A Resource Sharing Mechanism for Sustainable Production in the Garment Industry

Ke Ma, Lichuan Wang and Yan Chen
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Ke Ma: Department of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215021, China
Lichuan Wang: Department of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215021, China
Yan Chen: Department of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215021, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: With the development of mass customization, the traditional garment production model needs to be optimized to have a more sustainable structure. To meet demand for flexibility, low-cost, and high-efficiency, an innovative resource sharing mechanism was proposed in this paper to form a new sustainable type of garment production. Different from the individual production in traditional models, the new mechanism involves resources being shared among various manufacturers. The tradeoff between positive and negative effects of the proposed mechanism is a key issue for sustainable production. In the present study, an overall sustainable index, integrating four production performance indicators, was defined on the basis of an Analytical Network Process to assess various production scenarios. According to the discrete-event simulation results of the different scenarios, we found that garment manufacturers could obtain comprehensive improvements in sustainable production by implementing the proposed resource sharing mechanism under the threshold of an increasing production failure rate.

Keywords: sustainable production; resource sharing; supply chain collaboration; analytical network process; discrete-event simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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