Garment Manufacturing Quickstart

This guide is the practical path for a garment manufacturer to go from a reusable operation-item catalog to a customer-specific product, a production order, dispatch, billing, and operator payroll.

The garment pack supplies useful defaults, but the runtime remains generic. Inventory, Inspections, Resource Capacity, Document Transactions, Billing, Payments, HR Payroll, Accounting, and Reporting remain the owning workspaces for their respective records.

1. Start With The Garment Catalog

Use the garment-core seed pack before creating tenant-specific production records. The pack is organized under:

shared/DB/seeds/inventory/garments/

The pack provides:

• operation-item categories for finished garments, school uniforms, raw materials, trims, packaging, and consumables
• finished garment masters such as shirts, blouses, T-shirts, V-neck shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, cardigans, trousers, shorts, pinafores, tracksuits, lab coats, aprons, caps, and ties
• raw-material and trim masters such as shirting fabric, fleece, jersey, twill, lining, interlining, thread, buttons, zippers, elastic, labels, embroidery materials, cartons, and hang tags
• characteristic definitions and governed options for size, color, garment type, fabric construction, composition, GSM, stretch, texture, closure, collar, sleeve, branding, and quality
• starter stock-item configuration profiles, stock categories, UOMs, routing templates, resources, resource requirements, and garment GL rule bindings

After the pack is applied, confirm the records in these shared screens:

1. Administration -> General Setup -> Operational Items
2. Inventory -> Setup -> Item Categories
3. Inventory -> Setup -> Stock Items
4. Production -> Setup -> Production Setup
5. Resource Capacity -> Setup or the Production resource entry point

Do not create a second garment-only copy of these primitives. The garment entry point should pass garment context to the shared owner workspace.

2. Create Or Review The Operation Item

An operation item is the reusable manufacturing family, not a customer order and not a single customer-specific design.

Example:

Layer	Example
Operation item	Short Sleeve School Shirt
Characteristics	Size, Color, Fabric Composition, GSM, Fit
Product design	Kampala Preparatory School Uniform Shirt
Configured variant	Short Sleeve School Shirt / White / M
Stock item	Generated output SKU for that exact configured variant

Open Administration -> General Setup -> Operational Items and confirm:

• the item is active and approved
• it is manufacturable and stock managed when it will be produced and dispatched
• sellable and purchasable flags match the commercial process
• primary and purchase UOMs are correct
• the characteristic profile is assigned to the item
• every required characteristic has allowed options
• service bindings include the expected manufacturing, inventory, sales, purchasing, QC, and billing usage

Characteristics are the source of truth for configuration. Do not type arbitrary JSON attributes into a product design or stock item when the item has a governed characteristic profile. A configured variant must use the item profile's names and allowed values.

3. Create The Customer Product Design

Open Production -> Setup -> Product Designs.

Use the product design for customer or program context:

• customer or party
• school, contract, collection, or season
• specification, tech pack, fit, composition, and finish notes
• the source operation item
• approved design status

The design can describe a Kampala Preparatory School uniform without turning the reusable operation item into a school-only master. Keep the generic garment family reusable and keep customer identity on the design, order, and optional party-scoped stock configuration.

Create design variants from the operation-item profile. The variant form should:

• show only the characteristics allowed by the selected operation item
• render option fields as selects or governed lookups
• reject missing required characteristics
• reject values outside the profile
• derive the variant identity and suggested stock name
• preserve an optional party/customer prefix when the variant is intentionally customer-scoped

4. Create The Variant Stock Item

Open Inventory -> Setup -> Stock Items from the product design or operation-item handoff.

For each required configuration, create one stock item, for example:

• Kampala Preparatory - Short Sleeve School Shirt - White - M
• Kampala Preparatory - Short Sleeve School Shirt - White - L
• Kampala Preparatory - Short Sleeve School Shirt - Blue - M

The system should derive the name and identity from the operation item and selected characteristics. Users may review the result, but should not have to reconstruct the name manually.

The stock-item form must use the same identity input family as the operational-item form:

• primary barcode or scan code
• scan-code type
• aliases for additional barcodes, QR values, RFID references, or legacy identifiers
• primary identity precedence for labels and scanning

Confirm these controls:

• duplicate configured variants are rejected within the same service and party scope
• the same configuration can be created for a different explicit party scope when policy permits
• the stock item inherits the operation item's manufacturing profile
• finished output is manufacturable, stock managed, and sellable as required
• raw materials are purchasable and stock managed, but not accidentally sellable or manufacturable unless intended
• UOM, tracking, valuation, reorder, and account defaults are present
• the barcode and aliases remain searchable after save and appear on the printed label in the documented precedence order

5. Maintain BOM And Routing At The Right Level

Create the reusable BOM and routing against the operation item or product family first.

The reusable template should contain:

• material and component lines
• quantity basis, waste, scrap, and yield
• operation sequence
• planned minutes
• labor, machine, work-center, QC, and packing requirements
• input and output stock statuses

Clone the template to a configured variant only when the variant needs a real change, such as a different fabric consumption, embroidery step, or size-specific operation time. The clone action should copy lines and configuration by default.

The BOM and routing lookup must be filtered to the selected configured item or operation-item family. Unrelated customer designs or unrelated output SKUs should not appear as clone sources.

For a school shirt, a typical routing is:

1. Design and specification review
2. Pattern and cutting preparation
3. Fabric cutting
4. Bundling and kitting
5. Sewing and assembly
6. Overlock and finishing
7. Embroidery, print, or branding
8. Pressing
9. Quality inspection
10. Packing

6. Prepare Resources And Operators

Resources are not automatically fixed assets. Link a resource to an asset only when it represents capital equipment whose depreciation, ownership, maintenance, or calibration must be tracked in Assets.

Use the shared Resource Capacity setup for:

• cutting tables and cutting stations
• sewing and overlock machines
• embroidery machines and heat presses
• work centers and production lines
• packing benches and QC stations
• labor pools and operator groups

Before release, each routing requirement should have the correct resource type, quantity, location, capacity, and readiness state. Maintenance and calibration blockers must be visible before the order reaches the shop floor.

Operator assignment is stricter than a normal employee lookup. Only employees who are safe for payroll may be selected:

• active employee
• active employment or contract
• effective position or assignment where required
• payroll enrollment/profile
• production labour earning code
• valid rate and currency
• valid payroll period and actor business-unit scope
• payment method readiness where a payment batch is expected

The frontend filter is only a convenience. The backend must enforce the same eligibility rule. Ineligible employees should be excluded from the selectable list and explained in diagnostics.

7. Run The Order

Create demand through the shared document flow:

1. Create or approve the customer quotation or sales order.
2. Enter separate lines for each variant quantity, such as 30 White/M and 80 White/XS.
3. Capture and approve a customer deposit when the commercial policy requires one.
4. Run MRP or create the production order from approved demand.
5. Procure shortages and approve material receipts.
6. Confirm receipt movements, stock balances, lots, and locations.
7. Release the production order only after BOM, routing, material, resource, and QC gates pass.

On the shop floor:

• assign the actual resource
• select the operators who start now
• allow additional eligible operators to join later
• pause or stop individual operator work without pretending that the whole operation is complete
• complete the operation line once the line's production work is done
• book labour for every operator who worked on the line

The completion form should prefill routing rates and allow controlled overrides for setup minutes, run minutes, piece quantity, piece rate, and notes. The operation line is the completion milestone; operator rows are the labour evidence.

8. Cost, Quality, Dispatch, And Billing

At completion, verify the following order:

1. material issues, returns, scrap, and WIP effects are posted
2. output receipt creates the finished-goods movement in the correct location and lot scope
3. quality inspection is approved or the configured release gate is satisfied
4. production cost absorption posts once and is idempotent
5. dispatch uses the finished-goods source stock status and the actual item/location/lot balance
6. dispatch approval finalizes stock and related GL/document effects through callbacks
7. Billing creates the invoice from the delivered source document
8. the customer deposit is applied to the receivable invoice
9. the remaining balance is paid and allocated

If a dispatch says that no stock balance exists, inspect item, location, lot, stock status, and approval-finalization evidence together. Do not fix the issue by changing a generic line status when the source document explicitly identifies finished goods.

Production completion and payroll are not duplicate expenses when the configured clearing pattern is used:

Production completion:
  Dr WIP / production cost
  Cr production labour absorption clearing

HR payroll accrual:
  Dr production labour absorption clearing
  Cr employee/payroll payable

Payroll payment:
  Dr payroll payable
  Cr bank or cash

9. Run Operator Payroll

After all operator bookings are posted:

1. stay in the active business-unit context of the user running payroll
2. open HR -> Operations -> Payroll Processing
3. choose the production-labour scope or supplementary run option
4. select the correct payroll period for that same business unit
5. generate the run
6. confirm every payable operator and production order appears once
7. approve the run
8. verify the automatic payroll accrual posting
9. create and approve the payment batch
10. verify payment and reconciliation results

The payroll run must not move to an unrelated HR service or a different business unit merely because the earning source is production. If the run says there are no unlinked production orders, inspect whether the operation is posted and whether the labour event has already been linked to another payroll run.

10. Evidence And Reports

For a complete customer-order QA record, save or export:

• source sales order by customer and variant
• approved deposit and invoice application
• material procurement and receipt
• stock movement and valuation
• production order status history
• BOM and routing version
• resource and operator assignments
• operation completion and per-operator labour
• QC result and release evidence
• output receipt and dispatch note
• invoice, deposit application, and final payment
• production cost and variance
• payroll run, employee earning lines, payment batch, and GL postings

The garment seed pack adds shared Reporting presets for the closeout checks that tend to be missed during manual QA:

Report	Code	What It Proves
Garment Order Readiness	MFG_GARMENT_ORDER_READINESS	production order, operation, booking, output, and dispatch readiness
Garment Fabric Shortages	MFG_GARMENT_FABRIC_SHORTAGES	fabric planning shortages and procurement gaps
Garment Trim And Packaging Shortages	MFG_GARMENT_TRIM_PACKAGING_SHORTAGES	trims, labels, packaging, and consumable shortages
Garment Quality Blockers	MFG_GARMENT_QUALITY_BLOCKERS	NCR/CAPA blockers that should stop release or dispatch
Garment Final QC Measurements	MFG_GARMENT_FINAL_QC_MEASUREMENTS	final inspection measurements and SPC evidence
Garment Lot Traceability	MFG_GARMENT_LOT_TRACEABILITY	forward/backward traceability across raw lots, production bundles, outputs, and dispatch

The order is only fully closed when customer settlement, stock, production cost, operator payroll, and reporting evidence agree.

QA Acceptance Checklist

• [ ] A garment operation item saves characteristics and reloads them in edit/view.
• [ ] A configured variant shows governed select options from the operation-item profile.
• [ ] A stock-item name is derived from the operation item, configuration, and optional party prefix.
• [ ] Duplicate configured stock items are blocked in the same scope.
• [ ] Barcode, QR, RFID, and alias values save, search, and print correctly.
• [ ] BOM and routing templates are available for the matching operation item only.
• [ ] Clone actions copy lines and resource requirements without overwriting the selected target.
• [ ] Routing resource requirements show the expected crew and machine requirements.
• [ ] Only payroll-ready employees appear in operator assignment.
• [ ] Five operators can be assigned and booked on one operation line.
• [ ] Completion posts production costs once.
• [ ] Material receipt and dispatch approval produce stock and GL effects.
• [ ] QC blocks dispatch until the configured gate is satisfied.
• [ ] Customer deposits apply to the correct invoice.
• [ ] Production labour appears once in the actor's payroll context.
• [ ] Payroll approval posts accrual automatically and payment completes the settlement.
• [ ] Production, inventory, dispatch, billing, payroll, and GL reports reconcile.