4 Point Fabric Inspection System in Apparel Manufacturing

Arman Hossain Akash
Department of Textile Engineering
Ahsanullah University of Science & Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Email: [email protected]

What is 4 Point System?
The four-point assessment method is a commonly established method of fabric inspection globally. Fabric inspection is done as per ASTM D 5430–04 standard and this system is agreed by The American Society for Quality Control, Textile and Needle Trades Division, The American Apparel Manufacturers Association and is used by the United States Government for all of their piece goods purchased.

The main considerations in a 4 point inspection system are given here:

1. The fabric has to be passed longitudinally through the inspection area at a speed approved by the customer.
2. The light source should be perpendicular to the fabric surface and the fabric should run at an angle of 45° to the vertical for better vision for the operator.
3. The illumination intensity in the inspection room should have a minimum of 1075 lux and the light source used should be white fluorescent lamps.
4. The fabric should be checked at a distance of 1 m from the fabric inspector when it is in motion.
5. Defect points should be assigned based on the length of the defect as mentioned in Table 1.1.
6. Four points should be assigned to each meter of fabric where usable width is lower than the minimum specified.
7. The fabric should not be penalized more than four points.
8. Defects not obvious on the face side of the fabric should not be registered unless agreed between supplier and customer.

Table 1.1

Assignment of Penalty Points in 4 Point System

A fabric roll 160 yards long and 47″ wide contains the following fabric defects as shown in Table 1.2.

Advantages

• 4 point system has no width limitation.
• Worker can easily understand it.

Table 1.2

Example of Defective Points in Fabric

Total defect points per 100 square yards of fabric should be determined and the criterion for the acceptance of a fabric roll is generally not more than 40 penalty points. If it is more than 40 points, it will be considered ‘seconds’.

The formula to determine the penalty points per 100 square yards is given by-

 Total points scored in the roll × 3600
——————————————————————————-
Fabric width in inches × Total yards inspected

Reference –
Abernathy, F.H., A. Volpe and D. Weil. 2004. The Apparel and Textile Industries after 2005: Prospects and Choices. Harvard Center for Textile and Apparel Research, Cambridge.

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Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. He is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.

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