Coat Manufacturing Boot Camp Progress Report #1

abqfi_jkt_sketch1bLate in coming but here is a tl;dr bullet point list of what we have accomplished so far with explanations to follow :

  • Found “customers” for the donated coats.
  • Nailed down the design -at least four times.
  • Determined the size range (6-12).
  • Technical illustration.
  • Made the pattern (x3)
  • Cut and sewed 3 mock ups, and fit them.
  • Ordered sample fabrics (guaranteed continuity).
  • Checked the pattern (x2)
  • Graded the pattern.
  • Created first marker to determine yield.
  • Costing (x3)
  • Selected final fabric.
  • Ordered zippers.
  • Ordered trims (donated)
  • Ordered cuff ribbing (donated)
  • Ordered quilted lining fabric.
  • Created sample marker (jump set).
  • Cut shell for final sample and hopefully, sew bys.

Missing from this list is lots of stuff -to a large extent, all of the industrial engineering activities. The latter is needed to determine the amount of time we’ll need to sew this stuff up and with how many people and machines. We still don’t have a clear answer on this but should have a much better idea when we do the sew bys this week and weekend.

Indirectly, time studies introduce the subject of both design changes and equipment. Initially, we’d wanted to do welt pockets but decided that the preparation would soak up too many resources (time in marking, pressing and training) and still take longer to sew than we’d like. So we changed the design to do an exposed zipper pocket. Time studies showed that sewing one pocket would take anywhere from 1:30 to 7 minutes, depending on the experience of the operator. Fast forward, I somehow ended up on eBay and bought a welt pocket machine. Now, we’ve decided to go back to welt pockets. An experienced operator can make a pocket in 10 seconds (literally) but I’ll be satisfied if we complete one per minute. Reason is, everybody is going to want to play with the machine but even at that rate, we’ll have all 200 pockets completed in under 4 hours. Before, with the results of the time study, we estimated that we’d need 7 operators on single needle machines, to complete the pockets in a bit over 4 hours. Read More

Coat Manufacturing Boot Camp Kick Off: July 7, 2015

designers_bootcamp_kickoff
Above: staff designers for the coat manufacturing project. Left to right: Dara Ambriz, Violet Ahmie, Cindy Murdock, Christin Yingling and Kim Anderson.

So here’s how it went down:

We met at 6:30 PM at the factory, most people were early (!). After a tour of the facilities and introductions, we got down to business.  Slave drivers that we are, we started with the homework; each designer needs to complete the following before next Tuesday’s meeting Read More

New sewing factory set up is underway!

keep_your_work_at_homeWe closed on the new sewing factory building in Albuquerque on March 13 but the seller didn’t vacate until last week. That said, remodeling is underway. We’ll be adding skylights (some are in already!), feedrail in both buildings and purchasing 2 48 foot long cutting tables for the shared workspace.

I hired a mechanic from El Paso to advise me on the ideal placement for the feedrail and lighting. He’ll also be sourcing the feedrail and tables from his contacts in El Paso. Ideally, the facility will be ready for business the first week of June. Subscribe to ABQFI (at right) to be notified of updates by email.

Oh, and if you don’t know what feedrail is, it is a nifty way to plug in sewing machines overhead. It is very flexible because you don’t use outlets per se; or rather, the feedrail itself is one long outlet. This allows you to move sewing machines to wherever they are needed without worrying about plugs along the wall. We’ve had flexibility built in from the get go; all of the industrial machines are on casters so they can be rolled around instead of having to use a pallet jack to move them. This article (from Fashion-Incubator) shows common items one would find in a good factory. It shows the kind of fabric spreader I will be buying too. Read More