Information systems architecture for collaborative manufacturing in virtual enterprises

Nowadays the concept of collaborative manufacturing in virtual enterprises seems to be an appropriate answer to the actual competitve situation. From the point of view of information processing there are many restrictions coming up with this concept because of the hierarchical and inflexible approach of the traditional information systems. This paper introduces a new framework architecture using a CORBA-based manufacturing approach and building on Web-based manufacturing. Main task of the proposed framework architecture is supporting the communication within a production plant on the one side and the communication among the partners of a virtual enterprise on the other side. The possibilities and benefits of an integration of applications and data within a plant as well as across enterprise boundaries will be discussed with practical examples from the application areas of process control and Web-based simulation.