GARMENT MANUFACTURERS
Garment Unit Owner: Staying Busy When One Buyer Sets Your Rate
Your biggest buyer sends the next season's costing sheet with a rate per piece lower than the last, and a note that two other factories have already agreed. Sixty machines stand idle between the end of one order and the start of the next, and the festival break is ten days away.
We work with the owner on the commercial side: costing per piece with efficiency, order book planning, dependency on one or two buyers, tailor pay structures and payment terms. We do not advise on buyer compliance, labour law, export rules or merchandising. Your merchandiser and qualified advisers decide those.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01The buyer sets the rate per piece, and the owner has no clear cost per piece based on line efficiency, so negotiations start from a guess.
- 02One or two buyers account for most of the order book, and an order gap or a production shift leaves lines idle and wages to pay.
- 03Line efficiency swings with style changes, and nobody records the learning period each time a new style starts.
- 04Tailors are paid piece rate, but absence after festivals and weekly turnover disturb line balance and delivery dates.
- 05Fabric, trims and washing are delayed by vendors, and the cutting department waits while the shipping date does not.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01Cost per piece sheet using realistic efficiency for the style: fabric, trims, stitching, finishing, packing and overheads
- 02Order book calendar showing machine capacity, gaps and the buyers who fill them
- 03Style changeover record: days lost, efficiency in the first week, and the operators trained
- 04Wage structure linking piece rate to quality, with attendance bonus around festivals
- 05Fabric and trims readiness check at order confirmation and again before cutting
- 06Buyer concentration chart: share of capacity and share of cash for each buyer
- 07Payment terms and ageing by buyer with a named contact for chasing
- 08Daily line output board visible on the floor
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- Take your last finished style and write down the minutes each operation took and the efficiency the line achieved. Compare it with the efficiency assumed in your quote.
- Hypothetical example: a shirt costs ₹210 to make at 60 percent efficiency, but your quote assumed 70 percent. If the buyer rate is ₹225, the margin that looked like ₹15 is close to zero.
- Draw the next ten weeks as a simple bar chart of orders against lines, and mark the weeks that are empty. Your first sales call goes there.
- Ask the floor manager how many tailors left or took leave in the fortnight after the last festival.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A cost per piece template with an efficiency assumption for each style
- A rolling order book and capacity chart that shows gaps early
- A wage and attendance structure that holds lines together around festivals
- A material readiness checklist for each order
Not the right fit when: If you face a buyer audit failure, a labour dispute or an export compliance issue, those need qualified advisers and the buyer before pricing and planning.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
