How to Make Line Loading Plan for Garment Production?

In “Line loading plan” planner decides on which date a style to be loaded and how many lines to be considered for the style to meet the production completion date. Line loading plan is an important task for a production planner. Planner needs to do backward and forward planning based on lead time. In this article I will explain how to make line loading plan and what things are important during making a loading plan. Explanation is given step by step in the following with examples. There is lot of mathematical calculation. So, I will suggest you to use spread sheet for the making the plan.

Step 1: Make a list of current orders with details such as order no., order quantity, style description, and production completion date. Refer to the Table-1. Suppose order has been received on the month March and production completion date on May from 4^th to 21^st.

Table- 1: Order list

Order No.	Garment Description	Order Quantity  (pieces)	Production completion date
OCS101	Dress	2000	10th May
OCS102	Blouse	3000	12th May
OCS103	Trouser	5000	15th May
GAP104	Long sleeve Tee	3000	17th May
GAP105	Skirt	3000	21st May
GAP106	Dress	1500	21st  May
GAP107	Long sleeve Tee	10000	10th May
GAP108	Skirt	1200	04th May
	Total	28,000

Step 2: Suppose a factory has 5 production lines. Calculate available capacity of the line using capacity calculation formula considering absenteeism (10%) and line. You should have knowledge about line wise production efficiency to calculate actual capacity of a line. Or calculate it prior to line loading plan.

Available capacity in hours = {(No. of operators/machines x working days in a month x daily work hours x 60) – absenteeism %} x Efficiency %

Line wise available capacity has been shown in the Table-2. It is considered that each line is equipped with 25-32 machines (operators), factory’s normal shift time is 8 hours (480 minutes) and line efficiency is in the range of 39% to 55%.  

Table- 2: Available capacity calculation

Line No.	No. of Operator	Minutes/Day (Daily working Hrs. X 60)	Line Efficiency	Absenteeism %	Capacity available
Line 1	30	480	40%	10%	5184.0
Line 2	28	480	50%	10%	6048.0
Line 3	32	480	55%	10%	7603.2
Line 4	32	480	45%	10%	6220.8
Line 5	25	480	39%	10%	4212.0

Step 3: Next, calculate required capacity for each order (style) in minutes and in days. Assume that above 8 styles to be run in 5 lines and styles will be loaded only in single line. Consider that all lines blank and you have no issue with starting date. In this stage you have to also decide which line to be chosen for the styles. Allocate order to the line according to product category and line set up (machines laid).  In Table-3 line number has been mentioned against the order number. Use the following formula for the calculation.

Capacity required in minutes = Order Quantity X Style SMV 

Capacity required in days = Capacity required in minutes / Capacity available per day.

Refer to the table-3 for calculated minutes and days required for each style.

Table-3: Required capacity calculation

Order No.	Loaded to Line No.	Order Quantity	Style SMV	Capacity Required (Minutes)	Capacity available per day	Capacity Required (Days)
OCS101	Line-1	2000	28	56000	5184	11
OCS102	Line-2	3000	25	75000	6048	12
OCS103	Line-3	5000	20	100000	7603.2	13
GAP104	Line-4	3000	10	30000	6220.8	5
GAP105	Line-5	3000	18	54000	4212	13
GAP106	Line-1	1500	28	42000	5184	8
GAP107	Line-4	10000	10	100000	6220.8	16
GAP108	Line-5	1200	18	21600	4212	5

Step 4: Now do backward calculation to find the date for style loading. Days needed to complete production on due date, Sundays and holidays must be excluded in day count. And add one to two days initially for line setting according to style requirement.  If required, you can add buffer for one to two days. To make it easy in calculating the loading dates considering above points use spreadsheet based planning board. For example refer to the following image-1. I have made loading plan on the planning board for theses styles. Light blue colored columns represent Sunday (weekly off days).  Finally make another table (Table-4) representing loading date against orders.

Table-4: Order loading date

Order No.	Garment Description	Loaded to Line #	Production completion date	Capacity Required (Days)	Loading date	Comments
OCS101	Dress	Line-1	10th May	11	26th April
OCS102	Blouse	Line-2	12th May	12	27th April
OCS103	Trouser	Line-3	15th May	13	28th April
GAP104	Long sleeve Tee	Line-4	17th May	5	11th May
GAP105	Skirt	Line-5	21st May	13	5th May
GAP106	Dress	Line-1	21st  May	8	11th May
GAP107	Long sleeve Tee	Line-4	10th May	16	21st April
GAP108	Skirt	Line-5	04th May	5	28th April

Step 5: Once you gone through this article, practice this with some of your real styles. I wish you can make it. If you feel you need further assistance then write us?