K. Cheng et al., The Internet as a tool with application to agile manufacturing: a web-based engineering approach and its implementation issues, INT J PROD, 38(12), 2000, pp. 2743-2759
This paper presents a novel approach to implementing agile design and manuf
acturing concepts by using Internet-based technology. The underlying philos
ophy of the approach is to use web-based design and manufacturing support s
ystems as smart tools from which design and manufacturing customers can rap
idly and responsively access the system's built-in design and manufacturing
expertise. The approach is described in detail with application examples.
The major issues in implementing the approach are discussed with particular
reference to using Java programming, client-server technology and open com
puting of design and manufacturing requirements. The paper concludes with a
discussion on the potential of the proposed approach.