Marker is the output of the process of marker planning, which follows cut order planning. Marker making is the process of finding out the most proficient arrangement of pattern pieces for a particular garment style, fabric and range of sizes. This process requires skill, time and concentration to get the maximum efficiency. Marker making is very important because raw material cost is from 50–60 % of the total cost in garment industry. So, efficient marker planning directly impacts profitability. The process of marker making can be explained in two aspects: Marker planning and Marker production/marker utilization. Marker production/marker utilization involves drawing of a marker plan directly on fabric or creating it on a paper marker, or copying information related to the pattern piece on the fabric without drawing any pattern lines over it as in computerized cutting. I will explain about marker planning and its requirements in garment industry in this article.
What is Marker Planning?
In a garment manufacturing workflow, marker planning is a critical operation in the cutting room, in which garment pattern pieces of different sizes and styles are laid out on a sheet of paper with fixed width and arbitrary length in order to achieve the highest marker efficiency. The layout is called a marker (Figure 2) and always contains areas of unusable fabric due to the irregular shapes of pattern pieces. The marker planning is made of fit the narrowest width. Therefore, minimization of fabric wastage is crucial to costs reduction. Current automated marker planning systems fall short of human performance by 5–10% in marker efficiency. Such ineffective performance, compared with a human expert, makes the adoption of automatic marker planning uneconomical because a 0.1% difference in marker efficiency implies an annual increase of millions of dollars in material costs. Most textile and clothing manufacturers thus abandon automatic marking and use only interactive approaches to high marker efficiency. Figure 1 shows a marker planning process using commercial computing to arrange all patterns of component parts of one or more garments on a piece of marker paper. Experience and skills are thus the critical factors in marker efficiency. Time, effort and resources are required to train a skillful marker planner even when a computerized marker planning system is in place.
Requirements of Marker Planning
Marker planning in garment production is a kind of packing problem in the research field of engineering. The irregular shapes of pattern pieces of a garment make the marker planning problem more complex. Few approaches have been developed to solve these problems, although effectiveness of packing determines industrial resource utilization.
Marker planning is more of a creative, intuitive and conceptualizing process rather than a technical one and there is no final result for a marker planning. The main purpose is to produce a shortest marker by considering all the practical and technical constraints. The constraints in making a shortest marker are related to
- Fabric characteristics and the design requirement in the finished garment
- Cutting quality
- Production planning
a) Fabric Characteristic and the Design Requirement in Finished Garment:
- Alignment of patterns with respect to fabric grain: All the patterns in the marker plan should be kept such that the grain line in the pattern should be parallel to the fabric selvedge for better hanging and draping of garments (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Grain line in fabric - Fabric symmetry and asymmetry: If the face and back side of the fabrics have a similar appearance, then they are called ‘two-way’ or ‘symmetrical’ fabrics and it does not warrant any special requirement while marker planning. The asymmetric fabric where the face and back are dissimilar needs some attention during marker planning. Examples of asymmetric fabrics are those having a nap or pile. More complicated fabrics are ‘one way’ or ‘asymmetrical’. These kinds of fabrics have a surface pile or a print design that has a recognizable object which can only be used one way.
- Design requirements in final garment: Design aspects of final garments also have to be considered while marker planning to get a better visual appearance of the finished garment. For instance, if a vertical stripe in a garment does not exhibit a complete replica of a repeat on the right and left panels of garment it looks awkward.
b) Cutting Quality:
Since most of the garment units utilize a vertical blade for cutting of fabric panels, the marker plan should take into consideration the space required for movement of the knife blade especially while cutting in curved areas. The space required between the patterns in the marker plan depends on the cutting method used.
A counting of number of patterns in the marker should be carried out to verify the complete set of patterns has been incorporated in the marker plan. After cutting of fabric panels, sorting of pattern pieces as per the size, bundling of cut fabric panels as per the color and size and finally pattern count in each size should be done to confirm that all the patterns are available for the assembling process. The marker planner should give coding to all patterns with its size during the preparation of marker planning.
c) Production Planning:
Each order is specified by a certain quantity with respect to size and color. For example, an order for 12,000 trousers may include 4800 blue, 4800 green and 2400 red, across sizes 30, 32, 34 and 36 in the ratio 2:4:4:2. The production planning and control department have to ensure adequate supply of cut components to the sewing room at regular intervals.
Methods of Marker Planning
In the garment industry, marker planning plays a crucial role in determining how garment patterns are arranged on fabric to achieve the highest fabric utilization and lowest possible wastage. To perform this task effectively, different types of marker planning methods are used based on the production requirements, available resources, and technological advancements. Basically there are two types of marker planning are used in garment industry. These are manual marker planning and computerized marker planning
A. Manual Marker Planning
It is the conventional marker planning method and is still used by the garment industries where they make single garment markers. The marker planner works easily by moving around the full-size patterns until an acceptable marker plan is obtained. Multiple copies of the marker are usually required, which can be done by reproducing the master marker with a range of duplicating methods.
1. Carbon duplicating: This method is utilized when very few numbers of copies are needed. Double-sided carbon paper or special NCR-type (no carbon required) paper can be used for duplicating the master marker. In this method, only six to eight copies of master marker can be made without much deterioration in the line.
2. Spirit duplicating: In this system of duplicating, a special hectograph sheet is placed underneath the marker. The hectograph paper transfers a blue line on the back side of the master marker as it is drawn. A master marker is then utilized to produce multiple copies one at a time in a duplicating machine where the master marker along with the white paper wetted in alcohol is moved through the rollers which transfer the line onto the copy.
3. Diazo photographic method: This technique can be used to make copies as required, one at a time. Here, both the light-sensitive paper and a marker are passed through a UV light source, where the light-sensitive paper can be developed by ammonia vapor, which produces a copy.
B. Computerized Marker Planning
This method is generally a part of an integrated system that comprises digitizing of full-size patterns into the computer, conveniences for pattern alteration, and by inputting suitable grading rules to create all the required sizes. The various components involved are visual display unit with keyboard, tablet, data pen and mouse.
The marker planner indicates the precise make-up of the marker plan such as fabric width, the pattern pieces to be utilized, and product sizes to be included in the marker and the constraints to be considered including any matching of checks. Then the system generates a marker plan automatically or interactively. The automatic marker planning needs data defining the placement of pattern pieces in markers previously planned, and selection of a suitable marker which gives the highest marker efficiency. In the interactive method, the marker planning was done by interaction of the marker planner with the system. All the available patterns will be exhibited in miniature form at the top right of the screen. For manoeuvring the patterns data pen, the mouse and the keyboard can be utilized.
The system finally positions the pattern pieces accurately based on marking rules specified. Subsequent to selection of an economical marker plan, the computer will also give a pattern count, marker efficiency and total marker length at the bottom of the screen. The computerized planning provides a pattern grading facility as well and allows the reproduction of as many copies of a marker as are necessary.
Conclusion
In the garment manufacturing industry, marker planning is a crucial step that significantly influences material utilization, production cost, and operational efficiency. It is the placement of patterns in a paper to meet the technical requirements as well to minimize wastage of fabric. A well-planned marker not only saves fabric and reduces waste but also ensures quality and efficiency in manufacturing. With modern CAD systems and skilled planning, manufacturers can achieve higher marker efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance overall productivity.
References
[1] Karthik, T., Ganesan, P., & Gopalakrishnan, D. (2016). Apparel Manufacturing Technology. In CRC Press eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315367507
[2] Wong, C., Guo, Z. X., & Leung, S. Y. S. (2013). Optimizing decision making in the apparel supply chain using artificial intelligence (AI): From Production to Retail. Elsevier.
[3] Vilumsone-Nemes, I. (2018). Industrial cutting of textile materials. Woodhead Publishing.
[4] Garment Manufacturing Technology. (2015). In Elsevier eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1016/c2013-0-16494-x
[5] Rathinamoorthy, R., & Surjit, R. (2015). Apparel Machinery and Equipments. In WPI Publishing eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1201/b18903
