Page 30 - Industrial Cutting of Textile Materials

Lay planning and marker making in textile cutting operations 17

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Planner), Pathfinder (PathWork), Polygon Software (Cut Planning), AMS
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(CutPlan), Optitex (CutPlan), Human Solutions (Lago), FK Group (Wom Plan),
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Plataine (Cut Order Planning), Reach Technologies (Reach Cut Planner), Option
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Systems (STYLEman Manufacturing), IMA SpA (Cut Plan), and others.
3.4.1 Methodology of the work process
Cut planning software imports customer orders from internal or any external sys-
tem. It runs different cutting plan scenarios (markers and their combinations) to see
their impact to the fabric use, cutting time, and productivity and choose the best of
them. The system is designed to reuse already existing suitable nests from maker
library and only after that sends requests for new markers directly to CAD system.
Defining which markers are necessary for the order, it creates the optimal cutting
plan for one or multiple factories considering specific product and manufacturing
characteristics (fabric qualities and technological limits of the spreading and cut-
ting processes). To perform the created cutting plan, the system firstly selects (us-
ing material inventory data) fabric rolls that can be 100% consumed. Then, it takes
those pieces that result in the least end and width loss. If reusable fabric remnants
appear, they can be used, giving preference to the smallest pieces. The system can
determine where to lay and how to cut selected fabric in order to achieve the most
effective fabric savings.
Then, the system generates optimized cutting schedule in sync with sewing plan,
prints manufacturing reports, and sends the orders to the cutting room. Spreading and
cutting operations are monitored at each stage of the cutting process (using barcode
scanners). Reports are provided to monitor production throughput and efficiencies
across multiple factories. Fabric utilization reports can be used for efficient material
requirement planning of further manufacturing processes.
The most important steps of automated cut planning process are: running of differ-
ent planning scenarios, establishing the marker processing time, performing marker
calculations, spreading planning, and processing of manufacturing reports.

3.4.1.1 Running of different planning scenarios
After the user fills up all necessary order data (ordered quantities for each fabric type,
fabric parameters, a set of pattern pieces, and spreading settings), the program tries
all possible size combinations in markers. Based on a model information and marker
library (data from previously used the same or similar styles), the program estimates
length and efficiency of every yet uncreated marker. Finally, the program selects and
displays the best marker combinations for certain order.

22 http://www.pathfinderaus.com.au
23 http://www.human-solutions.com
24 http://www.imaitaly.biz