Question: How Many Days in Advance we have to give planning to cutting departments? ... asked by Sathyaraj
Cutting plan normally be given in advance so that cutting manager can plan his cutting schedule accordingly with the cutting orders those are currently running. There are few parameters that need to be checked by cutting manager prior to bulk cutting. For that cutting manager needs time for preparation, planning for manpower and cutting tables, etc.
But there is no such thumb rule of number of days for providing cutting plan to cutting manager in advance. Once fabric is ready for cutting and line need to be loaded with cuttings of an order you can send cutting plan in advance. For long run orders, cutting department may have cutting plan for whole order in advance. Still cutting plan is daily checked by production manager or planning department. In case of urgency for another order, cutting plan is revised.In weekly meeting and daily morning meeting, production team discussed about cutting plan for the week. On this meeting, cutting manager get intimations of which orders are in pipeline. But ultimately, actual plan is given one day advance.
As in export business, most of the time fabrics sourcing is get delayed and factory miss the planned cut date (PCD), cutting managers get cutting plan one day before in the evening. Even some times in the morning meeting, cutting manager get the cutting plan for the day.
When I was working with an export house, I used to give cutting plan to cutting department one day before actual cutting required. For some cases like fabric need to send for panel washing, cut panel need to send for printing or embroidery process, cut plan is given in advance based on backward calculation when we need to load that particular order to the sewing line.