Calculate garment SMV through method-time-cost analysis for sustainable garment manufacturing with GSDCost

GSDCost calculates SMV (Standard Minute Value) by breaking each sewing operation into individual human motions and assigning one of 39 standardised motion codes to each movement. Each motion code carries a fixed, internationally recognised time value. The software sums these times to produce a precise SMV for every operation. These SMVs are assembled into a complete style analysis, forming a Method Standard used for garment costing, line balancing, and production planning. The process is carried out by trained, licensed GSDCost Practitioners.

GSDCost includes a built-in Fair Wage Tool that calculates the wage allowance for any garment order in any factory worldwide. It combines the style’s SMV with factory efficiency rates, contracted hours, and the agreed wage rate to produce a transparent, auditable wage figure, benchmarked against international fair wage standards. Both brands and manufacturers use this tool to substantiate CSR commitments, satisfy ethical compliance audits, and reduce disputes over labour cost in commercial negotiations. The fair wage data itself is sourced from the Fair Wage Network’s global living wage benchmarks. 

A traditional stopwatch time study relies on an observer timing a worker and applying a subjective performance rating, which makes results inconsistent, disputable, and dependent on individual bias. GSDCost instead uses a Predetermined Motion Time System (PMTS), assigning fixed international time values to 39 defined motion codes regardless of who performs the study. The result is objective, repeatable, and mutually acceptable to both buyers and suppliers, forming the basis for fact-based costing negotiations instead of estimate-driven ones. 

GSDCost is used by two groups. Garment manufacturers, specifically production engineers and industrial engineers trained as Licensed GSDCost Practitioners, use it to build a Methods Database, analyse and improve operations, and generate accurate SMVs for costing and planning. Apparel brands and buyers use it to validate supplier costs, conduct design-for-value analysis, and negotiate CM (cost-to-make) prices transparently. Brands and manufacturers using GSDCost include Adidas, VF Corporation, Victoria’s Secret, Target, Hirdaramani, Pacific Jeans, and Hansae. 

GSDCost improves operator efficiency by replacing guesswork with a documented, optimal sequence of motions for every operation. Licensed Practitioners use the 39 motion codes to analyse how an operation is currently performed, identify wasted or redundant movements, and propose a more efficient method. Once approved, that method becomes the new Method Standard, which is then used to retrain operators consistently. Coats Digital’s own results show this translates into measurable gains: Ansell Textile Lanka saw a 7% productivity improvement in its Body Protection division after standardising methods this way, and VTL Group raised line output by 10% after the same process across 50 sewing lines.

Yes, standardising SMVs across multiple factories is one of GSDCost’s core use cases, since every factory using the platform applies the same 39 motion codes and the same fixed international time values, regardless of location, operator, or who performs the analysis. This removes the variation that comes from each factory keeping its own informal time studies. Suzhou Tianyuan Garments is a documented example: before GSDCost, the company’s SMV calculations varied by up to 30% across its own production lines because they were based on individual engineers’ experience; after implementation, SMV calculation accuracy reached 98% company-wide. Ansell Textile Lanka used the same standardisation to scale from 36 manually-tracked styles to 150 styles with consistent, comparable SMVs

GSDCost improves line efficiency by giving planners accurate, consistent SMVs to balance workload across a sewing line before production starts, rather than discovering bottlenecks after the line is already running. Because every operation’s time is based on fixed motion codes rather than estimates, planners can assign work more evenly, reducing idle time at some stations and overload at others. This directly supports On-Time Delivery Performance (OTDP). Coats Digital reports a typical 10% OTDP improvement from customers using GSDCost for planning, and individual results have gone further: VTL Group’s 10% output increase and Ansell’s 7% productivity gain both stemmed from this kind of line-level standardisation.

GSDCost is built with integration in mind: it has a native, real-time integration with Coats Digital’s own Res. Q shop-floor suite, providing a live feedback loop comparing actual versus standard minute values at the operation level. GSDCost’s SaaS architecture hosted on Microsoft Azure is also designed to feed SMV and cost outputs into customers’ wider ERP and PLM systems for downstream planning; Fakir Fashion, a 300,000-garment-per-day Bangladeshi manufacturer, is a documented example currently integrating GSDCost with its existing ERP to build a centralised digital ecosystem. Coats Digital’s newer AI costing tool, GSDQuest, is also planned to add direct API integration into PLM, ERP, and costing workflows in a future release.

GSDCost supports supplier negotiations by giving brands and manufacturers a shared, objective SMV for any given style, so cost-to-make (CM) discussions are based on the same fixed, internationally recognised data rather than competing estimates from either side. Because the motion codes and time values are fixed and identical everywhere, a brand can validate a supplier’s quoted cost directly instead of negotiating from a position of uncertainty. This is also why GSDCost underpins design-for-value analysis during sourcing: brands can see exactly how a design change affects SMV and cost before committing to a supplier or style.

Apparel brands benchmark SMVs across suppliers by requiring or recommending a shared predetermined motion time system, most commonly GSD via GSDCost, so that every supplier’s quoted SMV for a given style is calculated using the same fixed motion codes and time values. This lets a brand’s own sourcing or industrial engineering team independently recalculate a supplier’s SMV and check it against the quote, rather than relying on the supplier’s internal (and potentially inconsistent) timing methods. Several major brands, including Adidas, VF Corporation, and Victoria’s Secret, work with GSDCost-certified suppliers specifically to make this kind of cross-supplier benchmarking possible.