Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Carmina de Young Designs is a local garment micro-manufacturing enterprise. As a result of no standard process and technology for garment micro-manufacturing in the London area, Carmina de Young Designs is currently unable to meet the production demands of an emerging client base of new designers and small to medium sized fashion enterprises. As such, the company's opportunity as a manufacturer of garment quantities is challenged with sustainability, and is currently not scalable. This research project will enable the company's manufacturing facility to produce small lots (ranging from 25 units to 150+ units) efficiently, helping new designers create a new and viable garment and fashion sector in the London region. This would involve the creation of a standardized method using technical knowledge to track and improve efficiencies, acquire accurate costing skills, and develop essential employee training. The project will determine the best plant layout for the positioning of work centres, machinery and equipment in order to maintain an efficient and balanced material output through the study and analysis of apparel engineering and work flow. When the project is completed, the results will enable the company to expand it's small-batch garment production services to other SMEs that want to produce small lots of fashion designs. Students that participate in this project will actively research best practices to create a new production line and will produce a final report with recommendations to the manufacturing operation that will provide the scalability and sustainability needed.