Knowledge area
Sewing and fabric defects, inspection, AQL, DHU, RFT, root cause analysis and corrective action.
Quality in garment manufacturing depends on finding problems early and fixing their causes, not only on inspecting finished goods. This section covers the measures, inspection methods and problem-solving tools used from fabric receipt to shipment.
Learn the common sewing defects and fabric defects, and the two basic measures, DHU and right first time. For inspection, see inline inspection, AQL sampling and final inspection. When a problem repeats, use root cause analysis, 5 Why and a CAPA. The defect library has detailed guides for individual defects.
Inline inspection checks work at or near each operation while the line is running. How the traffic light system works, how to choose operations to check, sample sizes and frequency, and how to act on the results.
A final (pre-shipment) inspection checks a finished, packed lot against the buyer's requirements before it ships. What is checked, how samples are drawn, the order of work, and how to prepare so the lot passes the first time.
A practical guide to common woven and knitted fabric defects: yarn defects, weaving and knitting defects, dyeing and finishing defects, and dimensional problems. What each looks like, where it comes from and how it is detected.
12 notes, newest first.
The 4-point system scores fabric defects by length and converts them into points per 100 square yards. How to inspect rolls, assign points, calculate the score for a roll and a shipment, and what the result does and does not mean.
5 Why analysis asks 'why' repeatedly until it reaches a cause that can be fixed. How to use it well, where it goes wrong, and three worked examples from sewing, cutting and finishing.
AQL sampling decides how many garments to inspect from a lot and how many defects are allowed. How the sampling tables work, inspection levels, code letters, accept and reject numbers, and what AQL does and does not guarantee.
CAPA is the process for recording a problem, removing its cause and preventing it elsewhere. What corrective and preventive actions mean, the steps of a CAPA, a filled example, and how to keep CAPAs from becoming paperwork.
DHU counts defects per hundred garments checked. The formula, how it differs from defective percentage, a worked example from end-of-line checking, and how to turn DHU data into action on the line.
A practical guide to common woven and knitted fabric defects: yarn defects, weaving and knitting defects, dyeing and finishing defects, and dimensional problems. What each looks like, where it comes from and how it is detected.
A final (pre-shipment) inspection checks a finished, packed lot against the buyer's requirements before it ships. What is checked, how samples are drawn, the order of work, and how to prepare so the lot passes the first time.
Inline inspection checks work at or near each operation while the line is running. How the traffic light system works, how to choose operations to check, sample sizes and frequency, and how to act on the results.
A ready-to-adapt standard operating procedure for controlling moisture and preventing mold in garment factories: why moisture matters, how to measure moisture content and humidity, checkpoints from fabric receipt to container loading, records, and what to do when readings are high.
Right first time measures the share of garments that pass inspection without any repair. How to calculate RFT, how it relates to DHU and defective percentage, and how it is also used for lab dips, samples and shipments.
Repairing defects fixes garments; root cause analysis fixes the process. A step-by-step method for garment factories using defect data, the 5M categories, fishbone diagrams and 5 Why, with a worked example on open seams.
An overview of the sewing defects that cause most repairs and rejections, grouped by stitch, seam and assembly problems, with the usual causes and where to look first.