options for software solutions for managing production planning processes in the garment industry
In the world of apparel manufacturing, effective planning is critical to delivering products on time for customers. Achieving this requires well-coordinated work across various departments within the garment industry. One crucial tool for controlling, calculating, and managing data from different sections is production planning software. Here, we present an overview of top production planning software for garment manufacturing, along with their key features.
Apparel planning software plays a significant role in simplifying the lives of manufacturers, offering efficient solutions in the modern tech era. While some garment industries still use Microsoft Excel for planning purposes, many production planning software options are available in the market. Internal planning can also be executed through ERP systems.
Top 10 Production Planning Software for Garment Manufacturing
- Fast React
- Apps planning module
- Gemserp's Plan-IT
- MAE
- STAGE
- Pro-Plan
- SAP in ERP
- Oracle in ERP
- Lectra Fashion PLM
- Microsoft Excel
Key Features of Each Production Planning Software
Fast React
In the garment industry, Fast React stands out as a sought-after software for production planning. It allows users to manually input data and customize it as required. Fast React planning software offers more functionalities than any other software on the market.
Fast-React Software Planning Steps
- Utilize the software's built-in modules or custom-made ones tailored to specific company requirements.
- Enter data according to the module requirements, guided by the software manual.
- Generate auto-reports once data has been inserted, and interlink these reports with any ERP software.
Apps Planning Module
This software facilitates production planning and monitoring, consumption calculation, quality data collection, generating dashboards, daily reports, and facilitates improvements. It's particularly useful for analysis purposes.
Gemserp's Plan-IT
Plan-IT from Gemserp is a specialized production planning software for garment manufacturing, helping merchandising and production personnel make informed decisions ahead of time by utilizing a visual display of the plan on a planning board. This decreases last-minute scrambling when it comes to order processing, resulting in increased transparency within the organization and designated individual responsibility.
MAE
MAE, or the Material Allocation Engine, is a software solution popular in the garment industry for optimizing production planning. It helps manage inventory, allocate materials, and streamline the production schedule. MAE can manage sewing line-by-line, ensuring smooth operations.
STAGE
STAGE planning software supports the management and planning of a range of production stages from order reception to final shipment. While there isn't an industry-specific "stage planning software" called STAGE, production management systems (PMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions offer features to handle stage planning effectively.
When selecting stage planning software for garment manufacturing, consider factors such as production volume, integration capabilities with other systems, scalability, user-friendliness, and customer support provided by the software vendor.
Pro-Plan
Pro Plan software enables users to account for holidays, calculate working hours, and leverage current efficiency and absentee levels to instantaneously determine capacity. Capacity planning is done for 300 days in anticipation, with new days automatically added at the end. In Pro-Plan, users can also reserve capacity for specific customers and adjust section capacity according to sales. Pro-Plan offers an integrated Pre-Production Planning option.
SAP in ERP
By utilizing SAP modules, garment manufacturers can streamline their production planning processes, improve operational efficiency, enhance visibility across the supply chain, and deliver high-quality garments to customers on time. Collaborate with SAP consultants or implementation partners with expertise in garment manufacturing for an effective and customized implementation.
Oracle in ERP
Oracle provides a comprehensive suite of applications and solutions that can be utilized for garment production planning. Tasks such as production planning processes, inventory optimization, resource allocation, and delivery management can be executed efficiently using Oracle's tools.
Lectra Fashion PLM
Lectra is a leading provider of integrated technology solutions for the fashion industry. Their Fashion PLM software facilitates efficient production planning, material management, and collaboration across the entire product development process.
Microsoft Excel
If no production planning software is available, Microsoft Excel can be employed for apparel production planning. However, it does require more manual data input and can take more time compared to dedicated planning software.
Basic Excel Planning Steps
- Create a spreadsheet and make an introductory description.
- Select the routing path, and list it column-wise.
- Input data appropriately. You can include a remarks column if desired.
- No prior Excel experience is necessary for planning with simple conditional formatting, logical expressions, and look-up functions.
- Utilize graphical representation to make the planning more realistic and simple to understand.
- Custom-made reports can easily be generated from Excel. Pivot tables can be helpful in generating reports from the planning board of Excel.
Other Production Planning Software for Fashion and Apparel Manufacturing Apart from the Top 10
- Gerber Technology AccuMark
- Optitex
- Tukatech's TukaCAD/TukaPlan
- ApparelMagic
- BlueCherry PLM by CGS
- Fast React Systems
- Centric PLM
- NGC Software
- Simparel ERP
- AIMS360
- Apparel21
- StyleMaster
- F2iT FashionMatrix
- PatternSmith by Autometrix
- PatternMaker Software
- Assyst Vidya
- Shopfloor by AIMS360
- GSD (Garment Software Development)
- PTC FlexPLM
Conclusion
A variety of production planning software options cater to garment manufacturing, offering solutions that streamline operations, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and increase overall productivity. Evaluating different software options based on specific business requirements will help you find the best fit for your company's needs.
- You may also find these articles interesting:
- Top 8 ERP System Vendors for Fashion Industry Business
- Production Planning and Control in Apparel Industry
- Functions of Production Planning and Control (PPC) department in Apparel Industry
- Production planning software like Fast React, Apps Planning Module, and Lectra Fashion PLM provide advanced features tailored to the complex demands of the garment industry, increasing efficiency and reducing errors.
- In addition to the top 10 production planning software, other systems such as Gerber Technology AccuMark, Optitex, and Tukatech's TukaCAD/TukaPlan also cater specifically to fashion and apparel manufacturing, offering solutions for efficient production planning.
- Adopting the right production planning software can lead to significant improvements in overall productivity, cost reduction, and operational efficiency for garment manufacturing businesses.
