Quality American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) defines quality as: A systematic approach to the search for

excellence. [1] According to International Organization for Standardization (ISO): Quality is the fulfillment of the specified requirements for a product or service. [2] However, quality also means much more, they include: The degree of excellence that an item possesses; The best money can buy; Meeting a specification; Not more than 1% defective a lot; Anything Japanese; Quality is when the customers come back not the goods.

Dimensions of quality: Over dimensioned quality Under dimensioned quality Dimensioned quality

To achieve a dimensioned quality, the organizations staffs should have exact knowledge of the requirement profile of the products. This part can only be fulfilled if the information regarding the quality is freely exchanged between the various interfaces of the process.

Quality control This term unfortunately can mean everything and nothing! It is normally used to imply inspection of products throughout the manufacturing process to ensure that the finished products meet the standards. The method of checking, analyzing, verification and controlling the desired or expected quality parameters of the garments is said to be quality control.

Quality Assurance is conducted in 4 stages of production: Pre production check (PPC) Initial production check (IPC) During productions check (DUPRO) Final random inspection (FRI)

PRINCIPLES OF QUALITY CONTROL The essential requirements for producing a reliable product has been stated as follows: A satisfactory design of product, thoroughly proved by adequate development testing in order to establish its reliability under the conditions to which it will be subjected in use. This is the Requisite Quality of the product. A full specification of the requirements of this quality, which must be clearly understood by everyone concerned with the production of the constituent parts and of the complete end product. Confirmation that the manufacturing processes are capable of meeting these requirements. Full acceptance, by all those concerned with production, of the responsibility for meeting the standards set by the specification. Checks on the product at every stage of manufacture to detect any departures from the specification. Record essential information derived from these checks to provide accurate evidence for action. Establishment of lines of communication, - i.e. Feedback to Production, - to ensure that this action is taken to effect the appropriate adjustments to materials, process and operatives to maintain FUTURE production within the specification. Instruction in the use, applications and limitations of the product. A study of user experience, feedback to the department's concerned, and rapid remedial action.

An important feature to realise in the establishment of these principles is that, whilst tolerances and quality standards for goods going for despatch may often vary rapidly, depending on the urgency of call-off, it is the duty of Quality Control in enacting items 4-7 above, to stabilise the tolerances and quality standards for goods IN PRODUCTION, based on the recognised Requisite Quality and this largely established from the continual experience gained from item 9 above. Only by production personnel knowing exactly what is expected can they respond to the requirements of Quality Control.

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF QUALITY ASSURANCE The ideal situation is to keep the cost of conforming to the requisite quality as low as possible, whilst at the same time achieving the highest percentage of acceptable production. To find if a company is approaching the optimum total cost trials need to be made to establish the costs of quality control and the cost of defectives. As a first approximation and as a guide, this total cost is usually achieved when prevention costs = failure costs + appraisal costs, as illustrated in the above diagram, and in the diagram below:In this firm the total quality costs were approximately 10% of turnover (very low). By increasing appraisal and prevention a saving on total costs of 15% was effected. This is 15% on 10% of turnover, say 1.5% of 2,000,000 i.e. 30,000 saving in cost, improved product, improved delivery times, and improved customer satisfaction.

THE ROLE OF QUALITY CONTROL In a total quality control scheme, the total involvement of all personnel is required as a philosophy. The staff concerned in all duties must be given authority to carry out their functions. These functions should be defined. Lines of communication and responsibility should be established to carry out an effective policy. Horizontal communication at all levels of personnel between Quality Control, Production and other departments is needed. Also there must be vertical lines, which follow the lines of responsibility and authority. In order to achieve this aim, the terms of reference under which staff work, must be established. This is, perhaps, best accomplished by job descriptions. It is the job of Quality Control to establish the correct information concerning a quality situation, and present this clearly to their colleagues. Persons outside Quality Control must be authorised to make the commercial decisions involved from a pre-established series of options, the consequences of each being fully understood. Payment schemes should be re-examined where necessary to reward quality as well as production, in a balanced way, since both are commercially important.

Quality check points in garment production When end customers or consumers purchase a garment they look for quality first. So, to have a satisfied customer, retailers must keep only quality product in their shops. According to the purchase agreement, buyer can penalize supplier for supplying them defective pieces. It might cost the factory lot of money and goodwill. So the manufacturers take care for garment quality at each stage of production. In maximum cases buyer inspects shipment at factory before accepting the finished garments. Whatever defects found in the final inspection, it is the cumulative figure of previous processes. So it is very important to rectify defective pieces at process where it occurred instead of in the finishing. How defects come in garments? Lot of people and machines are involved in producing a garment. There is an obvious chance of making few faulty garments in a batch due to faulty machine or human intervention. The defective pieces can be corrected by repairing or changing defective parts. But repair work costs money and time. These both increase inefficiency of the company. And if one defect passed through initial process without detecting and correction and process goes on then at the later stages repair cost will be much more than detecting it in initial stage. Production process starts after receiving of fabrics and end after dispatching of packed garments. Generally export house put quality check points at the end of each process to ensure that only quality pieces move to the next process. Department wise quality check points have been explained in the following. Fabric Store 100% fabric inspection Trims inspection Trim & accessories

Cutting Room Marker checking Cut parts checking or audit Bundle inspection 100 % inspection of printing panels 100% inspection of embroidery Inline check point (at critical operation) Roaming checking (Random checking) End of Line checking (100%) Audit of checked pieces Initial finishing inspection (after wash) Final finishing inspection (After Pressing) Internal shipment audit

Printing and Embroidery

Sewing Department

Finishing Department

Fabric Store: In the fabric store fabric is being checked before issuing it to cutting department. In general not all the fabric is checked. Usually 10% of fabrics are checked for good fabric suppliers. For power loom fabric and printed fabric 100% checking is done. Fabrics are checked in flat table, flat table with light box or on fabric checking machine. 4 point system for fabric inspection is used to measure the quality level of the incoming fabric. Trims & Accessory: Trims quality is also very important for having a quality garment. Trims inspection is done randomly against the given standards, like color matching. But for trims and accessories quantity checking is essential. Cutting Room: It is said that cutting is the heart of production. If cutting is done well then chances of occurring defects in the following processes comes down. In cutting room, check points are i) marker checking, ii) cut part audit and iii) bundle checking. Printing Checking: Printing is not a compulsory process. If printing is done in fabric form then printing is being checked in fabric store. For knits garment, maximum printing is done in cut panels. So before issuing cuttings to sewing department, each panel is being checked properly. Defects that are found here is print placement, color matching, misprint or print overlapping or shade variation. Embroidery checking: Like printing embroidery also is not a compulsory process. If there is embroidery work in the garment panels then 100% inspection is done before issuing to sewing. Sewing Department: Checkpoints in the sewing departments are as following.

Inline inspection: In assembly line generally check pints are kept for the critical operations. In these checkpoints, 100% checking is done for partially stitched garments and defect free pieces are forwarded to the next process. This type of checking is used for high value garment. Roaming inspection: In this case checkers roam around the line and randomly check pieces at each operation. Traffic light inspection system: Very few garment manufacturer use this inspection system. In this system each operator is given a card for measuring their quality performance. Quality checker goes to the operator and do random check for few pieces and according to the inspection result, checker marked red or green on the card following rating criteria. End of line inspection or table checking: A checker checks completely stitched garment at the end of the line. 100% checking is done here, Audit of the checked pieces: Very few manufacturers follow this audit procedure but it is very essential checkpoint to assure that only 100% inspected garment are sent to finishing from sewing department. And all defective pieces are repaired before sending to finishing. 7. Finishing Department: Check points in finishing department consists Initial finishing inspection: checking done prior to pressing of the garment at finishing room is known as initial finishing. Final finishing Inspection: After pressing garments are again checked and passed for tagging and packing. Internal final audit: After garments are packed up to certain quantity, quality control team, do audit of packed garments. This process is carried out to ensure that before handing over shipment to buyer QC If the completed work is being checked at each process and defective pieces are corrected before handing to the next process than at the end of production there is very little chance to have a defective at final inspection stage.

Fakir Knitwears Ltd.- where quality comes first The focus of the quality policy of Fakir Knitwear Ltd has been to provide products at a price and service advantage through direct response mechanism. In order to sustain the investments in the key technology area concerning our business, we at Fakir Knitwear have

made significant investment testing and quality assurance equipment from the best in the world in each of our production bases and also ensured a Company-wide standardization discipline through implementation of OEKO-TEX & ISO 9001:2000. These are reinforced periodically through personal interactions between our filed representatives and consumers of our products. Our Companys Advance management team along with well-trained Quality Assurance team ensures the best quality of products to meet the international standard. The quality team follows some standardized international rules which are as follows: Fabric Inspection: 4 Points system (for DyeingSewing In process : Traffic light system Factory Garment Quality AQL : 2.5 AQL Line in Process : 7 pcs system Needle detection report : 9 point system Quality check station point Light 1000 Lucks Moreover the quality team creates various types of report for maintaining the best quality. They always create GSM check report, Light box system report. The process of the quality teams are: Pattern test Trial Inspection In line Process Pre-final process Final Process Fakir Knitwears Ltd is the only factory in Bangladesh that got the nomination from the world renowned buyer H&Ms skip process. The In house quality team maintains the quality and inspection of the H&Ms product and finishes the final inspection. We have also a GPQ team to ensure the work process of quality team. This is for why we are always maintaining the best quality for our friends (buyers) products.