It's fairly obvious to see how computers aid in manufacturing any product – one needs only to look at any industry from automotive to consumer electronics to find the important role Computer Aided Design has played in the industrialized world. Apparel manufacturing is no different, and the transition from manual production methods to computer-aided development is inevitable and should be welcomed by our industry.
In order to understand how CAD can be beneficial to the apparel industry, it is vitally important to shift our perspective about what it means to create apparel. In a sense, we have to want to be more accurate and productive, and we have to give up some of our cherished methods in order to adopt new ones.
The first assumption we have to throw out is the idea of 'tolerance' in pattern making. 'Tolerance' should be a buzzword for 'inaccuracy' in our industry, but unfortunately it has become a standard. A quarter inch here, an eighth of an inch there - this is accepted because we are making garments for an accepted average body, instead of a variety of individuals. Additionally, in manual production methods it is impossible to be one hundred percent accurate because of human error, machine error, and the vagaries of fabric. Tolerance, in a sense, is a necessary evil.
However, accuracy and tolerance are anathema to each other. If there is a need for 'grey areas' in our measurements because of inaccurate systems, the answer to the problem is to make the systems more accurate. CAD systems are designed to do exactly this. Pattern making, grading and marker making CAD systems don't replace a pattern maker's knowledge or skill in crafting a pattern. Rather, they assist the pattern maker to create accurate blueprints that can be used to cut and sew garments.
Additionally, CAD pattern making systems can be used to significantly speed up the process of developing a pattern 'blueprint'. While drafting a quick and dirty pattern with a pencil will still be faster than working with a computer system, creating an accurate production pattern (especially with more complicated garments) and making changes to those patterns is significantly faster when done via CAD systems than by hand-creating the same patterns.
It's easy to see why when you think about the basic difference between the "digital world" and the "real world". In real life, creating 100 copies of anything takes a lot of time; inside a computer, making 100 copies of something that's already been done is almost instantaneous. A CAD system that is designed to work well with apparel production has specialized tools and a concise workflow which can turn a pattern maker into a production powerhouse, allowing the manufacturing unit to have increased output, thereby increasing speed as well as accuracy.
Recently, this benefit has come to sample making as well. Sewing physical samples takes a while, and each time there are changes to the garment's design or shape, a new sample has to be created from scratch. Not so in the "digital world". Because the pattern and sample can be made digitally, changes can also be made much more quickly, and for much less cost. In short, making four relatively sophisticated garment samples during an approval process in real life can take anywhere from four days to four weeks, depending on if you have to send the sample overseas before you get your next set of notes. With a CAD solution for pattern making and sample making, this process could be cut down to four hours, including emailing the samples overseas to a waiting buyer, and all this without spending a dime in fabric or shipping costs.
Computers have crept their way so ubiquitously into our lives that we hardly realize how important they actually are. Can you imagine the pain you'd experience if you lost your cell phone or blackberry? Once you have a GPS system in your car it's impossible to get anywhere without it. That's because the computer way is the easiest, most efficient way we have, and it easily becomes second nature once we adopt it. It's a natural transition for an industry like ours, which is being squeezed by shorter cycle times and less access to low-cost labor, to turn to innovation to help it keep up with the rising demand and lower margins. It's vital that manufacturers realize the waiting benefit of CAD systems and adopt this well-established technology in order to stay afloat in today's fast-paced world.
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