Web Based Automation Software for Calculating Production Costs in Apparel Industry PDF

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Web Based Automation Software for Calculating Production Costs in Apparel Industry 1 2 1 2 Ender Yazgan Bulgun , Alp Kut , Güngör Baser , and Mustafa Kasap 1 Dokuz Eylül University Department of Textile Engineering Bornova 35100, Izmir, Turkey [email protected] [email protected] 2 Dokuz ...

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Web Based Automation Software for Calculating Production Costs in Apparel Industry 1

2

1

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Ender Yazgan Bulgun , Alp Kut , Güngör Baser , and Mustafa Kasap 1

Dokuz Eylül University Department of Textile Engineering Bornova 35100, Izmir, Turkey [email protected] [email protected] 2 Dokuz Eylül University Department of Computer Engineering Bornova 35100, Izmir, Turkey {alp,mkasap}@cs.deu.edu.tr

Abstract. Nowadays, there is a continuous change in customer requirements and the product life cycles are very short. For this reason modern garment production companies tend to create new models faster to survive. On the other hand managers of garment plants that create their own models need to reach their production information any time via internet. In this study we have designed and implemented a user-friendly web based application to form a common database that provides an efficient production phase in apparel industry. We have collected data related to trousers production from garment companies as samples to create a design and production database. The software developed provides interfaces for mobile equipments too. To implement this study we have used Microsoft’s new “.NET” technologies and XML formatting.

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Introduction

In the past, textile and clothing companies started to use web sites for only product advertisement and basic sale operations. Now these companies use advanced web facilities for handling integrated automation operations. These facilities also provide important inputs for companies, planning procedures. Nowadays lots of garment plants are still not able to archive and file data about their previously produced garment products. Another important need is to calculate the product’s real unit cost, and most garment companies do not have a separate department for this operation. For this reason the product’s sale price is not calculated properly, and prices are not generally competitive for most customers. The main reason is that clothing companies do not have detailed information parameters like operation time, cutting time, and fabric cost, accessories costs. These parameters must be recalculated for each new order. It is not possible to store these detailed information for production without using computer support. Many apparel companies may have their own garment collections depending on the fashion trends. Garment designers prepare these collections in a very long period.

T. Yakhno (Ed.): ADVIS 2002, LNCS 2457, pp. 223–231, 2002. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002

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This process can be executed faster with computer support that gives two main advantages. The first is to store information on previously designed models in computer environment, and the second is to reuse old designed models for generating new models. Internet is one of the widest used tools for sharing data in the world. Now current developments can also provide mobile access to shared data. In this work we have combined the easy usage of internet environment with the freedom of wireless technology. In this study software has been prepared to help designers to store their designs in computer and also to help manufacturers shorten “the order-to-production period”. The software contains a database for storing production parameters related to different models; it also contains user-friendly interfaces for accessing previously designed models and parameters. Trousers are selected as a sample product for the demonstration of the software. New trousers models can easily be added in at any time. The philosophy behind this is to provide wide access to any necessary production information by managers and manufacturers from everywhere. This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 contains related work about cost accounting in apparel industry. Section 3 holds the model of our study, way of data collection, and structure of developing software. Finally Section 4 contains conclusions and future works.

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Related Work

There are software for calculating costs of products for apparel industry. These are listed as follows. Lectra Company has developed ‘Graphi-Cost’ software for calculating product costs of fabric and accessories and other related general costs [8]. Gerber Company’s ‘Accu Mark Spectrum’ software handles product unit costs. This software uses data from production module, and data from management module. This information can be generated and can be changed for each different model separately [6]. Assyst Company has generated ‘Assyform’ software for taking production data and related graphics instantly. This module also provides production costs for units [2]. Bulgun and Kut developed software for archiving previously created models by different types. The user of this software can be a designer of any garment manufacturer company. Also customers of companies can make use of this software to create their own designs via the internet [4]. Each program that is mentioned above has several facilities for calculating unit production costs. However usage of these software packages cannot be adapted easily to the apparel companies, because of differences in handling details. We have prepared software retrieving a special database that contains garment design and production parameters for supporting flexible applications in different apparel production companies. Andersen and Segars [1] showed that use of communication enhancing IT can support organizational learning processes by facilitating flexible exchange of skills and knowledge across functional areas in textile and apparel industry. The indirect

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performance effect of IT emerges from inducement of high performing centralization that enables individuals to take effective action. A direct performance effect is also found in large organizations. Apparently, an organizational learning perspective may explain the performance effects of IT in a decentralized organizational setting.

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Material and Method

In garment industry there are several well-known trousers models. We have examined more than 6 trousers production companies to select our sample models. Our criteria of selection have been the bestseller models or the fashion trends. At the end of this step we have introduced twenty different trousers models initially which would cover most of the design features. These models are categorized by waist height, bottom width and bottom style. 3.1

Model Drawings

Our aim is to transport all the related parameters from design to production and those related to traditional production methods, to the computer for all different trousers models. For this reason we have prepared aesthetic and technical drawings using a special CAD tool. Aesthetic drawing is to evaluate and show the visual accord between human body and trousers. Technical drawing is used to identify model details such as sewing type, pocket, zipper, and bottom style. 3.2

Preparing Patterns and Markers for Models

We have prepared pattern drawings and marker plans using a special CAD tool after completing technical drawings. We have completed a fabric width study and examined measurements for prototype patterns in different clothing companies. We have found out two important results after our evaluation. The first one is that the basic size for the prototypes is 38 and the second result is that the same size is interpreted differently for different companies. We have thus, prepared basic patterns for size 38. We have developed measurements of our prototype pattern using average values of different companies’ measurements for the same size. After completing this step, we have prepared marker plans for every trouser model with CAD tool, and then have calculated unit fabric consumption. The widths of fabrics, which are the most frequently used measures in clothing plants have been found to be 80cm, 95 cm, 100 cm, 120 cm, 140 cm, and 150 cm. As a result we have prepared 100 different marker plans for 20 different trousers models in 5 different widths. 3.3

Defining Production Line Properties

There are different production flow charts for different trousers models. Each production flow chart contains a special sewing operation sequence. Each sequence takes a different time period. In our study we have examined 6 garment companies

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that all have medium level production technology, to find a proper production flow chart with related sewing sequence lists and have also used different workers to find performance estimations. We have also used 15 different measures for each operation. These data have been statistically tested and they have been collected from same type of sewing machines in all examined companies. Total operation periods for each of 20 trousers have been finally calculated by taking the average values of individual operations. This total operation time also contains ironing period, quality control, and packaging period. Then some allowances must be added by 20% for unit operation time and, also 10% cutting time must be added to unit operation time to find the total overall production time. 3.4

Calculating Accessory Consumptions

Another factor of production cost is the usage of accessories. We have defined accessories such as sewing thread, zipper, button, lining etc. The usage of accessories can be considered in two ways, the first being the numbers as the unit of measurement and the second the lengths. To find consumption of sewing thread for every trousers model, first, the edges of patterns have been measured. Then, unit sewing thread consumption per centimeter has been calculated for each type of sewing for each sewing operation. And finally total sewing thread consumption has been calculated by multiplying the first and second parameters. 3.5

Cost Accounting Method

In this study we have used regular accounting records of examined companies to propose a method for calculating unit cost. At the beginning we have defined components of unit cost analytically for one product. The proposed method of calculating trousers unit cost as follows: Trousers cost per unit = Fabric cost / unit + Accessory cost / unit + Gross labor cost/ unit + Operating cost / unit + Management cost / unit + Marketing cost / unit + Financial cost / unit + Depreciation cost / unit Different fabric types are proposed for calculating fabric cost for each model. Twelve different fabric types are selected for this study. Gross Labor Cost contains salaries, taxes, insurances, and social support expenses. 3.6

Developing the Software

The study contains software tools for collecting necessary information, retrieving previously recorded products, and calculating production costs. In the first section we have prepared several parameter entry tables for collecting data. These tables are as follows:

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œ Main Table: This table defines all models with specifications such as fabric consumptions for different fabric widths, file addresses for related technical and aesthetical drawings of each model, and information of fabric type and width. œ Operation List Table: This table holds operation sequences for each model œ Operation Identification Table: This table describes all operations of all examined models with their time periods. œ Fabric Table: This table holds each different type of fabric’s unit cost for several fabric widths. œ Accessories Table: This table holds types and costs of accessories. œ Accessory Distribution Table: This table holds distributions of accessories on model base. œ Parameters Table: This table holds necessary parameters for calculating unit product costs for each month. Retrieving these tables’ contents can be made at any time by web-based applications. Tables have been generated and stored in MS ACCESS database initially. But this data can easily be ported to any other database system using standard protocols such as ODBC (Open Data Base Connectivity). Each table has its own key value, and some of them also have foreign keys for accessing other related tables. This software uses a selection method for accessing data base on the following attributes of Main Table: 1. Model Identification Field: Describes type of trousers models such as pleated pants, plain front pants, and jogging pants. 2. Bottom Identification Field: Describes type of bottom of trousers such as turned up bottom or standard bottom. 3. Bottom Width Field: Describes width of bottom such as standard, and wide widths. 4. Waist Height Field: Describes location of trousers’ waist, such as high, normal, and low waists. This project is developed by using Microsoft’s new .NET technologies to provide Web Based interfaces. Users can access the software from any place on the world. Another important feature of software is the location of the source components. Every table of databases, every picture of screen views can be located in any computer at the internet [3], [10]. 3.7

Specifications of .NET Technologies

Visual Studio .NET is the tool for rapidly building enterprise-scale ASP Web applications and high performance desktop applications. Visual Studio includes component-based development tools. We used Visual Basic for developing our software. Visual Studio supports the .NET Framework, which provides a common language runtime and unified programming classes; ASP.NET uses these components to create ASP Web applications and XML Web services. Also included is the MSDN Library, which contains all the documentation for these development tools [9]. The .NET Framework is a new computing platform that simplifies application development in the highly distributed environment of the Internet. The .NET Framework is designed to fulfill the following objectives:

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œ To provide a consistent object-oriented programming environment whether object code is stored and executed locally, executed locally but Internet-distributed, or executed remotely. œ To provide a code-execution environment that minimizes software deployment and versioning conflicts. œ To provide a code-execution environment that guarantees safe execution of code, including code created by an unknown or semi-trusted third party. œ To provide a code-execution environment that eliminates the performance problems of scripted or interpreted environments. œ To make the developer experience consistent across widely varying types of applications, such as Windows-based applications and Web-based applications. œ To build all communication on industry standards to ensure that code based on the .NET Framework can integrate with any other code [9]. The .NET Framework has two main components: the common language runtime and the .NET Framework class library. The common language runtime is the foundation of the .NET Framework. You can think of the runtime as an agent that manages code at execution time, providing core services such as memory management, thread management, and remote, while also enforcing strict type safety and other forms of code accuracy that ensure security and robustness. In fact, the concept of code management is a fundamental principle of the runtime. Code that targets the runtime is known as managed code, while code that does not target the runtime is known as unmanaged code. The class library, the other main component of the .NET Framework, is a comprehensive, object-oriented collection of reusable types that you can use to develop applications ranging from traditional command-line or graphical user interface (GUI) applications to applications based on the latest innovations provided by ASP.NET, such as Web Forms and XML Web services [9]. The .NET Framework can be hosted by unmanaged components that load the common language runtime into their processes and initiate the execution of managed code, thereby creating a software environment that can exploit both managed and unmanaged features. The .NET Framework not only provides several runtime hosts, but also supports the development of third-party runtime hosts. For example, ASP.NET hosts the runtime to provide a scalable, server-side environment for managed code [9]. Internet Explorer is an example of an unmanaged application that hosts the runtime (in the form of a MIME type extension). Using Internet Explorer to host the runtime enables you to embed managed components or Windows Forms controls in HTML documents. Hosting the runtime in this way makes managed mobile code (similar to Microsoft® ActiveX® controls) possible, but with significant improvements that only managed code can offer, such as semi-trusted execution and secure isolated file storage[9]. On the other hand next generation computing platform is growing rapidly. Web phones and Personal digital assistants will take important part of our life. As the new devices became popular it is inevitable to move from standard application development to mobile application development without internet explorer. Next generation mobile devices, from Wap enabled cellular phones to PDAs support wide variety of protocols for web enabled applications. But the problem is to develop the application once and use it on any device. To overcome such problems we explore the properties of .Net Mobile SDK. Main, idea beneath this framework is

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to determine the capabilities of the client mobile device and response according to its properties. We developed our application under Visual Studio .NET Environment. Developers drag and drop mobile web form components to develop thin-client web applications. This event driven application development makes it easy to generate useful applications. The mobile Web Forms controls support Wireless Markup Language (WML) version 1.1, HTML version 3.2, and compact HTML (cHTML). This are enough and extendable to be used by variety of devices. These web forms controls are server side components and processed behind the web server as shown as Figure 1. This makes thin-clients to work faster.

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Fig. 1. Mobile Web Component Application Process

3.8

Requirements to Develop Mobile Web Application

For the software’s mobile application part, .NET mobile solution is selected as development tool. We have used a multifunctional editor to cover project’s requirements of mobile web form controls. Then we have also used Visual Studio .NET for drag and drop rapid application development. Finally a Mobile Phone emulator (Microsoft Mobile Explorer) is selected for testing our application [5]. We have prepared several forms that are specially designed for mobile equipments. Each form of software is combined with special links operated by special buttons of mobile equipment [7], [11]. 3.9

Software’s Main Window

Our software contains several forms that are integrated with browser pages. The main page consists of five parts. The first part of the main page shows selected model with several properties such as model’s name and fabric consumption for different fabric widths. The second part shows operational flows, durations and sewing threads consumptions of selected models. The third part shows list of accessories of related

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models. The fourth part contains aesthetical and technical drawings of selected trousers. The last part is the most important part for production; it contains brief information about type of fabric, total operation time, total sewing thread consumption, total production time and unit cost of selected model. Each field has a sp...