How to track trims in garment production

The most frustrating delay in garment production is an order whose fabric has been cut and whose workshop is ready, sitting and waiting for a zip or a label. Trims are a small cost item, but when they are missing they stop the whole order. Treating trims tracking as a job in its own right prevents most of these delays.

Why do trims cause delays?

• They are ordered late, because they are seen as a "small item" and get left to the final week.
• They need approval: label printing, button colour and zip length often wait for the buyer's sign-off.
• They come from several suppliers; if one is late, the others are of no use.
• They reach the workshop incomplete, and the shortage only comes to light once sewing starts.

A trims list for every order

On the day an order is opened, every trim item needed for that style should be listed. Each line should include:

Keeping the items you use most often (zips, buttons, main labels, care labels, pocketing, bias binding, jacron labels) in a ready-made list lets you build the list for a new order in seconds.

Four statuses are enough

More important than the status itself is seeing a summary on the order: "Trims 3/4". When you look at the full list of orders, you can see which ones have missing items without opening them one by one.

When do trims need to be ready?

The deadline for trims is not the customer due date but the day the cut pieces go out to the workshop. If cut pieces go to the workshop without trims, either the workshop waits or the trims are attached later; both cost time and quality. When you plan backwards from the due date, set the trims delivery date a few days before the cutting date.

Quantity and wastage

Buying trims for exactly the order quantity is the quickest way to run short. Extra is added for buttons broken during sewing, labels sewn on wrongly or parts replaced at quality control. The wastage allowance varies by product and by trim; set the rate by looking at how much you ran short on your own past orders, and write the quantity on the list including wastage.

One simple rule: no trims, no cutting out

Many manufacturers greatly reduce trims-related delays with a single rule: cut pieces are not sent to the workshop until the trims list is complete. The rule is simple, but to apply it, trims status has to be visible in one place that everyone looks at. Information sitting in an Excel tab or in the purchasing team's notebook never reaches the person who decides when cutting goes out.