Simulation-Based Hybrid Optimization Method for the Digital Twin of Garment Production Lines

Implementing digital transformation in the garment industry is very difficult, owing to its labor-intensive structural characteristics. Further, the productivity of a garment production system is considerably influenced by a combination of processes and operators. This study proposes a simulation-based hybrid optimization method to maximize the productivity of a garment production line. The simulation reflects the actual site characteristics, i.e., process and operator level indices, and the optimization process reflects constraints based on expert knowledge. The optimization process derives an optimal operator sequence through a genetic algorithm (GA) and sequentially removes bottlenecks through workload analysis based on the results. The proposed simulation optimization (SO) method improved productivity by ∼67.4%, which is 52.3% higher than that obtained by the existing meta-heuristic algorithm. The correlation between workload and production was verified by analyzing the workload change trends. This study holds significance because it presents a new simulation-based optimization model that further applies the workload distribution method by eliminating bottlenecks and digitizing garment production lines.