Cloud Manufacturing: A New Paradigm for Manufacturing Businesses
Xun William Xu · Australian Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Engineering · 2013
Cloud computing is changing the way industries and enterprises do their businesses in that dynamically scalable and virtualised resources are provided as a service over the internet. This paper discusses some of the essential features of cloud computing. Cloud computing is also emerging as one of the major enablers for the manufacturing industry: it can transform the traditional manufacturing business model, help it align product innovation with business strategy, and create intelligent factory networks that encourage effective collaboration. Two types of cloud computing adoptions in the manufacturing sector have been suggested: manufacturing with direct adoption of cloud computing technologies and cloud manufacturing, the manufacturing version of cloud computing. Cloud computing has been implemented in some of key areas of manufacturing such as information technology and pay-as-you-go business models. In cloud manufacturing, distributed resources are encapsulated into cloud services and managed in a centralised way. Clients can use cloud services according to their requirements. An interoperable cloud manufacturing system (ICMS) has been proposed to provide users with a big range of flexible manufacturing capabilities. The enterprises are loosely integrated in the manufacturing cloud as ICMS service providers. Manufacturing capabilities and business opportunities are integrated and broadcasted in a larger resource pool, which can enhance the competiveness of the entire consortium.