Towards a dynamically generated product configurator that reflects the available manufacturing capability

Yip, Arthur Lan Kuan and Jagadeesan, Ananda Prasanna and Qin, Yi and Corney, Jonathan (2012) Towards a dynamically generated product configurator that reflects the available manufacturing capability. In: Advances in Manufacturing Technology XXVI. Aston University, pp. 164-169. ISBN 9781905866601

Abstract

Product configurators are well-established as a key enabler for the customisation of products and have been adopted across different application domains from automotive to consumer goods. However, even state-of-the-art product configuration systems are limited in their ability to quickly respond to changes in the production systems that deliver the goods specified. In this paper, a product configurator is described that is automatically updated to reflect changes in the supply chain. The authors argue that such “configurable configurators” are key elements of the emerging paradigm of cloud manufacturing. In addition to outlining the architecture of the system, the paper describes on-going research and development towards an adaptable system that can be dynamically generated using the cloud computing concept of Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS). An overview of the proposed system and its modules to support interactive product configuration, visualisation and dynamic user interface generation is provided. The paper concludes by describing a prototype implementation.

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