Cyberspace parameters for optimising virtual manufacturing

We present a new approach for a better comprehension of what is going on with the diffusion and implementation of the information technologies at larger scales. This is one support for creating a new space. This approach has at first many theoretical and many practical implications. We simply call it a five dimensional approach (5D). It appears as a new attribute of space (spatial and temporal) added to classical 4 space time dimensions. Under those conditions, a new challenge is emerging for the human race: to live and work in 5D and not only in the well-known 4D. This paper illustrates this approach with some theoretical developments linked to virtual manufacturing (VM). VM uses cyberCAD/CAM and, to optimize the way it works, VM needs to know and use the main parameters of this new dimension. VM is a new type of manufacturing, entirely existing on this dimension. So this situation leads us to entirely new problems. Particular attention is paid to virtual spaces, manufacturing and collaboration, skills matrix and manufacturability and virtual prototyping and virtual partnerships.