Resource Efficiency Optimization Engine in Smart Production Networks via Intelligent Cloud Manufacturing Platforms

Abstract The aim of this paper is to develop an optimization engine to be implemented in a cloud manufacturing platform to promote resource efficiency in sharing of manufacturing services related to sheet metal cutting. The optimization engine allows to properly select the manufacturing service requests collected through the cloud platform, analyse the possible pairings with the supplier ongoing production orders and dynamically choose the best production strategy (e.g. incorporate, queue, prioritize or reject) considering the surface utilization rate of the metal sheets as key performance index. A simulation of different possible scenarios in terms of customer and supplier orders is reported to exemplify the diverse decision-making scheduling strategies proposed by the platform and the related quantification of resource efficiency improvement.