FASHION MERCHANDISING: TIME AND ACTION CALENDAR

Introduction:

Time and Action (TNA) calendar is one of the most important tools for managing a project. In
garment manufacturing each order is not less than a project to a merchant because from order
receiving to completion of an order it involves a number of tasks of various timelines and
utilization of various resources. Like number of processes, lot of people are also involved to
accomplish an order. Similarly, each order is unique in terms of process and time demand. So, a
detailed plan with well-defined responsibility is must in order to complete each order to get
completed on time. A time and action calendar defines the ideal date/time period within which
the major activities of an order should occur against a scheduled delivery window.

TNA in Garment Industry

Time and Action Calendar or TNA, a popular tool used in apparel manufacturing industry is a
technique for tracking and following up of important milestones in preproduction processes to
ensure timely delivery within stipulated delivery date. Garment pre-production and
merchandising functions are characterized by people in an organization doing multiple
activities. While some of the activities are dependent and follow each other, a few others are
independent. Every garment company takes enormous care during the planning of an order.
Every little detail is interwoven into the planning system. Making a TNA Calendar is not just
entering activity names and duration in tabular forms; it is also about scientifically working-out
the activity duration, logically determining the preceding and succeeding activities. Time and
action calendar consist of the short term and long term plans so carefully laid out.

A time and action calendar is a most effective communication tool that proves it to be useful to
this task. The chart consists of time frames listed for every action planned (major ones) and
these actions need to be earned out on time. The purpose of TNA is to cross check at frequent
intervals, say, once a week, whether the planning is being executed satisfactorily. The more
frequent the checks, the easier it is to correct deviations. TNA is especially useful when a buyer
wants to know the status of execution of an order.

Structure of TNA

Normally merchandisers prepare a plan of the order in a spreadsheet by listing down the key
processes in first column and planned date of action for each process in the next column. This
planning sheet is popularly known as time and action calendar (TNA). Once TNA calendar is
made, then it can be easy for merchandiser list down their daily ‘to do list’ and taking it one by
one. As per TNA schedule processes can be executed on timely basis to track whether an order
is on track or it will get delayed.
In order to make TNA below mentioned information must be available

– Process flow of an order with the list of task which need to be performed

– Production capacity of cutting, sewing, washing and finishing

– For sewing – batch wise and product wise capacity (production per day per batch)

– Lead time of activities, e.g. raw material lead time, sampling lead time, etc.

– Shipment date or planned ex-factory date

Normally TNA does not depend on fabric used in merchandise like woven or knits. TNA is
largely depends on the particular process flow of an order, machine requirement and available
production capacity. In TNA planned cutting date (PCD) and ex-factory date these are the two
most critical dates.

Sample TNA for formal shirt manufacturing order:

The TNA derived by assuming the order of 10000 pieces of formal shirts, made out of 100%
cotton, plain woven solid dyed fabric, with embroidery logo on it. The order is for SS 2013,
delivery date 1stMarch 2013, shipment at New York-USA.

*All dates given are assuming Sunday as weekly holiday.

Importance of TNA

The importance of TNA can be summarized.

1. It helps to streamline the pre-production activities.

2. Easy understanding of order processing.

3. Clear understanding of timelines given by buyer.

4. It gives the clear idea about the minor or sub activities that need to perform during order
processing at different level.

5. TNA gives the idea about the status of running order andtalks about delay or deviation, if any

6. TNA gives the dates at which raw material need to be sourced, in a way it helps to optimise
the inventory.

7. TNA also reduces the risk of delivery delay.

Factors need to be considered while preparing TNA:

1. Production capacity of plant

2. Style type of merchandise

3. Festivals of manufacturing country

4. Holidays

5. Shipment details

6. Festivals of country from where raw material is imported

7. Logistics facilities

8. Lead time estimated by buyer

9. Style complications

10. Fabric and trims manufacturing complications

11. Buffer required from each department

12. Political stability of the country

13. Flexibility of freight forwarder

14. Response time from buyer at different stages

15. Lead times of various activities like L/C payment, custom clearance, etc

16. Cut off dates for shipments

Importance of key activities in TNA

1. Sampling:

Sampling is the most crucial task and hence need to plan in TNA very carefully, some

sampling stages are very important so any deviation or delay in that will affect the whole TNA.

Proto sample: The submission of proto sample totally depends upon buyers enquiry date. Any
delay in proto submission or approval will affect order conformation date, which will
subsequently affect the submission of fabric development and fit sample, as without proto
approval it’s impossible to proceed further. In sample TNA it is shown that the planned proto
submission date is 09-06-2012 and planned approval date is 27-06-2012, i.e. 15 working days
are kept for proto sample approval.
Fit sample: After approval of proto sample manufacturer starts working on fit sample, that
needs to submit exactly at planned date. Any delay in fit sample submission will cause the delay
in P.O., size set sample submission. Fit sample must submit within 45 days of proto approval as
to get the sample of bulk fabric it takes 20-25 working days to get in-house; hence after
approval of proto sample i.e. on 27-06-2012, the planned fit sample submission date is 27-07-
2012. Sometimes fabric suppliers are nominated by buyer or buyer will supply the fabric in
either case it may not take more time. Hence, in time and action calendar approximate 1 month
gap is shown between proto sample approval and fit sample submission. Buyer must give the
comments on fit sample within 7 days. Any delay from buyer side will directly affect the further
process. To make fit sample process to complete within time period, the planned approval date
for fit is 22-08-2012 i.e. 21 days or 3 weeks is kept deliberately between first fit submission and
approval, in order to accommodate failures and re submissions of fit sample.

AD/Photo shoot/Salesman sample: These samples are generally submitted parallel with fit
sample. The same period is allotted to salesman sample i.e. 21 working days in TNA. These
samples mainly used for advertising or for visual merchandising or by sales man to collect the
order from retailers; hence from buyer’s perspective, timely submission of these samples is very
important. Order size mainly depends on this sample and any delay or quality issue in sample
can reduce the order size. Sometimes buyer may ask more number of samples e.g. 100 pieces,
in that case merchandiser must keep in mind the capacity of sampling room, time required to
complete the demand of buyer, style complexity and buyers submission date while making the
TNA.

Size-set sample: This stage of sampling is most important, without size set approval bulk fabric
for production should not be cut in order to accommodate any changes by the buyer in the bulk
production. So, any delay in size set sample will directly affect PCD and subsequently affect the
shipment date. Size set sample need to submit with actual bulk fabric, hence for timely
submission of size set sample merchandiser should make sure that all bulk fabric should be in-
house well in advance of size set submission date. To avoid the delay, as soon as bulk trims
and fabrics are get in-house within 3 days size-set sample can be produced and submitted to
buyer for approval. As per TNA, in table no. 2, planned submission date of the size-set sample is
on 08-10-2012 and expected approval is on 25-10-2012 i.e.15 working days are kept for
completion of size set sample approval process.

GPT sample: Before submission of PP sample it is very necessary that Garment Performance
Test should be cleared from buyer. This sample sent to either third party inspection or in-house
testing lab. While preparing the TNA merchandiser must keep in mind that test results should
get approved from buyer well in advance of PP meeting. For approval of GPT 20 days are kept in
TNA to deal with any delay in the process. Further, to avoid the delay in submission of PP
sample and PCD, GPT is happening along with Size- set sample i.e. from 08-10-2012 to 30-10-
2012.

Pilot-run: Before going for actual production pilot run is carried out, in order to see the
complications in actual production and to give the sufficient time for learning curve of operator
on sewing floor. In TNA preparation one day is kept for pilot run for smoother and uninterrupted
production. As soon as first few lots are cut, make sure that they will immediately send for
embroidery. Hence cut panels are available on time for pilot run. In sample TNA PCD is on 31-
10-2012 while pilot run is planned on 03-11-2012, i.e. one day gap is kept for embroidery of cut
panels for pilot run. Pilot run can be conducted before or after PP Meeting.

Pre-production (PP) meeting and sample: Preproduction meeting is very necessary part of any
export order processing; hence merchandiser keeps one day only conducting PP meeting, in
order to discuss the expected difficulties during production. Any delay in this meeting or if more
obstacles are there to solve in production will directly affect the PCD and ultimately results in
shipment delay.

PP sample need to submit within 10 days after approval of size-set and GPT samples. As
without approval of PP sample production should not start.To maintain the PCD merchandiser
should be very careful while preparation of TNA for PP sample. PP sample is normally pooled
out from pilot-run, hence submission date for PP sample is 03-11-2012 and approval date is 12-
11-2012 i.e. 6 working days gap is kept for PP sample.

Top of production sample: As soon as production starts and first few pieces are come out of
line TOP sample need to submit to buyer. It’s very crucial stage where merchandiser must keep
in mind that by any reason TOP sample get rejected then production end date is going to be
delayed. This can straight way affects the shipment date. In sample TNA, it is shown that
sample is submitted on 17-11-2012 and planned approval date is 21-11-2-12.

2. Fabric and trim sourcing:

Fabric and trim sourcing is very time consuming process which includes desk loom and lab-dip
approvals, trim and art work approval, FPT approval. The fabric sourcing itself will take lead
time of 30-60 days depending upon type of fabric. For yarn dyed fabric it takes approx. 45 day,
for piece dyed fabric it take approx. 30 days and for fibre dyed fabric it takes approx. 55-60
days. In sample TNA, it is assumed that fabric used is solid dyed hence 30 days lead time is
considered while preparing the TNA, trims also takes the approximate 30- 45 days depending
upon from where trims are getting sourced. Hence while designing the TNA for sourcing the
following activities need to keep in mind.
Fabric approvals: With approval of proto sample, merchandiser needs to submit lab-dip for
colour conformation. Lab-dip approval itself is a long process, as development of shade and
submission itself will take 10-15 working days for one attempt, hence for after 15 days of proto
approval Lab dip is submitted. Hence while preparing the TNA merchandiser must keep in mind
that, complexity of shade, buyer’s specification etc. any delay in lab-dip submission will end up
with fabric production delay, which will results in delay in; Size-set sample submission. Hence to
avoid the delay in TNA 30 working days buffer is kept from submission date i.e. 14- 07-2012 to
planned approval date i.e.20-08-2012.

Trims and art work: Trims and their art work are other important factors of sourcing department
after fabric. Timely approval of trims is very necessary. Trim production and shipment is also
time consuming process, especially if it is imported, hence while preparing the TNA 25 working
days buffer is kept between submission date i.e.14-07-2012and approval date13-08-2012.

Fabric Performance Test (FPT): Before fit sample submission date FPT report must be
approved by buyer, as fit sample submitted in similar fabric. As without approval of FPT fabric
supplier can’t ship the fabric to garment manufacturer. Any delay in FPT submission in will
cause in fit sample submission and may show impact on fabric in-house date which will
subsequently affect the size-set submission date.

3. Production

The most crucial part of any TNA is actual production. While preparing the TNA for production
following activities need to consider.

Planned Cut Date: The most important date for both sourcing and merchandising department.
Most of the time, TNA is prepared by keeping PCD in mind. To achieve the PCD on time sourcing
department plays important role, as lead time of trims and fabric production and availability for
garment production is controlled by this department. While preparing the TNA expected lead
time and sufficient buffer should keep for sourcing.

As there is embroidery included on cut panels, hence after cutting the cut panels need to send
for embroidery. Considering that embroidery is in-house then 6 working days after PCD to
complete the embroidery need to be consider in TNA. If embroidery is outsourced then
accordingly more number of days can be included in TNA.

In some merchandise, washing, printing is required hence merchandiser need to take care of the
lead time requirement for the same including necessary buffer.

Productions start and end date: These two dates are purely depends upon shipment date and
production capacity. As soon as PCD is achieved the production should start immediately after
pilot run and approval of PP Sample. Any deviation in this date will subsequently affect the TOP
sample submission date and shipment date. Number of days required for production is decided
by capacity allocated to that particular merchandise or number of days of available for actual
shipment. For mentioned sample TNA, following assumptions were made while calculating the
number of days required completing the production.

Assumptions:

No. of pieces= 10000

SAM of garment= 28.5 min No. of M/c= 50

Efficiency = 45%

The calculation for production days can be shown as:

So, if 25 working days needs for

production, then production will start on 15-11-2012 and it will end on 15-12-2012, if only one
sewing line of 50 machines is allocated for 10000 pieces.

Finishing and packing: As finishing and packing is equally important, hence as soon as first lot
comes out of production, finishing and packing get started. This can be started parallel along
with production. In sample TNA, 17-11-2012 is a starting date of finishing and packing, while 18-
12-2012 is end date. 3 days buffer is kept deliberately between production date and finishing
packing completion date to avoid any consequences.

Apart from these main activities, following constraints merchandiser should keep in mind while
preparing the TNA for production.

1. Actual shipment date

2. Efficiency of production line

3. Style complications

4. Operators skills

5. Start-up loss

6. Learning curve of line

7. Finishing and packing capacity

8. Availability of alternate operators for absenteeism

Any delay in production will directly leads to shipment delay hence for actual production proper
buffer should be allocated in TNA.

Critical Path method for TNA preparation:

Fashion merchandising is a much complicated network of linier and non-linier activities to

perform. Activities performed are interdependent and need of synchronization between
succeeding and preceding activities to make a non-linear process network. The longest chain of
activities considering task dependencies is called critical path. It is a common practice industry
to list activities from order receipt to delivery in linear sequence and assigning time duration to
each activity by backward planning, which is wrong as the activities are never linear since there
are lot of parallel activities. Therefore, the sequence of activities should be drawn either as
PERT network or Gantt chart format.

Even though most of the users are aware of the term ‘critical path method’ (CPM), CPM may be
elaborated as ‘critical’ means ‘possibility of non-conformance is higher’ as per previous
experience; some even link ‘critical’ with cost involving that activity. Everybody select ‘critical’
activities hypothetically based on intuition or previous experience or buyer’s milestones and no
one actually makes PERT network of activities and then arrive at CPM. It was found that in
majority of the cases the buyer specifies target dates of key activities and based on those target
dates the manufacturing organization creates their own TNA adding buffer days (to ensure that
buyer target dates are not missed). It was also a common practice to have two TNA: one with
few main important activities (also called milestone activities) that are suggested by the buyer,
and another one with more number of in-between micro activities (in-house activities) to
exercise control over macro activities PERT network or Gantt chart should be mandatorily
prepared to decide upon which all activities should be there in TNA calendar. Merchandiser
must prepare either and the resultant critical path should be the activity chain for TNA calendar,
all activities falling in critical path are critical activities. Critical activities should always be on
focus, a single minute delay in any of the critical activities may lead to final shipment delay.

Conclusion:

Garments manufacturing is not a business of ‘One Man Show’ rather it is a Team-Work where
lot of people, organizations, suppliers, buyer, sub-contractors and manufacturers are involved.
Moreover, all tasks have to be accomplished with in a given time frame to ship out the garments
on time. Buyer will not accept any delay in the garments delivery and if the garments cannot be
shipped out on time then there will be good possibility that buyer may cancel the order or may
ask for air shipment or Buyer may ask for discount. To avoid all such adverse situation
merchandiser need to do proper planning to execute any order. TNA is most important activity
for timely shipment. If any merchandiser is able to follow the
TNA properly then it will be not a big challenge to ship the garments on schedule. TNA for any
production unit is summery of sampling, sourcing and production activities and their sub
activities. Merchandiser generally makes the TNA on the basis of lead time mentioned by buyer,
shipment date negotiation, order quantity, production capacity. The milestones and key/critical
activities dates are mentioned by buyer while other in-house activities need to manage by
merchandiser by keeping many things in mind. With the help of TNA merchandisers can ensures
satisfaction of each and every step with constant follow ups and in shortest cycle time possible.
Rapidly changing trends of the fashion industry is making merchandising activities more
complicated and so TNA. Merchandiser has to prepare good and flexible TNA by keeping all
facts and facets in mind. If used effectively, a good TNA can help factory to meet production
and shipment deadlines, increase inventory turns, improve customer service, and enhance
profits.