2.7 Extended Manufacturing

2.7.1 Introduction

A manufacturer wants to automate its design process by moving it to the Internet. Instead of creating large-scale designs of its products on paper, it wants to use the Internet in order to reduce the complexity of the task and the number of errors in the designs. Internal designers work on the projects, but also some external companies and freelancers. Today, the designs are sent back and forth by courier. A tracer had to take the paper designs and put them into CAD applications in the end. The idea is to use the Internet as the collaboration platform for all parties involved in the design process.

2.7.2 The Present

In this case also, the technology is available today to move the whole design process to the Internet. To implement such a solution, several steps can be envisioned . It may be a pure communication medium, which allows files to be exchanged through a secure channel, or a full-blown collaboration services that enables people to work together online on a certain design.

If we look at the communication needs, a simple Web site that hosts a set of newsgroups and file exchange would basically do it. In basic technology, there are some challenges that need to be considered when implementing such a solution. As the competition would be very interested in knowing which designs are in progress, the site must be well-secured. To achieve this, security needs to be enforced on the server, during transmission, and on the clients . Only with end-to-end security implemented properly is it possible to use the Internet as a communication medium. This requires a set of tools for the server security, such as a firewall, a secure operating system, and a security procedure. This also requires application security. In many cases, hackers get onto a server by using design flaws within the application, so your applications must stick to the same standards as your secure server. This means that you can make the server as secure as you want, but if your application does not stick to the same standards, the whole system will break at its weakest link.

You must also ensure that data cannot be intercepted during transmission. Today, 128-bit SSL encryption can be used to ensure that nobody can eavesdrop on the connection and steal, alter, or remove information that is flowing between parties. To ensure the security on the client-side, data should only be accessible by password on an encrypted filesystem, making it impossible to hack the client's computer and steal the information. In many cases, the client is the weakest link, as the operating systems are either not secure or not securely configured. Special applications for most client operating systems exist that can create data vaults, making it impossible for hackers to steal the data. They still can hack the system but are locked out of private company information.

Security is further enhanced by introducing smart cards. This ensures that nobody can steal passwords without someone noticing it. An additional card-reader and software needs to be installed on the client's computer as it is still not common to use smart cards in a Web environment.

Once the security infrastructure has been set up, it is possible to use a communication portal Web site to exchange information and data. Information can be exchanged either through Web e-mail or newsgroups that are hosted on the system. The advantage of using secure Web e-mail is that no special e-mail client is required and no additional software needs to be installed by the client. Through Web e-mail and newsgroups, files could be also exchanged and stored on the server.

This simple application would be the first step towards an online collaboration tool. To make this tool happen, several other technologies need to be introduced. First, a design repository is required, which allows all designers involved to contribute. A project management tool and a revision control system are also required to support the collaborative private network. Through this set of tools, designers can share their work online and create project groups online. The revision control system ensures that people can check files in and out, thus making clear who is working on which part. The information about the file usage can flow back into the project management system, if files are grouped into projects and the work can be assigned to the files. Several technologies are available to handle this part of the collaboration.

At this stage, the collaboration process is online, but the actual work is still done offline. In order to move the work online as well, it is necessary to have some visualization tools and CAD applications online. The first part can be realized quite easily today, but online CAD tools are not yet available. Most CAD applications can export DXF files, which means that this should be the base format for all online activity, if designers come from different companies and use different technologies. By allowing only DXF on the server, the system is independent of the CAD system used. DXF can also be easily converted to X3D, which is a new format based on VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) that has been available for several years now. X3D can be visualized in a Web browser, making it possible that work groups can view a certain part of the design and use the newsgroups or e-mail to exchange information about it. This could even be done in realtime via an online chat. Modifying the design online would require a CAD application running. Via VNC ^[9] , for example, it would be possible to export the display of a client to the others, but this is not really a convenient or good way to work.

^[9] http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/

Building a basic communication portal is not very costly, since there is free software that could be used for this task. A Web server, Web email server, and a newsgroups server are required. The costly part of the communication portal is the security infrastructure required. The costs are not fixed for the system, but depend on the number of people that are going to use the system. For every user, a digital certificate needs to be created. This requires a public key infrastructure to be built up. Every client computer that is going to use the service will require a data vault. Although the cost per user and client computer is decreasing with the larger number, it still means that a large investment needs to be made today.

The collaboration portal would cost significantly more. The project management software, the revision control system and the visualization tools can be quite expensive and the integration of these tools with the communication platform will create some additional costs. To save costs, an offline integration could be done that will exchange information between the different applications in a batch-mode. This means that the information would be updated every few hours only. Although the information would not be always up to date, it would reduce the integration costs significantly. Once the system proves to be successful, a tighter integration could be envisioned. Still, it will be expensive, as each application has it own set of interfaces and no common exchange format exists.

Designers would create a design, upload it to the server, and have an online discussion about it. Another designer could check it out, modify it, and upload it back to the server. The revision control system would track all changes, making sure that the pre-defined steps in the project plan are followed. In case of major changes in the design or failure to follow the project plan, the project manager would need to revisit the project plan and make adjustments to it.

To many unknowns are in the project to make it reality today, as it is highly complicated to build up such a solution using today's technologies. We doubt that there is a business plan to support the effort or implement the technology with reasonable costs.

2.7.3 The Future

The solution tomorrow will look very similar from an architectural point of view, but the integration will be much easier. Several companies are working on online services that allow the tight integration of the different modules and provide a common interface to the designers. Over time, the need for paper printouts of CAD designs becomes less relevant. More designers will be able to integrate their drawings and ideas into an overall project and can see immediately the effect of their designs in the overall context.

From a technical point of view, things become easier as the integration between the services is standardized. The core service will be connected to various other services. There will be a connection to a security service that authenticates and authorizes the person who wants to access the extended manufacturing portal. In the ideal future, this service is run by a governmental agency, offering all companies an identification service, which can be combined with a role model that is flexible and can be adapted for each business case. The current problem of proper user identification can thus be easily outsourced, and if run by the government, the element of trust would be very high. Alternatively this service could be run by banks, as their trust factor is also very high, but it would require people to register several times, depending on which bank a particular web service is using. Another model has the governmental agency holding the master database for identification, while the service is operated by the banks. The master database would be required to hold several types of data to provide different authentication mechanisms. Personal data, iris and retina scans , fingerprints , and a digital certificate need to be part of the digital identity of every single person.

Many companies try to set up their own trust centers, but they will not work efficiently if they are not trusted by the companies and people wanting to use the service. Microsoft and Sun are already trying to compete with rival technologies, but neither will win, as they are not considered to be a trusted third-party by the majority of people and because they are too technology-driven.

As the web services infrastructure provides an encrypted exchange of information, it is not necessary to implement something for this particular project. A data vault is not required on the client computers anymore, as the CAD editing service provides the possibility to edit the designs online. Therefore, a local copy of the data is not required, reducing the risk significantly. The CAD editing service is basically the client-server version of the standard CAD application that used to run on a single computer. This service could be hosted at an application service provider that also offers other applications online. This is probably the most complex part of the solution, as redesigning a CAD application to run in client-server mode will be expensive and difficult to achieve. Broadband Internet access and high-end computers will be required to make this service possible. High-speed access is required to download the application on demand and high-end computers to actually execute the application, as it most likely will be written in Java, which is not necessarily the fastest programming language. A part of the CAD application could be the visualization tool, but typically it should be another application, because it provides a different functionality. While the CAD application focuses on the editor, the visualization tool includes features to display the model in different views and qualities and provides a chat feature for online meetings.

E-mail, chat, and newsgroup services can be bought from a community provider and easily integrated. The flow of information between these services is limited, but a tight integration into the project management service and the visualization and CAD tool needs to be provided. The total solution will consist of a Web front-end that will allow designers to do all their work through a unified interface. A separate interface needs to be built for the project managers where they can create their project plans and provide updates to the designers. The project manager can also register designers and assign work packages to them.

Multiple access for the designers to the portal is nice to have, but not a requirement. Designers will require a computer to make changes in the designs. This is not possible through a mobile phone, for example, but in order to participate in discussion groups, alternative access devices should be supported.

2.7.4 Summary

Let's now look at the me-centric features of this implementation. A broadband networking infrastructure is required to support the needs of the designers in order to keep the data flow up. Security is an important issue in this scenario, as the designs could range from product designs for new cars to design plans for a space station. Everyone connected to this virtual community network requires a security clearance, and this applies to the devices that are connected.

In this scenario, no fancy devices or WLAN are required (although they do not harm the scenario). Traditional personal computers are mainly used for this kind of work, but the applications and services need to be made more intelligently. This means the community needs to employ agents to regulate the communication and the workflow and make it more efficient. These agents are especially important if the work is done in a distributed environment. They could ensure that the work is well coordinated.

If you look at the extended manufacturing ecosystem (see Figure 2.8), you can see the importance of the security aspect in this scenario. The security is important to make sure that nobody breaks in, but also to make sure that only people within a design team can add, modify, or delete the portions of the design they are responsible for. The data vault that contains all the information also needs special security features. Intelligent agents would be in place that act as security guards to protect the information. Another agent would be responsible for backup services and high availability of the solution. These agents would work autonomously and try to resolve all the issues related to their tasks themselves . This would mean a huge advance in IT management. Today an administrator needs to monitor the whole IT environment; using these intelligent agents, an administrator is required only once in the beginning to set up the agents and tell them what to do.

Figure 2.8. Extended Manufacturing Ecosystem

The communication agents make sure that every party involved in the design knows about updates in the process and changes of decisions. They also ensure that people are working according to the project plan, making automatic static updates to the project plan, and informing other agents about the progress. It is important to note that there are two types of intelligent agents: one that is working on behalf of a person and one that is working on behalf of a process. The agents that work for people help to create the me-centric experience for the user, while the process agents help to get on with the predefined process.