Cutting Department Quality Control : Cutting Room Quality Control

If you have an experienced cutting room staff to inspect, do NOT assume that they are doing every thing perfectly.

Effective inspection requires random examination of cutting operations. The inspector should not develop a set routine. You do not want the workers to be in the habit of knowing when and how you will conduct your inspection. You should make every effort to get a fair representation of the cutting production by making random checks on the cutting room floor. When checking spreaders, make certain to check for marker placement, shading, table marks, etc. Here are a few issues to check.

Marker Placement : check that the marker is placed on the spread with the edge parallel to the selvage of the piece goods. Verify that all cut pieces will be complete.

Shading : unless all parts are plymarked, it is essential to have a system to control shading.

Table marks : check the table marks as they table is marked. Allow no minus tolerance for the splices.

Markers : ensure that no markers are creased, damaged, or have overlapped parts.

Splices : after completion of the spread, check splice laps to see that both piles extend past the marked splice by no less then 1/2 inch and no more then 1 inch.

Narrow Goods : after completion of the spread, check the far edge of the spread to see that all plies extend beyond the marker line.

Tension : check tension during spreading. This is very important on knit fabrics.

Count : check the count after completion of spreading, and before cutting. Count all plies at both ends. There should be no tolerance.

Leaning : check carefully to ensure that one edge of the fabric is square to table top. Visually inspect the alignment of the edge with the table top.

Record the spreading defects by the quantity of defects found for each checkpoint. Any defective work discovered by the inspector should be immediately corrected.

Do not only record the problem. Make sure to fix the problem immediately.

If you have new employees, you should certainly monitor them more closely and more often.

Make sure that your company has a very good QC Manager.

Learn about Piece Goods Inspection and In-Process Quality Control.