Planning towards enhanced adaptability in digital manufacturing

This paper presents an integrated approach for developing a web-based system with enhanced adaptability, including distributed process planning, real-time monitoring and remote machining. The objective is to develop a new methodology and relevant processing algorithms for enhancing adaptability in digital manufacturing. This approach is enabled by a Wise-ShopFloor (Web-based integrated sensor-driven e-ShopFloor) framework targeting distributed yet collaborative manufacturing environments. Utilising the latest Java technologies (Java 3D and Java Servlet) for system implementation, it allows end-users to plan and control distant manufacturing operations based on runtime information from shop floors. Details on the principle of the Wise-ShopFloor framework, system architecture, and a prototype system are reported in this paper. An example of distributed process planning for remote machining is chosen as a case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach toward web-based digital manufacturing.