Service-Oriented Approach Supporting Dynamic Manufacturing Networks Operations

In the current economic crisis, also the manufacturing sector is asked to evolve towards more dynamic organizational structures within which, composing manufacturing processes, almost in real time, will become a need. This work aims at introducing flexibility and dynamisms to current manufacturing processes by separating its tasks from its final performers. With the proposed approach, the performers' replacement can be done almost seamlessly. Additionally, the approach shows how dynamic negotiation and contracting, either for a whole process or a single activity, can be smoother if the task specification is based on a standard service interface defined at the ecosystem level. At the end, a prototype implementation is briefly described.