Internet applications in product design and manufacturing

In recent years, the importance of Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) technologies in manufacturing industries has been rising very rapidly in a global context, the impact of which is deemed most profound ever since the Industrial Revolution. The waving interests in the electronic commerce and electronic business (e-commerce / e-business) have spread, from the heartland (product development) to the battlefield (shop floor), of manufacturing enterprises. The number of web applications is ever on the rise, and many practitioners are keen on trying these remote systems through web browsers to support their decisi- making activities. Indeed, product design and manufacture professionals will soon be able to benefit from such remote services and supports commercially available on the Internet. The practice and performance of product development and realization are expected to make immense progress. Web applications in product design and manufacture signals the beginning of a new era of the digital manufacturing enterprise. However, many loopholes are found in the development and application processes because of domain complexity and technology sophistication, thus generating new challenges to both the developers and practitioners. A simple example is the difference in the user interfaces between web applications and traditional applications. Indeed, abundant issues need to be resolved before the full launch of digital manufacturing can come into being.