Cloud Manufacturing Collaboration: An Initial Exploration

Cloud computing launches a new direction for manufacturers to innovate and collaborate across the value chain via cloud-based technologies. To explore the possibility of cloud manufacturing collaboration, this paper first reviews relevant literature about agile manufacturing and cloud computing, and then investigates main manufacturing scenarios to identify key interactive processes between customers and manufacturers in electronic industries. We finally propose a cloud-based framework for manufacturing collaboration, which enables manufacturers to collaborate with their demanding customers and to combine internal operation with supply chain coordination via integration of their existing in-house systems and cloud-based applications.