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Function of Quality Assurance Department in Apparel Industry
Noor Ahmed Raaz
B.Sc. in Apparel Manufacturing
Asst. Merchandiser
Opex Sinha Group, Narayongonj
Email: raju.uttara72@yahoo.com
B.Sc. in Apparel Manufacturing
Asst. Merchandiser
Opex Sinha Group, Narayongonj
Email: raju.uttara72@yahoo.com
Quality Assurance:
Quality Assurance (QA) is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that standards of quality are being attained by the production process. Quality Assurance cannot absolutely guarantee the production of quality products.
Two principles included in Quality Assurance are:
- "Fit for purpose", the product should be suitable for the intended purpose, and
- "Right first time", mistakes should be eliminated.
Quality is determined by the product users, clients or customers, not by society in general. It is not the same as ‘expensive’ or ‘high quality’. Low priced products can be considered as having high quality if the product users determine them as such.
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| Quality assurance of apparel |
Quality is the major criteria for any product and the same rule applied even to garment industries also. In order to maintain quality the quality assurance departments has split up their job into different stages of manufacturing and there are classified into four major groups which are as follows.
Pre-production Audit:
In this stage auditing is mainly done for the stages which come before the production and that is the sampling stage. Here the auditing is done for all sample sand precisely for the size set samples and also for the pilot production garments. The size set samples are given importance to because they are mainly asked by the buyer for checking the dimensions of the garment hence an extra stress is given to these samples and the auditing for them is mainly done for the measurements of the garment and the measurements are checked at all the critical areas in the garment.
For example:if it is a trouser then the measurements are checked at the areas like the length of the trouser, waist measurements, inseam measurements, the distance of the belt loops, etc. For the pilot run production also the garments are checked for the dimensions and also for the placement of the accessories and trims for example, the label attachment areas, etc.
Cutting Audit:
In the cutting stage, which is the critical stage of the garment production the auditing is further divided into many other departments which are,
- Spreading
- Relay cut
- Band knife
- Shade
- Hard pattern
In sewing process the inspection is done in two areas, they are
In line audit:Here the garments are checked during their different stages of manufacturing. Here theentire manufacturing process for a particular garment is split into the required number of parts may be two ± three and then at the end of each stage the inspection is carried out by the person whose main job is auditing.
For example if the garment that is being manufactured is a shirt then the entire manufacturing process is broken down into stages like, the finish of front, finish if back, sleeve attach finish and then the entire shirt. In this case the shirt is being checked at each stage and the auditing personnel will be provided by certain specifications and also the tolerance limits based on which he checks the garment. Here every single garment is checked.
End Line Audit:
Here the garments are checked after the entire process is over and the specifications are mainly based on the dimensions of the garment at the critical positions and then the placements of the labels.
Button/button hole:
In this area the auditing is mainly done by the operator himself as the job is limited, it is just button attachment that has to be done and the operator does it himself as and when he finishes his part of the job with the garment and the operator will be given or taught about the specifications for the garment to attach the button/ making the button holes .After the auditing is done in each and every stage the defects, findings and other related information will be recorded by the concerned departments in their own formats and they will be sent to the respective departments for rectification.
Finishing Quality Audit:
Daily Quality audits are recommended to ensure consistency in quality. It is acceptable to inspect a small number of garments thoroughly. However, under no circumstance needs to the audit be missed or its results overlooked. Finishing Quality audit is an examination of small number of garments passed by the Checkers from finished stock. These are taken as representative of the finished quality going to customers as ―firsts‖.
Objective:
- To check the other parts of the system.
- To obtain figuresthat can be compared with figures of 100% final inspection giving comparisons of the effectiveness of the above system.
- To look at the garment from the customer‘s viewpoint and analyze results.
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