A resource sharing solution optimized by simulation-based heuristic for garment manufacturing

Although an increasing number of researches regarding inter-organizational supply chain collaboration (SCC) were conducted, the resource sharing (RS) in SCC is still an under-explored subject. Many RS models are successfully applied in various industries for improving the efficiency of manufacturing. Meanwhile, due to the demand of higher flexibility in the garment production recently, RS has become a novel method in order to optimize the industrial organization. This study explored the feasibility of applying RS in the manufacturing stage of garment supply chain. A KPI based on extended ANP approach was designed to evaluate overall performance of different RS scenarios. Furthermore, a simulation-based heuristic was developed to generate and optimize RS scenario. Finally, experiments based on a discrete-event simulation model of garment production were conducted to examine the performance of all RS scenarios. By comparing the outputs of RS scenario and traditional scenario, the simulation shows that garment manufacturers could get great benefits by applying RS. We also found that the opener garment manufacturers towards RS, the more benefits they can obtain.