.

Lay-plan: Getting patterns ready for

production
The next step was to print out the patterns on
a plotter. To do so the factory specialist had to
prepare a proper lay-plan, which meant laying
out all pattern blocks in a specific order (in our
case sampling) taking into consideration things
such as fabric length, roll width, the total
number of items to be produced with a
breakdown of sizes. As patterns were now in
their system it was quickly done. The software
used for the lay-plan then suggested the
optimal layout of these geometrical shapes
(patterns) for the quantities we had and other
criteria to make the best use of the fabric and
reduce fabric consumption. Although the
software did this pretty well, there still was
room for improvement.