3.2 Product development

The main responsibility of the development team is to handle the sampling process of the factory and deliver them to buyer in time.
If there are any changes have to be done to the garment, the development team is involved in this process and takes the necessary steps to fix it.

 3.2.1Sampling 

Sampling is a very important process in the garment industry and this is very helpful to attract buyers to the factory. The samples describe the ability of a garment exporter on their processing of garments. The buyers usually trend to place their order to a factory, if the samples are in good quality and the goods are in a reasonable price.
            Actually samples are done to study about the garment and to see how the finished garments will look like. At the same time they would be able to identify what are the difficulties they have to face during the bulk production and there would also be other benefits such as calculating fabric YY and trim consumption of the garment (for costing).

            At the inquiring stage the buyer send the details of the garment to the merchandiser such as garment sketch, garment measurements and other specification included to the Tec pack. Then they start the sampling process by sending these details to persons regarding to costing, sampling, purchasing etc. then they ready to start the sampling process by using factory sources according the buyer requirement. The types of the samples and quantity of the samples are depended on buyer requirement and the factory should be able to supply sample when the buyer request them.

                        Placing of the garment order to the factory is depended on the garment FOB and mainly on sample approvals. The producing of samples is done during the inquiry stage and it does not need to confirm the order to submit samples to buyer. Sometimes the factory has to submit several samples at different stages without confirmation of the order and then buyer may place his order to anther factory. In these situations the factory has to bear the cost of sampling and sometime it’s a loss to the factory in another side.
            As I mentioned before, sampling not only targets on placing an order to the factory but also on making a better relationship with the buyers and develop their skills by exposing to different types of new styles.

           

The sample room

                        In the BIAW there is special place for sample production and the samples of the entire BIA group are sewn in BIAW sample room. Sample room is consisted with many other sub sections and each section has direct communication with the merchandising department. 

            The sample production is a different from bulk production from its scheduling, sewing quantity and methods used to planning. And also sample room need multi skilled machine operator who can operate every sewing machine in the sample room.
                        In the BIA sample room, they produce samples for various buyers by using their limited sources and the production system of the sample room is different to the sewing floor. Required sewing machines to produce a one garment are reserved for each buyer and sample room sewing machines are divided according to buyer wise.

It’s important to identify the functions of the sample room and what are the types of samples they make.