Order allocation for multiple supply-demand networks within a cluster

Manufacturers outside an industry cluster and suppliers within cluster form a multiple sourcing supply-demand network. Two different order allocation strategies, the production capacity-based strategy and the production load equilibrium-based strategy, are studied in this paper. The respective order allocation models of multiple manufacturers versus multiple suppliers are proposed. Considering the uncertainty of demand and enterprises’ production capacity, the discrete event system simulation is used to verify that the production load equilibrium-based strategy can not only guarantee the order’s on-time delivery from the perspective of the available manufacturing resources, but also lead to promote the whole supplier group’s operation level, so as to realize the optimization of the entire supply chain.