CloudMan: A platform for portable cloud manufacturing services

Cloud manufacturing refers to “as a Service” production model that exploits an on-demand access to a distributed pool of diversified manufacturing services and resources. It forms elastic and reconfigurable production lines, which enhance efficiency, by allowing optimal resource allocation in response to demand changes and market dynamics. This paper studies these challenges and proposes a portable cloud manufacturing platform, entitled “CloudMan”, aiming at achieving a portable deployment of cloud manufacturing services to any compliant distributed production line in the cloud. The stakeholders of CloudMan are detailed together with their API requirements, where each stakeholder has an interest in. Having this rigorous analysis in mind, we present a holistic architecture for CloudMan, as it considers the manufacturing data, material and event flow from sensors and shop floors, through services to end products. In architecting such platform, there is a lack of agreed standard for the portability and orchestration of manufacturing services, as well as their definition. The proposed platform incorporates OASIS Topology and Orchestration Specification for cloud Applications (TOSCA) policies, plans and templates as a mechanism for dynamic configuration, portability and deployment of manufacturing services across multiple collaborating manufacturers. Thereby, the architecture provides a set of abstraction levels for various types of manufacturing services in which encapsulates and addresses specific requirements to satisfy the needs of stakeholders.