How to Make Line Loading Plan for Garment Production?

Step 1: Make a list
of current orders with details such as order no., order quantity, style
description, and production completion date. Refer to the Table-1. Suppose
order has been received on the month March and production completion date on May
from 4^th to 21^st.

Table- 1: Order list

Step 2: Suppose a
factory has 5 production lines. Calculate available capacity of the line using
capacity calculation formula considering absenteeism (10%) and line efficiency
%. You should have knowledge about line wise production efficiency to
calculate actual capacity of a line. Or calculate it prior to line loading plan.

Available
capacity in hours = {(No. of operators/machines x working days in a
month x daily work hours x 60) – absenteeism %} x Efficiency %

Line wise available capacity has been shown in the Table-2. It is considered that each line is equipped with 25-32 machines
(operators), factory’s normal shift time is 8 hours (480 minutes) and line
efficiency is in the range of 39% to 55%.  

Table- 2: Available capacity calculation

Step 3: Next, calculate
required capacity for each order (style) in minutes and in days. Assume that
above 8 styles to be run in 5 lines and styles will be loaded only in single line. Consider that all lines blank and you have no issue with starting date. In
this stage you have to also decide which line to be chosen for the styles. Allocate
order to the line according to product category and line set up (machines laid).
 In Table-3 line number has been
mentioned against the order number. Use the following formula for the
calculation.

Capacity required in minutes = Order Quantity X Style
SMV 

Capacity required in days = Capacity required in minutes /
Capacity available per day.

Refer to the table-3 for calculated minutes and days
required for each style.

Table-3: Required capacity calculation

Step 4: Now do
backward calculation to find the date for style loading. Days needed to
complete production on due date, Sundays and holidays must be excluded in day count. And add one to
two days initially for line setting according to style requirement.  If required, you can add buffer for one to
two days. To make it easy in calculating the loading dates considering above
points use spreadsheet based planning board. For example refer to the following image-1. I have
made loading plan on the planning board for theses styles. Light blue colored
columns represent Sunday (weekly off days).  Finally make another table (Table-4) representing
loading date against orders.

Image-1: Planning Board

Table-4: Order loading date

Step 5: Once you gone through this article, practice this with some of your real styles. I wish you can make it. If you feel you need further assistance then write us.