Tuesday 12 January 2016

GARMENT FINAL INSPECTION PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS

QA officer is totally committed to providing the customers with only the highest quality available to meet the customer’s lifestyle requirements. So, final inspection must be done correctly.

Standard Inspection Package (SIP)

To ensure the best performance of the inspection and obtain the most reliable result, a Standard Inspection Package (SIP) must be supplied by the factory. The SIP includes, but is not limited to the following items:

  •  Preproduction samples or TOP samples
  •  An 8 x 8 inch fabric swatch for each approved color/print
  •  Brand approved wash shades should be provided (i.e. denim Pigment dye, etc.)
  •  Size specifications including tolerances approved
  •  Sketches, photos, or drawing of the products. 
  •  Brand’s “How to Measure” for every style
  •  Approved actual accessories, hang tags and labels
  •  Assortment sheet indicating style number, quantity, delivery, and color assortment.
  •  Packing instructions
  •  Testing reports and results, current factory social compliance audit and results
  •  Any other information the factory deems important to the inspection

PACKAGING STANDARD

There is virtually zero tolerance allowed for packing discrepancies during inspection.The following packing discrepancies are unacceptable and would deem an inspection as “failing”
  • Incorrect Hang Tag/Price Tag
  • Incorrect information on Hang Tag/Price Tag
  • Missing Hang Tag/Price Tag
  • Damaged Hang Tag/Price Tag
  • Altered Hang Tag/Price Tag
  • Incorrect style/color/ratio in carton
  • Incorrect packaging –
  • flat pack/hanger pack
  • Unreadable or Missing label on carton
  • Wrong size carton

FINAL INSPECTION

The final inspection shall be conducted on finished garments when the production stage is 100% complete.

The inspector shall observe the inspection location. No inspection shall take place without adequate lighting. If the inspector feels the lighting is not sufficient, first request better accommodations. If none are available, the inspection shall proceed as scheduled, however, a comment shall be written on page one of the report stating that the inspection was conducted under less than optimum lighting. If the lighting is very bad so that it prohibits vision, then the report shall be marked as not ready.
Before starting the final inspection, the inspector must receive a full and complete PO/inventory list of all carton numbers in the shipment that are complete and ready for inspection. A copy of this carton inventory shall be attached to the inspection report. Only cartons shown on the carton inventory are to be inspected. The inspector shall perform the random sampling from only the cartons shown on the carton inventory.
The inspector shall record in the comments section on the report, the identification numbers of the cartons that are randomly selected for inspection.
The inspector shall stamp or sign each inspected carton .

GENERAL INSPECTION GUIDELINE

If the factory is short/over shipping and the amount is greater than +/-5% the inspector shall provide a comment in the report and describe the percentage from the order quantity.

The inspections are to be conducted in accordance with ANSI/ASQ Z1.42008, Normal Inspection, General Level II.
Example for Sampling:
Inspection of the sampled garments is explained as follows:
Based on experience, a plain, simple garment such as a tee shirt or a skirt, without special trims or decorations, will take a minimum of 2 minutes to inspect. Inspecting a 200 piece sampling using 2 minutes per garment will incorporate but is not limited to the quality check, measurements, color matching and recording of discrepancies. Based on the above information, 200 garments x 2 minutes each = 400 minutes / 60 minutes per hour = 7 hours. The remaining time will consist of inspection set-up, sample selection, reporting and communications with factory representatives.
  • The AQL is 0 for Critical defects,
  • 2.5 for Major defects—including critical measurement points that are out of tolerance
  • 4.0 for Minor defects—including non-critical measurement points that are out of tolerance.
Critical Defect: Any defect or feature of the product that may pose a safety hazard to the customer or end user. Zero tolerance will be applied to the acceptable quantity of critical defects found within a shipment. A critical defect will automatically render the inspection as rejected.
Major Defect: Anything that adversely affects the appearance, performance including fit or customer satisfaction, to a degree that would provide a discerning customer with justification of non-purchase, a return, or complaint.
Minor Defect: Any variation from the standard that is not sufficient in degree to be classified as major, and that would not provide a discerning customer with justification for non-purchase, a return, or complaint.

Garments must be inspected for workmanship and construction defects.

Inspectors must thoroughly check seams for stitching defects including pocket pouches, plackets should be even side to side, inseam lengths must be even at snap areas. Garments must fully be turned inside out and seams and stitching must be checked thoroughly for broken/missed stitches, sloppy stitching, notched fabric under stitching and any other fabric or stitching defects that could be found on the outside of a garment.
Inspector shall pull on buttons, snaps, etc. to make certain they are securely attached (see next article- critical defects).
Buttons, snaps, zippers, Velcro, etc. must be checked by the inspector to verify they work/function properly.
Inspectors must pay careful attention to zipper function and determine if the zipper "stop" device functions correctly. This process must be conducted by both of the following 2 methods.
1) With the zipper "teeth" not connected and with the two front panels of the garment in the open/separated/not connected position -pull the zipper head to the upper most position and then to the lower most position and determine if the zipper head is stopped at both the top and bottom positions
2) With the zipper teeth connected/engaged and with the teeth of the 2 panels zipped together, pull the zipper head to the upper most position and to the lower most position. If the zipper head becomes separated/detached/comes off, this is considered a small part and is a Critical Defect on all children’s garments and a Major Defect on other garments. This condition is of particular concern on tops and jackets.
Embroidered areas must be checked for untrimmed threads. If excessive threads or non-woven backing are found, this must be noted in the comments.
All button and button hole sewing must be lock stitched to prevent sewing threads unraveling and resulting in buttons dropping off or fraying of buttonholes.
Inspectors shall check for pocket placement, shape, and evenness of pockets. They should be consistent in shape, size, and placement garment to garment as well as side to side on the same garment. Defective pockets include: distorted in shape, placed hi-low to each other, placed crooked or at differing angles, inconsistent in size, shape or placement garment to garment, etc.
Labeling information should be checked against the information provided by Brand. If a label is missing, wording is misspelled, or wording is not readable, this is considered a major defect. Labeling shall be checked on all measured garments.
A tracking label must be available and include all required information on all Children’s products being inspected. The inspector shall include a comment to indicate it was found on the product and include a photo of the label in the report. If a tracking label is not provided the inspection shall be REJECTED.
When no standard is provided, any shading variation visible to the inspector, within a garment or garment to garment, is not acceptable. If any shading is observed, the inspection must be REJECTED and the quantity and range of shades must be reported in the comments section of the report.
When shading is not evident, the inspector must comment on the report. For example: No shade variation within a garment or garment to garment.
Garments taken from the first carton must be compared to the next carton, etc. to insure that color, appearance, overall size, hand/feel, etc. are the same.
Inspector shall verify that the correct hanger number matches what is specified in the tech pack (do not verify via the hanger supplier name). If the hanger number matches the information provided in the tech pack, there is no need to place the inspection On Hold.
A test report must be available at the factory. The inspector shall include in comments if a test report is available, record the test report number and the result of the testing.
A Social Compliance Audit report must be provided by the factory. The inspector shall include in the comments if a report is available and record the date of the last audit and the audit result.
If packaging discrepancies are observed, the inspector shall provide a comment describing the discrepancies. Place inspection REJECTED for this.
Inspector must identify all defects by applying a piece of colored tape or appropriate marker on the garment, near the defect.

MEASUREMENTS

All points of measure for each style should be measured. If all measurements are not taken another inspection will be required.
Measurements are to be checked on 10% of the sample size but a minimum of 3 garments per size.
All measured garments must also be inspected for quality defects.
If one garment has a quality defect and a measurement defect, this is to be listed on the report as a multiple defect. Indicate on the measurement chart which measured garment also had the quality defect.
If a measurement is an exact spec, place a check mark (v) in the space. If the measurement is not exact spec but still within tolerance write down number, if spec is out of tolerance write down number and circle it, the actual measurement must be reported.
All out of tolerance measurements defined as critical  and recorded in the 2.5 AQL as a major defect. The balance of measurements taken during the inspection that are found to be out of tolerance will be defined as non-critical and recorded in the 4.0 AQL as a minor defect.

DEFECT LABELING

All defects on a garment must be tagged. If there is more than one defect on a single garment, this is considered a multiple defect and should be listed as a multiple defect on the report. The garment is only counted as defective once.

REPORTING

Upon completion of the inspection, the report and inspection findings must be reviewed with an authorized factory representative. Every defect must be shown to the factory representative
Following the review of the report and inspection findings, the factory representative will be asked to sign the inspector’s draft copy of the report. If the representative refuses to sign, print the person’s name on the report and state that he/she refused to sign.

DEFECT CLASSIFICATION

Inspections conducted on children’s garments must take into account, safety concerns. Therefore, any pieces including buttons, snaps or other attachments that are loose or not securely attached and can fit into the CPSC small part cylinder will be considered critical defects. NOTE: This does not ensure compliance to federal regulations.

RE-INSPECTIONS

Re-inspections are to be scheduled and conducted only when the shipment has been 100% sorted and reworked and 100% packed and sealed for shipment. A complete inventory/PO list of carton numbers shall be provided in advance of the re-inspection.

Above same procedure will be followed for Re-inspection.

Thanks & Regards,

Rupak Barua
Technical Auditor

Stuncroft Ltd. Bangldesh Liason Office.
Hello: 88 01675993489
Skype-rupak.barua13


Monday 11 January 2016

Garment Manufacturing Technology (GMT)

Garment Manufacturing Technology (GMT) also named as Apparel Production or Fashion Production. It includes details of apparel production technologies like - various process under apparel production, various types of production systems, machinery and equipment, latest technologies for the apparel production, knowledge from fibre to fashion. 

In comparison with other manufacturing industries garment manufacturing still lagging behind in company Infrastructures, Technology level, Production system, Management policy etc. To bring a big change in garment industry qualified professional to placed in managing factories.  To become a good garment manufacturing professional one should have first knowledge of following areas and later to experience the field he/she going to work.

- Textile basics (Fibre, Fabric, fabric processing and finishing), Textile testing

- Pattern making, Sampling procedures 

- Sewing machinery, (Cutting, Sewing and Finishing machines and equipment)

- Sewing production systems and advantages and disadvantages of each types of production systems

- Garment production processes (From design of a garment to selling it to a retail shop)

- Brief knowledge of other associate processes like Printing, Embroidery, Dying

- Productivity, Quality and human management

- Production planning and Control

- Usage of IT in apparel industry

- Initially little about industrial engineering and later depth knowledge of Industrial engineering

- Costing, Budgeting and Cost Control


All the above areas are very important that to be known by each who wants to shine in Garment Manufacturing Technology.

Best Regards,

Rupak Barua
Technical Auditor & AQL Technician

Stuncroft Limited (UK). Bangladesh Liaison Office.
Hello:88-01675993489Skype: rupak.barua13
Email: kb_rupak@yahoo.com
Chittagong, Bangladesh.

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