Smart manufacturing and cloud computing: Vision and state-of-the-art
Industry analysts are predicting that the next decade of innovation, productivity and growth in manufacturing will be driven by the demand for mass customization and the convergence of technologies that will enable a new generation manufacturing IT platform for “smart manufacturing” which includes advances in connected factory automation, robotics, additive manufacturing, mobile, cloud, social, and digital 3D product definition. The new generation of smart machines for manufacturing will have on board computers that will directly support internet protocols and direct communication with enterprise applications. Cloud computing is one of the technology stacks of Smart manufacturing and a service delivery model that is opening new opportunities for manufacturers. This paper describes what is “Smart manufacturing” that goes beyond smart machines, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 and explores how cloud computing can help achieve Smart Manufacturing goals to optimize processes inside the factory.