Different Departments in a Garment Factory and Their Functions
Garment factory is a place where complete garments are made from the fabrics following
a chain of processes. A process flowchart will give a better idea of how things are done in
a garment factory. As mentioned in the title, this article will show you the different
departments of a garment factory. Departments are set-up based on the group of activities
to be performed by a team of people.
Further, we will see the various functions of the different departments of a garment unit.
Garment manufacturing is a complex process which starts with sample development and
end after shipping the finished garments to the buyers.
• Here is the list of garment factory departments. These departments include the pre-
production departments, production and post-production departments. The
supporting departments are also listed here.
• Marketing and business development department
• Design department/Product Development department
• Merchandising department
• Pattern Making, CAD department
• Sampling department
• Store department
• Cutting department
• Sewing department
• Finishing department
• Quality Control department
• Production Planning and Control department
• Industrial Engineering Department
• Garment Washing department
• Printing department
• Embroidery department
• Machine Maintenance department
Store Department:
The fabric and accessories stores department is centralized in apparel industry and all the
fabric and accessories comes to this unit first from the supplier and audited here and kept
until it is distributed to other units. For an export oriented and bulk production of garment
industry it is essential to maintain a well-organized & well equipped inventory system. The
main responsibility of this department is to store all the raw material necessary to produce
garments. This department is sub divided into three sections. Store keeper follows a strong
and appropriate working procedure.
-All purchase
-Goods received from suppliers
-Inventory management
-Goods delivery to production dept.
-All stock goods keeping & Clearing etc.
Functions of Fabric Store Section in Apparel Industry:
Fabric Store Department in RMG Industry:
Before staring the garments production, required amount of fabric have to store in the
garments. All the next processes such as spreading, cutting, sewing etc. have done by
taking the fabric from here. As result, this department plays an important role to get smooth
production. As its importance, this article has presented a details discussion on the activities
of fabric store department in readymade garments sector.
Process Flow of Store Section
Figure: Working Flow Chart of Store Section
Product Receive: Here invoice is collect by Merchandiser, without invoice it is not
possible make the inventory, because there is a list of Goods In invoice.
Inventory: After Comparing invoice with received goods, the goods are placed in
inventory.
Inspection of Goods: Generally 10% goods are inspected, if found defects more that
tolerance, the lot will be declared as reject and inform supplier for replace. Trims and
accessories will be inspected 10% of total quantity if found defects more than tolerance,
then declared as reject.
Shade segregation: Here pieces of fabrics from all roll have to cut and made a blanket to
segregate shade.
Shrinkage Test: From the fabric roll, 10% roll will be selected for shrinkage test. Piece
of fabric cut from each roll at 50cm ×50cm and sends for shrinkage test. Shrinkage test
repost then send to Pattern Section.
Issuing Product: Store always issues product for cutting and sewing section as per pre-
requisition from that department.
Sustain balance: Store always keeps the sustain record after the issuing product in
cutting and sewing section.
Design department activities/Product Development Department:
Apparel design department is responsible for product development. They focus on
developing garment designs in similar product categories the company does its business.
Designers develop new design collection every season. Designers make designs as per
the latest trends and buyers test. For big manufacturers, the designing department plays
an important role in retaining customers by showing new designs to their buyers in every
season.
Designers develop a library for fabrics, trims and accessories, and for garments.
Apparel retailers and brands those have own manufacturing set-up, normally set up the
design department for developing new designs.
Merchandising Department:
Merchandising department works as a mediator in between factory and buyers. This
department is considered as the heart and soul of the company. They coordinate with
buyers for orders, send garment samples for buyer approval and receive comments on
samples and other approvals. Merchandiser prepares the bill of materials, prepares
garment costing sheet and follows up of production activities.
In bigger factories merchandising team is given specific responsibilities as sampling
merchant and production merchant. Based on their profile, sampling merchants look into
sampling activities and communicate with buyers only for sample development and
queries on sampling. Production merchant is involved in merchandising activities related
to bulk production, planning, sourcing and production follow up.
-Buyer sourcing
-Order handling
-Raw material sourcing
-Regular Buyers correspondence
-Maintain shipment procedure
-Handling after sales service etc.
Other Activities:
• Communicate with buyers
• Review the garment sample
• Develop garment sample
• Product costing
• Develop good relationship with customers
• Scheduling of pre-production and production activities
• Preparing Bill of Material (BOM) and fabric indent (displace)
• Source raw materials
• Provide quality approval
• Prepare Production File
• Conduct Pre-Production Meeting
• Execute orders
• Providing after sales services
Pattern Making Department:
• Pattern making department makes garment patterns and digitize patterns to CAD.
CAD stands for Computer Aided Design. Pattern making department is headed by
Pattern master. Pattern making department is also known as the technical
department.
Following are the major Activities of Pattern Making Department:
• Pattern Making
• Pattern Grading
• Sample Development
• Garment FIT checking and correction of patterns
• Incorporate buyer’s comments on samples
• Making production viable sample
• Fabric Consumption Calculation
• Marker planning
Computer Aided Design Department:
CAD is the contraction which stands for Computer Aided Design. This term means different things
to different people involved in designing, manufacturing and mechanical engineering. CAD or
Computer Aided Design has brought a revolution in the Textile industry, especially in apparel
industry. The time consuming and cumbersome process of textile designing has been made easier
by CAD. Now thoughtful and innovative designs are available to the textile designers and textile
manufacturers at the click of a mouse.
Application of CAD in apparel industry
Cutting Department:
• This department is responsible for cutting of fabrics and feeding sewing
department with cuttings. Cutting department’s capacity is planned as per daily
feeding requirement to the sewing lines. Cutting department set up with cutting
department head, cutters, spreaders, quality checkers, and helpers for sorting, ply
numbering and bundling.
List of activities of the cutting department is as follows:
• Fabric receiving from the fabric store
• Fabric relaxation
• Cut planning
• Fabric spreading/layering on the cutting table
• Marker Planning
• Marker making
• Cutting of fabrics
• Sorting, Bundling and numbering of garment plies (parts)
• Inspection of cut components
• Sorting of printed and embroidery panels
• Re-cutting of panels
• Fusing Garment Components
Sewing Department:
• Main jobs of the sewing department are stitching of garment. In the sewing floor,
various types of production systems and line layout are used. Factories either work
in an assembly line or group system. Major tasks of this department are as follows
but not limited to these only.
• Line setting
• Garment stitching
• Checking of stitched garments
• Stitching Alteration
• Documentation
Sampling Department:
• Sampling department makes all kind of samples that need to be submitted to the
buyer. Sampling department checks fit of the sample. Sampling department
communicates problems related to orders to the production department.
As mentioned in the above that in small size factories, pattern making, and
sampling is kept in one department. They have common activities. Sampling
department’s activities are-
• Reading garment spec and understanding workmanship of the garment.
• Assisting merchants in preparing bill of material for the sample
• Calculating fabric consumption
• Making garment samples by following complete processes of cutting, sewing,
finishing and checking.
• Measurement all samples and check the quality of the garment samples. Prepare
quality inspection report for measurement and visuals.
• Fabric shrinkage test is done in garment form.
• Coordinate with production team about communicate about critical points for
stitching and handling of a style.
Finishing Department:
• Stitched garments are finished prior to packing into poly bag. Major activities of a
finishing department include thread trimming, checking of garments and ironing.
Packing department in a factory works side by side of the finishing department.
Folding, tagging and packing of garments are done in the finishing department.
Based on product categories finishing room activities may vary.
Activities of the finishing department are listed below
• Thread trimming
• Attach button and button holing in case these jobs are done in the stitching section
• Checking of garments
• Stain removing
• Garment Pressing / Ironing
• Folding and Tagging
• Packing
• Communicate with internal department
Quality Department:
• Responsibilities of the quality control department may vary organization to
organization but main activities almost remain the same. Activities of the Quality
control department are as follows.
• -Ensure quality in store
• -Ensure quality in all steps of production
• -Ensure quality in sub contracting
• -Maintain buyers AQL
• -Ensure products quality & Safety
• -Pre final inspection
• -Support to final inspection etc.
• -Setting up Quality Standards
• -Establishing Quality SOP (standard operated procedure)
• -Quality Assurance
Administration Department:
- Security
- Discipline
- Cleaning etc.
Human Resource Department:
- Worker & personnel appointment
-Workers file management
-Record keeping for migrated workers
-Keeping record for working hours & over time
-Performance appraisal
-Promotion, Transfer & Punishment
-Organize training etc.
Compliance Department:
-workers counseling
-Ensure Human rights, local law & job security
-Grievance handling
- Maintain buyers’ code of conduct
-Ensure safety issues
-Factory auditing etc.
Accounts Department:
-Accounts handling
-Income & Expenditure follow up
-Budgeting
-Salary sheet preparation
-All types of payment etc.
Commercial & Banking Department:
-All banking activities
-Import-Export Management
-C&F & Customs activities
-License renewal
-Documentation for shipment etc.
Industrial Engineering Department:
-Work study
-Work engineering
-Line layout
-Line balancing
-Target setting
-Efficiency calculation, -Production planning etc.
