CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study:

In the current world of continually increasing global competition it is imperative for all
manufacturing and service organizations to improve the quality of their products. Quality
has been defined in many ways (Evans and Lindsay, 1992).The American National
standards Institute and the American Society for quality control (1978) defined quality as
the totality of features and characteristic of a product or service that bears its ability to
satisfy needs.The quality of a product or service has always been of interest to both the
provider and the customer. In fact as Duncan (1986) states in the first line of his book,
Quality Control is as old as industry itself.
Quality is critical to corporate success as it plays a vital role in improving organizational
productivity. It can be defined as the totality of inherent characteristics of a product or
service that bear on its ability to increase the demand for that product or service at a fixed
price and can best be measured by capturing customer perceptions of the performance of
those characteristics.
Quality control can be considered from two orientations: we can take a product or process
perspective. Taking a product orientation, the focus is on the parts or units after they are
manufactured. When a number of parts must work together the closer each individual part
is to the ideal the more likely the final product will work as designed.Quality engineering
which means in practice monitoring and improvement the quality of produced product is
the absolute necessity in present day free-market economy. This is a result of synergy
interaction between several factors.
First, the most essential for businessmen is possibility of profit increase. Offering the
products of higher quality favours logging a new customers and at the same time
convince the present customers about good choice of supplier. On the other hand, the
profit of company grows up as the result as decreases the quantity defects and lacks also
through using quality estimation methods in each sphere of companies activities. The next
factor concerned is environmental life cycle of product. Effective quality monitoring and
quality control helps companies to fulfill the rigorous requirements connected with on
environmental and industrial safety. Products, for which all processes with effect from
engineering design, through production and exploitations and utilization finishing, should
1

have implement the suitable monitoring and control. It can be good step for products
quality and environmental. Another factor, can motivate companies in quality monitoring
and quality control, is increase in competitiveness. Such activities are connected with
improvement of prospects of companies, what means possessing a certificates confirming
efficiency of quality system management or achieve a quality prizes. At the same time we
can mark that the desire of obtainment of certificate or quality prize should be the most
important inventive to investing in quality engineering quality monitoring and quality
control.
Quality control in luggage industry is very important due its customer oriented business.
The components such as robustness, design, features, flexibility that attracts customers to
buy a luggage ensures only by a proper quality control system in each steps of luggage
manufacturing. In this paper we see the standard procedures of making soft luggage and
how to maintain quality from the raw to finished product.

1.3 Objectives of the study:

The objectives of the study are
To identify the importance and role of Quality Control in manufacturing.
To know about soft luggage and its general specification of making.
To find out major defects in luggage and how to remove those defects through
sequential Quality Control.
To find out the impact of quality control on customers satisfaction and profitability.
1.4 Scope of the study:
The study is done to get an idea about Quality control and its impact on cost and
productivity in an organization. In this study luggage industry has taken as an example to
envisage the area of application of Quality Control mechanism.VIP industries is a
renowned brand in luggage manufacturing in the world in which quality control issues get
top most priority. Quality Control department of VIP industries ensures the quality in
every process from raw materials to finished products. The study is evaluated by three
months observation on various type of luggage manufacturing processes like cutting,
sewing, assembling and packaging quality control system individually. This study would

be helpful for the reader to get a better insight of Quality Control and to know the
importance and impact of Quality Control in an organization.

1.5 Methodology
Both primary and secondary data has been used in this study. For collection of primary
data quality controlled specifications in every process of luggage manufacturing has been
surveyed and for organizational overview, literature review and theoretical background
secondary has been used.
The methodology adopted is as follows:

Five Samples has taken of different type of luggage like Trolly case,

Duffel,Bagpac,Oxford,Pride.
Questionnaire technique was used to obtain an indication of the knowledge of quality cost

within the industry.

Departmental interviews were carried out with the various staff of engineering, quality
control department, marketing heads, etc to find out which element of quality control

occurred within each department.

Suitability and acceptance of various quality control elements by the industry was
studied.
1.6 Limitations of The Study
This study is basically conducted for the academic purpose; there are some limitations
that I have faced. Those are follows

I worked on only luggage industrys Quality control system. But every industry has

different procedures to maintain their own products Quality.

Here I worked on soft luggage manufacturing but there are also other types of bags that

produced by VIP industries.

This study is done only from the manufacturers point of view but there may also
different views of customers side regarding Quality.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Literature Review:
Quality control (QC) refers to the routine technical activities whose purpose is,
essentially, error control. Since errors can occur in either the field, the laboratory or in the
office, QC must be part of each of these functions. QC should include both internal and
external measures. (Chapter 3: Some Basic QA/QC Concepts).
Shewhart is considered to be the grandfather of quality control. He pioneered statistical
quality control and improvement methods when he worked for Western Electric and Bell
Telephone in the early decades of the 20th century. He developed quality control charts
and introduce the term quality assurance. Working at Western Electric as an engineer, he
was able to make a serious contribution to a major problem: reliability of equipment
buried underground. Control charts created by him were used to differentiate between
assignable sources of variation and pure chances of variation. Shewhart studied
randomness and recognized that variability exists in all manufacturing processes. In his
opinion, reducing variability was equivalent to quality improvement.
The idea is formulized by the Taguchi loss function (Taguchi, 1979).Taguchi believes it is
best to produce all parts as close to the target as possible, i.e any deviation from the target
is undesirable. With this in mind, Taguchi assigns each part a loss to society that
reflects how far the parts dimension is from the target. (Steiner,1994)
Although many authors still regard productivity and quality as separate concepts (e.g.
Heskett et al. 1994), several researchers (e.g. Gronroos 2000) argue that quality and
productivity cannot be dealt with separately - especially when looking at services.
Consequently, there seems to be a growing need for a thorough analysis of the quality
component of the productivity concept.
This quote by Orison Marden (1990) Quality is the deciding factor on how much
offerings are valued by the world unambiguously reminds us of the importance of
quality - in the wider society in general and the commercial marketplace more
specifically. Although purchase decisions are still extensively driven by price, quality
variables such as reliability and competence as well as reputation and communication are
believed to become increasingly important. As both end-user consumers and institutional
customers are no longer impressed by average quality products and services (George
4

1992), quality management has shifted from being an extracurricular activity to being an
essential prerequisite (Chang et al. 1993). According to Harrington (1987) the debate has
moved away from quality costs money towards quality makes money. In considering
quality, it is not only necessary to realize that quality and profit are not mutually exclusive
(Mizuno 1992), but also that quality has become a key differentiator to survive in an
increasingly competitive marketplace. Put succinctly by the Juran Institute To survive in
todays environment of global competition, never-ending change and complexity, rising
customer expectations and continuous cost pressures, focusing on quality is no longer a
choice; it is mandatory (1994).
In management, control is the next step of planning. Once the plan is implemented for
execution, it needs to be monitored to ensure stipulated outcome. This is where certain
degree of control is required. The activities required for meeting the planned or desire
quality target, for conformance, is termed quality control.(Hasin 2007)
Although quality is seen as essential to corporate success (Devlin and Dong 1994), one
has to be able to measure it before being able to properly manage it (Drucker 1974).
Consequently, a clear definition of quality is needed. However, adequate and commonly
shared definitions of quality are rarely found within both academic and commercial
circles (Tangen 2005).
Under traditional quality control, inspection of goods and services (checking to make sure
that what's being produced is meeting all expectations) takes place at the end of the
operations process. The problem with this sort of inspection is that it doesn't work. It
won't ensure quality, however you define it.
Think about a simple test, like the F-Test, that shows how difficult it is to realize a
specific sign or characteristic in a limited time range. Imagine how much more difficult
inspection is at the end of a process for a product with several hundred or thousand parts,
such as a car -- or a forklift.
There are three main problems with inspection under traditional quality control:

It's costly, in terms of both tangibles and intangibles (e.g. materials, labour, time,
employee morale, customer goodwill, lost sales)

It's done too late in the process, often resulting in defective or non-acceptable goods

actually being received by the customer.

It's done by the wrong people--by separate "quality inspectors" rather than by the
workers themselves
Another problem with inspections is often the lack of operational definitions between
upper management and "quality inspectors", inspectors and workers, and even between
inspectors, as to what constitutes a "quality product". For example, to meet quotas,
inspectors may approve goods that don't meet 100% conformance, giving the message to
workers that it doesn't matter if their work is a bit slipshod here and there. Or one
inspector may be following different procedures from another, or using different
measurements.
According to one of the quality "gurus", W. Edwards Deming,
"Inspection with the aim of finding the bad ones and throwing them out is too late,
ineffective, costly. Quality comes not from inspection but from improvement of the
process."
It seems not right to call the preproduction sphere of back-up facilities, because exactly
this sphere is beginning of production activities in company. The confirmation of this
opinion is modern quality control process, where the preproduction sphere is treated as
initiating sphere of quality program and initiating of general development of organization.
The preproduction sphere of product embraces many information which make possible to
design of product. This product should fulfill all customer requirements. The
preproduction sphere is main activities of marketing manager, quality manager,
production manager, designer, those people decide about different functional, materials
solution, technology solution of created product. And also about economical aspects and
organization aspects connected with process production of this product.
According to proposition of Prof. R. Kolman the basic aspects of quality in preproduction
area are first of all:

The information system about quality product, relating both the project office and the
company, which will produce a final product.
Competitiveness of own product.
Organizations structure of company, which will produce a final product.
6

Modernity of product.
Quality investigation of new project design (constructional and technological aspects).
Purchase, qualified suppliers.
Quality Dimensions
According to Gravin (1988), the eight dimensions of quality are,
Dimension 1: Performance
A quality product will perform as expected by the user and as specified by the manufacturer. If
products do not do as buyers expect, users will be disappointed and frustrated. Worse still poor
performing products get negative reviews and lose sales and reputation.

Dimension 2: Features
What additional benefits will be added to the product? Will they be they tangible or nontangible benefits. For example this could be after sales service, or guarantees. Some
features will be present in all products but other features will only be found in "quality"
products. For example all cars have wheels, steering wheel, gears, windows and seats but
only some cars have heated seats, assisted parking and bluetooth.
Dimension 3: Reliability
Is the product consistent? Will it perform well over its expected lifetime and perform
consistently. Many brands have developed trust with customers because of their
reputation for reliability.
Dimension 4: Durability
How durable is your product? Will it last with daily use?
Dimension 5: Conformance
Does your product meet with any agreed internal and national specifications? For
example, safety regulations and laws.
Dimension 6: Serviceability
Is the product easy to service? Does the organization offer enough service support.
7

Dimension 7: Aesthetics
Is the product appealing to the eye? Design is important for many products; the color
picked indicates certain things.
Dimension 8: Perceived Quality
What sort of quality perception does the marketing team want to convey in their
marketing message? Will price charged reflect the quality of the product? What brand
name is going to be used and does this convey any sort of quality perception.
Tolerance Limit
Natural tolerance limit represent the inherent variation, when special causes are removed,
in the quality characteristic of individual product/service items. Natural tolerance limits
are usually found based on the assumption of normality of distribution of the
characteristic. Ideally, they should be found on the actual distribution of the characteristic.
A process capability index incorporates both the specification limits and tolerance limits.
It determines the ability of the process to meet the specification limits, thus indicating a
measure of goodness of the process.
Statistical tolerance limits define bounds of an interval that contains a specified
proportion (1-) of the population with a given level of confidence().These bounds are
found using samples statistics, for example, the sample mean and sample standard
deviation. As the sample size becomes large, the statistical tolerance limits approach the
values that are found using the population parameters. Statistical tolerance limits are
usually found based on a normal distribution or using nonparametric methods.

CHAPTER 3: CONCEPT OF QUALITY CONTROL AND VIP INDUSTRIES

3.1 Importance of Quality Costs
Quality costs are very large. There is no reason to suppose that they are any less now.
Secondly, 95% of the quality cost is usually expended on appraisal and failure. These
expenditures add little to the value of the product or service, and the failure costs, at least,
may be regarded as avoidable. Reducing failure cost by eliminating causes of non
conformance can also lead to substantial reductions in appraisal costs.
According to Feigenbaum (1956), there are four quality costs categories such as
prevention, appraisal, internal failure and external failures .
A. Prevention Costs
They are associated with activities that keep failure from happening, and keep appraisal
costs to a minimum. Examples of prevention activities are Quality Planning, Quality
circle meetings, Training programs, written procedures, Analysis of
quality information, and Quality improvement projects.
B. Appraisal Costs
They are incurred to ascertain the product or service whether it conforms to quality
standards. Examples of Appraisal activities are inspection of incoming work, supplies and
materials, periodic inspection of work in process, final
inspection and collecting quality data.
C. Internal Failure costs
They are incurred in order to correct non-conforming work prior to delivery to the
customer. Examples of internal failure are scrap, rework, machine downtime.
D. External Failure Costs
They are incurred to correct non-conforming work after delivery to the customer, or to
correct work that did not satisfy
a customers specified standards. Examples of external failure are warranty, Complaint
Administration, Sales return, Product Liability.

3.2 Principles of Quality Control

The essential requirements for producing a reliable product has been stated as follows:

A satisfactory design of product, thoroughly proved by adequate development testing in

order to establish its reliability under the conditions to which it will be subjected in use.

This is the Requisite Quality of the product.

A full specification of the requirements of this quality, which must be clearly understood
by everyone concerned with the production of the constituent parts and of the complete

end product.
Confirmation that the manufacturing processes are capable of meeting these

requirements.
Full acceptance, by all those concerned with production, of the responsibility for meeting

the standards set by the specification.

Checks on the product at every stage of manufacture to detect any departures from the

specification.
Record essential information derived from these checks to provide accurate evidence for

action.
Establishment of lines of communication, - i.e. Feedback to Production, - to ensure that
this action is taken to effect the appropriate adjustments to materials, process and
operatives to maintain FUTURE production within the specification.

3.3 The Functions of Quality Assurance And Quality

To Ensure, At Minimum Practicable Cost, That The Requisite Quality Of Product Is
Being Achieved At Every Stage Of Manufacture From Raw Materials To Boxed Stock.
This means six things:

Checking the suitability of raw materials,

checking the manufacturing capability of the production undertaking

monitoring production; feeding back information; responding to that information; and

so getting defects removed at source

reduction of the fault rate

10

saving costs

maintenance of product consistency

All of these factors increase the possibility of developing further business and the
competitiveness of the company, and is therefore to the benefit of the company; Quality
control thus becomes a positive benefit.
3.4 Economic Aspects of Quality Assurance
The ideal situation is to keep the cost of conforming to the requisite quality as low as
possible, whilst at the same time achieving the highest percentage of acceptable
production.
To find if a company is approaching the optimum total cost trials need to be made to
establish the costs of quality control and the cost of defectives.As a first approximation
and as a guide, this total cost is usually achieved when prevention costs = failure costs +
appraisal costs, as illustrated in the above diagram, and in the diagram below:In this firm the total quality costs were approximately 10% of turnover (very low). By
increasing appraisal and prevention a saving on total costs of 15% was effected. This is
15% on 10% of turnover, say 1.5% of 2,000,000 i.e. 30,000 saving in cost, improved
product, improved delivery times, and improved customer satisfaction.
3.5 The Role of Quality Control

In a total quality control scheme, the total involvement of all personnel is required as a

philosophy.
The staff concerned in all duties must be given authority to carry out their functions.

These functions should be defined.

Lines of communication and responsibility should be established to carry out an effective
policy. Horizontal communication at all levels of personnel between Quality Control,
Production and other departments is needed. Also there must be vertical lines, which
follow the lines of responsibility and authority. In order to achieve this aim, the terms of
reference under which staff work, must be established. This is, perhaps, best
accomplished by job descriptions.
11

It is the job of Quality Control to establish the correct information concerning a quality

situation, and present this clearly to their colleagues.

Persons outside Quality Control must be authorised to make the commercial decisions
involved from a pre-established series of options, the consequences of each being fully

understood.
Payment schemes should be re-examined where necessary to reward quality as well as
production, in a balanced way, since both are commercially important.

3.6 About VIP

VIP Industries Ltd is world second largest and Asias largest luggage maker based
in Mumbai Maharashtra, India.VIP is Indias largest luggage manufacturer available at
nearly 12000 outlets all over India and present in 1706 towns. The company manufactures
plastic moulded suitcases, handbags, briefcases, vanity cases and luggage. It has acquired
UK luggage brand Carlton in 2004. It provides travel products, hard and soft-sided
luggage, bags, backpacks, duffels, shoulder bags, waist pouches, sling bags, duffel
trolleys, vanity cases, office bags and satchels, suitcases, and briefcases. The company
offers its products primarily under the VIP, Carlton, Footloose, Alfa, Aristocrat, Skybags,
and Buddy brands. It also manufactures moulded furniture under the Moderna brand.VIP
sells approximately 5 millon luggage in a year.
VIP Industries Limited has set up a new company in Bangladesh in the name of the name
of M/s VIP Industries Bangladesh Private Limited. They will set up a Bag and luggage
Manufacturing in Mongla Export Processing Zone. This fully foreign owned company
invests 13.14 million US dollar in setting up of their unit and manufactures Bag and
Luggage items.The company will also create employment opportunity for 436
Bangladeshi nationals.

3.7 Philosophy of VIP

12

Zero Tolerance for waste

Implement 5S
Customers Pull Drives Production

3.8 Identification & Elimination of the 7 Types of Waste:

Correction- Perform each operation without error. Build quality into every process.
Overproduction- Produce only the amount of goods necessary.
Motion- Simplify standardized work sequence to eliminate unnecessary movements.
Material Movement-Minimize the distance between processes, and avoid temporary
material locations.
Waiting-Assure machine availability. Perform TPM tasks. To maintain equipment. Use
man/machine charting to ensure optimization of operators time.
Inventory- Provide material when needed by the customer and only in the quantity
required.
Processing- Provide only the required amount of processing and effort for each operation.
3.10 What Is 5S
5-S Defined-Total work culture that develops organizations ability to the fullest capacity
to enhance creativity and eliminate waste. Conceptually 5-S is aimed at developing a
work culture where by all employees including operators, supervisors and managers
participate in problem solving process.
Sort (1-S) - this is initiated by identifying the abnormalities at the work area.
Abnormalities are highlighted by unique identification tag also known as red tag. This
ensures every employee participates in identifying the abnormality in respective work
area. It is observed that putting red tag improves awareness regarding the abnormality; it
also triggers a reaction among employees to think for ways for avoiding the reoccurrence
of abnormality.

13

Set in Order (2-s) - Efforts are then directed towards resolving the tags. Objective is to
find permanent solution to problem. Day to day quality related problems such as label
mixing, trims mixing (thread, label wrongly attached) can be completely eliminated
through 5-S. Ideally stores should stack trims segregated buyer wise, order wise etc with
location marking done for each storage area. This will avoid the instances of wrong trims
being issued, even if storekeeping personnel are not available (eliminating human
dependency). Secondly segregation of trims on sewing floor/finishing floor size wise,
color wise and sizes wise in specially designed boxes, trays with location marked for
each, will eliminate any possibility of trim mixing. Not only this (implementing 5-s at
stores) reduces the unproductive time (time lost in trims searching) at stores level, but
also helps in saving time and improving quality of immediate customers (Sewing Floor).
At 2-S Stage (Set in order) it is mandatory to define the inventory level at each stage, this
not only applies to stores, but also to sewing, finishing, washing and packing inventory.
Defining and controlling WIP has shown marked reduction in stains related rejections,
apart from reduction in through put time. It is observed that one basic reason of higher
WIP is higher level of rework and alterations. With respect to WIP management aim
should be to move towards lean manufacturing with single piece flow. Replenishment of
WIP/inventory should be Pull driven rather than push driven.
Shine (3-s) Shine (3-s) 3-S ensures improved housekeeping by planning, cleaning &
Inspection schedules that include floor (Brooming, mopping, vacuum), over headlamps,
racks etc. The cleaning schedules should be designed such that it should mention how,
when, where, regarding the cleaning activity. It should state the person responsible and
accountable for implementing the schedules.
Standardize (4-s)-This refers to standardizing the departmental activities. Here the
cleaning schedules, master index (indicating location marked for hard and soft
copies/registers), tool list (stating location and quantity) are displayed on notice board.
This way human dependency in accessing the records and tools/equipment can be
eliminated. Apart from this operational norms for each department are developed. It
includes list of incoming material for each department, its desired mode of packing
/packaging, packing details, desired mode of transportation of incoming material, material
handling equipment for in house movement etc.These requirements are forwarded to
supplier as voice of customer. In addition inventory level for
14

each incoming item with storage locations is planned. Generally waste (Shaping waste,
Empty cones, Threads, Spring cones, polythene, Paper, bamboo etc) is segregated at
centralized scrap yard. However ideal method is to segregate the waste at source of
generation. To start with, waste can be categorized into organic (Thread, Fabric) and
inorganic waste (Polybags, plastic cones etc). Color-coding for dustbins should be done
and training imparted to employees to dispose the waste in right dustbin. Depending on
the nature of waste generated by the activity, color coded dustbin is provided at
convenient location. Collection of waste from dustbin and disposal of waste to scrap yard
should be done by means of similarly colored carts. Method for recovering recyclable
waste should also be designed.

Sustain (5-s): regular internal and external audits are scheduled to overcome the
shortcoming. Time based action plan with responsibility for resolving the abnormality is
made.

CHAPTER

4:

GENERAL

DESCRIPTION

OF

LUGGAGE

AND

ITS

SPECIFICATION
4.1 Description General- Front & Rear Side View of Luggage

15

Trolley Housing

4.2 Description General- RH & LH Side View of Luggage

Expander

16

4.3 Description General- Top & Bottom View of Luggage

4.4 Description General- Interior Top View of Luggage

17

Ribbon

4.5 Description General- Interior Top View of Luggage

18

4.6 General Specification

Sr.No.

Description

Specification

Measurement
Method

Dimensional Specification

19

All large part join sew

Margin

8 2 mm

Checked by Scale

4 1 mm

Checked by Scale

10 2 mm

Checked by Scale

4 and 5 1 mm

Checked by Scale

Sew margin for in

2

profile

and

patch

stitching
All
3

large

parts

requiring Deck seams

(Top

stitch

or

Decorative
4

Deck

Seam

(Top

stitch) Sew margin

a)

Blind
should

Stitch
be

3-4

stitches.
b)
5

Deck

Stitch length per 25

(Top

mm

should

seam
stitch)
be

4-6

Checked by Scale

stitches
c)

Join
should

stitch
be

4-6

stitches
6

Seam Overlap

Should

be

maximum 2 mm

Checked by Scale

Start / stops are

7

Back tacks on visible

surface

to be placed in
hidden areas or
should

be

Checked by Scale

stitches.

20

10

All

Back

tack

&

Locking
Beading gap between
beading head & Fabric
Sew line mismatch

3-5 Stitches

Checked by Scale

1 mm max

Checked by Scale

2 mm Max

Checked by Scale

Aesthetics Specification
a)

Bobbin thread
should
seen

not
on

be
top

surface

and

needle

thread

should

not

be

seen on bottom
surface.
Thread Tension on top
11

b)

Stretching of

& bottom side of the

fabric

normally

fabric

by hand stitching
should

not

Checked

by

Visual Inspection

be

loose.
c)

When pulling
the

Thread

by

pointer or pen,
Thread should go
to

its

original

position.
Stitching
12

Stitch Line Waviness

should
Straight

Line
be

Checked

by

Visual Inspection

21

Stitching
13

Line

Stitching Line Visible

Should

Not

on A Surface

Visible on A

Checked

by

Visual Inspection

Surface
14

Loose Thread

Not Acceptable

15

Wrinkles

Not Acceptable

16

Fold Mark on Fabric

Not Acceptable

17

Pinch

Not Acceptable

18

19

20

Dirty / Stain / Oil Mark

on Fabric
Torn / Cut / Damages

Wrong assembly of the

part

Component Missing

Checked

by

Visual Inspection
Checked

by

Visual Inspection
Checked

by

Visual Inspection
Checked

by

Visual Inspection
Checked

Not Acceptable

by

Visual Inspection

Should be ensure
correct

by

Visual Inspection

Not Acceptable

part

assembly
Should

21

Checked

Checked

by

Visual Inspection

be

ensuring there is

Checked

by

no part missing in

Visual Inspection

the assembly
22

Stitches Open

Not Acceptable

23

Skip Stitches

Not Acceptable

Checked

by

Visual Inspection
Checked

by

Visual Inspection

22

24

25

26

Needle Holes

Stitching on Beading
Head

No

stitching

on

fused

properly

Net inside the outer

binding

28

Ensure

Must

Cut edges of Webbing

by

Visual Inspection

beading head

Insertion of the Fabric /

27

Checked

Not Acceptable

Checked

by

Visual Inspection
Checked

by

Visual Inspection

Complete
insertion of the

Checked

by

Fabric inside the

Visual Inspection

outer binding

Gap in Plastic Parts

Checked

Not Acceptable

by

Visual Inspection

Functional Specification
Should
29

Zip Function

Smooth

be
&

No

Noisy

30

31

32
33

Luggage

tilting

or

Rocking

be

balanced

all

wheels

Trolley

Wheel

Function
Trolley

Should

Trolley / wheel
Function should
be smooth

opening

closing function
Excessive
trolley pipes

play

in

operating

Checked

on

Surface plate

Checked

by

operating
by

operating

Not Acceptable >

mm

by

Checked

Should not tight

Checked

Checked by Scale

at

uppermost
23

position
34

35

Wheel function tight

/noise
Parallel

straps

buckles function

snap

Checked

Not Acceptable

by

operating

Should not tight

Checked

by

operating

Flaring should be
36

Riveting Improper

complete,

No

Cracks / Loose /

Checked

by

Visual Inspection

Damage
Material Related Specification
Shade

of

the

Fabric / plastic
parts/
37

Shade Variation

zip/

Threads
be

should

match

with

w.r.t

master

sample

Approved master
swatch
knots
38

Fabrics--weaving

marks,

defects

spots

&

line
Black
Not

Checked

by

Visual Inspection

Acceptable
should

be

properly
39

Fabrics--PVC
lamination

adhesive, its not

removed

easily,

and White marks

Checked

by

Visual Inspection

after folding Not

Acceptable

24

40

41

Lining

--printing

defects

Sliders,

line marks, spots

etc

Not

Acceptable
logo,

rivets

plating

should

not

be

peel off

Porosity on sliders &

sliders

logo surface

surface

by

Visual Inspection
Checked
Scratch

by
test,

Visual

Porosity
42

Checked

on
&

logo

Checked

by

Not

Visual Inspection

Acceptable
Sink marks, flashes,
scratch
43

plastic

marks

on

moulded

Not Acceptable

components--trolley,

Checked

by

Visual Inspection

wheels

44

PE Board broken and

Warp

PE Board should
not be broken and
Warp

Checked

by

Visual , bending

From the above table we see that luggage manufacturing process should maintain the
following specifications in every individual section such as Dimensional, Aesthetics,
Functional and material related issues. These specifications should follow to get a class
finished product.Quality control engineering is applied to ensure this particular
specifications on regular basis.

First of all Raw Material related defects should be indentified because raw materials are
the main input of a product. Fabric shade, scratch marks, flashes, PE board size defect are
the major defects in this section. Those defects can be eliminated through proper quality
checking by the help of measurement tools or visual inspection.
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Dimensional Specification is the most important factor to get intended shape and size of
a luggage. Some dimensional arrangements are maintained through measurement tools
and others through visual inspection. In this section stitching quality gets the most
attention. Stitching length, gap, margin, threads quality are maintained through proper
quality checking in every step of each sewing process. Machines layout has done for
every new process and operation and also ensure the quality of stitching by implementing
new technology.
Most of the Aesthetic specifications are investigated through visual inspection.The major
defects in this section are thread tension, waviness of stitch, pinch, wrinkles, needle holes
etc. Major parts of Aesthetic quality depends on operators skills and sense. Sometimes
sewing machine parts such as needle, folder, guide, rotary hook etc. can create aesthetic
defects. This type of defects should solve on spot or it will create serious quality issue.
Functional specifications need to follow in luggage mountings such as Zipper, Trolly,
wheels and rivet. Functional defects can create shocking impacts on customers mind
which can be dissolved through proper assembling of luggage. Checking mechanism has
done for functional defects before going to packaging section.
Last of all Packaging Material related specifications should maintain for proper
packaging. In packaging section various defects can be found such as logos, warranty
cards, polybags, cartoons etc.

CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

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5.1 Quality Check Points in luggage Production

When end customers or consumers purchase a luggage they look for quality first. So, to
have a satisfied customer, retailers must keep only quality product in their shops.
According to the purchase agreement, buyer can penalize supplier for supplying them
defective pieces. It might cost the factory lot of money and goodwill. So the
manufacturers take care for luggage quality at each stage of production. In maximum
cases buyer inspects shipment at factory before accepting the finished garments.
Whatever defects found in the final inspection, it is the cumulative figure of previous
processes. So it is very important to rectify defective pieces at process where it occurred
instead of in the finishing.
1. Fabric Store: In the fabric store fabric is being checked before issuing it to cutting
department. In general not all the fabric is checked. Usually 10% of fabrics are checked for
good fabric suppliers. For power loom fabric and printed fabric 100% checking is done.
Fabrics are checked in flat table, flat table with light box or on fabric checking machine. 4
point system for fabric inspection is used to measure the quality level of the incoming fabric.
2. Trims & Accessory: Trims quality is also very important for having a quality garment.
Trims inspection is done randomly against the given standards, like color matching. But for
trims and accessories quantity checking is essential.
3. Cutting Room: It is said that cutting is the heart of production. If cutting is done well
then chances of occurring defects in the following processes comes down. In cutting room,
check points are i) marker checking, ii) cut part audit and iii) bundle checking.
4. Printing Checking: Printing is not a compulsory process. If printing is done in fabric
form then printing is being checked in fabric store. For knits garment, maximum printing is
done in cut panels. So before issuing cuttings to sewing department, each panel is being
checked properly. Defects that are found here is print placement, color matching, misprint or
print overlapping or shade variation.
5. Embroidery checking: Like printing embroidery also is not a compulsory process. If
there is embroidery work in the garment panels then 100% inspection is done before issuing
to sewing.
6. Sewing Department: Checkpoints in the sewing departments are as following.

Inline inspection: In assembly line generally check pints are kept for the critical
operations. In these checkpoints, 100% checking is done for partially stitched garments
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and defect free pieces are forwarded to the next process. This type of checking is used for
high value garment.

Roaming inspection: In this case checkers roam around the line and randomly check
pieces at each operation.

Traffic light inspection system: Very few garment manufacturer use this inspection
system. In this system each operator is given a card for measuring their quality
performance. Quality checker goes to the operator and do random check for few pieces
and according to the inspection result, checker marked red or green on the card following
rating criteria.

End of line inspection or table checking: A checker checks completely stitched

garment at the end of the line. 100% checking is done here,

Audit of the checked pieces: Very few manufacturers follow this audit procedure but
it is very essential checkpoint to assure that only 100% inspected garment are sent to
finishing from sewing department. And all defective pieces are repaired before sending to
finishing.

7. Finishing Department: Check points in finishing department consists

Initial finishing inspection: checking done prior to pressing of the garment at

finishing room is known as initial finishing.

Final finishing Inspection: After pressing garments are again checked and passed for
tagging and packing.

Internal final audit: After garments are packed up to certain quantity, quality control
team, do audit of packed garments. This process is carried out to ensure that before
handing over shipment to buyer QC
If the completed work is being checked at each process and defective pieces are corrected
before handing to the next process than at the end of production there is very little chance
to have a defective at final inspection stage.

5.2 Major Defects in Luggage Manufacturing

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Luggage Defects, Classified According to the Various Manufacturing Stages are:

5.2.1 CUTTING DEFECTS
1. Marker or Perforator:-Not stapled or stenciled on lay to catch both edges causing parts
to miss in cutting. Too tight or too loose, distorting dimensions of garment. Perforated
stencil ,not powdered or inked, sufficiently to show distinct lines, notches and punch
marks.
2. Misplaced Piece Rate Tickets or Bundle Members:-Attached to, or marked on, wrong
bundles, causing mixed sizes or land shades.
3. Drill Marks:-Drill marks misplaced, not perpendicular, omitted or wrong side drill
used.
4. Opening Slits:-Cut under above to the side or at incorrect angle. Not cut through entire
bundle or omitted.
5. Improper Cutting:-Not following marker lines, resulting in distorted parts. Letting
knife lean causing top and bottom ply to be of different sizes.
6. Notches:-Misplaced, too deep, too shallow or omitted.
7. Oil Spots:-Equipment improperly oiled or cleaned.
8. Improper Knife Sharpening:-Causing ragged, frayed or fused edges on bundles.
9. Knife or Scissor Cut:-Piece damaged by over run in cutting previous piece.
5.2.2 PATTERN DEFECTS :
1. Some parts of pattern are missing, -- probably because the marker did not include the
correct number of parts.
2. Mixed parts,-- probably because the marker is not correctly labeled, resulting in a
marriage of wrong sized parts.
3. Patterns not facing in correct direction on napped fabrics. Not all patterns facing in
same direction (either way) on a one-way fabric.
4. Patterns not aligned with respect to the fabric grain.
29

5. Poor line definition -- (e.g. too thick chalk; indistinctly printed line, perforated lay not
powdered) leading to inaccurate cutting.
6. Skimpy marking, --- caused by either the marker did not use the outside edge of the
pattern; or the pattern was moved or swung after partial marking to squeeze the pattern
into a smaller space for economizing the fabric. Marking back from miniature markers
also can cause trouble unless the miniature marker making is in the hands of experienced
operators. Alternatively the full size pattern may be having worn out edges.
5.2.3 SPREADING DEFECTS
1.Uneven Spreading:-Front edge of lay is not even, resulting in front or back edge of
marker not catching all ply.
2. Narrow Material:-Bolts or rolls of material too narrow to cover marker width.
3. Missed Sectional Breaks:-Sectional marker breaks too long or too short. Parts in lay
will be short or material wasted.
4. Improper Tension:-Cloth spread too tight or too loose, causing parts not to fit in
sewing or distorting dimensions of garments.
5. Mismatching Plaids:-Material spread too loose or too tight causing plaid lines to run
diagonally or bow.
6. Misdirected Napping:-Air pockets not removed. Napped material reversed in
spreading.
7. Improper Matching of Face of Material:-Not spread face down, face up or face to face
as required.
5.2.4 MARKING DEFECTS
1. Shaded Parts:-All component pans not included in same section.
2. Pieces not Symmetrical:-Will not sew together without puckering or pleating.
3. Not Marked by Directional Lines:-Bias will not lit together, causing twisting,
puckering. Pleating and a general mismatching of component parts.

30

4. Skimpy marking:-Marker did not use outside perimeter of pattern. Pattern moved after
partially marked to fit into space.
5. Notches and Punch Marks:- Left out., not clearly marked or misplaced.
6. Marker Too Wide:-Parts will not catch in lay, causing skimpy garments or requiring
results.
7 .Marker Too Narrow:-Results In wasted material.
8. Mismatched Plaids-Marker did not block component parts to match.
9. Misdirected Napping:-Patterns not marked in same direction and napped fabrics.
5.3 Best practices to control defect generation within our factory
There are few major steps should take to control defects generation in luggage
manufacturing industry. They are as follows

Make the workplace clean From fabric store to cutting to sewing to washing and
finishing.

Place quality control system in place. I mean sufficient no. of checkers, trained
checkers, checkers making report while checking, analysis of reports and take action
based on the quality check reports.

Conduct training program for the checkers on how to check piece correctly to capture
defective pieces. Train them to make garment checking reports.

Run quality awareness program for your employees.

Quality standard must be understood by each employee and everybody have to work
to meet quality goal.

No low standard work should be accepted by the following department.

In sewing line dont allow operators to keep bundles open and each bundle must be
completed before forwarding to the next. It will help you track missing pieces. As per
my experience, operators throw pieces under tables when they make mistake or
receive defective (incomplete) garments from previous operator. Nobody keeps track
of these missing pieces until you found shortage of garments in finishing.

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Set standard operating procedures (SOP) for each task performed by your employees.
SOP for quality control system for each department.

Set audit team to audit your quality system in a regular interval.

Implement 5S in your factory.

5.4 FINDINGS
Quality and the Top Line
There are two ways in which quality has a direct and dramatic impact on financial
performance: customer satisfaction and leakage. Let's look at each one.Customer
satisfaction drives top line growth: customer retention and new customer development.
The research is extensive. Satisfied customers spend more money, buy higher margin
goods and services, cost less in service and support, and recommend you to other
customers. Dissatisfied customers are likely to leave you. But before they leave they will
cost you lots of money in complaints and extra service. They will only buy products when
they are on sale. And if they are not happy they will speak ill of you to eleven other
people.It costs ten times as much time, effort and money to win new customers than it
does to keep the ones you have. Consider the cost of replacing unhappy customers, the
damage to your reputation, and the positive financial impact of happy
customers. This is why maintaining satisfied customers should be your number one
priority. The easiest way to keep customers happy is simply to do what you promise to do,
or meet your own requirements. These may include products or services provided,
schedule, cost, or how the customer is treated. They should all be part of your company's
performance standards and that drives top line revenue.

Leakage and the Bottom Line

Now let's look at the other side of the quality equation: cost. Leakage is the term used to
describe the money that is spent to fix issues when a company fails to meet its
requirements. It is the money that "leaks out" between the top and bottom line. When a
company does not meet its requirements it has to correct the problem. If a roofer installs a
roof that leaks he has to send service personnel back to fix it. He gets no more money for
the service call but has to pay for the time of his people. And
32

the leak is likely to be creating customer dissatisfaction as well. The leakage issue is even
worse than we think. The money that is spent to address an issue would otherwise have
dropped to the bottom line - these are profit dollars. For example, if a company makes 10
percent profit, then every dollar spent through leakage requires 10 revenue dollars to
replace it. If a roofer earns $5000 (after materials) for installing a roof and
works at a 10 percent profit margin, he makes $500 profit. If he has to send a service
technician back and spend $250 dollars in time and salary to conduct the repairs he just
lost 50% of his profits on that entire $5,000 job!
What does it take to achieve these breakthrough results? Here are the core elements:
1. Commitment by the senior management team. The senior team has to understand that
this is a true cultural change - understanding the causes of quality issues and
empowering individuals to change the way the organization works to achieve sustained
improvements.
2. Definition of core requirements with a measurement system. All companies have some
defined measures. But very few companies measure all their requirements. Most
companies have good financial measures, sales measures, and productivity measures. But
many other requirements don't get measured - especially those that are "softer" or not as
easy to measure. Building a balanced scorecard is an essential quality baseline.
3. Mapping the core cross-functional business processes. Process maps describe the
workflow of an organization. Most companies have well-defined work processes within
their departments, but poor handoffs across departments. Process
mapping the value stream of how a company performs its work often shows where quality
issues occur. Root causes usually occur upstream - earlier in the process - than when it
shows up in the work. Mapping and assigning owners to core cross - functional processes
is an essential ingredient of a quality system.
4. Customer feedback and satisfaction. Every organization needs a vehicle for measuring
customer satisfaction on a regular basis, and for addressing any issues that are impacting
desired satisfaction levels.

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION
6.0 Conclusion
Quality control provides a vision that focuses everyone in an organization on quality
improvement. The pursuit of quality improvement is not only requested by the market but
33

also driven by the need to survive. Manufacturers must make quality products better,
faster, and cheaper than those of their competitors. Adoption of effective quality
management strategies will be one of the most crucial factors for success in the luggage
industry. Overall, we can suggest that quality management practices have positive impact
on productivity and profitability.
In summary, the findings of the empirical study are clear, and suggest several things.
Firstly, to continue worldwide brand image of VIP luggage, they have to give top most
priority on Quality. Secondly, VIP industries follows diverse Quality Control Mechanism
to increase product quality as well as productivity. Every process regarding bag
manufacturing follows few major quality specifications. Thirdly, there are few defects
found in process of luggage manufacturing which can be resolved through various
processes. Fourthly, by implementing quality control system VIP luggage achieve
customer satisfaction and improve market share. Finally, we can say that Quality control
system is continuous process. It requires quality measurement, employee focus, supplier
relations, proper training of quality people as well as all employees of the organization,
continuous assessment of quality issues, proper checking in every steps and motivation
towards brand image of the organization. It is aimed at improving processes, eliminating
mistakes, and satisfying customers (customer focus). No doubt quality and productivity
go hand in hand.

REFERENCES
Campanella, J., Principles of Quality Costs, Principles,implementation and Use, 1999,
ASQ Quality Press, Milwaukee,Wisconsin.
Dale, B. G. and Plunkett, J. J., Quality Costing, 1991, Chapman & Hall, London.
34

Jaju, S. B. & Lakhe, R. R., Quality Cost Measurement: Problems and Suggested
Methodology for Estimation 10th World Congress on Total Quality, Jan, 2000, Mumbai.
Jaju, S. B., Lakhe, R. R., Bhagade S. S., Mathematical Interrelationships among Quality
Cost Categories for a Manufacturing Sector Industrial Engineering Journal, Vol. XXXVI
No.3, 2007, pp 32-41, ISSN 0970-2555.
Roden, S. & Dale, B. G., Understanding the language of quality costing, The TQM
Magazine, Vol. 12, No.3, 2000, pp179-185.
Roden, S. and Dale, B. G., Quality costing in a small engineering company : issues and
difficulties, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 13,No.6, 2001, pp388-399
VIP industries Quality Bulletin,vol. 2,2011

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