I am writing this post to answer the above question asked by Nilu. If you are also interested to know why there is a delay in garment washing and finishing process, continue reading.Washing and finishing process in garment manufacturing come after sewing. factories always talk about shipment delays. And start fault finding after things get delayed. Most factories focus on production and pre-production activities to reduce shipment delays. But delay in finishing and washing department may also cause your shipment delay. Let's see why there is a delay in washing and finishing processes.
Followings are some of those reasons that make delay in washing and finishing process.
1. R&D is not done for washing
Washing process is very critical one. To get exact hand feel and washed look after washing as per requirement you have to follow right method. So, for each and every new product (or fabrics) factories need to do R&D to define correct recipe and washing cycles. If a factory don’t follow it, rewashing may be required for whole garments. And reprocessing makes delay in washing.
2. Delay in approvals
Many times it is found that fishing department does not get approvals of some trims and specific method. Without approval of such things finishing process become slower that causes delay finishing process. These approval delays may be from internal departments (merchants or quality assurance) both for washing and finishing.
3. Don't have capacity as per order
Both in washing and finishing you need to plan production as per your process capacity. If your washing capacity is less than the required capacity, washing of the order would be getting delayed. Similarly, you have estimate practical finishing capacity of your finishing department. Otherwise finishing of the style will be getting delayed.
4. Don't anticipate processing faults, delays
Many unwanted things may happen in the washing and finishing process. You have to anticipate those and you have to keep buffer time for the same. Alteration and reprocessing time may not be added while planning is done finishing process. So, when unanticipated functions added to the finishing process, garment finishing gets delayed.
5. Received defective and faulty garments from the sewing department
A common practice in the garment manufacturing industry that sewing department send the stitched garment to finishing department without checking goods 100% and even they checked goods all defects are not repaired prior to sending garments to finishing department. All defectives garments need to be repaired by the finishing department. Alteration like – mending, repairing garments, spotting etc took time to complete finishing. Also it is found that factory have limited person for alteration. Secondly, checking time per garment increased when there is lot of defective garments.
6. Change in the instruction of finishing
There is a rare case of instruction changes in finishing and packing that may cause a delay in finishing. Sometimes changes are not incorporated with the finishing department when style was loaded and later they were informed. In this case, reprocessing for some tasks may be required.
7. Internal Quality failure
After packing of garments internal QA team does auditing of the finished goods. If they found defective pieces in the packed garments, rechecking of all packed goods are required and you will be needed manpower and time for rechecking.
There are some other reasons which are usual and not avoidable that cause delay in washing and finishing.
There are some other reasons which are usual and not avoidable that cause delay in washing and finishing.
8. Manpower shortage
Garment finishing includes a number of the process like checking, thread trimming, pressing, spotting, mending alteration, folding, tagging and packing. For these processes need a number of workforce in the finishing department. Worker absenteeism may cause a delay in finishing.
9. Machine maintenance issue
Sometimes factory gets stuck in finishing due to machine breakdown. In case fixation of machines problem tokes longer than normal time, finishing process gets delayed.