Quality Control Plan:
A quality control plan is a formal document with supporting information that shows a process owner and local work team the important variables, that impact a process workflow relative to its outputs. In this article I will discuss about quality control, quality assurance and quality control pan in garment industry.
Quality control and quality assurance are complex areas of the apparel industry. First off, quality assurance is not quality control, but quality control is an aspect of quality assurance. Quality assurance is the process of designing, producing, evaluating, and assessing products to determine that they meet the desired quality level for a company’s target market. Quality control is the day-to-day implementation of quality assurance, and to succeed you have to be very proactive at all levels.
Quality control, is different from quality assurance. The objective of quality control is to check if the products being produced are according to the given specifications. Their entire job is during the production process. Quality control department has quality inspectors / auditors who check the product specifications at different stages of production. In most of the industries, the quality control teams are divided into two parts. First team is responsible for inline quality inspection. Inline quality inspection means that the quality inspectors check the products at different machines randomly. The second team is responsible for final inspection. Final inspection means that the inspection of goods at the end of production line. The amount of inspection varies from industry to industry.
Quality assurance looks at a product from the first design concept until it is sold to the consumer. Quality control is generally understood as assessing for quality after products have already been manufactured and sorted into acceptable and unacceptable categories. It is costly for companies that do not take a quality assurance method, but only look at quality in terms of quality control. Quality is a multifaceted concept that describes how well a service, process, material, or product possesses desired intangible or physical attributes.
Garment manufacturing companies always strive to produce garments that meet their customer requirements. A wide range of quality processes, are used in the apparel industry to ensure that these quality standards are met. The examination and measurement of garments are common ways of ensuring that the garments produced meet customer specifications. Quality control consists of a 100% inspection process, to ensure that garments not satisfying customer requirements are removed. A strong quality control plan or QC plan helps to set quality targets for apparel manufacturing to ensure that the deliverables produced, meet the needs of customer requirements.
Quality Control Plan in Garment Industry:
A Quality Control Plan, or QC Plan, is a critically important document for apparel business. It is the basis for assessing and maintaining of the quality of continuous emission monitoring data. In this article I have discussed a quality control plan or QC plan with template. In quality control plan template I have given a readymade garment factory as an example.
| MAHBUB FASHIONS LTD. | ||||
| QUALITY CONTROL PLAN | ||||
| The under mentioned generic quality plan for Day-to-Day production activities of factories / production unit has been developed based on the regular activities of MAHBUB FASHIONS LTD. | ||||
| SL no. | SECTION | SOP | EXPERIMENT POINT | Procedure |
| 1 | Yarn | Yarn receiving | General Check (10%) | Bag, carton no., lot no., Weight, etc |
| Yarn inspection | Visual Check | Select cones for below testing | ||
| Cone to Cone variation | ||||
| Shade variation in one cone | ||||
| Lot to Lot variation | ||||
| Count and twist variation | ||||
| Frequency of knot | ||||
| Spirality | ||||
| Foreign fiber and slub yarn | ||||
| Oil and dirty mark | ||||
| Knitting performance | ||||
| Odor | ||||
| Shrinkage | ||||
| Moisture | ||||
| Mildew | ||||
| Yarn Approval | Manual | Approve by QAM to see overall Quality in all stage of yarn | ||
| SL | SECTION | SOP | Procedure | |
| 2 | Winding | Have to follow in winding Section | 1. It is Prohibited to issue several lots, colors & Styles at the same time & same Machine. | |
| 2. Pay attention to the color shading during winding. | ||||
| 3. Prohibited to wind more than one lot in the same bobbin. | ||||
| 4. Ensure tracing number attaching in the yarn cone of the machine operator. | ||||
| 5. Pay Attention regarding bobbin color mixing after wound,keep it separately. | ||||
| 6. Ensure the yarn name,lot,quantity & color | ||||
| Machine inspection | Winding Speed,Tension,Wax,Lubrication etc | |||
| Online activity Inspection | Order requirement,Winding formula & winding control report. | |||
| SL | SECTION | SOP | ||
| 3 | Auto Knitting | 1. Make Size set sample based on production approval. | ||
| 2. Attend PP Meeting and decided how to start knitting. | ||||
| 3. Pick first bundle or Pilot run from knitting production. | ||||
| A) The QA have to check tension, same part up down of same size, yarn lot number, Shading, number of panel in a bundle, spot, needle drop, etc | ||||
| B) Write the report. | ||||
| 4. Roving QA Must make sure the products are produces according to buyer requirement if any problem found, take corrective action as below. | ||||
| A. Identify the problem, | ||||
| B. Find out the source, | ||||
| C. Stop the process (if necessary), | ||||
| D. Solve the problem, | ||||
| E. Prevent it from recurring. | ||||
| F. Write the report | ||||
| 5. Panel checker: Check the panel quantity, color & size wise of knitting completed goods. | ||||
| 6. 100 % check the knitting panels and mark the defect area for rectify & write the report. | ||||
| 7. If meet the quality than pass & sign on the issue card with individual checker ID number . | ||||
| 8. AQL: 1.00 must be conducted for knitting panel inspection. If pass, than it will proceed for linking. | ||||
| 4.a | Section | SOP | ||
| Linking | 1. All types of linking process Should be Performed according to Technical Sheet. | |||
| 2. Linking complete than sign on swatch paper with individual checker ID number. | ||||
| 3. Inline QA always follow & check overall quality like, Shoulder join, overlock, Sleeve stitch, Sleeve join, Side join, neck join, size yarn & lot yarn etc | ||||
| 4. If any mistake found between operation than Line QA Applied Traffic light Systems.Traffic light colors are defined as below. | ||||
| * Green Card: This card show to operator at primary stage when any problems found & Give Suggestion for improve operation. | ||||
| *Yellow card: This card show if problem found again & further suggest the operator. | ||||
| *Red Card: This card show when problem found again & again and apply the bellow process. | ||||
| A. Stop the process . | ||||
| B. Solve the problem, | ||||
| C. Prevent it from recurring. | ||||
| D. Write the report | ||||
| 5. After Linking AQL: Must be conducted 7-0 systems for linking complete garments. The QA have to check 7 pcs garments from a basket ,if he get any problems then recheck all garments of the basket.if goods pass will be than consider for next process | ||||
| 4.b | Trimming and Mending | 1. The line QA check Trimming portion such that its will be well trimmed & Mending completed garments must be accurate such that no mending fault shown. The mending operator must keep mending indication sign such that Qa understood the garments is correct mended. | ||
| 6. After Trimming & Mending AQL : Must be conducted 7-0 systems for trimmed & Mending complete garments .The QA have to check 7 pcs garments from a basket, if he get any problems then recheck all garments of the basket. If goods pass will be than consider for next process | ||||
| Light Check (B/W) | Here pcs to pcs garments should be check by light and make report by operator. The QA see the report and take necessary action if problems found. | |||
| SL | SECTION | |||
| 5 | Washing | SOP | ||
| 1. Firstly Washing QA have to take care such that washing load,cycle time, Chemical Mixture ratio will be accurate. | ||||
| 2. After complete washing, the QA have to check about the following side like spot, Stain, Color variation, Hand feel, Pilling, Shrinkage etc. | ||||
| Light Check (A/W) | Here pcs to pcs garments should be check by light and make report by operator. The QA see the report and take necessary action against the finding problems. | |||
| 6 | Sewing and FQC | SOP | ||
| 1. Trim and accessories: QA make trim card & take approval from related merchandiser. | ||||
| 2. Line QA Have to follow label instruction according to buyer requirement. | ||||
| 3. Here QA have to follow different attaching measurement, sewing stitch, density of stitch, approve sewing thread, Count. of sewing thread etc | ||||
| 4. FQC operator have to check main label,care label,side seam, uncut thread , hanger loop and those attaching measurement according to SOP, etc and make report.than the QA check report and take corrective action against finding problems. Also The QA must randomly check after FQC operator checked garments. | ||||
| 7 | Ironing | SOP | ||
| A) Board marking and marking approval (Approved By QA manager) | ||||
| B) Have to follow the system of ironing & proper utilization of steam based on garments construction. | ||||
| C) Line QA strongly follow up about ironing like following problems, iron shape, shinning mark, correct measurement etc. | ||||
| D) 100% measurement by measurement QI. | ||||
| 8 | Finishing and Get Up | SOP | ||
| 1. Line QA follow up & instruct to operator such that good quality goods proceed | ||||
| 2. Here AQL done, following topics, getup, hole ,mending, shading, main label, care label, hang tag, uncut thread overall total appearance and instruct the operator how to improvement task. If AQL pass will be goods proceed to packing. If fail recheck all goods for rectification. | ||||
| SL | Section | SOP | ||
| 9 | Metal Detection | 1. Garments Scanned through needle detecting machine to find out any broken needle, or any other metal which may go with garments. If any problems can detect the machine than alarm will be ringing. | ||
| 2. M/C Calibration:The machine operator should be completed every 1 hours test the machine by using 1.2 mm by sphere ferrous test card. | ||||
| 10 | Packing | SOP | ||
| 1. Checking accessories as per approved trim card. | ||||
| 2. The QA have to check Size wise folding, Size wise poly, no. of garments in carton, carton number, Shipping mark,Assortment | ||||
| 3. Hourly audit have to do from completed carton. If report is pass than seal on the carton & handover to packing responsible person . If fail than arrange to recheck . | ||||
| 4. Inspect rectified goods again | ||||
| 11 | Section | SOP | ||
| Pre final | 1. AQL 2.5 must be conducted for pre final inspection | |||
| 2. Sample to inspect must be select randomly from the finished product packed in cartons | ||||
| 3. The selected goods must contain all sizes, color & countries | ||||
| 4. Before final inspection must need to go through with tech pack and seal sample, based on this need to check the garments | ||||
| 5. The inspection result will show whether the entire lot is acceptable or not | ||||
| 6. Use the inspection report to compare with previous inspection report | ||||
| 12 | Final Inspection | SOP | ||
| 1. Before final inspection by Customer following procedure. | ||||
| Correct Packing list (Invoice) & Shipping mark on carton, carton serial number, assortment all are make sure to correct. | ||||
| We have sent some completed garments for testing purpose | ||||
| Garments testing | 3. Chemical Test L | Testing Instrument by Bureau varitus, ITS, SGS, SQHL (Internal but buyer approved) | APEO (NPE/OPE) | |
| Azo, | ||||
| Cationic surfactants | ||||
| Disperse dyes | ||||
| Formaldehyde ISO 1418-1, | ||||
| PH, | ||||
| Total Lead | ||||
| 4. Physical Test | 5 times wash, | |||
| CF to water, | ||||
| CF to savila, | ||||
| CF to rubbing (Dry & WET) | ||||
| Fiber composition, | ||||
| Pilling resistance | ||||
| Water penetration, | ||||
| CF to sea water | ||||
| CF to perspiration(Acid & Alkaline), | ||||
| CF to phenolic yellowing | ||||
Author:
Shahadat Hossain
Quality Assurance Executive
SQ Celcious Ltd
Editor of Fashion2Apparel. She is a fashion designer and ex-lecturer in Fashion Designing. She wants to spread fashion knowledge throughout the world.
