A networked virtual manufacturing system for SMEs

Virtual manufacturing is an integrated system of CAD/CAM, virtual prototyping, virtual reality, production planning and control. It enables rapid and efficient product development by composing an accurate and integrated computer model in manufacturing systems. The virtual manufacturing technology can be shared using a networked system. This approach can be called networked virtual manufacturing (net-VM). The distributed, collaborated, and interactive operations are its major features of the net-VM. This paper proposes a net-VM to share usage of the latest integrated design and manufacturing facilities for SMEs. The paper discusses the key technology of the system development. Some sub-systems developed are used to demonstrate the proposed system and methods.