A collaborative virtual workspace for factory configuration and evaluation

The convergence of information technologies (IT) has enabled the Digital Enterprise in which engineering, production planning, manufacturing and sales processes are supported by IT-based collaboration, simulation and enactment. As a result, borders between reality and its virtual representations become increasingly blurred. Advanced tools need to support flexibility, specialization and collaborative evolution of the design where the exchange of knowledge between domain experts helps to improve informed decision making. In this paper, we present a collaborative, web-based framework to create 3D scenarios for product design, simulation and training assisted by animated avatars.