Anurag Anand 5Kritika Sharma 13 Rajiv Ranjan 20Smriti Suri - 27

INTRODUCTIONWhat is a marker?A marker is a diagram of a precise arrangement of pattern pieces for sizes of a specific style that are to be cut from one spread.What is marker making?Marker making is the process of determining a most efficient layout of pattern pieces for a style, fabric and distribution of sizes.What is marker efficiency? Marker efficiency is defined as a ratio of area of marker used in a garment and area of total marker.

Although most fabric usage is controlled by the marker, the losses outside the marker are far from insignificant.

There are essential losses associated with spreading: ends of ply waste and ends of piece waste.

Since it is impossible to spread the fabric so that all the plies are arranged precisely, the width of the marker must be made a little narrower than the fabric.

This results in width loss.

Direct LossesEnds of ply losses: the limpness and extensibility of fabrics and the limitations of spreading machinery necessitate an allowance of some fabric at the ends of each ply.

Some stable fabrics may permit smaller allowances and some unstable fabrics may require more.

Standards should be established for ends waste and regularly practices should be monitored in the cutting room.

Ends of piece losses: since fabric is produced and processed in batches, there are inevitable losses due to end effects. They may be un-desirable due to distortions created during the finishing of fabric.

The most important ply loss comes because the fabric is not an exact multiple of the ply length.

The spreader must either splice in the next piece, resulting in the loss of fabric from the end of the piece to the nearest splice point, or the part ply must be laid aside as a remnant and processed separately.

To minimise waste, managers have sought to increase the average length of the pieces that are purchased.

This strategy has a number of other advantages including: a reduction in documentation, reduced levels of shade separation of pieces and higher productivity in spreading. This requires good communication, training and systematic monitoring to ensure that the practices are maintained.

Edge losses: The marker is said to be made to the usable width of the fabric. That is dependent on the quality of selvedge, the consistency of fabric width and also on the precision of edge control during spreading. The fabric losses outside the marker are very sensitive to the edge waste allowances. Great care should be taken to see that the allowances are not excessive.

Width variations must be controlled along with these edge allowances.

Splicing losses and fabric faults: During spreading it maybe necessary to cut out fabric faults. It is in the hands of he company to decide whether this will create an inferior product and whether it will be acceptable.

If the marker has been planned without splice positions, and a faulty length of material has to be cut out, the length from the ply end to the fault has to be laid aside as a remnant.

The splice markers decide the wastage. The average waste per splice is approximately half the distance between the splice lines.

Indirect LossesRemnant losses: These are produced when companies separate different shades of fabric pieces and lay up only complete plies or when short lengths of material are left over after the completion of a lay.

Either one remnant lay may be spread over every production lay, or the lays may be accumulated over a period of time and a deeper lay spread to reduce cutting costs.

Marker planning losses: It is not unusual for fabric to be received which has less than the specification usable width. To avoid downgrading cut panels, because they contain selvedge edges, a new marker must be prepared.

There may also be special markers responding to customer requirements, or due to production pressures.

Ticket Length losses: In many cases, a gross length is recorded, which is the distance between the ends, and also a net length, which is the distance for which the charge is made.

The difference between the two figures arises because the supplier credits the purchaser with an agreed length of fabric for each strung fault.

Marker Making ParametersIn recent years the number of markers required by apparel manufacturers has escalated disproportionately to growth. Orders are getting smaller, the number of different styles is increasing, and lead times are getting shorter- all of which put more pressure on the marker making department.

Objectives of marker planning and marker making: -Optimizing fabric utilization through marker making -Understanding the importance of the same in apparel and garments manufacture.

The results of cut order planning depend on cutting orders that direct marker planning and lay planning.

The purpose of marker planning is to determine the most efficient combination of sizes and shades for each order and to produce the best fabric yield and equipment utilization.

One garments cutting order may require several markers to achieve optimum efficiency of marker. Usually one of these is a remnant marker for the short pieces and ends of rolls left over. This helps to reduce fabric waste. Each marker requires a lay of fabric.

Requirements of Marker PlanningThe nature of the fabric and the desired result in the finished garment Pattern alignment in relation to the grain of the fabric.Symmetry and asymmetry.Design characteristic of the finished garment.

Requirements of quality in cutting

The requirements of production planning.

Spreading Parameters

Shade Sorting Of Cloth Pieces : A garment made from parts cut from different pieces would be likely to show shaded effect between different panels. Thus after delivery they should be sorted into batches such that the shade variation is undetectable.

Correct Ply Direction And Adequate lays stability: These two factors must be considered together as the opportunities for achieving them are related. They depend on fabric type, pattern shape and the spreading equipment that is available.

Alignment of plies: every ply should comprise at least of the length and width of the marker plan, but should have the minimum possible extra outside those measurements.

Correct Ply Tension: If the plies are spread with too slack a tension they will lie in ridges in irregular fullness. If plies are spread in a stretched state, they will maintain the tension while held in the lay.

Elimination of Fabric Faults: Fabric faults may be identified by the fabric suppliers, and additional faults maybe detected during examination of the fabric by the garment manufacturer prior to spreading.

Setup of SpreadingInvolves the same basic steps as each cutting order issued: a)Marking of the table for the precise length of the marker.

b)Marking splice points

c)Placing spreading paper

d)Marking various sections.

Bibliographyhttp://fibres2fabrics.blogspot.in/2011/05/dimensions-types-of-markers-splicing.htmlMaterial Management in Clothing Production David J. Tyler.Glock and Kunz.

Splice marks are points in a marker where fabrics can be cut and the next piece overlapped to maintain a continuous spread.*