ABSTRACT
The study explores the potential for developing a virtual distributed manufacturing network for UK apparel manufacturing using a simulation approach for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The digitalisation is on enabling an equitable order allocation system (sharing or dividing) amongst the SMEs to ensure the apparel manufacturers’ survival. The solution provides a potential model for proper production planning and scheduling service in developing strong networks. For the scheduling service, the SMEs are required to upload available capacity to the private cloud server, retailers load orders to cloud services, and the virtual factory scheduler service (VFSS) allocates and optimises work across factories. This study gives an overview of using mixed methods. Arena® software, together with the synthetic data, were utilised to simulate a model for a single retailer to multiple manufacturers. Thus, through the simulation approach as a component of Industry 4.0, it is possible to perform order allocation equitably.
