Cut Order Planning Optimisation in the Apparel Industry

Abstract

Nowadays, apparel businesses have to cut down on their costs in order to ensure the continuity of their activities and to expand them. Fabric costs cover about 50-60% of production costs. In this study, for the minimisation of fabric costs, the cutting department in enterprises was investigated and the cut order plans developed by mixed integer nonlinear programming. Examples were taken from the enterprises that were implemented. A mathematical model was then developed to be used in mixed integer nonlinear programming for a manual cut order plan, and a program code was created in LINGO optimisation software. With the program code developed, optimum results that cannot be manually calculated by an operator is obtained. The amounts of fabric to be used as a result of the cut order plan were applied to the samples taken from the enterprises, and the manual solution and model developed were compared. As a result of the comparisons made, thanks to the model, fabric developed, usage is reduced and fabric cost minimisation ensured.