Fabric Losses in Cutting Room

Requirement of fabric in relation to garment style

 Among the various processes of garment production cutting is the

major area where fabric waste is generated.

 In the cutting room much attention should be given to reduce the

fabric wastage.

 One of the methods to minimize the fabric wastage is to prepare

the most efficient marker by the CAD system.
Requirement of fabric in relation to garment style

 Marker planning or marker making is the process of judicious

arrangement of pattern pieces according to the fabric width for
various sizes so that there is maximum fabric utilization.

 The process of getting the most efficient marker requires time, skill,
mathematical ability and concentration.
Fabric Losses:

 Ends of Ply Losses

 Ends of Piece Losses
 Edge Losses
 Splicing Losses
 Remnant Losses
 Ticket Length Losses
Ends of Ply Losses

 The flexibility, limpness and extensibility of fabrics along with the

limitation of spreading machinery necessitate an allowance of
some fabric at the end of each ply.

 These losses may be up to 2 cm at each end or 4 cm per ply.

 The ends of ply loss is 1-2% of the total fabric usage.

Ends of Ply Losses

 Higher is the fabric length the lesser is the loss.

 If strong vigilance is not kept over the spreading machine setting

and material handling, there is a tendency for the waste to
become excessive.

 Standards should be established for this loss in the cutting room

and it should be monitored properly by efficient supervisors.
Ends of Piece Losses

 In textile industry fabrics are produced and processed in different

batches.

 During finishing these fabric ends are stitched together for

continuous operation, which makes the fabric ends unsuitable for
use due to marks or distortions created.

 The lengths affected should be as less as possible.

 The most important loss comes because the fabric length is not
exact multiple of the marker length.

 The spreader must either splice in the next piece, resulting in a loss
of fabric from the end of the piece to the nearest splice point.
Ends of Piece Losses

 The ends of piece loss varies from 0.5-1% of the total fabric usage.

 This loss is minimized if the average length of the pieces that are
purchased is increased.

 This strategy has a number of other advantages, including the

reduction in documentation, reduced levels of shade variation, and
higher productivity in spreading.

 The ends of piece losses cannot be eliminated completely.

 Edge Losses

 The width of the marker is kept a few centimeters less than the edge-
to-edge width of the fabric.

 The marker is made according to the usable width of the fabric.

 The usable fabric width depends upon the quality of the selvedge, the
consistency of fabric width, and also on the precision of edge control
during spreading.

 When the fabric edge-to-edge width is 100 cm, and the marker width
is 3 cm less than the fabric width. The edge loss is 3%. If the fabric
edge-to-edge width is 150 cm, the loss is 2%. Thus wider width fabrics
have other benefits besides improved marker efficiency.
Edge Losses

 If the fabric is exceptionally stable, it is possible for the marker

width to be only 2 cm less than the edge-to-edge fabric width.

 In such case the edge loss with a 100 cm fabric is 2%.

 This simple calculation reveals that the fabric loss outside the
marker is very sensitive to the edge waste allowances.

 Great care is needed to ensure that the allowance is not excessive.

 Width variation in fabrics must be controlled alongside the edge

allowances.

 Most companies experience great difficulties because of

inconsistency of edge-to-edge fabric width in case of narrow width
fabrics.
Splicing Losses

 Splicing is necessary as one roll of fabric is finished and a new roll

is taken into use.

 Also during spreading there may be some objectionable fabric

faults, which make the product unsalable or substandard.

 These faults are removed by cutting the lay at the fault point and
incorporating splicing position into marker plans.

 During splicing the splicing line should be so selected that none of

the pattern pieces contains the fault or is incomplete.
Splicing Losses

 The distance between the splicing lines influences the amount of

waste produced.

 The distance between splice lines is dependent on the dimensions

of the marked panels and on the way they have been positioned by
the marker planner.

 The position of the splice lines also dependent on the quality of

the fabric being spread.

 If cutting out faulty material at the lay is a regular requirement, it is

vital that markers are provided with clearly defined splice lines.

 A splicing allowance is made to ensure that only complete panels

are cut.
Splicing Losses

 Factors to be considered include: quality of incoming fabric, the

dimensions of the patterns, the spreading technology in use and
related procedure for processing remnant lengths.

 This policy may vary according to local needs.

 The splicing losses may vary up to 5% of the total fabric usage.

Remnant Losses

 Remnant lengths are produced whenever companies separate different

shades of fabric pieces and lay up only complete plies.

 Remnants may also be generated when short lengths of material are left
over after the completion of a lay, and are returned to the stores.

 The remnants left over after cutting a remnant lay should be very short
and if they are not unusable, should be suitable only for re-cutting
individual panels.
Remnant Losses

 The markers produced for remnant lays normally have a lower

utilization than the production marker, mainly because the reduced
number of garments marked reduces the options open to the marker
maker.

 Let the marker length is 10 m and the average fabric length is 100 m,
the average remnant length is approximately 5 m. Thus 5 m out of
every 100 m, or 5% of the total will be processed at a reduced level of
efficiency.

 As this figure is quite significant, controls most be exercised over the

sizes of the patterns that are cut from remnants.
Remnant Losses

 Two alternatives for remnant lays are possible:

 Each lay is processed with a new marker after the main production
lays.

 A step lay at one end of the production marker, which enables all
remnants to be cleared with the main lay.
Remnant Losses

 Remnant losses can be reduced by utilizing two or more

production markers.

 For example if two markers are available, one of 10m and the
other of 8m, it is possible to allocate individual pieces to specific
markers so that the lengths of remnants is minimized.

 Thus a piece of 91m would be allocated to the 10m marker,

whereas a piece of 97 m would be allocated to the 8 m marker.

 It is only feasible if both production markers have acceptably

high utilizations.
Ticket Length Losses

 Woven fabrics and some knitted fabrics are sold by length.

 Each fabric piece is measured by the fabric supplier and a ticket is

attached to each piece indicating the length for which the customer
is invoiced.

 In many cases the gross length and the net length are marked in the
ticket.

 The gross length is the distance between the ends of the fabric and
the net length is the length for which the consumer is paying.
Ticket Length Losses

 When there are errors in the measurement of these lengths they

are unlikely to be in favor of the purchaser.

 When the fabric is issued on the basis of the ticket length, there
can be fabric shortage against the costed value.

 This loss can be reduced by inspecting the length of the incoming

fabric and reporting the fabric supplier in case of yardage short.
Conclusion

 As the fabric is the major raw material in a garment, the saving of

very less amount of fabric per garment can save quite a large sum
of rupees per annum, which can increase the profit of the
organization substantially.

 It is necessary for the management to have good understanding of

the spreading performance and the distribution of various types of
fabric losses in the cutting process for proper material
management.

 Proper investigation of the fabric losses during the cutting process

can help the management to minimize material wastage.
Thank You