Collaborative e-work and e-manufacturing: challenges for production and logistics managers

The foundations and scope of e-Work and e-Mfg., and investigations of fundamental design principles for their effectiveness are reviewed. The premise is that without effective e-Work, potential benefits of emerging and promising electronic work activities, such as virtual manufacturing, tele-robotic maintenance, automated inspection, e-supply and e-logistics cannot be materialized. Challenges and emerging solutions are described, clustered in four areas: (1). e-Work; (2). Integration, Coordination and Collaboration; (3). Distributed Decision Support; and (4). Active Middleware. Design principles, models and tools are described, and challenges in production and logistics management are illustrated. This article is intended to stimulate and inspire fruitful future investigations, revolutionizing the way we can design beneficial e-Work and e-Mfg.

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