Apparel Search › How To › Plan a Production Timeline (T&A Calendar)
Apparel Search How To
A time and action calendar shows what has to happen, and by when, for your clothing to arrive on time.
Late goods mean missed selling windows and unhappy customers. A time and action (T&A) calendar prevents that by turning your delivery date into a schedule of milestones for you and your factory. This guide shows how to build one step by step, whether you are producing overseas or close to home.
Use the free Production Timeline Planner to work backward from your delivery date and download the schedule or add it to your calendar.
Write down every step from design to delivery: tech pack and design approval, sampling and sample approval, fabric and trim ordering, production, inspection, shipping and delivery to your warehouse. Overseas orders add steps such as getting goods to the port, ocean or air transit, port handling and customs.
Ask your factory, fabric mill and shipper how long each step takes, and ask for a range. Sampling often takes several rounds, so plan for revisions. Placeholder numbers are fine to start with, but replace them as soon as you have real quotes.
Start from the date you need goods and subtract each step, last step first, to find the latest date each step can start. For example, a typical overseas plan with sampling, fabric, production, inspection, transit, customs and delivery, plus a 10-day buffer, can add up to around 175 calendar days. To have goods in your warehouse by December 1, that plan would have to start around June 9. Your own numbers will differ.
Sample approvals, late fabric and port congestion all cause delays. Add time for them, and make the buffer bigger for steps that have slipped for you before. A buffer that looks generous on paper is usually used up.
Ships keep moving on weekends, so transit counts every calendar day, while offices and factories often work on weekdays. Many factories close for national holidays, and some for a week or more, so ask each factory for its closure dates and build them in.
Give the factory a copy and agree the dates. For each milestone, note who is responsible and the date it is due. Sharing the plan early shows problems while there is still time to fix them.
Compare plan against reality at every milestone. When something slips, recalculate to see what it does to the delivery date, then decide whether to speed up a later step, ship by a faster method or move the date. Update the calendar and share the changes.
See how long production takes at your line speed with the Production Capacity Calculator, and map when money is due with the Import Cash Flow Planner.
A time and action (T&A) calendar is a schedule of the milestones needed to deliver a product, with a due date and an owner for each, such as sample approval, fabric arrival, production, inspection and shipping.
It varies with the product, factory, fabric, quantity and shipping method. Use the lead times your own suppliers quote, then add a buffer.
There is no fixed rule. Base it on how much your past orders slipped, and use more for new factories, new fabrics or long shipping routes.
Transit time counts every calendar day, because ships and trucks keep moving. Factory and office steps often count working days, so check how your supplier quotes its lead times.
Yes. Sharing it early lets the factory confirm dates and flag problems before they cost you time.