Globally reckoned in automated CAD/CAM and PLM solutions for the apparel and flexible materials industry, Gerber Technology has ruled the market with technological innovation and customer commitment ever since its inception in 1967 by H Joseph Gerber. With 25,000 customers in 130 countries and more than 400 patents to its name, Gerber offers automation solutions to a plethora of industries including textiles. To get a hands-on review from the two most prestigious and satisfied users of Gerber cutters, Team StitchWorld visited their individual facilities and saw the cutters deliver what they are known for…
When it comes to garment manufacturing, Gokaldas Exports (GE) is a name that needs no testimonial. It has established itself as a benchmark to others for its proactive vigilance of technology and implementation of best practices. One of its units – Dress Master Suits – in Bangalore, specializes in producing shirts, trousers and jackets for the past six-and-a-half years. With 1200 workers, and approximately 700 machines under the roof, the company has a daily capacity of 1200 pieces per product per day to cater entirely to the domestic market. Arrow, US Polo, Indian Terrain, Colorplus, Raymond, Park Avenue, John Player and Blackberry are few of the domestic brands it manufactures for.
[bleft] “We did a lot of research before buying the product by consulting existing users, compared the performance of various other makes and models of cutters, calculated the running cost including spares, AMC and power, and of all Gerber proved a sure shot winner for us.” – Jayarajan K R, GM – Category Operations, Madura Garments [/bleft]
The suit manufacturing facility of Madura Garments, by the name of Crafted Clothing, is another state-of-the-art garment manufacturing facility with the capacity to produce 2,500 suits and 4,000 trousers per day. The company which was setup under the guidance of Italian technicians, currently houses 760 sewing machines with 185 pressing and ironing machines, and manufactures for all of Madura’s brands, namely, Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England, both for men’s and women’s segment.
Both the companies have continuously added specialized machinery when and wherever it is required; be it to improve the quality of operation and increase production capacity or to integrate the processes and enhance productivity. One such example of state-of-the-art machinery that they flaunt are low ply Gerber cutters (GTxL in the case of Madura; GTxL and GT-7250 in case of GE) with a conveyorized system capable of cutting up to 1 inch of compressed material.
Why an automatic cutter?
It is needless to say that automatic CNC cutters are great assets when an order is in large volumes and a single marker needs to be cut repeatedly and over a thick lay of numerous plies. However, the viability of using such a system in a company where the order volume is small and there is immense variation in style, remains questionable. GE’s Dress Master provides a counter argument to that notion. The company generally deals in a variety of styles with a low order quantity, sometimes as low as 20 pieces. Yet, the company is using two Gerber cutters. Tejpal Singh, General Manager – Production, Gokaldas Exports explains, “Our business is such that sometimes we are cutting as few as 2 plies. In that case a straight knife cannot be used for cutting, and the only alternative is to cut the panels by scissors. The efficiency and quality are both compromised in that case. An automatic cutter is a necessary and ideal solution for us.”
Jayarajan K R, GM – Category Operations (Suits and Trousers) at Madura Garments, which uses 2GTxL cutters for their suit cutting operations, further sums up the perks of using an automatic cutter and says, “The automatic cutters give better accuracy in cutting and making notches. Also, they are very good for cutting fabrics like 100% polyester, velvet, corduroy, spandex blends, felt, etc. which are normally difficult to cut manually with the required accuracy mainly due to slippage. Also when the order size is low and you need to cut many lays, then CNC cutter is the best option as against manual cutting, even though here the overall cutting cost is higher.”
Why Gerber?
In spite of availability of other alternatives in the market, both the companies decided on using Gerber solutions in their cutting room. Jayarajan justifies the choice, “We did a lot of research before buying the product. We consulted existing users, compared the performance of various other makes and models of cutters, calculated the running cost including spares, AMC and power, and checked the compatibility with existing CAD software, Gerber was a sure shot winner for us. Further adding to Gerber’s advantage was the reliability of the supplier and its local partner IIGM.”
Conforming to Jayarajan’s observation, Tejpal adds, “It is an end to end product. Both the software and the hardware are developed by Gerber. Apart from state-of-the-art automated cutting and material spreading systems for the sewn product industry, the company is also a pioneer in providing product lifecycle management (PLM), product data management (PDM) and computer aided design (CAD) solutions covering the entire process cycle. ”
[bleft] “Gerber is an end to end solution provider. Both the software and hardware have been developed by Gerber, and its technology is proven in the industry. Apart from its cutters we are also using PLM, PDM and CAD from Gerber.” – Tejpal Singh, General Manager – Production, Gokaldas Exports [/bleft]
Experience with Gerber
Madura Garments runs Gerber Accumark software with the cutter to get average 80-86% efficiency in suits and trousers depending on the fabric. Coupled with the third party cutting management system, like ProCut in the case of Gokaldas, Gerber software creates the most efficient multi-colour and multi-style order plans in both the companies. One of the key requisite for any technology supplier’s success is its after-sales-service, and Gerber has achieved a forte in this regard. Jayarajan says, “Our pattern masters and CAD operators are trained by Gerber & IIGM team for using the Gerber system. Most of the issues are mundane and our team itself is capable of handling them. However, we get the required support from the Gerber people whenever we want”. Tejpal too expresses his satisfaction, “The after-sales-service is a must to be productive and Gerber technicians are always on call just 2 hours away from us.”
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