Computer aided cutting in Indian garment industry: a change agent

Abstract

Once under cottage industry, Indian garment Industry has come a long way since its consolidation as an industry. Today the Textile industry is one of the largest employment providing sectors and Readymade Garment manufacturing is a major chunk of it. The government of India and the state Governments keep providing their support to this sector through the policies and budgets. The transformation from a cottage industry to an organised sector has been a long journey for the Garment Industry. Readymade garments in India dropped its image from being ill-fitted tailor-made clothing to the professional well-cut and tailored superbly finished ones. This major shift is contributed by multiple factors like high investment, awareness, skilled people, liberal Government policies and a very revolutionary factor, that is, use of Information Technology. Use of IT in the industry has seen a constant growth in terms of intervention to different departments of the manufacturing starting from the clerical and accounts job to the extent of artificial intelligence. The journey from the excel sheet to robotics and artificial intelligence is an interesting and encouraging one. The cutting room in a garment-manufacturing unit is a vital department where a lot of saving can be done in terms of time and raw materials both. The intervention of IT in the cutting room is pervasive throughout the industry. Hardly any manufacturing unit can think of not using Computer-aided pattern making, grading and marker making. The Apparel Computer-aided design (CAD) tool provides a great ease to the cutting department and saves a lot of money and time. This paper is an effort to underline the importance and roles of Apparel CAD in garment manufacturing. Solutions provided and the preferred solution providers in the Indian market are the focus of the study.