Graduation Research Project Ideas for Fashion/Apparel Technology Students 2019

It is time to prepare the concept note for the research project you will be doing in your next semester. I am sure you are doing research for finding a good project topic that should sound interesting, trendy as well as can add value to the industry. The project is named as graduation project or research project.



After researching current trends and development happening in the fashion industry and fashion supply chain, I have prepared a list of interesting and valuable topics. You can pick one of those if you find it interesting to you.

Many of you will be interested in innovative topics. But for the valuable and innovative project ideas it takes time to complete the project and in many cases, it is not possible to complete a project in 5 months. So, while selecting a topic you need to be careful about project outcome/deliverables, value addition to the industry, the possibility of getting a good score in the final jury.

List of  the latest project topic ideas

1. Developing an alternate technology for real-time production tracking (other than RFID and Barcode)

We are seeing this RFID, Barcode and touch button technology used by the garment industry for a long time. All these required hardware and additional manpower to handle the system for real-time data capturing.

Can you think of an alternative technology for the real-time production tracking which can eliminate the use of hardware components and more advanced for the apparel industry?

2. Designing and developing a mobile application for various garment factory activities

The mobile applications (App) are still cool if one can fulfil the day to day need of making reports, data analysis and improves the process visibility. You can take any department in a garment factory or any process of the whole apparel supply chain where we need to manually prepare documents or enter data in a computer using the keyboard. The requirement of the computer/laptop can be eliminated by introducing App for each process.

You know the benefits of the App in our daily life. Why fashion industry professionals would not have a list of App in their smart mobile for each task they do and each report and document they make? For example, Mobile app for Quality Control, lineout, hourly production report, Daily production report, manpower report, Machine maintenance report, Internal issue and task tracking etc.

3. Smart Factory – Cost of setup and ROI and what is required to set-up a smart factory

I know that we can just dream of a smart garment factory. But the reality is far away for 99.9% garment manufacturers in the world.

By continuous research work and development of a cost-effective tool (Big Data, IoT, AI, Sewbot, Cloud computing) the distance can be reduced.

You can do a project on the basic things of Smart Garment factory as named in the Title.

4. Industry 4.0: The current state and possibility in the apparel industry

Industry 4.0 is not only a buzzword, but it can also really bring evolution in the fashion business. You will find a lot of articles and write-ups on this topic for how much work is done so-far and possibilities of doing many things by introducing the industry 4.0 tools in the manufacturing sector.

Explore more on this topic and pick an idea what you can do in this area. Then go ahead do your research project.

5. Sustainable fashion manufacturing / sustainable fashion supply chain

It is known to all that only the sustainable business can survive for the long run. By looking at the environmental issues caused by the apparel manufacturing industry – we should be happy with fast fashion and traditional fashion manufacturing. Many things need to be changed to improve climate change and healthy environment.

A research on this area will be really interesting and valuable to the nation as well the whole apparel supply chain. You can pick any area related to making the fashion industry sustainable.

6. Starting a clothing label while studying @ NIFT / Pearl /NIIFT/ College

Doing a job is not sustainable in the coming days. The coming trend - apparel and fashion professionals are setting up their own businesses and becoming entrepreneurs. Many have a plan in their mind to set up a business in future. Why in future – why we can’t start the business when we are studying @ college. If one can research the possibilities of business set up and whatever one needs for materialising the business idea – that would be a good project work.

Let’s say one business is setting up own brand/clothing label. (The business be any other areas). Like developing mobile Apps, becoming design professional, starting with Freelance for any kind of services which can be given through an online portal, becoming reseller etc.

By doing a project work in this area you can set up a guideline for many aspiring entrepreneurs.

7. Enhancing the application of Big Data in the garment industry


8. Developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool for the available apparel software or focusing on the chronic problems faced the garment industry.

The basic areas that can’t be ignored though it seems age-old project topic. Lean manufacturing/ World-class manufacturing is one such topic. Few topics on industrial engineering, production management, quality management, apparel merchandising and IT technology are listed below.

Related articles

Project topics on industrial engineering, Production management and process improvisation

  1. Preparing a Training Manual/Program for New Operator 
  2. PMTS implementation 
  3. Development of Incentive Scheme for the Operators, KPI generation. 
  4. Development of Skill Matrix Chart 
  5. Designing the Material Handling System 
  6. Work Station Designing 
  7. Work-In-Progress Optimisation 
  8. Job evaluation in every department 
  9. Implementation of Total Productive Maintenance 
  10. Process Re-engineering in Cutting Room 
  11. Business Process Re-engineering. 
  12. Supervisor Training for Improved Sewing Lines Efficiency 
  13. Ergonomic equipment design 

Project topics on lean manufacturing

  1. Implementation of Modular Production System 
  2. Implementation of in-line finishing in the production line
  3. Error Proofing (Poka Yoke) in Various Departments 
  4. Reduction of 7 Wastes through Lean Tools 
  5. Single Minutes Exchange of Die for Fast Fashion 
  6. Implementation of the Kanban System in a factory production floor 
  7. Value Stream Mapping 
  8. Implementation of 5S in a garment factory 
  9. Six Sigma implementation at the cutting room 

Project ideas in other areas including merchandising, product development and quality control.

  1. Risk Management in Merchandising - (Use of tools like Ishikawa and FMEA)
  2. Planning the Strategic Location of Obtaining Tools and Aids in Sampling room/ Cutting Room
  3. Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning, making ERP software
  4. Effective Communication System at Workplace
  5. Virtual Prototyping in Merchandising Department
  6. Redesigning the Quality Assurance System
  7. Vendor Analysis and Complaint Tracking, Vendor management inventory.
  8. Inventory Control and Replenishment System
  9. Reducing Lead Time in Merchandising Department
  10. Statistical Process Control in Stitching Department finishing department

Conclusion

The above topics and project ideas are for your thought. You can go for one of these topic or find a better idea after reading the list of project topics. 

Prasanta Sarkar

Prasanta Sarkar is a textile engineer and a postgraduate in fashion technology from NIFT, New Delhi, India. He has authored 6 books in the field of garment manufacturing technology, garment business setup, and industrial engineering. He loves writing how-to guide articles in the fashion industry niche. He has been working in the apparel manufacturing industry since 2006. He has visited garment factories in many countries and implemented process improvement projects in numerous garment units in different continents including Asia, Europe, and South Africa. He is the founder and editor of the Online Clothing Study Blog.

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