Plant readies Army for Afghan winter

Tag : Garment Finishing

“The quality on it is the highest standard quality ofanything out there,” Clements said. “The government isvery, very meticulous on the quality of these garments. You hearthe word ‘perfect,’ it has to be perfect. It’sgot to be right. They don’t settle for second on anything todo with these.”

The winter pants are pre-assembled at the Tullahoma plant inGruetli Laager, Tenn., then come for final assembly in Brilliant,where they go through the Eton unit production system that wasadded during an expansion about three years ago.

A major feature of the Eton system is a conveyor of bar-codedhangers that easily moves garment pieces to each work station. InAugust, the parkas will be part of the same production process. TheBrilliant plant now houses Eton’s largest North Americanmilitary garment production system.

“The more automated you are, you’re looking at betterquality,” Clements said.

Despite the automation, machines can’t duplicate the initialsthat Kris Barnes puts on the care tag in each pair of trousers thatshe inspects. As she does so, a thought crosses her mind: thatsometime next year in Afghanistan, one or all three of her soldiersons might recognize those initials on the tags in their owntrousers.

“I think that would be awesome, I really do,” Barnessaid. “That would be part of me over there with them.”