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Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an important tool for enhancing the performance of inventory management. Motivated by our real-world observations in local hospitals, we study the case where a hospital, which is using a bar-coding system, considers switching to an RFID system because the RFID technology can potentially enhance the hospital’s inventory management under the quick response system (QRS). In order to examine the value of RFID, we develop a formal analytical Bayesian model for the information updating process. We derive the expected value of information of the RFID system, and reveal the conditions in which the RFID system outperforms the bar-coding system. In addition, we evaluate the impacts of the QRS toward the expected profit and level of risk of the hospital, the supplier, and the whole supply chain (SC) system. We further propose two policies to help achieve SC coordination. Numerical analyses are reported and important insights are generated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study provides an objective test method to characterize the dynamic moisture management properties of disposable diapers by the Moisture Management Tester (MMT), which is developed to evaluate moisture transport properties of textiles in multi-directions. The MMT device can record the textile liquid transfer process dynamically and quantitatively, and the result is displayed by the figure of the moisture content change with test time elapsing. Six indices are specially extracted from the measurement curves, and five of them are selected finally to describe and predict the liquid moisture transfer properties of diapers more effectively. Moreover, measurement results showed that, except the pump time to the index of wetting time, all of the defined indices have significant correlation with diaper types and the liquid pump time level, and the extracted indices are sensitive enough to the variance of diaper types and pump time level. Therefore, the objective test method with MMT and the extracted indices can be used to characterize the moisture management properties of disposable diapers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pressure garments are mainly made of elastic Lycra fabrics and tailor-made to individual patients' measurements to provide an appropriate amount of skin-garment interface pressure for burn rehabilitation. However, the fabric tension would be different at various locations from the hem edges of pressure garments, and thus the skin-garment interface pressure cannot be uniformly maintained over the interface surface. Aims to investigate the pattern of interface pressure changes caused by the different types of edge finish used for making pressure garments. The effect of garment sizes on the change of interface pressure was also examined. Experiments were carried out using two selected elastic Lycra fabrics, four types of hem finish and three different garment sizes. The results of the study provide a guideline for designing the edge finish of pressure garments, and a minimum margin from the hem edges of garments to the scar area is also recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of assembly line balancing is to assign different tasks to individual workstations for ensuring the sum of task times at any station not exceeding the station time. Standard minute time is generally used in the clothing industry as a predictor of sewing speed and production efficiency. In the clothing industry, the standard minute time derived from the work study methods is generally assumed as a constant for line balancing. However, a lot of factors cause variations on operational time of the same task such as the fabrics and sub-materials, performance of the machinery, working environment and quality level of the product. With the aid of an illustrating example selected from a men's shirt manufacturing factory, the effect of time variations for assembly line balancing has been studied in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fabric loss is a major contribution to material utilization. Minimizing fabric loss during spreading can reduce the total production costs for garment manufacturing. A traditional method of predicting the fabric loss during spreading is mainly based on the experience of domain experts or the historical data of production orders. Such method is subjective, not systematic and non-repeatable. In this paper, assuming the spreading process is handled in a controlled manner and there are no flaws on the fabrics being spread, a mathematical model is constructed for predicting the total fabric loss in the spreading process. The total fabric loss includes the internal wastage (i.e. marker fallout), and the external wastage (including end loss, width loss, and splice loss). Other parameters such as marker length, number of splice lines, remnant, and roll length of fabric are also included in the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]