Operation Breakdown in Apparel Industry

What is Operation Breakdown?
The work in each style is broken down into operations. An operation is one of the processes that must be completed in converting materials into finished garments. An operation breakdown is a sequential list of all operations involved in assembling a garment, component or style. The sheet of listed operations of a style is also known as operation breakdown (OB). The operation breakdown is done to understand garment construction – like stitch class and seam types used in making the sample garment. Some times operation breakdown is also called garment operation bulletin. Though garment operation bulletin includes more information than the operation breakdown.

An operation breakdown in apparel industry contains following information:

Name of the machines to use for doing the specific operations
Sewing and non-sewing operations
Estimated time to do each operation for one unit

Benefits of breakdown in apparel industry:

Could notice all operations of the garment at a time.
Could expect the difficulties of doing a crucial operation.

Could make layout in an easy, simple and less time-consuming way.
Could calculate the SMV for target setting and equal time distribution to the operator during layout.
Easy to select appropriate operator for the specific process.

Could know the quantity and kind of machine required to produce the required garment.
Could achieve the production target within a very short period.
Could be aware about quality to meet the buyers standard.

Could know about additional guide, folder and attachment.

How to make operation breakdown for apparel industry?
Operation breakdown is a primary tool of industrial engineering. It helps to set a production line with correct number of machines and manpower. For making operation breakdown in apparel industry below steps have to follow:

Step 1: Preparing an OB format.

Step 2: Collection of correct Sample
Step 3: Making operation breakdown for the sample
Step 4: Define machine for each operation

Step 5: Enter SMVs for each operation
Step 6: Calculate production per hour
Step 7: Calculate number of machines

Step 8: Calculate estimated production per hour
Step 9: Calculate machine summary

Sample operation breakdown of men’s shirt:

SI. No.	Operations	SMV	Machine Type
	Collar
1	Collar pieces pint 2	0.60	SNIS
2	Collar run stitch	0.42	SNIS
3	Collar trim and turn	0.25	SNEC
4	Collar top stitch	047	SNIS
5	Band hem	0.34	SNIS
6	Band set	0.65	SNIS
7	Collar label attachment	0.24	SNIS
8	Band top	0.45	SNIS
9	Band and collar ready trim	0.41	SNEC
	Cuff preparation
10	Cuff pieces joint 2	0.80	SNIS
11	Cuff hem	0.53	SNIS
12	Cuff run stitch	0.73	SNIS
13	Cuff trim and turn	0.57	SNEC
14	Cuff top and sleeve pleat making	0.66	SNIS
	Sleeve preparation
15	Sleeve panel attach	0.70	OLS
16	Sleeve panel top	0.65	SNIS
17	Under placket attach and tacking	0.65	SNIS
18	Big placket attachment	1.18	SNIS
	Front
19	Button hole placket trim and attachment	0.56	KANSAI
20	Button placket sew and wash care label	0.38	SNIS
21	Button placket piping attach	0.40	SNIS
	Back
22	Label attachment	0.35	SNIS
23	Yoke attach and top	043	SNIS
24	Dart mark and sew	0.56	SNIS
25	Front and back trim and pair	0.70	MANUAL
	Assembly
26	Shoulder attachment and top	046	SNIS
27	Collar attach	0.54	SNIS
28	Collar finishing with content label	0.85	SNIS
29	Sleeve no set and attach	0.85	OIS
30	Top stitch at armhole	0.71	SNIS
31	Side seam attach and sleeve trim	0.70	OL5
32	Cuff no set and attaching	0.88	SNIS
33	Bottom hem B\S and B\H	0.67	SNIS
34	Buttonhole front-7, cuff-2, sleeve placket 2	1.08	BH
35	Button mark	0.27	MANUAL
36	Button front -7, spare-1, cuff 2, sleeve placket 2	1.17	BTN
37	Button melting	0.23	IRON
	TOTAL	22.10

Calculation of operation breakdown:

……………………………………Worker x Working hour x 60
Target per hour = —————————————– x Efficiency %
………………………………………………………..SMV

………………………………………………………………..SMV
Basic Pitch Time (BPT) = ——————————–
……………………………………………………….Total Manpower

………………………………………………………………………………………………..BPT
Upper Control Limit (UCL) = —————————————————————————-
……………………………………………………………………….Wanted Organizational Efficiency (0.85)

Lower Control Limit (LCL) = BPT x 2 – UCL

References:

Apparel Manufacturing Technology by T. Karthik, P. Ganesan, and D. Gopalakrishnan
Practice of Garments Merchandising and Management by Engr. Md. Faruk Hosen
https://textilelearner.net/operation-of-sewing-section-process-breakdown-of-basic-shirt/