Lohr Laboratory's GRAPHTEC plotter now online

30 Aug 2013    

Faculty members Martha Horvay, Barbara Trout and Youngjoo Lee (l. to r.) marvel at a pants leg pattern piece drafted and cut in minutes on the department's new Graphtec plotter/cutter.

The new Graphtec plotter/cutter installed in the product development workroom of the Kathryn Ericksen Lohr Merchandising Research & Business Development Laboratory  is now online and ready to expand the technical skill sets of students working in our Flat Pattern, Product Development and Apparel Design courses. The plotter interfaces with the Lectra Digitizer, allowing students and faculty to easily draft and grade garment pattern pieces, otherwise time-consuming tasks when executed manually. The plotter first delineates the full pattern piece and then retraces the drawn pattern shape, perforating it for easy separation from the paper feed. Extreme speed and accuracy are features of this new technology that will help to streamline these aspects of project execution. Experience with this technology in the department will better prepare students for using it in industry, where it's a much used fixture in many design studios.