1.

INTRODUCTION:

1.1

IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY CONTROL AND CHECKING:

MOTIVATES QUALITY AWARENESS:

Quality control not only develops but also motivates the employees of the organization to
achieve the desired level of quality in the product.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:

When the factory follows a better quality control measure, the most satisfied people are those
getting a direct benefit out of it and these people are none other than the end users.

DECREASE IN PRODUCTION COST:

A good inspection system can effectively bring down the excess and useless work of the people
associated with the Quality management system. Thus, in a way reducing the overall
production cost of the factory.

REDUCTION OF WASTAGE:

Quality control helps in proper utilization of the available resources and thus decreasing the
amount of wastage happening in the factory.

DECREASE IN THE INSPECTION COST:

A good quality control strategy is supposed to reduce the amount of money wasted in
inspection, thus bringing down the Inspection costs.

IMPROVED TECHNIQUES AND METHODS OF PRODUCTION:

A good database for the manufacturing process and improved methods and designs, not only,
brings goodwill to the company but also, increases its reputation in the market.

INCREAMENT IN SALE FIGURES:

Quality control ensures production of quality products which is immensely helpful in attracting
more customers for the product thereby increasing sales.

1.2. IMPORTANCE OF ANDROID APPLICATION

Garment manufacturing industry, characterized by constantly moving materials and a focus on
metrics like throughput and lead time, is a natural fit for mobile technology. The benefits of
implementing mobility into such industries are:

Increased employee productivity

Better resource management

Faster decision making

Although the garment manufacturing industry have adopted to RFIDs and barcode technology,
it still is shy in implementing mobile based applications in its process. The reasons might be:

COMPLEXITY IN THE PROCESSES since the processes happening in the

industry are too tough to be put into a single hand held device, there have been a delay
in implementation of these applications.

INTEGRATING OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS WITHIN THE PLANT dealing

with human/machine interfaces makes it a complicated deal.

CONNECTION TO BACK-END SYSTEMS- The garment manufactures follow a

large ERP system to cater their needs and embedding that ERP as a back end to the
android application is a complex task, thus creating a delay.

Since all the organizations standard operating procedures are different, applications catering to
the industry are not widely available and can only be done if an initiative is taken to build it inhouse or outsourced specifically catering the requirements of the targeted company.
There has been a minute progress over the last few years, in the integration of mobile
technology into garment manufacturing processes. But most of them are implemented just to

observe a shift in the platform being used, i.e., instead of accessing the data from a desktop the
employees can access through a mobile based application.
The industry still needs to have a role shifting done for the processes and also more verticals of
the android platforms needs to be explored.

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT:

To design and develop an android app to provide a Quality Management Solution for ABC
Apparels Ltd.

3. LITERATURE REVIEW:
3.1. QUALITY IN GARMENT MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY:
3.1.1. DEFINITION:

Quality means meeting or exceeding Customers expectations all the time. According to John
Rabbitt of the Foxboro Company: Quality is the ability to exceed Customers expectations
while maintaining a cost competitive market position.
Quality can be product based, user based, manufacturing based or value based.
A product based quality views quality as a measurable and precise variable, while if user based
quality gets discussed, quality is seen to be purely based on what customer says or wants.
On the other hand, manufacturing based quality is judged on the basis of conformance to the
requirements. And as the name suggests value based quality is measured with respect to its
price. (Bhardwaj, 1998)
According to Darwin there are eight proposed dimensions of Quality:

1. Performance based on primary operating characteristics

2. Features based on secondary characteristics that supplement a products basic functioning.
3. Reliability probability of a products malfunctioning or failing within the specified period
of time.
4. Conformance - extent to which products design and operating characteristics meet the preestablished standards.
5. Durability refers to products life
6. Serviceability refers to the speed, courtesy, competence and ease of repair of a product.
7. Aesthetics refers to how the product looks, feels, tastes and smell
8. Perceived Quality refers to what customers perceive to be quality of a product based on
the image, advertising, and brand name reputation
Thus, varying along these quality parameters can help any company position itself in the
upcoming market. (Bhardwaj, 1998).
3.1.1.1 THE PLANDOCHECKACT:

The plandocheckact (PDCA) cycle describes the activities a company needs to perform in
order to incorporate continuous improvement in its operation. This cycle is also referred to as
the Shewhart cycle or the Deming wheel. The circular nature of this cycle shows that
continuous improvement is a never-ending process. Lets look at the specific steps in the cycle.
PLAN: The first step in the PDCA cycle is to plan. Managers must evaluate the current process
and make plans based on any problems they find. They need to analyze all current procedures,
collect data, and identify problems. This information should then be studied and used to
develop a plan for improvement as well as specific measures to evaluate performance.
DO: The next step in the cycle is implementing the plan (do). During the implementation
process managers should document all changes made and collect data for evaluation.
CHECK: Checking the data collected in the do stage, and then those data are evaluated to see
whether the plan is achieving the goals established in the plan phase.
ACT: The last phase of the cycle is to act on the basis of the results of the first three phases.

The best way to accomplish this is to communicate the results to other members in the
company and then implement the new procedure if it has been successful. Note that this is a
cycle; the next step is to plan again. After we have acted, we need to continue evaluating the
process, planning, and repeating the cycle again. (OTHERS, 2014)

3.1.2. IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY:

Discussed in various literatures and articles, the major impact of Quality is on the profitability
of any organization.
According to several business experiences, it is concluded that a higher product quality leads to
a better Return on Investment. In order to have the best of both Worlds, i.e., a higher market
share and better ROI, its essential to be at the higher side of the Quality.
The Quality/ Profitability connection as stated by H. James Harrington, after citing from n
number of well reported companys, Extensive research has proven that improved perceived
product quality is the most effective way to increase profits and the most important factor in the
long- term profitability of a company. (Harrington, 1989)

Along with the profitability, there are several others benefits of quality: (Bhardwaj, 1998)

Greater Market share

Higher growth rate

Higher earnings

Premium price

Loyal Customers

Higher motivated employees

Also stated in the book, Managing Quality in the Apparel Industry by Pradip V Mehta and
Satish K Bhardwaj, Quality holds significant importance in the World trade of garments.
Currently, this trade is dictated by MFA (mulita- fiber agreement) and therefore many countries
like Bangladesh, China, Hong-Kong, India, Malaysia, Pakistan etc. are enjoying relatively

assured export markets. For many countries these export industry is a vital for their national
economy.
Therefore, a smart exporter/garment exporters will not underestimate the significance of quality
to his/ her business and user next few years to place quality system and practices in place and
get ready for fierce competition within the next few years. (Bhardwaj, 1998)

3.2. Quality Checking Parameters in the Garment Industry:

Inspection in the garment industry refers to visually examining all the components associated
with making the final garment. For ensuring better quality to the end users i.e. the buyers of the
factory, it is necessary to inspect and make sure everything is on the mark. Therefore, the below
mentioned components needs to be thoroughly inspected:
3.2.1. FABRIC:
Fabric Inspection is an important aspect followed prior to garment manufacturing to avoid
rejects due to fabric quality and facing with unexpected loss in manufacturing. Fabric
inspection is done for fault/defect rate, fabric construction, end to end or edge to edge shading,
colour, hand or feel, length/width, print defect and appearance. Fabric inspection ensures to
minimise the rejection of cut panels or rejected garments due to fabric faults. Cutting inspected
and approved fabric ensures not only finished garment quality but also reduces rejects,
improves efficiency and timely deliveries.
The purpose of fabric inspection is to determine the quality and acceptability for garments. As
fabric is received, it should be inspected to determine acceptability from a quality viewpoint.
Some garment manufacturers rely on their fabric suppliers to perform fabric inspection and
fabric defects. In many small companies, spreading and cutting is done by the same personnel
and fabric is inspected as it is being spread on a table for cutting.
Fabric inspection, mapping or marking defects is important prior to spreading and cutting
because:

Spreading can be done more quickly because the spreader is not also inspecting the
fabric.

A cutter's productivity will increase because the defects are already marked.

The patterns are cut around the defects so as not to include them in the finished
garment. (Rana, 2012)

3.2.2. ON LINE INSPECTION:

Online Inspection means inspection of parts and partially assembled products as they made into
complete products The idea behind in-process or in-line inspection is to inspect or check the
workmanship and components parts as close to manufacturing process as possible and thereby
identify the source of quality problem and take corrective and preventive actions as early as
possible in the manufacturing chain. (Mehta, 2015) Online inspection is still getting neglected
in the apparel industry especially in the Indian sub-continent.
Once the bundles arises on the shop floor, they are checked on various parameters as discussed
by Pradip V Mehta (Mehta, 2015)
3.2.2.1 CUTTING:
The pieces sent are checked for any problem in difference of sizes, or with the face of the
fabric. Also the direction upon which the fabric lay was made. Some of the parameters are as
mentioned below:

Frayed Edges

Ply-to ply fusion

Pattern Precision

Notches

Drilling

Placement of Design

Several defects on Cuts (Needle cut, Sniper cut, etc.)SEWING

In-process inspection in Sewing process involves the inspection of work from each operator,
with the quality standard established to limit the amount of bad work permitted and the
provision for operators to re-inspect and repair entire bundles should limit this limit be
exceeded. Therefore, inspection points or stations should be carefully selected so that the
operations to be checked are neither covered by later operations, nor necessitate ripping good
work to repair a defect.
A sample space needs to be selected and can be done as stated:

n=12, c=0, s=4, m=2

n=30, c=1, s=4, m=2
Where:
n= number of samples to be inspected from a bundle
c= acceptance number
s= skip interval
m= clearance interval
After this, the inspection of sample space takes place in the factory and is gradually decreased,
after studying the amount of defects occurring.
Few of the sample defects that usually occur are:

Needle damage

Feed Damage

Skipped Stitches

Thread Breaks

Broken stitches

Seam pucker

Pleated Seam

Blind Stitching
And many more.

3.2.2.3. ONLINE VS INLINE INSPECTION:

The methodology in the document makes use of Inline inspection while, many available
literature uses the name of Online Inspection to depict the same. According to the definitions of
each:

Inline Inspection: Inline inspection in a garment factory means checking of semi-stitched

garments or partially stitched garments while pieces are still inside the line and all sewing
operations are not yet stitched. (Sarkar, 2014)
Online Inspection: Online Inspection means inspection of parts and partially assembled
products as they made into complete products. (Bhardwaj, 1998)
If analyzed, both the definitions target towards, the inspection of sewed parts of the final
garment, and thus refers to the same random sampling method, existing in the garment industry.

3.2.3. FINAL INSPECTION:

Final Inspection implies inspecting garments from the view point of the final consumers. Size,
measurement, accessories, care labels, form fitting etc. are done at this stage to ensure that only
the best quality goods exit the right market.
Final Inspection may occur before or after the garments are packed in poly bags and boxes.
This is the point where the factory based on its past experience decides on what kind of
inspection it should follow so as to get the most of it. Few of the types are:

No Inspection

100% inspection

Spot Checking

Arbitrary sampling

Statistical Sampling

Based on the definitions of each type of inspection, the factory decides on the inspection it
needs to take forward. Needless to say, for factories going for No inspection, the factory is in
always a hovering danger of losing its hard earned reputation. While if the factory, decides to
go for 100% inspection, it is doing nothing but increasing the cost of Quality.
This it is always better to choose the best among the available and here, one can go for the
statistical sampling method, for choosing how much to inspect at the end table out of the given
pieces in a particular obtained bundle.

Statistical Sampling is also known as the acceptance sampling, and is a comprising stage
between the No inspection and 100% inspection zone. Although statistical sampling is superior
to the other mentioned alternatives, it makes use of the laws of probability for obtaining the
desired output. Thus, it can be called a random sampling procedure too.
(Mehta, 2015)

3.2.4. ACCEPTABLE QUALITY LEVEL:

AQL is another very important term when it comes to quality in any apparel export house. Most
of the decisions in the apparel shipments of the export market are made on the basis of AQL
based random sampling. It is important that the concerned authorities should have a basic
understanding of the AQL.
Acceptance decisions based on AQL terms of inspection contains two kinds of risks:

Producers Risk

The chance of rejecting a good lot that contains equal or less percent defective than AQL

Customers Risk

The chance of accepting a bad lot that contains more defectives than the largest proportion
of defects that the customer is willing to accept.
(Bheda, 2015)
AQL 1.5 Sample Selection Chart:

The AQL tables are statistical tools at the disposal of buyers (for product inspections). They
are an industry standard. Most suppliers involved in international trade are familiar with it.
They help determine two key elements:

How many samples should be picked and inspected, among a batch of product or
parts?

Where is the limit between acceptability and refusal, when it comes to defective
products?

3.3. QUALITY IN LINGERIE MANUFACTURING:

Lingerie being one of the most technical garment needs a lot of attention when it comes to
selecting the right fabric, with the right feel and then giving it a right fit. Therefore, all of the
equipment to be used for cutting, designing, stitching and sewing must be checked for any
damages or defects prior to starting with the production queue to ensure that all of the
equipment to be used is working as expected. Should there be any materials or equipment that
shows signs of damage, these devices will not be used for the whole production process to
avoid defective products. (InTouch, 2014)

The fabric selected needs to be defect free and friendly to the skin. Therefore, fabric inspection
is the foremost step towards ensuring the quality. Once the fabric inspection is done, the cutting
precisions come into picture. A badly cut piece would do nothing but waste the time of
production and would lead to increasing the time of checking the pieces again and again.
After the right fabric is selected, the laboratory room works to ensure the company meets the
specification requirements in depth, density, elasticity, and color fastness to washing, color
fastness to light, color fastness to perspiration, tensile creep, ironing, rubbing, abrasion
resistance, GSM Check, tearing strength, pitting test, PH check, laundering and crocking, etc.
(Lingerie, 2016)
The on-line inspection done by qualified inspectors makes sure that corrections and
improvements suggested during the semi-finished products inspection gets implemented and
thus improvising is done.
The final random pre-shipment inspection takes place when the merchandise has been 100%
produced and at least 80% of the shipment packed. Here, the focus is on quantity,
workmanship, function, color & style, size specifications, packing details and shipping marks,
all

with

view

to

ensure

that

the

contract

specifications

are

met.

The final stage i.e. the Loading supervision ensures that finished goods are being shipped in
proper condition and in its entirety. The container is examined to ensure it is safe and clean, and
if the stuffing operation is happening properly. (Lingerie, 2016)

3.4. USE AND LIMITATIONS OF CAPTURING AND MANAGEMENT OF

QUALITY DATA:
3.4.1. USE OF CAPTURING THE DATA:

Data capturing have been a part of garment manufacturing, since the leaders realized the
importance of analyzing past data to improve the future.
Also, data capturing is helpful in forecasting the coming trends be it in terms of the latest
designs in the market or a new machine.
Data capturing is also useful in assessing the performance of the organization, so as to meet
the set benchmark.

3.4.2. LIMITATIONS OF CAPTURING THE DATA:

Data capturing, if done manually, holds a limited scope of getting saved for the future
reference.

Thus, maintaining the captured data in files, is another big task, that holds up unnecessary
space in the factory.
Also, data capturing manually, since is not done in real time basis, may be a forged and altered
data, which is of no use to the company.

3.5. DEFINING ANDROID APPLICATION:

3.5.1. HISTORY:
Android Inc. founded in Palo Alto, California ,united states in October 2003 by Andy
Rubin[co-founder of danger] ,rich miner[co-founder of wildfire communication Inc.],nick
sears[once VP at T-Mobile], and Chris white[headed design and interface development at web
TV] to develop.
3.5.2. DEFINITION:

It is an open source software platform and operating system for mobile devices.

Based on the Linux kernel

Developed by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance (OHA)

Allows writing managed code in the Java language

Android has its own virtual machine i.e. DVM (Dalvik Virtual Machine), which is used for
executing the android application.

Android is a free downloadable open source software stack for mobile devices that include
an Operating system.

Android OS is developed under a code name based on dessert item. For Example: Froyo,
KitKat,

Jelly

Beans,

Lollipop,

etc.

3.5.3 ANDROID ARCHITECTURE:-

The software stack is split into Four Layers:

The application layer

The application framework

The libraries and runtime

The kernel

Figure-4.1

3.5.4. APPLICATION FRAMEWORK:

This is all written in a Java programming language and the application framework is the
toolkit

that

all

applications

use.

These applications include the ones that come with a phone like the home applications, or
the phone application.

It includes applications written by Google as well as the programmer.

3.5.5. ADVANTAGE:

The ability for anyone to customize the Google Android platform.

It gives you better notification.

It lets you choose your hardware.

It

has

better

app

market(1,80,000

application)

3.5.6. DISADVANTAGES:

Android Market is less control of the manager, sometimes there are malware.

Wasteful Batteries, This is because the OS is a lot of "process" in the background

causing the battery quickly drains.

Sometimes slow device company issued an official version of Android your own.

Extremely inconsistence in design among apps.

Very unstable and often hang or crash.

3.5.7. LIMITATIONS OF ANDROID:

Development requires:

Java

Android SDK

Bluetooth limitations

Android doesn't support:

o Bluetooth stereo
o Contacts exchange
o Modem pairing
o Wireless keyboards
o There are no split or interval times available.
o Small memory size.

3.6. ANDROID APPLICATION AND ITS USE IN QUALITY CHECKING:

Snapii(Quality inspection app)

o The application needs the user to specify project details, using which it calculates labor
and equipment hours. Also identifies running activities, create reports, tracks estimates
and development time.

QUIC- quality inspection and capture app developed by guardian business solutions.
o Not specific only for the garment industry, focused on capturing data from any
manufacturing unit.

3.7. ANDROID APPLICATION AND ITS SCOPE IN QUALITY CHECKING OF

GARMENTS:

QUALITY CHECKER APP (by WFX) (WFX, 2015)

o This application comes with an easy to use interface, which helps in capturing and
keeping track of the inspection data in real time, making use of pictures and ability to
work offline.

SPC (STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL) (by FERNANDO HARO)

o This application caters the needs of almost all industries and is not specific to a
particular genre. The app holds the function to make graphs, such as the X-Charts and
the P-Charts, based upon the information fed in them. And since, this application is
freely available to be used, after taking license from the authorities, can be embedded
into any application for further use.

3.8. IDENTIFYING THE GAP:

The Quality management system in ABC apparels pvt ltd was very well framed, The Quality checkers
from all the zones, be it the inline, end line or AQL, were supposed to pen down each observation on
the set format of reports running in the company. Thereafter those paper formats were collected and
given to the feeder. Feeders are the people responsible for feeding all the data from shop floors. In
ABC apparels each unit had a feeder. Now, the major task of these feeders is to make the reports entry

into the system zone wise. Each zone, as mentioned, had set report formats. Once the report entries are
made, they are analyzed on the basis of top 3 defects and the process continued.
While observing the Quality management system, although the flow of this process was continuous, the
major lack in it, was the amount of time wasted in processing each quality record per day from a single
line.
Keeping in mind this short- coming of the running system and the possibility of introducing an
innovation that is easy to be handled and carried along when inspecting the operator, an idea to
implement an android enabled device with application targeting the quality inspection system was
thought of. Since android devices are easily available and that to at a nominal price, catering the
requirements of almost every section of the society, almost everybody is familiar with the operations.
And considering the fact that the targeted audience will be none other than the people with less
educational background, introducing anything based on android platform would serve both purpose of
being cost affective as well as targeted user friendly.
Here, the question arises as to why only android and not any other mobile OS be used for the purpose.
A simple answer to this is, first of all, the parallel OS to android which provides similar functionality
and interface is that of iOS. I would rather say that iOS enabled devices offer better features than the
chosen android ones. But as per a very common saying, All good things comes with a price, the iOS
device runs the same race.
Therefore, after observing several perspectives and suggestions, ABC apparels pvt ltd, concluded that
its better to have a personalized quality management application targeting their procedures, instead of
using an iOS application designed by high end developers like World Fashion Exchange (WFX) which
comes with the whole lot package and a good price.
So, the major purpose of making the application was the gap in the availability of such software in the
market.

4. METHODOLOGY:

PHASE-I

Survey of literature related to existing quality paramenters, for developing an

understanding in the field.
Planning and Preparing the checklist for developing the interface and
functionality for the app.
Identifying the gap
Developing final working guidelines for proceeding further.

PHASE-II

Understanding the different aspects of quality problems and gathering data of

the possible defects that occur.
Designing the modules on the software.
Pilot testing the designed modules seperately.
Building the connectivity among modules and establishing connection with the
database

PHASE-III

Providing training to the designated employees

Obtaining feedback from them
Comparing the automated feeding to the manual feeding
Checking feasibility and correcting the gap

5. DATA COLLECTION AND EXPERIMENTATION:

5.1 COLLECTING ALL THE QUALITY CHECKING PARAMETERS:
5.1.1 TRAFFIC LIGHT SYSTEM:
5.1.1.1 IN-LINE INSPECTION:

The Quality control system that ABC Apparels Ltd, follows is none other than the renowned Traffic
Light System, whose major aim is ensuring reduction of defect in the garment from the very source.
Since, it is a visually communicated system, Traffic light system is, what they believed to be, a more
effective method of controlling shop floor quality than any other existing quality tool. Since Lingerie

is a very technical garment, and ripping apart any part if found defective at the end, renders the garment
completely useless, Traffic light system here helps as a corrective action for this repairing problem.
The Inline checking system is designed in a manner that, very few defective pieces survive in the line
to reach the end. The whole process caters to eradicating these possibly occurring defective pieces, so
as to ensure better quality to the end result.
ABC APPARELS LTD follows commission system in their planning stage, so each bundle of a defined
size is released on floor. These received bundles of cut panels are inspected and passed onto the
operators, if found in good condition. If not, the defective or faulty cut panels are collected and taken to
the cutting department where further actions are taken. The cut panels or pieces are judged on several
possible defects such as, unraveled or fuzzy edges, correct notches, pattern accuracy, molding precision
(if applicable) etc. In the meantime the good panels are passed for sewing in the assembly system,
giving way for the Traffic Light system to come into play.
Out of several existing theories regarding selection of sample space in terms of selecting the minimum
amount of pieces to be inspected, ABC APPARELS LTD follows a sample space of 7 pieces in a
bundle of 24. The theory behind this consideration is: if 1 piece is found defective in those 7 pieces, the
percentage of defect comes out to be 14%, but if 2 pieces are found defective, the percentage of defect
doubles itself to 28%. Since 2 out of 7 pieces caters to such high rate of defect percentage, what if the
sample space gets replaced with actual number of pieces!
After defining the sample space, the inspection starts and the Inline Quality checker, selects an
operation. She then selects 7 pieces from the sewed pieces and starts inspecting the pieces on the set
defects followed in the factory. If the QUALITY CHECKER finds no defect during inspection, the
operator is assigned a thumbs-up Green smiley, indicating that she is good to move forward with the
operation. If she finds one piece among seven pieces as defective, the QUALITY CHECKER gives the
operator a yellow smiley and this accounts for continuously monitoring the operators work and also
checking her other 15 pieces in the bundle. The section in the whole process that needs attention from
other people associated with the line, is when the operators gets a Red Smiley and two out of her seven
sewed pieces are found defective. At this point, the QUALITY CHECKER calls for assistance from the
technical or mechanical staff associated with the line depending upon the problem in the pieces. If the
defective pieces encountered operational defects, the QUALITY CHECKER is responsible to train the
operator until she gains expertise, else if the defective pieces have stitching defects, technicians are
called to check the problem related to the SPI or machine settings, otherwise mechanic is called to

check if the sewing machine is functioning properly, if not, the mechanic tries solving the problem.
Once the problem is corrected, a note regarding the type of problem is maintained and the operation is
again inspected after a while for more accurate product.
(Annexure 10.2 SOP FOR INLINE INSPECTION)

5.1.1.2. END LINE INSPECTION:

Unlike the existing myths of not carrying out 100% inspection of the produced garments, ABC
APPARELS LTD inspects all the pieces at its End Line inspection table for the possibly occurring
defects and also few critical section measurements, in the case of brassiere, Bottom Band measurement.
The End line QUALITY CHECKER gets a Ticket with instructions stating what all needs to be
checked in the upcoming garment. Once the QUALITY CHECKER starts inspecting the garment, her
major task is to segregate all the garments coming to her desk on three different criterias, Good,
Defect and Reject. For making it easier, the company has provided three bins to each end line
QUALITY CHECKER, where she puts in the garments based on the category observed.
For the garment that is placed in the good bin, there is obviously no need to worry about, but in case
the QUALITY CHECKER is putting several garments in the defect or reject bin, the supervisor needs
to keep a tight check. For the garments observed as defective, a danger tag gets attached to them and
they are send back again in the line, to the operator because of whom the fault occurred, the operator
then rips off the defective part and tries to mend her mistake with utmost precision. But, since already
mentioned a brassiere is not just another garment but a garment requiring excess technical
specification, sometimes even the defective ones render useless.
If a garment is defective, a danger card is attached to it, and it is placed in the red colored bag. This bag
with the defective garments is send to the operator for repair.
Only when the garment is completely repaired and checked, then only the danger card is removed from
the garment, and thereafter making the garment pass as good.

5.2. CREATING DATABASE OF THE ALREADY EXISTING QUALITY CHECKING

PARAMETERS:

At this stage, the major concern was to collect information regarding the Quality parameters exiting in
the factory and collaborating so as to conveniently put them in the application without making the app
look bulky and assure user friendliness.
ABC APPARELS LTD was following a set of 65 Defects along with set defect codes for each of them.
These defects were defined for both the inline as well as the End line inspection. Most of the defects
that they had in their system never actually seemed to occur in the actual scenario.
During the first stage of development, the instructions were to include all the 65 defects by categorizing
them under the headings of critical and major. According to the company:
The critical defects for them, were the defects that can directly impact the shipment and if not properly
checked can lead to failure of the whole shipment.
The major defects, were the defects that directly affected the look and technicality of the garment.
A third, not so important, category existed under:
The minor criteria that focused on the occurrence of defect on the C zone of the garment, hardly
making an impact on the garments look and functionality.
(Annexure: 10.1 TYPES OF DEFECTS)
Along with such large database of defects, a huge difference was observed in the Operation breakdown
created for the styles. The definition/ language for the operations in the operation breakdown structure
was dependent upon the buyer. Lines having same buyers were following the same language
respectively.
Therefore, another big task was to standardize these operations into a single language and assign a
unique code to them, separately for brassiere and brief so that it can be rooted in the application. This
activity was done with the Industrial engineering department and a bachelor student for NIFT, Kolkata.
The whole database of operations and defects was defined in a way that it became easier to be
incorporated in the application.

(ANNEXURE: 10.3 DEFECT CODE)

(ANNEXURE 10.4 OPERATION CODE)

5.3 CALCULATING THE TIME TAKEN IN MANUAL FEEDING AND ASSESSMENT

OF THE QUALITY DATA:
The feeding procedure in ABC apparels Pvt. Ltd happened in two steps, first was the spot entry of data
on papers and the other was copying that data into excel formats on the computer. The Quality checker,
from either zone i.e. inline or end line took:
For single entry= 10 seconds
Feeding of all entries in the sheet= 4-5 hours (depending upon work load)
Assessment of the data (day 1) = (another day) approximately 24 hours+ 2 hours for assessing all
records of the previous data.
Implying that for assessment of the data (for a single entry) took approximately a days time to get
processes into the system, and send to higher authorities.

5.4. DESIGNING OF SIMPLE GUI INTERFACE:

5.4.1. STRUCTURE OF THE APPLICATION:
The application, for the time being, is designed in a manner that all the queries are handled from an inbuilt database structure on the phone/tablet. This database structure processes the request received from
the client and gives result as required.
In the application, the clients are the Inline and End Line modules, while as far as the server is
concerned, Admin module serves our current purpose. (REFER ANNEXURE-III FLOWCHART-II)
5.4.2. FIRST MODEL:
Once the understanding of the Inspection system was made, the next task was to give that
understanding a shape of an interface. So, activities were designed. Activities are the pages that the
users see while operating any android application, and are similar to the Graphical user interfaces
created for any web based application.

This model, with page connectivity but without any database connectivity was asked to be checked on
feasibility of operations and flow of activities.
Due to problems in the use of that interface and a difference in the logic. It was advised to re-create the
interface and connect it to a testing database.
(REFER ANNEXURE-IV MODEL-I)
5.4.3. SECOND MODEL:

The Second model was designed to overcome the problems arising in the first model, the interface was
designed keeping in the mind the minimum use of data entering and more of data selection using drop
down menus, since the target users were not very well educated. Test database was connected and user
Ids were created, these users had to select the line and the style they are supposed to inspect, once the
style got selected, operation breakdown of that particular style gets filled in the drop down menu for the
user to select and start inspection.
The defects in this model, were categorized under two categories of critical and major, the rest of the
procedure of the traffic light system remains the same.
The user needed to check 7 pieces from the bundle of the operation selected, if he/she found NO
defects in any of the inspected pieces, the operation is given a green signal and no further inspection of
its pieces needs to be done for the time being.
When, one defect is observed in the inspecting bundle out of those 7, the operation needs to be further
monitored and also checked for the other left pieces in the bundle of 24.
Whereas, in case more than one defect occurs in the inspection bundle, the operation is put on hold and
the problem is deeply checked, and categorized under operational, mechanical or technical.
(REFER ANNEXURE-V MODEL-II)
5.4.3 FINAL MODEL:
After, checking the second model on the floor by the Quality controller and manager, it was observed
that a lot of time is getting wasted in selecting the defects from the check box or the drop down menu
implemented. So, to make it even easier for the users to operate, fragments were used. These fragments

are similar to the activities, but they operate over the activity and add additional features, like swipe
and select as used in the application.
(REFER ANNEXURE-V MODEL-III)

5.5. CONNECTING THE DESIGNED GUI INTERFACE WITH TEMPORARY

DATABASE:
After the final model of the application was approved, the next step was to connect this model was
embedded with the actual database collected from the factory and also have an added advantage of just
selecting the defect with the click of a button.
But for implementing this, an additional work of standardizing the defect codes and operation codes
had to be made. Once, this was done and approved by the higher authorities, they were embedded in
the system..

5.6 PILOT TESTING OF THE DATA

After connecting the database, the application was tested on the floor, to check the feasibility of its
interface as well as for checking the functional flow of information. This activity was done in order to
know whether the designed application was able to save time while inspecting and also if it was able to
gather actual information from the shop floor.

5.7. CORRECTING AND DESIGNING REVISED INTERFACE AND DATABASE:

After the pilot testing was done, it was concluded that, the QUALITY CHECKERs were having
problems in operating few of the things in the designed interface, although the functionality and data
collected was observed to be of the appropriate amount. Therefore, it became necessary to develop a
third model, which is easy to be operated, with less hassles of looking cautiously into the application
and hence saving time as well as extra unnecessary efforts by the Quality checkers.
DATABASE STRUCTURE:

Refer to ANNEXURE-II FLOWCHART-V

5.8. FEASIBILITY CHECKING OF THE NEW INTERFACE:

Due, to the lack of time after making the third and final module, only few Quality Checkers and
Managers were able to check the difference in the current version and give feedback on the same.

5.9. TRAINING AND MAKING SELECTED USERS OPERATE THE APPLICATIONS:

The Quality Checkers were trained to operate the application with the help of QA manager, as there
was a language barrier. The QA manager got trained for the change in the interface and was asked to
judge the flow of data among pages, thereafter, the QA manager assembled, six Quality checkers and
guided them regarding the new improved interface and also the flow of information, till the time final
reports gets generated and is send to the higher authorities via e-mail facility available in their provided
tablets.

5.10. OBTAINING FEEDBACK FROM THESE SELECTED USERS:

Thereafter, feedback forms were asked to be filled, so as to know their understanding of the application
and ease of navigating between different pages.
Here, feedback from six Quality Checkers and Assistant Quality manager was taken and analyzed.
REFER ANNEXURE- V FEEDBACK FORM.

5.11. COMPARISON OF THE MANUAL FEEDING AND AUTOMATED FEEDING OF

QUALITY DATA:
After the feedbacks were taken, two of the Quality checkers were selected, out of the six, and were
asked to separately inspect 24 pieces of garment at the end line. It was observed that, after obtaining a
hand on the android device, data feeding would be happen much faster and instant generated reports
can be passes on to the higher authorities.

6. ANALYSIS:
Analysis of the designed application was done on the basis of two parameters:

Interface

Functionality

INTERFACE: The interface of the application after the final model (refer annexure-v model-iii) was
observed to be satisfactory by both the higher authorities as well as the actual users. The feedback
obtained by the users proves that the interface is understandable and easy to be operated.
FUNTIONALITY: As far as the functionality is concerned, the application matches the actual
Inspection system up to a certain level. Although the complete functionality couldnt be implemented
in the application because of the limited amount of time available, it can be done in the future.

7. LIMITATIONS:

The designed application at any form of animations and graphic effects to make it look attractive
for the users.

Also, it is limited to be used in factorys following Traffic light Inspection system, with the sample
size of 7 and bundle size of 24.

8. CONCLUSION:

The designed application fulfils its basic purpose of getting easily operated by the destined users
i.e. the Quality Checkers.

Maintains the logic of the Inspection system actually running in the factory.

Generates per inspection report in a PDF format, which for the time being can be mailed to a
particular e-mail address.

The background research helps in understanding the Traffic Light Inspection system, and also
Inline Inspection procedure, which is negligibly followed in the Indian sub-continent industries.

It can be concluded that, replacing an android application for collecting data will not only reduce
the time taken but also, saves the Quality checkers for putting in useless efforts which can be
utilized in doing something fruitful.

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bhardwaj, P. a. (1998). Managing Quality in the apparel industry. New Delhi: New Age publishers.
Bheda, R. (2015). Quality Management. New Delhi: Stitch World Bulletin.
Harrington, H. J. (1989). The Quality/Profit Connection. American Society for Quality control.
Mehta, P. V. (2015). Quality management. New Delhi: Stitch World Technical Bulletin.
OTHERS, M. S. (2014). IMPLEMENTING TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT APPROACH IN THE GARMENT
INDUSTRY. EUROPEAN SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL, 18.
Rana, N. (2012, August). Indian textile Journal. Retrieved from Indian Textile Journal:
http://www.indiantextilejournal.com/articles/FAdetails.asp?id=4664
Sarkar, P. (2014). Online Clothing Study. Retrieved from OCS:
http://www.onlineclothingstudy.com/2015/03/what-is-inline-inspection-in-garment.html
V. Alagulakshmi, K. S. (n.d.). Quality System for Garment manufacturers. Retrieved from Fibre2Fashion:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/3055/quality-systems-for-garment-manufacture
WFX. (2015). QC app WFX. Retrieved from http://www.wfxondemand.com/wfx-qc-app.html

10. ANNEXURE:
ANNEXURE-I
TABLE 1: TYPES OF DEFECTS:
Table 1

S.NO CRITICAL

S.NO MAJOR

S.NO MINOR
Extra Stitches on

Missing Label

Wrong SPI

1
2

the B zone of the

Lingerie

Packing

Oil mark/ Dirty mark

Some

Loose

Stitches
3

Accessories

Skip Stitch

Wrong trims

Crack Stitch

Wrong labels

Missing Stitch

Loose stitch

Out Stitch

Drop Stitch

Broken Stitch

10

Join Stitch

11

Cut/ Needle Damage

12

Trim Damage

13

Fabric Damage

14

Uneven Wire casing

15

Uneven Shirring

Missing

Trims/

Accessories

Missing Wire
Wrong

Information

on Labels
Misplacement

of

Labels
Label words caught

10

inside Sewing
Misplaced Trims like

11

Bow, Bar tack etc.

16

17
18
19

Uneven Bottom wing

Length
Uneven

Seam

allowance
Uneven cord
Uneven

top

wing/underarm

20

Uneven shoulder strap

21

Uneven side seam

22

Uneven Apex point

23

Uneven Neckline

24

Unsecured Tack

25

Puckering

26

Twisted Strap/ Elastic

27

Excess Raw edge

28

Center Gore shape out

29

Exposed Elastic

30

Wavy

31

Looseness on cup

32

Tight on cup

33

Thread ends

34

Strap vowing

35

Pleat

36

Fabric Fault/Shading

37

Measurement Problem

38

Open Seam

39

Wrong seam direction

40

Wrong Wire Play

41

Wrong

Fabric

side

42

Wrong Wire

43

Fraying

44

Crease Marks

45

Slanting

46

Thickness

47

Standing cup

48

Flipping up

49

Shape out

Face

TABLE 2: DEFECT CODE:

Table 2

COMPONENT
SEWING

CODE
X35
X5
X4
X7
X10
X9
X40
X25
X55
X27
X37
X32
X33
X34
X39
X11
X42
X54
X46

DESCRIPTION
UNCUT THREAD
MISSING STITCH
CRACK STITCH
LOOSE STITCH
JOIN STITCH
BROKEN STITCH
OPEN SEAM
PUCKERING
SHAPE OUT
EXCESS RAW EDGE
PLEAT
WAVY
LOOSENESS ON CUP
TIGHT ON CUP
MEASUREMENT PROBLEM
CUT/NEEDLE DAMAGE
WRONG WIRE PLAY
FLIPPING UP
WRONG LABEL

FABRIC
ACCESSORIES
CUTTING/MOULDING

X47
X15
X26
F1
F2
A1
U

TABLE 3: OPERATION CODE:

Table 3

MISSING TRIMS/ACCESSORIES
UNEVEN SHIRRING/LENGTH
TWISTED STRAP/ELASTIC
OIL/DIRT MARK
FABRIC SHADING
WRONG ACCESSORIES
WRONG CUTTING

Table 3 (Continued)

ANNEXURE-III
FLOWCHART-I

Start Inline
Inspection per
operation

Check 7 pcs in a bundle of

size 24

G
o
t
o

0 defect

n
e
x
t

Check
for
defects

>1 defect

=1 defect

o
p
e
r
a
t
i
o
n

Green: Good to
Go

Yellow: Needs
assistance and
monitoring

Check another 15 pieces in the

bundle

Red: Complete
attention and
stop the op.

Problem is analyzed, whether,

Operational, technical or
mechanical and respective people
are called,

Problem
identi.
Operational
Flowchart- I

Operator
is trained

Technical

Mechanical

Technicia
n checks

FLOWCHART-II:
After an hour, again start from the beginning

Mechanic
is called

Http
reques
t/post

SQL
Query

Http
respon
se/get

ADMIN
Result

FLOWCHART II

FLOWCHART-III:

DATABASE

FLOWCHART-III

FLOWCHART-IV:

FLOWCHART-IV

FLOWCHART-V

ANNEXURE- IV:

MODEL-I

MODEL-II

MODEL-III

ANNEXURE- V:
FEEDBACK FORM:
To check awareness of Android Device:

Have you operated/used an android enabled mobile phone/tablet before? (Yes/NO)

If yes, since how many years have you been using an android enabled phone/tablet?
o <1 Year
o >1 Year
Are you comfortable in installing and using any application in your device or just use your device for
normal telephonic operations?
o Comfortable in installing app
o Can install the app, but need time for getting acquainted with it.
o Not Comfortable at all

o Doesnt use apps only for phone

If you use applications, can you please give at least names of two mostly used apps by you?
_________________, _______________________

For checking the understanding after Training:

Did the training provided help you in getting an idea regarding the application? (Yes/NO/Not Much)
Were you able to co-relate it with the current system running in the factory? (Yes/No)
According to your view, how much training needs to be provided w.r.t to making you understand the
working of application?
_____________days
_____________months

On Interface (application is designed for resolution 1280x600)

Is the font on the application readable? (Yes/No)

Is the interface easy to operate? (Yes/NO)
While operating, did you find any distraction (that attracted your attention distinctively)- (Yes/No)
If Yes, Kindly state? __________________________
Is the size of the device, easy to hold and operate? (Yes/No)
If No, what is the major problem being faced?
o Holding the device while working
o Device is heavy, so may not be ergonomically feasible to be held all the time
o Too big, for the hand
o Any other __________________________________
Is it easy to operate the device while wandering on the floor and checking pieces Inline? (Yes/No)
If No, what is the major problem being faced?
o Distraction of having a phone in hand
o Risk in mind of hampering the phone(companys property)
o Other _____________________________________________

To the Managers:

Do you think the application would be able to save time w.r.t the manual inspection happening on
floor?(once the user gets acquainted well with the application) (Yes/No/Maybe)
Will the application be useful for the factory in a long run?(Yes/No/Difficult to comment right now)
Being a qualified professional were you able to understand the functionality and flow of the application.
(Yes/No)
If No, What Difficulties did you face the most?
o Migrating from one page to another
o Interface related problem

o Operating difficulty
o Not understanding the flow of data
o Other _____________________________
What was the most irritating thing that you find in the application while operating?

According to your perspective, after operating the application, do you think it will be able to solve the
problems that are persistent at present?(Yes/No/Might)
Is the application easy to navigate? (Yes/No)
If No, which section did you get stuck to?

__________________________________________

Admin Feedback

Do you think the data feeding is easy in the application?(Yes/No)

If No, which module is creating problem?
o User Creation
o Style and Measurement Creation
o Production Line Assignment
o Work Order
Is the amount of data being fed and already existing in the system efficient to create the report at the
end? (Yes/No)
If NO, Kindly provide the list of extra information needed?

__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________