical file (T/C) or technical sheet. After receive this sample or sheet it is distributed to the factory. This is called distribute of T/c. Sample development

In this stage merchandiser sample is developed with the compare of buyer sample. Merchandiser make sample until the buyer satisfaction. There are various types sample that are writing below. It must be noted that all types of sample are produce in sample house of the buying house. Initial sample: These types of sample are produce to meet the buyer demand. When buyer give a specific design of sample then the seller make a same design sample. The seller makes one by one sample before matching with the buyer sample. And this sample matching process is handled by a merchandiser. The number of making sample has different name. If any company need more sample then they use that name. Pre-production sample: Before production the buying house need this type of sample. It also called PP sample. Production sample: This is the most important sample for production. Without this sample the production cant be done. Here all the specification of the garments is present. So the production of that garments become easy. Gold seal sample: It is a type of sample which is use in shipment purpose. This is also called shipment sample.

Costing/Cost offer After sampling or accept the sample by buyer, cost measurement is required. Because after selecting the sample, buyer wants to know about costing or price of the products. Costing is the most important part of the garments business. Because the profit of a company or buying house depend on this costing. During costing consider all the cost (like raw material cost, making cost, transport cost, accessories cost etc.) which will involve in producing the product. Merchandiser focus is so important in costing. After preparing the costing sheet the merchandiser contact with buyer with this sheet. Here Buyer & merchandiser bargain for selecting the price. When buyers become satisfy with price than the production will done.

Receiving LC When finalizing the cost Buyer sent a work order sheet to the merchandiser. Terms & condition of an order sheet is discussing in previous question. The word LC means letter of credit. That means buyer sent a LC by a bank from his area to the merchandiser area. Seller can get that money from any bank where he wants. In LC paper some information (like order number, style number, product quantity, shipment date etc.) about the product are present. And on description place wrote as per PI. There is another type of LC that is back to back LC. This type of LC is used when buying house make his product from other factory. In this case the credit is transfer by that LC. So it is use in local contract. Raw materials booking After confirmation LC, the merchandiser booking the raw materials which is need to make the product. In raw material include yarn (If they have knitting machine), fabrics, garments accessories (i.e. button, zipper, etc.) etc. Merchandiser books all this things before production. It must be noted that, the measurement of this things should be accurate. Incase the wrong measurement it may hamper in production. So carefully measuring & booking is the main criteria of this section. Production This is the main part of this business. After getting all materials the production will start. Merchandiser sent the work order sheet to the factory GM & also sent its cc to the factory coordinator, production manager. It does vary factory to factory. This stage involved many other stages. Merchandisers always focus on those stages. These given bodies are act in production.

Production Manager: The production manager puts all the pieces together in order to manufacture a product. He or she is responsible for procuring raw materials and labor, while managing production schedules, employee interactions and product delivery. Quality Assurance Manager: This person makes sure the manufacturing process is running smoothly and that the product is up to standards. The quality assurance manager monitors internal and external construction of the product as well as the status of processes and systems. Schedulers: Schedulers oversee the many interactions that go into manufacturing a product. They coordinate activities, teams, modules and self-directed work groups. Schedulers are responsible for increasing or decreasing the amount of labor needed to meet production schedules. Operations Manager: The operations manager is the person who coordinates all functions and activities within the manufacturing process. He or she oversees all the other positions examined in this section, and must determine where changes or adjustments in the process are needed .

Inspection Inspection is necessary to get a better quality. It is a continuous process. It depends on the buyer requirement. It may do as self inspection or by a buyer representative. It may vary buyer to buyer.

Shipment/Delivery This is the last step of Ready made garments business. Here end of the merchandiser responsibility. Before shipment ship is most important. Ship booking is done before 10-15 days of shipment. The commercial bodies do this job. The shipment must be in right time. If it is late then shipment may be cancel.

So this is all about the ORGANOGRAM to complete an order up to shipment.

The third & the last question is

3. How will you complete the shipment if found fabric shortage during manufacturing?
Answer This is very much important problem in production. By this problem shipment can be cancelled. So carefully handle of this problem is must required. Though this question is directly thrown to me, so I would like to answer it from my side. Firstly if there is proper measurement, then this type of problem does not occur. If I become know after few productions then it can solve easily. But if it occurs in the last moment of the production & I have no chance to get more then I solve it by the negotiation with buyer. In this case I have to consider the buyer. Means if buyer want to discount on this short product then I have to do this by negotiation. In PANDORA SWEATERS LTD their merchandisers are very careful to do this job. They try to solve this problem in initial sage. But if it occurs in last moment of production then they solve this problem by negotiation with buyer thats I say in previous Para. In their history this type of problem they does not face.