3D Knit Capacity Planning: The Checklist That Turns 7 Lines and 200,000 Pcs a Month Into Real Dates

What Capacity Actually Means on a Knit Programme

Monthly capacity is a ceiling, not a promise: 7 production lines running about 200,000 pcs a month means about 6,650 pieces per working day across the programme, and a buyer's realistic share of that depends on how much changeover time their particular mix consumes.

The distinction matters because two buyers placing the same total quantity can occupy very different amounts of capacity. One order of 3,000 pieces in a single colourway occupies one set-up and runs continuously. Three orders of 1,000 pieces in three colourways occupy three set-ups, three first-piece checks and three changeovers, and the changeover is 45 minutes on a knitting line plus about 20 minutes downstream. The total pieces are identical; the capacity consumed is not. This is why MOQ is stated per style and per colourway rather than per order, and why a buyer who consolidates colourways gets a better date than one who splits them.

There is a second, larger point. Capacity is not the constraint most of the time; yarn is. A bed that sits idle because the specified count and shade have not arrived is capacity that cannot be sold to anyone, which is why the yarn booking horizon sits at the front of every planning conversation and why the ten-item checklist below leads with it.

The Capacity Checklist: Ten Numbers Before You Book

Ten numbers turn a capacity figure into a date, and the four most often missing are the cycle time the buyer has been quoted, the changeover count implied by the colourway split, the yarn lead time for the specified shade, and the reserve the buyer wants held for a repeat.

• Quantity per colourway, because MOQ is 100 pcs per style and per colourway, not per order.
• Colourway count, because each one is a separate yarn set-up and a separate 45-minute changeover.
• Cycle time per piece, which converts quantity into hours on the bed: about 9 minutes at E12 in 300D.
• Changeover count, at 45 minutes on the knitting line plus about 20 minutes downstream.
• Yarn lead time for the specified count and shade, typically up to 10 days for a custom or dope-dyed shade.
• Trim lead time, which is why the checklist asks for stock trims wherever possible.
• Inspection level, because Level II draws a sample of 200 on a 4,000-piece lot and Level I draws 80.
• Packing specification: carton count, labelling and documentation, which occupy the last days of the window.
• Shipping window and incoterm, FOB Xiamen as standard with CIF and DDP available.
• Reserve: whether the buyer wants capacity held for a repeat, typically 15% of the monthly figure.

A buyer who supplies all ten gets a date that holds. A buyer who supplies quantity and target date gets a date that moves, because the remaining eight numbers then have to be assumed, and assumptions made at quotation become disputes at delivery. The cost of supplying them is one page of a brief.

Lines, Days and the Arithmetic Behind 200,000 Pcs

Seven production lines at about 200,000 pcs a month work out to roughly 28,570 pieces per line per month, about 1,099 per line over 26 working days, and about 950 per line per day once utilisation is taken at 85%.

The 85% figure is doing real work in that arithmetic and is worth stating explicitly. It covers changeovers, maintenance, first-piece checks, rework and the small stoppages that no schedule ever captures. A plan built on 100% utilisation is a plan that fails in the first week, and a buyer who asks what utilisation was assumed is asking a better question than one who asks what the headline capacity is. Across the whole programme the daily figure is about 6,650 pieces, which is the number to hold in mind when assessing whether a requested quantity fits inside a requested window.

Changeover Cost: Why Colourway Count Matters More Than Quantity

A colourway change costs 45 minutes on a knitting line plus about 20 minutes downstream, so a 300-piece order split three ways pays 195 minutes of changeover that a single 300-piece run would not, and that is more time than the knitting of 21 pieces at E12.

The arithmetic is unflattering to splitting. Three colourways of 100 pieces each carry three set-ups and three changeovers against one for a 300-piece single colourway, which is 195 minutes of non-producing time against 65. At a 9-minute cycle that difference is about 14 pieces of output, and it lands on the same day as everything else. The commercial answer is not to refuse the split — colourways are usually the point of the product — but to price and schedule it honestly, and to consider whether a dope-dyed yarn in one count can be run in sequence rather than interleaved, because consecutive colourways on the same bed shorten the changeover considerably.

Booking Horizon: Yarn, Trim and the Ten Days Before Day One

Yarn in the specified count and shade is the longest-lead item in a knit programme at up to 10 days or more for a custom or dope-dyed shade, and it sits in front of both the 7-working-day sampling clock and the 30-day bulk clock.

This is the item that most often decides whether a date holds, and it is the one buyers can influence at the least cost. A stock count in a stock shade can be available immediately; a custom count or a new dope-dyed shade runs to 10 days or more before it is on the cone; and recycled content adds a documentation step, because a Global Recycled Standard transaction certificate is issued against a named lot and takes time to raise. Trim is the second horizon and the more variable one, because a stock zip or D-ring is immediate while a custom moulded component can run longer than the yarn. The practical rule is to ask for both horizons in writing at quotation, and to treat any figure quoted without them as provisional.

Sampling window

7 working days from a signed tech pack

Bulk window

30 days from handover of the approved sample

Yarn booking horizon

up to 10 days or more for a custom or dope-dyed shade

Stock count and shade

available immediately where the programme allows

Recycled content documentation

GRS transaction certificate issued against the named lot

Trim horizon

stock items immediate, custom moulded components longer

Peak Season and the 15% Reserve

Holding about 15% of monthly capacity as a reserve is what lets a repeat order or a mid-season reorder land inside the standard window rather than outside it, and it is a decision made at programme level rather than per order.

The reserve exists because knit programmes are seasonal in a way that capacity is not. Buyers place the bulk of their volume against two or three delivery windows a year, and a facility that fills every slot as it is requested has nothing left when a reorder arrives in week four of a strong season. Reserving 15% of roughly 200,000 pcs a month sets aside about 30,000 pieces, which is enough to absorb a mid-season reorder of meaningful size without displacing anything already booked. A buyer who places repeat programmes should ask whether a reserve is held in their name, because that question converts a promise into an allocation.

Splitting a Lot Across Colourways and Styles

The rule for splitting is that MOQ applies per style and per colourway at 100 pcs, so a three-colourway programme books 300 pieces minimum, and the scheduling consequence is three set-ups rather than one.

Where a buyer wants a smaller run per colourway, the options are structural rather than negotiable. Reduce the colourway count and increase the quantity per colourway. Run one body colourway with contrast trim, which gives visual range without a yarn set-up. Or accept a longer window, because a small run per colourway consumes capacity out of proportion to its quantity. What is not available is a lower MOQ, because the set-up cost does not fall when the run does: the same file load, cone change and first-piece check are required for 100 pieces as for 1,000.

What to Confirm Before the Schedule Is Frozen

Eight items should be confirmed before a production slot is frozen, and the three that most often change afterwards are the colourway split, the programme revision and the packing specification — all three of which cost capacity rather than money.

• Quantity per colourway and the total, confirmed rather than estimated.
• Programme revision number matching the tag on the approved sample.
• Yarn count, shade and lot reference, booked or with a stated horizon.
• Trim list confirmed against stock, with any custom component lead time stated.
• Cycle time per piece and the resulting hour count on the bed.
• Inspection level and defect classification, agreed in writing before production.
• Packing specification: carton count, labelling, documentation and any retail packing.
• Incoterm and shipping window: FOB Xiamen standard, CIF and DDP available.

A freeze is worth insisting on because the cost of a change rises steeply after it. Before the freeze, a change to the colourway split is a scheduling edit. After it, the same change displaces another buyer's slot, and a displacement is not something a schedule can absorb quietly. Five working days is a reasonable freeze point for a standard programme, and longer where a custom yarn or moulded trim is involved.

Expediting: What Can and Cannot Be Compressed

Of the 30 days in a bulk window, roughly 8 can be compressed and roughly 10 cannot: knitting, finishing and inspection can be run concurrently or extended, while yarn booking and any custom trim lead time are fixed by the supplier rather than by the schedule.

The honest answer to a request for a shorter window is therefore a question about where the time is going. If the programme is waiting on yarn, nothing in the production schedule will help, and the only lever is a stock count or shade. If it is waiting on knitting, the levers are more lines, extended shifts and fewer changeovers, and all three are available at a cost. If it is waiting on inspection, the lever is to agree the defect classification earlier so the release is not argued at the carton. Buyers who ask which of the three applies get a real answer; buyers who ask for a shorter date get a date that moves. For the cycle-time variables behind the hour count, see cycle time drivers in seamless knitting.

Frequently Asked Questions

People Also Ask

Ask for the Utilisation Figure, Not the Headline

Two facilities quoting the same monthly capacity can deliver very different dates, and the difference is almost always the utilisation assumption and the changeover allowance behind the headline. Asking what utilisation was assumed, what a colourway changeover costs, and what the yarn horizon is for the specified shade takes two minutes and converts a headline into a plan.

For the cycle-time variables behind the hour count on the bed, see cycle time drivers in seamless knitting. For the programme windows that sit around the schedule, see custom knit bags.