Production Planning & Merchandising

Planning:Planning is exercise of intelligent anticipation in order to establish how an objective can be achieved, or a need fulfilled, in circumstances which are invariable restrictive. Planning is an act of prediction, the accuracy of which varies enormously depending upon the kind of objective, kind of circumstances, the skill of the planner and his techniques and chance.

There are three types of planning:

1.Production planning relating the qualities of sale.2.Production planning relating to the method.3.Production planning relating to time.

Production

Production is the process by which goods and services are created. Production systems combine materials, labors, and capital resources in an organized way with the objective of producing some goods or service. Production system may occur in factories, banks, stores, hospitals etc. In all instances, some input to the system is being processed within the system to produce a goods or services as an output; we are in fact dealing with the operations phases of any enterprise.

Objectives of Production Planning• To determine capacity of all manufacturing departments and to plan

systematically coordinated • To translate orders received from sales department into orders on the

works department and to ensure steady plans of production activities.• To promote fuller utilization of plants.• To assist labor towards right and greater earnings.• To train staff in the effective performance of their duties

MerchandisingMerchandising is a process through which products are planned, developed, executed and presented to the buyer. It includes directing and overseeing the development of product line from start to finish. Marketing and merchandising department: A team of merchandisers and marketers work together under a profit controls head. Merchandisers handle the vendors/buyers. The teams are made according to the vendors/buyers being handled.

Type of merchandising done in garment exports• Marketing merchandising.• Product merchandising.

Merchandisers responsibility• Product Development • Market and product Analysis • Selling the concept • Booking orders • Confirming Deliveries • Designing and Sampling • Costing • Mediating production and quality departments • Giving shipping instructions and following shipping, • Helping documentation department• Taking responsibility for inspections and • Following up the shipment.

Theirs Findings• Flow chart of production planning• Description of production planning• Procedure of production planning• Garments export procedure• Process of line balancing• SMV calculation & analysis• Sequence of product development• Company profile• Planning & Production Planning• Types of production planning• Object & procedure of production planning• Qualification & responsibilities of a merchandiser• Work study & method study• Objects of their work

Our Findings

Mainly we are focusing on merchandising in details & work of a merchandiser in production planning in every stage of garment section.

MethodologyFlow process of garments manufacturing:

Description of Export procedure:

Pricing:It is also called costing. Fabric cost, Accessories cost, CM cost, Overhead cost,

Transportation cost etc is included hereSpace bookingSpace booking is very important for production. While getting approval, space booking

is must for storing fabric and accessoriesP.O. sent by buyerFull meaning of P.O is purchase order. It is sent by vendor/buyer when order is

confirmed. P.O contains order no, date, supplier description, vendor/buyer name & address, factory name & address, product description, packing description, terms & conditions & various instructions.

Master L/C sent by buyerL/C means letter of credit. It is a very important document. Master L/C is sent by buyer

and it is made by bank. L/C contains all the payment & other termsMaking of T & A calendarIt means time & action calendar. In this calendar all the planning actions are done by

which works run to meet the delivery date.Fabric & accessories booking:Fabric & accessories are booked according to T & A calendar. It is done by

merchandiser.

BTB opening:BTB means Back to back L/C. It is opened against the master L/C. For fabric & accessories booking it is

essential and it is done for security.Fabric & trims in house:Fabric & trims are come to the store, store in charge check them if there is any damage of box & then

in house them. Checking inventory & making inventory report:Then inventory is checked again and make a report. This report goes to the commercial department &

merchandiser.PP meeting:PP meeting stands for pre-production meeting. It is done before bulk production of an order.

Following Persons are present in this meeting.Merchandisers.Production manager.Cutting master.Quality controller.Production planning officer.Production planning managerPattern checking & trial cutting:After PP meeting pattern is checked again and trial cutting is done to check, the cutting is correct or

wrong.Bulk cutting:Bulk cutting is done for bulk production. From here bulk production is start.

Numbering, sorting & bundling:Cutting pieces are numbered, sorted & then bundled for easy production.Production line set up:It is also called line balancing. It is very important for bulk production. The

objectives of line balancing are given below: Higher productivity Proper work flow Quality product Fair distribution of workers Cost savings In-time delivery to buyer Increase efficiency etc.Bulk Production:It includes:SewingIroningIn-line inspection etc.

Finishing:After bulk production finishing is done.Final inspection booking:Booking is required for final inspection. In a inspection industry, time is very

sensitive matter. So before finale inspection one needs to book the inspection table for a particular order.

Final inspection:During final inspection, present 3rd party QC:SGSITSMoodyBureau VERITAS etc.IC (Inspection certificate):The international inspection group gives a certificate of their inspection.Truck loading & transport to the port:Cargo Company takes the vessel to the port by truck or other.Hand over the goods to the logistic firms:They handover it to the logistic firm at port and after loading to the ship get the

bill of lading.

• Merchandisers work in design section:

Results & discussion:We have found that Pakistan is lacking of quality fashion designers. Economy of Pakistan mostly depends on RMG sector but there is not sufficient opportunity for good fashion designers. So there is good possibility of improving our industry if we can improve our fashion as well as design sector.

Production planning in pattern section:

Merchandiser work in pattern section:• Pattern master makes the garments pattern.

Merchandiser only checks that the pattern is according to buyer’s recommendation or not. He/she send buyer information if any modification of pattern is possible.

Result & discussion:• Theoretical and practical section has a huge

difference in pattern section. Those we have learned in theoretically are not implemented in this section directly; they use their own easy method to make a pattern.

Spreading:• After ratio break down planning of spreading is done. In this planning

mainly the method of spreading is selected by which method spreading of fabric will be done such as normal, one way, slitting, zigzag etc.

• A sample of Spreading machine inspection of Padma poly cotton is given below

Result & discussion: Spreading quantity depends on buyer requirements. In the above table we have seen that the variation of spreading is different because there are different kinds of buyer. Another reason is manual spreading is used in some tables. That’s why the spreading lay quantity is varying.

Cutting:• Cutting plan is done here. How the cutting process will be run and quality will be

maintained discussed here. Some cutting plan is given below:

Result & discussion: In cutting section cutting pieces are varying for following reasons, such as-

• Number of pieces.• Number of layer.• Cutting fault.• Manual spreading.• From above it is seen that table 1 & 3 cutting man keep consistency because they

are more professional than others. Other reason is fabric lay are manually spreaded in table 2 & 4 and their cut pieces found much more faults.

Merchandiser work in cutting section:• Merchandiser does the ratio breakdown for marker for marker planning

and then he sends it to CAD section for producing an efficient marker. He helps to make decision of fabric spreading. In cutting his main job is to help in making the flow process of cutting. Sometimes when cutting supervisor cannot solve any problem then a merchandiser try to solve it.

Result & discussion:• Though it is the duty of merchandiser to make ratio breakdown sheet, we

have seen it is done by line in charge practically. In case of spreading manual & normal spreading is done. Manual spreading is done because spreading machine is very costly & manual spreading method is appropriate for Bangladesh. Every marker is checked before starting a cutting in this factory and sometimes it is found that there is measurement mistake in marker, and then is fixed manually. It is the fault of CAD operator. They should be well trained.

Production planning in sewing section:In sewing section before starting production some planning is done. This planning includes line balancing, No of machine required for each part, No of operator, planning of inspection. When to start, production per day, and fabric & accessories arrival from store etc is discussed here.

Merchandiser work in sewing section: First of all in sewing section merchandiser do the line balancing to assure maximum production in short time. He/she selects the machines & number of machines required for on order. If buyer gives the S.M.V sheet, then merchandiser checks if it is appropriate for the factory. If it is not appropriate, then merchandiser bargains with buyer to modify S.M.V. It’s his duty to reduce S.M.V for factory production, because more the S.M.V lowers, higher the production.

• SMV: SMV stands for standard minute value. It is very

important for garments especially in production section. It is mainly done to control the speed of production.

• SMV Calculation:Normal Time: Average observed time performance

rating.SMV = Basic time + (Allowances Basic time)

= Basic time (1 +Allowances Time)

Target = * Efficiency

Planning in store section:• Store section is also very important for factory as cutting, sewing and like other

section. If improper planning is done for Store section then followings can be occurred:• Less material (Accessories/Trims/Fabric) can be stored (If not counted properly).• Quality of stored materials may not be correct (If inspection is done incorrectly).• Stored materials can be damaged due to improper maintenance (Improper

Temperature/Dust/faulty materials control).• Materials can be stoles if security is not maintained correctly.Merchandiser work in Store section:• Merchandiser is responsible to book fabric and accessories from other supplier

and he checks the arrival of fabric and accessories in due time. He will be responsible it goods are not come in correct time.

Result & discussion:• In store section we have seen how accessories come, inspected and in house

them. Unfortunately there was no supply of fabric while we were in fabric sector. In fabric sector we have seen the quality inspection process of fabric in 4 point system.

• Production planning in finishing section:

• Merchandiser work in finishing section:In finishing section merchandiser helps to do the planning of a particular order and sometimes his duty is to come in finishing section to check that finishing is running in correct or faulty method.Result & discussion:This is the finale section before dispatching goods to ship. Outlook is a great factor in RMG sector. If all the quality is good but finishing is faulty then customer will not pay attention to it, so buyer will reject the goods before shipment. So it is wise to do as buyer requirement & it is better if it is possible to modify the requirement to increase outlook quality, but for this one must take advice from buyer.

• Confirmation & T & AC Make• Fit sample confirmation & T & AC Make• Fit sample Approval• Lab-dip submission• Lab-dip approval• Receiving the Master L/C• Yarn/Fabric/Trim Booking• BTB L/C opening for Booking

Accessories/Trims• PP sample submission• PP sample approval• Trims submission• Trims approval• Yarn/Fabric/Trims in house• Inventory of received Yarn/Fabric/Tri• Bulk Fabric/Test reports submission• Bulk Fabric/Test reports approval• Bulk production• Test of production sample

• Test sample approval• Final Inspection• Ex-Factory date• Cut-off d• Receipt of Bill of Lading

Objective of the studyBroad objective: • The broad objective of this report is to analyze the entire

departmental work process of Garments (woven/knit) industry and addressing related departmental shortcomings in light of marketing.

Specific objectives:• To address the broad objectives, there should have some specific

objectives. These are:• To find out how all departments of Garments factory operates.• To analyze critically all aspects of the departmental work

procedures.• To analyze how all departments coordinate among themselves.• To find out major existing and potential controllable and

uncontrollable shortcomings of all departments and their effects on overall marketing of the organization.

• To find ways to overcome the shortcomings in light of marketing tools and concepts.

• To represent a brief overview of RMG sector.

Limitations of the study• Major limitations of this study are outlined below:• All personnel are always very much busy and work

under extreme pressure for their nature of job and huge volume of the business. Thus they couldn’t give me sufficient time.

• Since all their buyers are located outside of the country therefore it was not possible to measure their image from customers’ point of view.

• Due to time and cost restriction, the study is concentrated in selected major departments.

• The study has been conducted based on observing and interview of the employees.

• Limited sample size for interview.

Findings: • Production planning & merchandising work is huge task. We try our best to work as much

as possible. Mainly we observed the garments section in the factory. In garments section we observed mainly the marker, spreading, cutting, merchandising & finishing section. We have found that where the automatic production process is used there is much production than manual production process. Skill worker is one of the main issues to effective production process. Administrative tools also play a vital role for effective production planning.

Is further work is necessary: Production planning & merchandising is a lot of work, we cannot touch the all of thing

because of short time. There are lots of things which are studying more on production planning & merchandising.