A Conceptual Framework for Collaborative Design and Operations of Manufacturing Work Systems

The paper addresses a conceptual framework for collaborative product design and related manufacturing system development, operations and maintenance. The framework consists of (1) a conceptual model for collaboration among autonomous manufacturing work systems and (2) an ICT platform which supports collaborative operations over the web. The framework improves visibility, understanding and control of the processes involved and on a practical level provides a platform on which geographically distributed operations can be conducted effectively. The system is developed as an integrated prototype web application. The case study presents the implementation of the concept in the development, operations and maintenance of manufacturing cells for die-casting of aluminum and magnesium components for automotive industry.