Mast Factory SOP Training Content

Updated on 01/05/09 (Total 61 pages)

Slide 3 SOP Assessment Report

Slide 4 Job File/Style Folder
Slide 5 SOP tree
Slide 6 Trims/accessories receipt and card
Slide 7 Fabric Warehouse--Receipt of piece goods
Slide 8 Incoming Fabric Inspection
Slide 9 Incoming Fabric Internal Testing shade blanket for washed garment
Slide 10 -Incoming Fabric Internal Testing continued .1
Slide 11 -Incoming Fabric Internal Testing continued .2
Slide 12 -Fabric Relaxation
Slide 13 -Pilot Lot Samples Testing
Slide 14 -Pre-Production Meeting
Slide 15 -Pattern & Marker
Slide 16 -Cutting Room
Slide 17 -Cutting Room-- continued
Slide 18 -Shade Numbering
Slide 19 -Cut Panel Inspection Accuracy & Skills
Slide 20 -Cut Panel Inspection Fabric flaws
Slide 21 -Fusing Room
1

Mast Factory SOP Training Content

Updated on 01/05/09 (Total 61 pages)--- Continued

Slide 22 -Machine Repair & Maintenance

Slide 23 -Sewing lines
Slide 24 -Sewing lines-- continued
Slide 25 -Sharp Objects Control
Slide 26 -Traffic Light System
Slide 27 -Traffic Light System-- continued
Slide 28 -End-line Inspection
Slide 29 -Inspection & Audit terminology
Slide 30 -Factory Inspector & Auditor
Slide 31 -Wash Garment Control
Slide 32 -Pressing
Slide 33 -Final Inspection
Slide 34 -Color Shade Sorting
Slide 35 -Fit Audits
Slide 36 -Packing
Slide 37 -Pre-final & Final audit
Slide 38 -Defect Analysis
Slide 39 to 61 -Appendix from A to S

SOP Assessment Report

Mast Industries will conduct this SOP assessment report in our active garment factories
every 3 months.

Record will be documented and shared with related factories for immediate
improvement.

Job File/Style Folder

A job file/style folder should be kept in factory which file all key SOP documents
for each style.

SOP tree
Fabric, Trim &
Accessories
warehouse

Cut panel inspection- G

Shade numbering
Fabric defects guideline- H
Fusing record- I
PP meeting associated- E

Patterns,
Markers, Cutting
& Fusing
B

Machine repair/maintenanceJ, K
Job spec- L
Sharp objects control- F
Inline audit same as App- N3
Traffic light system- M
Key process inspection- N2
End-line inspection- N1, O
PP meeting associated- E

P
G, H, I

Sewing/asse
mbling Lines

N1,2,3

Off line Process

N2, R

Pressing
Final inspection- N2, O
Color shade sorting
Fit audit- S
Packing
PP meeting associated- E

Finishing
B
N3

Pre-final & final- N3

Defect
analysis

Key process inspection- N2

Wash garment control- Q, R
PP meeting associated- E

A, B, C, D

Section Element Report Pilot Lot

Bulk

Trim card & checking

Fabric process control- A
Dye lot control- C
Fabric inspection- B
Fabric internal testing- D
Fabric relaxation
PP meeting associated- E

N1, 2,
3

Trims & Accessories Card & Receipt

Each of the approved trims should be posted in the sub-material sections for the
workers checking of the incoming trims including quality & quantity (suggest
10% for each item/size is minimum). Checking record should be kept in
warehouse for reference.

Clear segregation of trims & accessories storage will ensure that there is no mix
up or misunderstanding during production.

Proper inventory must be established. This must include the booking in and
their distribution. And records must be clear for trace back.

Fabric Warehouse---Receipt of piece goods

Swatch must be cut from middle of each roll exterior end. A swatch is at least 6
inches x 6 inches. These swatches should be mounted on the dye lot control
sheets as per dye lot. (Dye lot control sheet- Appendix C)

Swatch must be checked against approved shade by a qualified person using the
required light under Macbeth light box.

Fabric warehouse should be organized with all the fabric rolls being put in an
pallet. Marking with customer & style numbers on each rack for easy reference.

Rolls must remain covered. Appendix A is for recording fabric control process.

Incoming Fabric Inspection

Factory should carry out at least 10% of the incoming fabric inspection with
using 4-point system prior to cutting. If this fails, then an additional 15% must be
done. If this still fails, then it must be 100% checked.

Fabric defects guidelines & approved shade band should be in place.

Should use the Brand Standard and requirement or follow 4 point system in
Mast SOP if Brand have no specific requirement. (Pieces Goods Inspection
Report see Appendix B)

Incoming Fabric Internal Testing--Shade blanket for Washed

Garments

Upon receipt of the fabric, the factory must cut head ends from all rolls, and sew
them together as a blanket, and launder according to the approved standard.

All rolls must be numbered as per the original rolls and then joined together to
see a before and after effect.

Every roll per dye lot must be checked for shade continuity before and after
wash.

Incoming Fabric Internal Testing Continued.1

There must be a 50cm X 50cm square swatch drawn onto at least 10% rolls of
all the dye lots received to ensure that the fabric rolls are to be grouped for
marker by proper range of shrinkage is consistent throughout the fabric (Fabric
Internal Test Summary Report-see Appendix D). Suggest that Denim be tested
100%, and to use a plastic template to ensure that all squares are consistent.

Fabric preliminary shrinkage testing environment should be similar with bulk
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10

Incoming Fabric Internal Testing Continued. 2

Suggest that a squares be taken min of 3 yards away from interior end of a roll.

Cut samples from 10% of all rolls across all dye lots. Ensure that proper listing
test (end to end and side to side) are carried out on all of these selected rolls.

Fabric weight should be checked against the original requirement.

Test on fusing shrinkage, marking chalks/pens/number sticker & any new join.

Its suggested that dry crocking fastness testing be for color bleeding intensity.

11

Fabric Relaxation

Fabric rolls must be unrolled, lapped and must be individually stored on a
separate rack.

Relaxation at least 24 hours prior to spreading & cutting. Record with the time
started for relaxation on each lot of fabric should be recorded.

Stretch fabrics could also be preshrunk using sponging machine or heat setting
machines prior to spreading/cutting.

12

Pilot Lot Samples Testing

Factory should carry out pilot lot testing for all news styles, new fabrications
prior to bulk cutting.

For those orders with quantities more than 500 pieces, a 32 pieces of pilot lot
samples testing is required.

Fabric shrinkage will be built into the Pilot Lot patterns

After the evaluation on the pilot testing, the finalized shrinkage will be built
into the bulk patterns.

Pilot Lot Samples need to be reviewed by Mast QA or factory designated QA.
(Pilot assessments report- see Appendix P)

13

Pre-Production Meeting

Factory should conduct pre-production meeting for all styles prior to bulk
production.

It is essential process to ensure all of the suitable raw materials and
machineries are identified and available in order to produce the required
garments.

PP meeting record form. (see Appendix E)

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Patterns & Markers

Pattern shouldnt be changed from buyers approval or Mast approval.

As a general rule, one garment must be laid one way. Depending on certain
fabric or prints, we may in fact have to make the markers all one way. This
should be clarified at the PP meeting and exercised in bulk. In the event that we
have two of the same size in one marker, then one must be marked 8a and
another must be marked 8b, to avoid any confusion when bundling.

Make sure that marker components are all there and are marked properly on
grain lines.

Ensure that style & PO numbers are properly marked on the markers.

15

Cutting Room

Cutting room should be well lighted. (Lighting: Minimum 70 FC)

The cutting room supervisor should always receive a copy of the Fabric
Inspection Report as the fabric is passed to the cutting room for processing.

Approved shade band should be in place as a reference.

Original patterns for all sizes must be in the cutting room prior to spreading.
They must be made from card and must be hung in the cutting room for
immediate reference.

Make sure that each dye lot must be cut in the order size ratio.

Roll code with dye lot should be recorded in each cutting quality report (see
Appendix G).

Fabric piles must always be cut in specified directions. Again, this must be
specified on the PP report during the meeting.

Notches must be checked for accuracy, and depth shouldnt exceed 1/8 in
some cases especially on knitted fabric or delicate fabrics it may be advisable
to mark these as small triangles on the outside rather than notches.
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Cutting Room--Continued

A maximum height of 3 must be used. However this might vary depending on the
fabrication.

The edge on all piles must be totally flush prior to cutting and under no circumstance
should any cutting commence until the lay had been scrutinized by the cutting room
manager.

End cuts should be re-ticketed and put to one side in an orderly fashion. The original
ticket should be used to ensure that if re-cuts are needed they come from the same roll
and dye lot.

Tissue paper must be used to separate individual rolls.

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Shade Numbering

All Brands production must be numbered not only by size, but also must contain
information on the dye lot control.

All parts must be numbered, and these must remain on the garment until shade
sorting.
- Suggest that a visual guide is used to identify lots. The color coding can be used
in many different way that is a fast and efficient to maintain lot integrity.

Fused parts numbering isnt easy to handle because it could leave a mark or the
numbers could be taken off and put back in the wrong order or not at all. For
shade numbering control, fusing section is a key player.

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Cut panel Inspection Accuracy & Skills

Factory should carry out at least 10% of the key cut bundles inspection for
cutting accuracy, cutting skills etc..

Checking of top, middle, bottom pieces of cut pieces against the hardboard
patterns for accuracy & variation.

Checking of both face and wrong sides of the cut piece is required to make sure
they are cut along the marker line.

The tolerance for miss cuts on any pieces is +/- 1/16 all around. If in general the
cut panel was 1/16 over all around, this would not be acceptable and have to be
re-cut.

Cutting quality reportsee
Appendix G

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Cut panel Inspection Fabric flaws

All main panels must be 100% inspected for fabric flaws.

Fabric defects guidelines should be in place. (Fabric defects
guideline see Appendix H)

Cutting quality records should be maintained. (see Appendix G)

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Fusing Room

Approved lab test reports from PCC or Vilene for the actual interlining should
be in place with a swatch for reference.

Factory should check at least 2 to 3 times a day on machine temperature and
fuse line temperature using thermo papers or thermometer.

At least checking of twice a day for the bond strength with using bond strength
tester.

Record (including temperature, dwell time, pressure & bond strength) should
be maintained for reference. (Fusing recordsee Appendix I)

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Machine Repair & Maintenance

Each factory must ensure that they keep proper machine record
(Machine Repair see Appendix J), and plan maintenance
schedule (see Appendix K).
K



Machine repair records must exist for each machine and the summary records are kept in the workshop,
and which must be signed by the mechanic and head mechanic each time whilst work carry out.
Planned maintenance schedule must exist. Each machine must pull in at least once every two months
depends on type of machinery and serviced as part of factories ongoing preventative maintenance
program.
Ensure proper training gave for new operator and daily care procedure.

22

Sewing lines

A job specification for each operation should be placed in front of each sewing
worker as a reference of the acceptable standard. Same fabrication mock up
reference sample are acceptable. (see Appendix L)

The reference sample should be sewn by the operator performing the operation
and approved by technician or quality auditor and also signed by the operator for
quality agreement.

Traffic light system should be performed. And Line Lighting is at least 70 FC.

A traffic light report containing one complete month of readings must be posted
at the machine. Factory must implement properly Sharp Objects Control.

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Sewing lines--continued

An internal production sample and approved tech pack should be posted in each
sewing line. And trims cards should be in place.

The end-line inspector must inspect 100% of the garments of his/her line and
record defects as stated with in-line audit report.

100% key process inspections are needed for key operation prior to the
assembling. Key process must be defined at PP meeting stage and recorded in.

The inline auditor and end-line inspector must compare findings at least every 2
hours and report workmanship or machine issues to the QA supervisor/manager.

Inline auditors scheme must be a ratio of 1:20 operators and less 25 operators.

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Sharp Objects Control

It is a standard practice for all factories to control, the use of needles, pins, and
other sharp objects that are used in the manufacturing process. This will
minimize the risk associated with needle or part of a needle, a pin or other
sharp object being caught or trapped into a garment during production.

Sharp Objects Log refer to Appendix F

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Traffic Light System

Traffic light/Right First Time system should be implemented on each
sewing operations/operator.

Inline auditor should inspect 10pcs sample at an operator per round.
Auditing of at least 4 times a days of each operators performance should
occur.
1. No defects mark card GREEN to go to next operator.
2. One defect mark card YELLOW, circle defect type#1,2,3,4,5,6,7 or 8.
- Inform and show operator fault. Move to next operator.
3. Two defects mark card RED, Three defects mark card BLACK, circle defect type#1,2,3,4,5,6,7
or 8.
- Inform and show SUPERVISOR of faults.
- Supervisor must stay with operator until 20 consecutive (for RED), 30 consecutive (for
BLACK) garments/parts/operations pass.
- Supervisor initial at the RED/BLACK to indicated 20/30 garments have passed
consecutively.
4. If an operator has consecutive inspection RED, Factory Manager must be informed to re-train
the operator or taken necessary follow up actions. Pls indicate this by using BLACK.
5. If a high defective rate is found on one particular operation in any one hour at 100% End Line
inspection, End-line Inspector must inform Line Supervisor immediately and not wait until
the end of the day.
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Traffic Light System-- continued

6. If a high defective rate is found on one particular operator in any one hour at 100% Final
Inspection, Inspector must inform Supervisor immediately and not wait until the end of the
day. This system will work very well in reducing repair levels on hourly, daily based if used
properly. Proper communicating among different inspection stages on defects found and
timely follow up actions are vital. (Operator Quality Performance Sheet see

Appendix M )

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End-line inspections

Factory should carry out 100% inspection to appearance & workmanship of
finished WIP at end of each sewing line.

Sheets of measurement inspection must be filed properly, and measurement
should be checked for across sizes and colors of a minimum of 10% of daily
output of each line in key points and at least 3 pieces of every size in full point.
The only way to measure a garment is in fact with a tape measure.

Hourly records must be kept, using the End-Line Daily Inspection Report. (see
Appendix N1). This report breaks down the repair rate into hourly figures for real
time management.

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Inspection & Audit terminology

Operation must be performed by a qualified inspector or auditor.

Inspection and audit should be carried out under a lighting of at least 100FC.
Proper dedicated table & area must be used.
A predefined inspection method & quality standard must be given to the operator.
Inspection & audit reports are to be made for follow up reference.
Key process inspection must be for 100% of finished operation before next
operation.

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Factory Inspector & Auditor

Auditor can be a higher level operator than inspector.

Inspector and Auditor shouldnt be trimming garments and shouldnt have
scissors at their table.

All inspector must have their eyesight checked twice a year for clarity and color
blindness. The individuals who have to perform this operation by fully
experienced and must have undergone proper training prior to taking up this
position.

Measurement Inspector must pass Blind Measure Test which is used to
monitor the performance of measurement inspector for each new style shipment
before they start to measure for the BULK. The test will ensure that the inspector
measurement method is same as Approved PP requirement. They must work on
blank spec sheets and must fill in the exact measurement they take. I.E. if it is,
34 3/8 then fill in that figure. The test spec sheet must review by the supervisor
and sign off or do calibration immediately for the inspector who measured
incorrectly. (see Appendix O)

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Wash Garments Control

Garments to be reviewed against approved standards on color shade, washing
effect, hand feel and recorded for improvement before proceeding with bulk
wash. (Washing record see Appendix Q)

A daily in/out record between factory and laundry should be maintained to
monitor a smooth production flow. (Washing and fall out tables see Appendix R)

Designated QC in laundry check 10% garment each tank on washing effects i.e.
color, hand feel & measurement in key points and maintain records.

All garments should be segregated by shade lot with proper identification on
each garment before sending to laundry for washing.

Garment tend to turn yellow in the PH condition from neutral to mildly alkaline (79). Therefore, its our intent to control the PH value on finished garments at 5.5
6.5.

Its a must for the laundry to control the PH at our requirement and factory to test
the same on finished garments when returned after washing. A testing record
must be maintained to ensure PH is properly controlled.
31

Pressing

Vacuum tables should be equipped. Vacuuming be used only after the
garment has been pressed.

All pressing equipment should be regularly maintained and clean.

Pressing tables covers & pads must be replaced on a regular basis.

Factory should avoid stacking of finished products too high while they are still
damp.

Prevent any unnecessary wrinkles on garments prior to packing.

Teflon shoes must be used on delicate fabric and sensitive colors.

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Final Inspection

Factory should carry out 100% checking of the finished products on workmanship
& appearance prior to packing.

Factory should carry out 100% checking on critical measurement prior to packing.

Defective garments should be segregated clearly into area different from quality
garments.

Daily Final Inspection finding should be recorded properly (see Appendix N2 same
format as End-line Inspection Report). It will be easy to see how effective the Endline is by making this direct comparison.

33

Color Shade Sorting

Factory should segregate the finished products color shade against the
approved shade band for packing.

These should be checked under the light box or with a table equipped with
CWF, daylight and Inca light source.

For those light color garment, it should be checked randomly under UV light to
confirm no OBA staining on garment prior to packing.

34

Fit Audits

Factory should audit the fitting of the finished products for each style against the
approved green tag samples with using the approved mannequin.

Record should be kept for reference. We suggest factory to back up with
photographs taken. Also like each factory to comply their own fit audit report (see
Appendix S).

This must be done on a weekly basis to ensure that the integrity of the garment
remains.

35

Packing

Proper folding instruction should be in place for operators prompt reference.

Factory should reduce any unnecessary wrinkles on finished garments prior to
packing.

Factory should allow the finished garments being dried sufficiently before
putting into plastic bags.

36

Pre-final & Final Audit by the Designated Auditor of Factory

There has to be a separate Factory Auditor Team, who conducts in-process
audits and final audits to finished goods daily. Audit operations can refer to Mast
SOP of Final/Inline Audit. Also they must report daily to the General Manager
on the results of these audits.

To ensure that Designated Auditors of Factory are implementing audits, Mast
auditor will be auditing these reports.

If the Designated Auditor have been certified by Mast, will be called FCA.

If the factory are certified, MCA will waive some Final Audits subject to Factory
Certification Program.

Pre-final/Final audit finding can be inputted into format designed by factory or
Mast.

37

Defect Analysis

To address the problem in the right time with the right approach,
factories have to analyze their weakness first. Defects found in
daily In-line, End-line & Final inspection have to be properly
recorded and analyzed by defect groups for corrective and
preventative action. (Refer to Appendix N1 & N2 )

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