A merchandiser, a supervisor, or a buyer asking about an order does not only want to know how many pieces are sewn. They want to know where the actual bundle of cut pieces physically is right now, on which line, at which station, in which zone of the factory. A completion count answers "how much is done." A location log answers "where is it," and the two questions are not the same.
Without a location log, a bundle that has genuinely moved forward, for example from sewing into the finishing zone, can still show as "stuck" on an old report simply because nobody updated where it went. Order A, Delta Garments' 15,000-piece T-shirt order, runs through this lesson because its 250 bundles of 60 pieces each already carry a bundle ticket that can carry a location field too, giving a real case to log against.
You need: lesson 7.3.1's bundle system (cut pieces grouped into a fixed-quantity bundle carrying a bundle ticket) as background is useful but not required.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: the bundle system and sewing line layout (lesson 7.3.1), reading a full WIP report across every bundle (lesson 24.3.2), and moving completed bundles into the finished goods store (lesson 24.3.3).
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Work-in-progress (WIP) | Garments that have entered the sewing line but are not yet fully sewn, sitting at some operation between cutting and final finishing. |
| Bundle system | Cut pieces grouped into a fixed-quantity bundle that travels together from operation to operation through the sewing line, so progress can be counted bundle by bundle. |
| Bundle ticket | The tag or slip attached to a cut-piece bundle stating its style, size, colour and quantity, so the bundle can be tracked and matched correctly all the way through sewing. |
| Bundle location log | A record, updated each time a bundle physically moves, of the exact zone or station where that bundle currently sits, separate from how much of it is completed. |
A bundle location log records one thing only: which named zone or station a bundle currently sits at. It is not the same record as a completion count, and it does not update itself. Every time a bundle moves, whoever moves it must update the log, or the log keeps showing the bundle's last recorded position long after the bundle itself has moved on.
| What can differ | The shapes you meet | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Number of zones on the floor | A small line may only have two or three named zones: cutting hand-off, sewing, finishing. A larger factory like Delta Garments names each sewing line, each inspection bay, and the finishing zone separately. | More zones mean more chances for a move to happen without the log being updated, so the discipline of logging matters more, not less. |
| How the move is logged | Some factories log a move on paper against the bundle ticket at a checkpoint; others scan a bundle ticket's barcode at each zone boundary. | A paper log depends entirely on someone remembering to write the move down; a scan is faster but still depends on someone actually scanning it. |
| Business model | An export Make to Order line like Order A's has a fixed 250 bundles moving through a known sequence of zones toward one shipment date. A domestic Make to Stock run has more, smaller batches moving continuously, so a missed log entry is easier to lose track of among many similar bundles. | A single missed entry on Order A is easier to trace than the same miss buried among dozens of similar Make to Stock batches. |
| Who is asking | A production supervisor walking the floor can often just look and see where a bundle sits. A buyer asking from another country has no way to check except the log itself. | The location log matters most exactly when the person asking cannot walk the floor themselves. |
| Urgency near the ship date | Early in an order, a location log that lags a day rarely matters. Close to Order A's own port cut-off on day 13, an unlogged move can waste an entire day chasing a bundle that has already reached the next zone. | The same missing log entry costs far more the closer the order sits to its own shipment deadline. |
Sara, the buyer at Northline Apparel, emails Mona, the merchandiser at Delta Garments, asking where bundle B-041 of Order A's T-shirt currently sits. Mona checks the bundle location log and sees B-041 recorded at "neck rib attach," the same zone it showed yesterday. Before replying, Mona walks the floor to confirm, since a day-old entry so close to shipment is worth checking in person.
On the floor, Karim, the production manager, tells Mona that bundle B-041 finished neck rib attach that morning and was moved straight into the finishing zone, but the move was never logged. The log is not wrong about what happened yesterday; it is simply out of date, because an unlogged move left it one step behind reality.
The worked numberA single unlogged move affects only 1 of Order A's 250 bundles, a small share of the whole order. But for that one bundle, the log was not "slightly late," it was pointing at the wrong zone entirely, which is why Mona chose to confirm on the floor rather than answer Sara from the log alone.
A location log that is never wrong when it is current can still mislead badly when it is stale, and nothing in the log itself always warns a reader how old an entry is unless the log states a time stamp clearly. Reading "neck rib attach" as true today, when it was only true yesterday, sends a merchandiser or a buyer looking in the wrong place for a bundle that has already moved on.
Knowing how much of a bundle is sewn is one kind of information. Knowing which part of the factory floor that bundle is actually sitting in right now is a different kind of information, and a factory needs both. Every time a bundle is physically carried from one area to the next, someone has to write down or scan that it moved, or the record stays stuck on the old spot. A record that is only a day out of date can still send someone looking in the wrong place, especially close to a shipment date, so it is always worth checking how recent the last update actually is before trusting it completely.
Mona has just learned from Karim that bundle B-041 moved from neck rib attach into the finishing zone this morning, but the move was never logged.
Should Mona reply "neck rib attach," reading directly from the log, or reply with the zone Karim confirmed on the floor? Decide before opening the answer.
Mona should reply with the zone Karim confirmed on the floor, finishing, and update the location log to match before replying, not repeat the log's stale "neck rib attach" entry.
1. Karim's floor confirmation is more recent than the log's own dated entry, so it is the more reliable answer to give Sara. 2. Replying from the stale log would tell Sara the bundle is one full zone behind where it actually is, which could shift Northline's inland transport booking to the wrong time. 3. Updating the log immediately after confirming on the floor closes the gap so the next person who checks it, without walking the floor themselves, also gets the correct zone.
Mona does not need to investigate why the move was not logged before answering Sara; that is a process fix for later. The immediate decision only needs the confirmed, current zone.
Order A's own timeline allows 4 weeks for shipping after a day-16 sailing (docs/02 section 7). If Northline books inland transport against the wrong zone and the truck arrives before B-041 is actually ready for collection, the booking is wasted and must be repeated.
The figure here is not a fixed cost from the master order data, since no wasted-booking cost is fixed for Order A; it is framed qualitatively to show why a single unlogged move, so close to a fixed sailing date, is worth the few minutes it takes to update the log correctly.
Open the WIP and finished goods tracker, "Bundle location log" sheet. For each bundle, enter its ticket number, its current zone, and the date and time it was logged into that zone. Start with bundle B-041's corrected entry above, then log one bundle of your own as it moves across a shift.
[Download the WIP and finished goods tracker workbook](../../templates/T24-C03-wip-finished-goods-tracker.xlsx)
1. What is the main difference between a completion count and a bundle location log?
2. Bundle B-041's location log shows 'neck rib attach,' dated yesterday, but Karim confirms today it is now in the finishing zone. What should Mona do before replying to Sara?
3. Why does an unlogged move matter more close to Order A's port cut-off on day 13 than earlier in the order?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work-in-progress (WIP) | أعمال قيد التشغيل (WIP) | Encours de production (WIP) | Ara stok (WIP) | Garments that have entered the sewing line but are not yet fully sewn, sitting at some operation between cutting and final finishing. |
| Bundle system | نظام الحزم | Système de liasses | Demet sistemi | Cut pieces grouped into a fixed-quantity bundle that travels together from operation to operation through the sewing line, so progress can be counted bundle by bundle. |
| Bundle ticket | تذكرة الحزمة | Ticket de lot (ticket de liasse) | Bağlama fişi (bundle ticket) | The tag or slip attached to a cut-piece bundle stating its style, size, colour and quantity, so the bundle can be tracked and matched correctly all the way through sewing. |
| Bundle location log | سجل موقع الحزمة | Registre de localisation des liasses | Demet konum kaydı | A record, updated each time a bundle physically moves, of the exact zone or station where that bundle currently sits, separate from how much of it is completed. |
Next you will learn how to read a full WIP report across every bundle on a line, so a single glance shows which operation is genuinely holding an order back. Back to the course map