The Consignment Rolls received and how far the shade drifts across them

Rolls in the Consignment

Average Roll Length m

Total Colour Spread dE

Worst roll against the best, not against standard

Shade Band Width dE

The tolerance you will allow inside one garment

The Cut Plan Marker and lay the fabric will be cut on

Marker Length m

Plies per Lay

Garments per Marker

Shade Bands Required

—

Colour spread divided by the tolerance you will accept

Allocation, Lays & Stranded Fabric

Fabric Stranded as Remnants: — %
Stranded Fabric: — m
Full Lays per Band: —
Rolls per Band: —
Fabric per Band: — m
Fabric Consumed per Lay: — m
Rolls Consumed per Lay: —
Garments Cut from Full Lays: —
Consignment Total: — m

This model assumes rolls are evenly distributed across the colour spread, which is what an unsorted consignment from several dye machines looks like. A bimodal lot - two machines, each internally tight - produces two dense bands and empty space between them, so the even-distribution figure for rolls per band will be wrong even though the band count is right; band from the actual histogram when one is available. Within-roll variation is not modelled and is not always small: side-to-centre-to-side shading on a stenter or a jet can approach the roll-to-roll spread, and no allocation scheme fixes it. Remnant fabric is treated as stranded rather than lost. The lay figure assumes every lay is cut at the stated ply depth; step lays and mixed markers change the arithmetic and generally reduce the remnant.

Shade Band Grouping & Roll Allocation to Cut Lays — free, with the formula and a worked example, at Textile School.