Factory Assessment Form

This is a handy form for anyone who wants to assess a Factory before they put the production through the site.

It’s a quick way of assessing what the capabilities are of the Factory and reviews various parts of the garment life cycle.

The first part is pre-assembly. I don’t think many new business start-ups realise how complicated production is.  There are so many components to just one garment, it’s easy for something to go wrong such as wrong size buttons delivered, interlining late, size specification incorrectly graded- the list can go on and on.  There are six areas for pre-assembly and post-assembly for you to evaluate the management ability to coordinate your orders. Do not underestimate how important this is!

Then there is a production section which reviews areas such as lay plans, and a review of the actual cutting machines.  This leads on to assessing the number and type of machines within the unit. When you are reviewing factory capabilities it’s easy to forget what you have seen so this part of the document allows you to ring the numbers of the machines you can see.

There is also a section regarding ethnic groups and disability.  This helps with the transparency of the work force and you want to ensure that you have a factory that is fully inclusive of ethnic culture and disability. This is all part of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).  This is why at our Factory we are SMETA approved (as required by M&S and many other retailers) which reviews our payments to staff as well. This ensures we are paying to legislative requirements i.e. minimum wage and above all we are not paying in cash so there is no fraud taking place with HMRC.  When I set up the Factory I was so concerned about the “money” side of the business and the fact that I was dealing with people’s wages and therefore their livelihood, I subcontracted all of the accounts and payroll function out to a chartered accountant. This was one of the best decision I ever made!  We now have over 100 staff and you have to be meticulously organised.

The Factory Assessment Form can be expanded to meet your needs.  One of the areas that you need to consider is would you want to work with the Factory – can you have a professional dialogue with the Factory owner or their Sales/Production representative.  If you will be speaking most days to these people to ensure your factory dockets are on time and being made to your standards you need to “get-on” with these important people!  You can always add a box here for additional comments at the end of the four page form.

Click here to download a Factory Assesment Form