APPAREL MANUFACTURING – II 3(3+0)

Lesson 8 : Machinery and Equipment Required for Garment Production and Fabrication

Basic types of apparel production processes

Raw materials used in apparel and allied manufacturing are subjected to one or all of the following three major types of production phases of apparel manufacturing.

1. Cutting: This process involves severing the raw materials into shapes for assembly or finishing; sewing or pressing operations.






2. Sewing: It involves assembling or finishing the cut or pre made pieces with stitches for cutting, pressing, packing or shipping operations.




3. Pressing: It is shaping the cut or sewed material with pressure, with or without heat and/or moisture for the further processing or marketing.

There are three other types of production used for assembling, decorating or finishing purposes; they are

• Riveting (includes garments)
• Cementing
• Fusing



4. Riveting: It is used for closures, decorative and reinforcement functions. These operations are executed with punch presses.

5. Cementing: It consists of joining two (or more) sections with the use of cement, glue, paste or any other adhesion medium. These assembly procedures are largely used in shoe, handbag, raincoat and accessories manufacturing.

6. Fusing: Is another form of assembly with adhesion actions. In fusion the adhesive medium is the fabric substance itself, the fabric is heated to its melting point at the seam junction. Electronic seamers or heat and pressure devices are used for these operations. The nature of the fabric determines the equipments to be used. Fusion seaming is used on certain kinds of synthetic fabrics and treated natural fiber fabrics.




7. Baking: Baking is used for removing excess lining materials used in decorating sewing operations such as embroidery

8. Packing and shipping: Although packing shipping operations are not phases of production, these operations are treated as production operations here because the quality of the product is affected by these operations. The sequence of operation from the three main categories of production varies with the individual product; the exact combination of production steps is determined by the following items:

• product style
• raw materials used
• available production equipment
• available production space
• available labour supply

The general production sequences that are followed are :

1. Cut-Sew-Press-Pack, Store or Ship
2. Cut-Sew-Press-Sew-Pack, Store or Ship
3. C-P-S-C-C-P
4. S-C-P-S-C-S-Pack, Store then Ship
5. S-C-S-P-C-C-P-Pack or Store, then Ship
6. P-C-S-P-SP-,Etc

The terms Cut, Sew, Press(or the symbols C,S,P) mean that one or more such operation take place on that production phase.

The construction characteristics and the physical properties of the materials control the manner in which these materials react during and to the individual production operations. This situation also varies with the type and degree of mechanical action and human effort (mental and physical) necessary to perform the production operation.