From Cutting Room to Heat Transfer: How QMI Improved Garment Production

Background

Founded in 1982, QMI Industrial Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Taiwan and operates manufacturing locations in Cambodia, Vietnam and China. The company produces sportswear, outdoor apparel, waterproof garments, jackets, ski garments, polo shirts, shirts and knitwear for international sportswear and outdoor apparel markets.

The Challenge

QMI required equipment improvements in two production processes. In the cutting room, its existing equipment and after-sales support arrangements did not fully meet daily production requirements. When equipment issues occurred, delays in maintenance and technical assistance added difficulty to on-site operations. In the heat transfer process, QMI previously used single-station equipment requiring one-to-one operator involvement. As production demand increased, this limited output and reduced flexibility in manpower allocation.

The Solution and Result

QMI implemented an OSHIMA cutting-room equipment solution based on its product types and on-site operating requirements, together with a clearer maintenance and technical support contact.

QMI also introduced automatic heat transfer equipment to improve its previous single-station process. The equipment supports single- or dual-operator workstation arrangements, delivers output of up to 300 pieces per hour, and uses automatic feeding and robotic handling for fabric piece transfer.

According to the original case record, after introducing the automatic heat transfer equipment, QMI improved productivity in this process by 60% and reduced manpower requirements by half. Operators previously assigned to one-to-one heat transfer work could be reassigned to other production activities.

Conclusion

By introducing cutting-room and automatic heat transfer equipment, QMI improved both its front-end equipment support arrangement and the output limitations of its heat transfer process, OSHIMA provides fabric preparation, spreading, cutting and heat transfer equipment solutions for garment manufacturers planning production equipment improvements.