CM (cost of making) covers cutting, sewing and finishing. Learn how to build a cost per minute from factory costs, calculate CM from SMV and efficiency, and avoid the assumptions that make CM quotes lose money.
How to calculate sewing capacity in available minutes and in pieces, for a line or a whole factory, and how to use it to check whether an order fits. Includes efficiency, absenteeism, working days and a full worked example.
Line efficiency compares the minutes a sewing line earned with the minutes it had. Learn the formula, work through examples, understand what drives efficiency up and down, and avoid the reporting mistakes that make the number meaningless.
A step-by-step method to calculate operation and garment SMV from time study: define the method, time the cycles, remove abnormal readings, rate performance, add allowances and check the result.
Line balancing spreads the operations of a garment across operators and machines so work flows at the target rate without piles of WIP or idle people. A practical step-by-step method with a worked example, balancing efficiency and common mistakes.
Pitch time means two different things in garment factories: the average work content per operator used for line balancing, and the lean interval for moving a pack of finished goods. Formulas, examples and when to use which.
How garment production planning works: capacity in minutes, loading orders onto lines, learning curves, material readiness and critical path, with a simple example and the checks that keep a plan realistic.
How to set an hourly and daily production target from SMV, manpower, working minutes and planned efficiency. Worked examples for new and running styles, learning curve targets and why a target at 100% efficiency is not a real target.
SAM and SMV usually mean the same thing: standard time in minutes. This note explains where the two terms come from, when companies use them differently, and how to avoid confusion when comparing numbers.
How to carry out a stopwatch time study on a sewing operation: break it into elements, take enough cycles, rate the operator's pace, add allowances and arrive at a standard time. With a worked example and the mistakes that spoil results.
SMV is the standard time to complete a task at a normal pace, including allowances. Learn what it includes, how it is set, how it drives targets, efficiency, capacity and CM cost, and where it goes wrong.
Work study combines method study (finding a better way to do a job) and work measurement (setting the time for it). An introduction for garment factories: the steps, the tools and how the results feed SMV, line balancing and costing.