Today most of the apparel industry and manufacturing houses are dependent on labor centric cutting cycle. Manually fabric cutting and sewing make production expensive. Here is the role of automation came in manufacturing houses. Automation in fabric cutting rooms can transform costly labor-intensive production into high-tech production houses.
Table of Contents
What is cutting room?
Cutting Room is a section of the department, where fabric cutting is done and processed for the following section (e.g. sewing section) in the garments manufacturing industry
Automation In Cutting Room
Automation in fabric cutting room technology improves productivity and quality of apparel. It will be helpful to minimize human intervention and prevent manufacturing mistakes in the manufacturing houses soon.
Revolution of Automation in Cutting:
Versatile new inventions have automated cutting room layouts in apparel manufacturing houses. In the early 1900s, an automatic spreading was developed, which carries a fabric role over the table had reduced manpower. Then the Die cutters came to increase fabric cutting efficiency and quality.
Later on, numerically controlled machines named NC machines came Infront in the 1940s and 50s. Then advancement of technology invents computer numerically controlled CNC machines, supported by tools like computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) programs.
Modern Automated Cutting System
Today, most manufacturing houses have similar automated cutting configurations. Straight knives and band knives are used in most manufacturing houses.
A cutting knife device is set up on a flatbed cutting table in a straight knife cutting system. The cutting device can move above the table. But in the Band Cutting machine, the cutting knife has a permanent position. The fabric could be moved and floating by air circulation.
These movements of the cutting machine or fabric let the cutting over the pre-planned area. It’s managed precisely by an automated or semi-automated control unit.
Fabric Cutting Configuration
In a modern automated cutting system, single ply or multiple plies of fabric has a different configuration to cut fabric.
Single-ply cutting enhances with continuous processes. It eliminates the requirements of the spreader. Cause, the fabric can be supplied to the cutting area directly from the fabric roll. A conveyorized belt is used for foraging for increased productivity.
When multiple fabric plies are spread to cut, it requires more substantial cutting power—still, most manufacturing houses use this procedure to enhance productivity.
The use of automatic cutting machines has reduced both the number of workers and the time compared to manually operated machines. Besides, accuracy and efficiency can be increased.
Cutting room process flow chart:
The cutting room management flowchart are as:
Receive Order sheet
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Certification of Store-Room
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Working Pattern receiving from production section
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Pattern checking
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Marker making on the CAD room
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Marker checking
↓
Determine quantity of spreading fabric
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Calculate No. of lay per cutting
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No of cutting per order
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Receiving fabric from store
↓
Fabric spreading
↓
Check consumption
↓
Start Bulk Automated Cutting
↓
Sorting & Bundling
↓
Send to sewing Section
Automation In Fabric Cutting Room is the Necessity in Near Future for Manufacturing Houses
Till now, Fabric cutting is accustomed to being done manually. But currently, an automated fabric cutting machine is being employed. Therefore, it is easy to cut the fabric additional preciously than before.
In automatic fabric cutting, the working pattern is saved directly in the computer even while not creating marker paper. According to computer instruction, the automated cutting machine automatically and accurately cuts multiple plies of fabric concisely.
Today’s modern cutting systems are equipped with a vacuum system. It enhances cutting accuracy during the cutting process. Modern Cutting Room Equipment helps to cut fabric accurately and reduce maximum fabric wastage.
Apparel manufacturing houses can use various cutting technologies in the modern cutting room, such as computer-controlled cutting, lasers cutting, water jets, plasma, even ultrasound. These cutting machines are adopted by contemporary manufacturing houses to be suitable for multi-ply cutting fabric.
Automatic cutting machine in garment industry
Apparel manufacturers houses face versatile challenges in this pandemic, such as labor shortage, shortening lead product times and shrinking margins, and so on. Modern technology in the cutting room will provide a competitive advantage over manual ones.
Time to production is the most crucial factor now. And apparel manufacturers have realized that the more the human resources involved in the chain, the more are the chances of errors and delays. An increasing number of manufacturing houses recognize that automation cutting technology can overcome serious challenges.
Benefits of modern technology in cutting room:
- Reduce 50% material costs.
- Increase productivity and fabric cutting ratio.
- Reduce workforce and eliminate the need for skilled cutters.
- Accelerate the productive sewing process.
- Helps to utilize Maximum valuable floor space.
- Advanced Integrated data sharing saves time and money.
- Easy to Analyze and improve the cutting process with automatic metrics.
There is no alternative modern solution other than an automatic cutting system. With these automatic cutters, cutting is smoother effective and provides the manufacturer with the best option suited to their need.
The Future of Automatic Fabric Cutting Machine
Fabric is always soft and challenging to handle and manipulate. It requires complex motions to adjustments. Therefore, full automation in cutting has never been genuinely possible.
But automatic fabric cutting machine can be improved by using AI, cameras, sensors, mapping technology, and software-driven algorithms; sewbots can adjust or stop as required. Technological advancements and automation are drastically transforming how apparel is produced. Automation in the Fabric cutting room technology is the desired necessity for every manufacturing house to get enough productivity and efficiency in the near future.
If you have any questions about What is the function of the cutting room? or about automated fabric cutting machine, Ask on the comment section we will try to come with up a new blog about it.
Mahedi Hasan is a Textile Engineer, as well as a Top Rated content writer at Upwork, a Level 02 Seller at Fiverr, Level 02 Publisher at Ezoic. A passionate textile and fashion content writer, fashion SEO expert, and fashion web designer. Having a B.Sc. in Textile Engineering Degree from Textile Engineering College, Noakhali (TECN). The department is Apparel Engineering. Highly Experienced fashion writer for the last 3+ years. Have extensive 7 years of experience in the wholesale clothing business.