Cutting Room Management

Aim of Cutting room:

 The main object of cutting room is to secure nonstop supply flow of garment piece to sewing
floor
 Follow the plan sheet efficiently to support production team
 To cut garment parts economically
 To cut garment parts accurately

Importance of Cutting room management

Cutting room is one of the essential parts of the garment industry where has a lot of options to increase
profit margin. Let’s discuss some of them to guess the importance of the efficient management of the
cutting room to increase productivity in garment manufacturing process:

 As we know cutting room is the feeding point of the garment industry. Thus cutting chief has to
communicate with higher management and planning team frequently to follow the plan sheet
every day to start a large number of garments cutting at a time. Early step of cutting guy will
enhance productivity that will secure further processes of garment manufacturing.
 Efficient and well-planned operations in cutting room will minimize errors and hassles to reduce
production costs that will expedite workflow to all further processes. Combined steps of
planning and cutting team can make sure the utilization of the available resources.
 As we know in garments manufacturing business fabric cost is about 70% of the total garment
cost. So any small step to reduce wastage or saving of the fabric will have a huge effect on the
profit margins of the orders. Cutting room can control the utilization of fabric through proper
monitoring of spreading and cutting techniques.
 Any single negligence in cutting process will bring a worse situation of the quality standards of all
further processes. So modern equipment and expertise should engage in cutting processes to
reduce extra costs and hassles.

Points to focus to achieve better Fabric Cutting Room Productivity

But besides having these high-performance precision machines, can we take any measures in
order to save the fabric cost? LET’S FIND OUT!

1. Preparation of a good cut plan

To increase material utilisation, cut plans should be prepared based on different limitations
provided for the ease of operations. Sometimes, these limitations are from the customer, such as:

 length of the table,

 maximum / minimum no. of garment to be put in the marker,
 the garments allowed to be cut in pairs only,
 maximum / minimum no. of plies to be put in the lays,
 markers in multiple of certain marker, and
 extra pieces allowed to cut over target quantity.
Making a manual cut plan adhering to the above limitations is a tedious task. It becomes even
more tedious when you have dozens of orders lined up on a daily basis. On the top of that,
manual processes are prone to human error and have lesser consistency in terms of giving good
results.

2. Preparation of relevant patterns and markers, and cutting on the floor

After the process of fabric inspection, the cutting department begins with fabric planning. Here
(depending on the cut-plan and fabric grouping) the cutting department can give the pattern
maker (CAD department) instructions on what shrinkage should be used for which size set.

These instructions can be provided by summarizing all fabric roll information i.e. width,
shrinkage families, in certain range and sometimes, shades. This helps in avoiding preparation of
redundant patterns. The same information must be available to the person laying the fabric on
the cutting floor. This can help the department to keep a check on the cutting operations and
minimise mistakes in order to get the planned output and to meet the daily targets.

3. Grouping of width
The concept of width grouping is simple. Width grouping is done to utilise variable width across
the fabric rolls and maximise savings in fabric consumption. Following are the ways that can be
practiced for width grouping:

(i) Group fabric based on actual width: several width ranges can be grouped into one group and
thus width groups can be identified over a certain jump of width. This jump is called width offset
or width range.

(ii) Same ratio marker made on multiple widths: Quantity of fabric in each group is known
which helps in calculating the number of garments that can be cut from that group. Thus plies
can be distributed over the different width markers accordingly.

To have better fabric consumption, prepare only relevant markers with specified widths instead
of making markers with the minimum width fabric. This practice monetises on the actual width
available hence maximising utilisation.

4. End-bit utilisation
Different markers have different lengths and so do the fabric rolls. This creates a wastage
opportunity where every fabric roll tends to generate a minimum of one end-bit (an end-bit is a
fabric piece smaller than the lay length, left after roll completion). It is important to fully utilise
the end-bits in order to reduce wastage.

These end-bits have to be grouped as per lengths and markers have to be made accordingly to
efficiently utilise them. The thought seems simple but may get complex while execution. With
hundreds of rolls and dozens of markers, the number of possible combinations are infinite and
thus reaching to a perfect combination is a difficult task.
This is the case for one order. Can you imagine the same for a cutting floor where huge volumes
of orders are planned and executed daily The effort of doing this task manually is huge and
nearly impossible.

5. Meeting packing ratios

Every Purchase Order comes with a pre-specified packing ratio. The lay-wise output may not
always conform to this ratio which adds another dimension to the problem. But what if the plies
per lay are pre-set to conform to this ratio? This can be done by allocating the number of plies at
the lay-planning stage itself.

6. Detailed reports
Fabric reconciliation can be a huge problem once the production starts. Damages in fabric lead
to a shortfall in production unless a damage allowance has already been incorporated. Even in a
case where allowance is incorporated, it is done at the fabric buying stage by accounting for an
overall wastage percentage. This allowance is highly variable.

Laying of fabric for cutting, sewing and fabric stocking should take place concurrently to enable
continuous production of garments without a break. The reports should be elaborate and should
include all the attributes of the uses to have clear picture of the fabric stock and its consumption.
The same report should be available for future references for any similar orders, which in-
general is again a very tedious task to manage.

7. Defect tracking and reducing defective garments

At the time of finishing, defects concerning measurement problems can be traced back to the
patterns of a certain shrinkage allowance, which are cut on fabric rolls with some different
shrinkage allowance.

So, shrinkage grouping for rolls at the lay planning stage should be done properly and allocated
to the respective lays. The same information of shrinkage grouping can be used by subsequent
processes of garment finishing. This will help in producing consistent garments, by applying the
same conditions at finishing processes for the same shrinkage groups.

This in turn helps in reducing the numbers of rejections or deviations from the standard. Hence,
if fabric shrinkage grouping is done properly, the cut-to-pack ratio could be improved.

Tasks in the cutting room

• 1. PATTERN / MARKER: ACCORDING TO THE DESIGN AND FIT, PATTERNS OF

DIFFERENT GARMENT PARTS ARE MADE ON THE PATTERN PAPER AND CUT INTO
PATTERN PIECES. FOR MANUAL MARKER THESE PATTERN PIECES ARE USED FOR
MARKER MAKING. ON THE OTHER HAND IN CAD SYSTEM PATTERNS ARE MADE IN
COMPUTER. LATER USING A PLOTTER MARKERS ARE MADE ON SHEET. IN THE
SECOND CASE CUTTING DEPARTMENT RECEIVE READY MARKER.
2. CUT RATIO RECEIVING: PRIOR TO CUTTING, CUTTING DEPARTMENT GET A JOB
SHEET FROM PLANNING DEPARTMENT OR MERCHANDISER OR PRODUCTION
MANAGER THAT INCLUDES TOTAL QUANTITY OF GARMENT PIECES TO BE CUT,
SIZES RATIO OF THE GARMENTS AND COLOUR-WISE SIZE BREAK UP. ACCORDING
TO THE SIZE AND COLOUR RATIO CUTTING TEAM PREPARE ONE MARKER OR
MULTIPLE MARKERS. MARKER LENGTH AND NUMBER OF LAY TO BE CUT ARE
PLANNED IN THIS STAGE.

3. FABRIC RECEIVING: FABRIC REQUIREMENT FOR AN ORDER IS

CALCULATED ACCORDING TO THE AVERAGE CONSUMPTION OF THE FABRIC
FROM THE MARKER. IN CASE OF MULTIPLE COLOUR ORDER, COLOUR WISE
REQUIREMENT IS MADE. FABRIC DEPARTMENT ISSUE FABRIC TO CUTTING
AGAINST THE FABRIC REQUIREMENT (GENERALLY REQUISITION SLIP IS USED).

4. FABRIC RELAXATION: THIS PROCESS IS OPTIONAL. SPECIALLY USED FOR

KNITS FABRIC. DURING ROLLING OF FABRIC IT GET STRETCHED. SO IT IS
ESSENTIAL TO BRING THE FABRIC ON STABLE FORM OTHERWISE GARMENT
WOULD SHRINK AFTER MAKING. TO RELAX THE FABRIC ROLL OR THAN IS
OPENED AND SPREAD AND KEPT FOR ABOUT 24 HOURS.
5. SPREADING: IN THIS STAGE FABRIC SHEET IS LAYERED ONE ABOVE
ANOTHER MAINTAINING PRE-DEFINED MAKER LENGTH AND CORRECT PLY
TENSION. FABRIC IS LAYERED UP TO A CERTAIN HEIGHT TO AVOID CUTTING
QUALITY PROBLEM. SPREADING IS DONE BY MANUAL LAYERING OR AUTOMATIC
LAYERING MACHINE CAN BE USED. DURING LAYERING OF THE FABRIC, FABRIC
EDGE IS ALIGNED AT ONE SIDE.
6. MARKER MAKING: AFTER LAYERING OF A LAY, PRE MADE PAPER
PATTERNS (OR READY MARKERS MADE BY PLOTTER) ARE PLACED ON THE TOP
LAYER OF THE LAY. IN MANUAL MARKER MAKING, MARKING IS DONE AROUND
EACH PATTERN SHAPE USING MARKING CHALK. THIS PROCESS IS CALLED AS
MARKER MAKING. IN A MARKER ALL GARMENT COMPONENTS ARE PLACED.

7. CUTTING: LAY IS CUT FOLLOWING THE MARKED LINES ON THE TOP OF

THE LAY. CUTTING IS DONE USING STRAIGHT KNIFE OR OTHER CUTTING MEANS.
IN CUTTING PROCESS GARMENT COMPONENT ARE SEPARATED. ON THE BASIS OF
PATTERN SHAPE DIFFERENT CUTTING METHOD/ MACHINE ARE SELECTED.

8. NUMBERING: SEPARATED GARMENT COMPONENTS ARE NUMBERED TO

ENSURE THAT IN STITCHING ALL COMPONENTS FROM SAME LAYER ARE
STITCHED TOGETHER. IT IS IMPORTANT TO AVOID SHADE VARIATION IN A
GARMENT. BETWEEN THE CUTTING AND SEWING PROCESSES CUT COMPONENTS
MAY BE PASSED THROUGH OTHER PROCESSES LIKE PRINTING AND EMBROIDERY.
THERE IS MAXIMUM CHANCE OF MIXING OF THE COMPONENTS. IF THERE IS
LAYER NUMBER IN EACH COMPONENT THEN AT THE TIME OF STITCHING ONLY
CORRECT COMPONENTS WILL BE STITCHED TOGETHER.
9. SORTING: ACCORDING TO PRODUCTION SYSTEM (MAKE THROUGH,
PROGRESSIVE BUNDLE OR ONE PIECE FLOW SYSTEM) CUT COMPONENTS ARE
SORTED. IN SORTING ALL COMPONENT OF A GARMENT PLACED TOGETHER. SIZE
WISE SORTING AND IN CASE MULTIPLE COLOURS ARE CUT IN A SINGLE LAY,
COLOUR WISE SORTING WILL BE REQUIRED.

10. BUNDLING: AS PER THE PRODUCTION LINE REQUIREMENT A CERTAIN

NUMBER OF PIECES WITH ALL COMPONENT ARE TIED TOGETHER. THIS PROCESS
IS KNOWN AS BUNDLING. EACH BUNDLE IS MARKED WITH BUNDLE NUMBER,
STYLE NAME, SIZE NUMBER AND QUANTITY OF PIECES IN THAT BUNDLE. AT THIS
STAGE CUTTING ARE READY TO SEND TO PRODUCTION LINE FOR STITCHING.

CUTTING DEFECTS

• FRAYED EDGES: MAY IMPEDE CUTTING TIME BY CLOGGING THE KNIFE

ACTION AND /OR HAMPER THE FABRIC WITH RIPS OR PULLED YARNS. THE
AMOUNT OF FRAYING DEPENDS ON FABRIC CONSTRUCTION AND FINISH.
• PLY-TO-PLY FUSION: ADJACENT PLIES IN A BLOCK ARE FUSED TOGETHER,
WHICH MAKES IT DIFFICULT FOR THE SEWING MACHINE OPERATOR TO PICK UP A
SINGLE PLY QUALITY. FUSION OCCURS DUE TO HEAT CREATED BY EXCESSIVELY
HIGH SPEED OF CUTTING OR BY THE FRICTION OF A DULL KNIFE.
• SINGLE-EDGE FUSION: CONSISTS OF A SINGLE PLY. SOMETIMES, THIS IS
DESIRABLE TO PREVENT FRAYING; HOWEVER, HARDNESS AND BRITTLENESS ARE
UNDESIRABLE IF THEY IMPEDE SEWING MANIPULATION OR MAY RESULT IN
SEAMS BEING UNCOMFORTABLE TO THE CONSUMER.
PATTERN PRECISION: MISSHAPE OR DISTORTION OF THE PATTERN PERIMETER AS
CUT. WHETHER IT IS UNDER-OR OVERCUT IS DUE TO THE POOR MANUAL
CONTROL OF THE CUTTING MACHINE AND POOR LINES ON THE MARKER.
• NOTCHES: NOTCH SIZE REFERS TO THE DEPTH OF A NOTCH. IF THE DEPTH
IS TOO GREAT, THE NOTCH MAY SHOW AFTER A GARMENT IS SEWN. IF THE
NOTCHES ARE TOO SMALL, SEWING OPERATORS MAY HAVE DIFFICULTY
LOCATING THEM QUICKLY, RESULTING IN DECREASED EFFICIENCY.
• DRILLING: THE DRILL HOLE MAY BE TOO LARGE OR TOO SMALL IN
DIAMETER. IN ADDITION, A DRILL MAY BECOME TOO HOT DUE TO HIGH SPEED OR
WRONG SIZE, CAUSING THE PLIES TO FUSE TOGETHER AT THE DRILL HOLE.

Flow process of cutting room

Cutting methods, machines and tools.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CUTTING ROOM MANAGER

A CUTTING ROOM MANAGER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGING THE CUTTING UP

OF FABRIC, READY TO MAKE INTO
APPAREL.
THEY NORMALLY PLAN THE WORK FOR THE MONTH AHEAD, OVERSEE THE WORK
BEING CARRIED OUT, MAKE SURE PRODUCTION TARGETS ARE MET AND CREATE
PRODUCTION FORMS.
CUTTING ROOM MANAGERS OFTEN WORK CLOSELY WITH WAREHOUSE STAFF,
CUTTING ROOM STAFF AND SEWING MACHINIST. MANAGEMENT DUTIES ALSO
INCLUDE OVERSEEING STAFF WELFARE AND HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
• OVERSEEING THE STAGE IN CLOTHING PRODUCTION WHERE FABRICS ARE
CUT READY TO BE MADE INTO GARMENTS
• MAKING SURE THE WORK IS DONE ACCURATELY, COST EFFECTIVELY AND
TO HIGH STANDARDS
• MANAGING STAFF.
• MARKER PLANNING, CALCULATING MARKER EFFICIENCY AND WORK ON
SAVING FABRIC
• MAINTAINING AND RECORDING CUTTING, FABRIC CONSUMPTION
• FABRIC RECONCILIATION FOR CUTTING DEPARTMENT
• DETERMINING PRODUCTION FABRIC AVERAGE
• MEETING WITH PRODUCTION MANAGER AND DISCUSSION ABOUT CUT
PLAN
• CUTTING QUALITY AND FUSING QUALITY CONTROL