Abstract
Cloud manufacturing is a state-of-art networked manufacturing model with the idea and technologies of cloud computing to transform traditional production-oriented manufacturing into service-oriented manufacturing. This emerging model can make manufacturing resources, in a manner similar to traditional utilities such as water, gas and electricity, available (offered) over the internet as convenient, scalable, on-demand services to enterprises. The aim is to improve the sharing efficiency of manufacturing resources and reduce manufacturing costs in industries. In this paper, the current research of cloud manufacturing is summarized, including relevant theories, technologies and applications. A cloud solution for workshop management is proposed from a service perspective, along with its architecture and business process. The methodologies, including manufacturing resource virtualization and workshop sensor network configuration are developed to support heterogeneous data integration and effective collaboration among services in cloud. A case study is demonstrated and discussed to validate the proposed cloud service system.