Library of Textile, Apparel and Fashion

CAD/Pattern Room SOP, Procedure and working Flow chart in Apparel Industry

CAD Room SOP
CAD, Computer-aided design, garments pattern made in a computer using different CAD software. CAD is the 1st step of Garments manufacturing, garments measurement, shape, and pattern can be controlled easily. Here I am giving CAD room working procedures from starting pattern making to bulk marker printing flow chart-wise, your concept will be clear about CAD work what they have to do in the Garments industry.

Purpose of using CAD in Garments:
1.     For reducing time in marker making.
2.     For reducing Marker Wastage.
3.     For increasing marker efficiency.
4.     To make the marker accurate.
5.     To calculate the fabric consumption accurately.

CAD/Pattern Room SOP, Procedure and working Flow chart in Apparel Industry

Initial Tech-pack/ PDM receive From Merch Dept
Create a New Pattern
Calculate Fabrics Consumption by Electric mini marker in Yardage Yield (YY)
Send Consumption to Buyer
Consumption Approval
Order Confirmation
Receive E-Pattern, block and Fit Sample from a buyer
Pattern Grading
Submit Pattern to buyer
                                     ApproveRejectRemake
Marker Making for Sample
Shrinkage and Sewing loss adjustment
Sample making for bulk production
Approve sample from Buying House
Marker making for size set
Marker printing
Cut size set
Pattern correction
Marker printing by plotter
Send Marker to cutting
Marker Lay
Bulk cutting

Note: The whole process flow chart for new order development, when you do rebuy/ repeat order for the same style you may not need to do consumption and marker making again.

CAD section/ Department Flow chart SOP is described briefly:

Initial tech pack/PDM receives from merchandising dept.:
Firstly have to know about the tech pack / PDM (Product development Method) sheet. The sheet which contains all detailed descriptions of a definite garment is known as the tech pack/PDM sheet. CAD section collects it from the merchandiser at first.

Create a new Pattern:
In this step, the CAD department develops a pattern according to tech pack requisition. “Pattern” is a hard paper that contains all single parts of a garment.

Calculate fabric consumption by an electric mini marker in yds:
Consumption means – How much fabric needs to produce a garment. With the revolution of scientific invention nowadays it does not need to calculate manually. It is already calculated by CAD section automated Lectra/Gerber/Red tree software.

Send consumption to Buyer:
After calculating the consumption, the report sends to the buyer for approval. The less consumption you can submit the more chance to get an order for those styles.

Consumption Approval: 
If the buyer is satisfied with the consumption report, Then a buyer approved the report and agrees to place an order.

Order Confirmation:
Here Order is confirmed by the buyer. If the buyer confirms an order, the garments maker may go forward with the next process.

Receive E-Pattern, Block and fit sample from a buyer:
CAD section receives E-pattern, Block, and fit samples from the buyer. A block sample means the pattern without allowance. Fit sample means the sample fit for a dummy.

Pattern Grading: Grading means the size variation from the master size.  Firstly a pattern is created with the standard  Size, then it would be graded according to all sizes.  suppose, S, M, L, XL, XXL sizes are ordered. L is the master size pattern. Then S, M, XL, XXL are created based on master size.

Submit to the buyer: After completing grading the complete pattern is submitted to a buyer for approval.
If Approve, then goes for marker making for a sample. If not, it will be rejected and comments for the remake.

Marker Making for a sample:
For Sample making marker is created. A marker is a thin piece of paper that bears all the parts of garments. Here Marker is created by CAD software.

Shrinkage and sewing loss adjustment:
During pattern making, they adjust the shrinkage and sewing thread loss tendency at the warp and weft direction.

Sample Making for bulk production:
Now the sample is created for bulk production.

Approve sample from buying a house:
In this step, The sample for bulk is approved from buying the house. Then go for bulk.

Marker making for size set:
According to the required size, the marker is produced by CAD.

Marker Printing:
Now the created marker is ready for print.

Cut size set:
Size set marker used for trial cutting. Then check measurement before and after wash.

P.P meeting: P.P means (pre-production) meeting. Here the P.P meeting arranged so that styling never be a mistake.

Pattern Correction: If any problem is found in the size set, In the P.P meeting the solution will be given where the pattern would be correct.

Marker printing by Plotter:
The plotter machine is used for marker printing. The completed marker is printed through it.

Send marker to cutting:
Marker is ready to send the cutting section.

Marker lay:  After spreading the fabric on the cutting table the marker is placed on it. Before Cutting the marker is checked very carefully, whether any parts or sizes are missing or not.

Bulk cutting: If everything is okay then bulk cutting start. A straight knife, a round knife is used to cut. During cutting Production proper tension should be maintained.