Application of multimedia technology in manufacturing: a review

It is an established fact that the use of computers in design and manufactu ring constitutes the most significant opportunity for substantial productiv ity gain in industry. It has now been widely accepted that the future of ma nufacturing organizations will be information-oriented knowledge driven and much of their: daily operations will be automated around the global inform ation network that connects everyone together. In the coming age of digital multimedia communication the utilisation of a distributed approach in an e nterprise model is considered to bring enormous advantages in design and dr afting, developing NC code and machining. The Internet, incorporating compu ters and multimedia, has provided tremendous potential for remote integrati on and collaboration in business and manufacturing applications. This paper attempts to provide a review of multimedia and the Internet communication for application in manufacturing environments. Special emphasis is given to distance manufacturing and collaborative work in distributed environment h ighlighting issues and limitations of existing Internet technology. The pos sible alternatives for using the Internet in complete product fabrication w ith or without modern manufacturing facilities are also discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.