A web-based manufacturing service system for rapid product development

A web-based manufacturing service systemfor rapid product development

Hongbo Lana, Yucheng Dinga,*, Jun Honga, Hailiang Huangb, Bingheng Lua

aState Key Lab for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, PR ChinabDepartment of Industrial Engineering and Management, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, PR China

Received 12 March 2003; accepted 23 July 2003

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel integrated system of rapid product development based on rapid prototyping, and develops a

networked manufacturing service system which offers better support for the rapid product development in small and medium

sized enterprises by taking full advantage of the quickly evolving computer network and information technologies. The

architecture of the networked manufacturing service system is presented. Furthermore, some of the key issues, including

modelling and planning a manufacturing chain, selecting feasible collaborative manufacturers, queuing a manufacturing task,

using the synchronously collaborative work environment, and constructing a suitable running platform, are described in detail.

Java-enabled solution, together with web techniques, is employed for building such a networked service system. Finally, an

actual example is provided illustrating the application of this service system.

# 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Rapid product development; Rapid prototyping; Service system; Web-based application

1. Introduction

This is the era of information technology. Informa-

tion technology has influenced every realm of society,

and dramatically impacted on the traditional industry.

Current industries are facing the new challenges:

quick response to business opportunity has been con-

sidered as one of the most important factors to ensure

company competitiveness; manufacturing industry is

evolving toward digitalization, network and globali-

zation. In order to respond to the change effectively,

manufacturing strategy has to be modified from time

to time in accordance with the market situation and

customer demand. Any change of strategy should

enable manufacturers to be better equipped them-

selves, with capabilities to cope with demands such

as a faster response to market changes, a shortened

lead time of production, improved quality and speed,

the ability to deliver quality products to global cus-

tomers, and improved communications and transpor-

tation system [1]. It is an established fact that the use

of computers in design and manufacturing constitutes

the most significant opportunity for substantial pro-

ductivity gain in industry. It has now been widely

accepted that the future of manufacturing organiza-

tions will be information-oriented, knowledge driven

and much of their daily operations will be automated

around the global information network that connects

everyone together [2]. In order to meet the demand of

rapid product development, various new technologies

such as reverse engineering (RE), rapid prototyping

Computers in Industry 54 (2004) 51–67

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fax: þ86-29-266-0114.

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(RP), and rapid tooling (RT) have emerged and are

regarded as enabling tools with abilities to shorten the

product development and manufacturing time. For

example, it has been claimed that RP can cut new

product development costs by up to 70% and the time

to market by 90% [3]. However, these equipments are

too expensive for the small and medium sized enter-

prises (SMEs), and many techniques such as 3D CAD

solid modelling, RP process planning, free-form sur-

faces reconstruction, etc., require the high skilled per-

sonnel to complete. Therefore, it is especially difficult

for the SMEs to take full advantage of these technol-

ogies in the product development process. In order to

offer the support of rapid product development for

numerous SMEs, many RP service bureaus (SBs) which

can not only manufacture physical prototype and rapid

tooling but also provide other engineering services,

have been established. By 2001, there are more than

500 SBs all over the world. But not every SB can

possess all design and manufacturing capabilities

required, it must employ effectively the external

resource to better satisfy client requirements. Namely,

a virtual enterprise which usually defined as a tempor-

ary alliance of enterprises that come together to share

their skills, core competencies, and resource in order to

better respond to business opportunities, whose coop-

eration is supported by computer networks [4–6], is to

be founded. Every SB conducts only the tasks of its core

competencies, and depends on numerous partners to

carry out the remaining tasks that this SB has no such

manufacturing capabilities to accomplish in time.

While a new thought emphasizing service quality is

becoming a basic strategy by which manufacturing

industries can win global competition in the 21st cen-

tury. Teleservice engineering is an emerging field which

addresses ‘‘service’’ issue for manufacturers and cus-

tomers. As digital manufacturing technique progresses

quickly, digital service will be integrated seamlessly

into the digital design and manufacturing system [7].

The internet, incorporating computers and multimedia,

has provided tremendous potential for remote integra-

tion and collaboration in business and manufacturing

applications. In order to provide a production colla-

borative environment for many SMEs and SBs to

implement the networked manufacturing, it is espe-

cially urgent for many SBs and SMEs to construct a

service platform of networked manufacturing to speed

up the product development process of the SMEs.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows.

Related research work is reviewed in Section 2. In

Section 3, we introduce an integrated system of rapid

product development based on RP. Section 4 describes

the workflow and functional design of the networked

manufacturing service system. The configuration of

system running platform is presented in Section 5. In

Section 6, we discuss the design of internet applica-

tion. A case study is demonstrated in Section 7.

Finally, Section 8 concludes the paper.

2. Related research

With the development of computer network and

information technologies, the networked manufactur-

ing techniques are playing a more and more important

role in manufacturing industry. Substantial invest-

ments have been made to support the research and

practice of networked manufacturing (telemanufactur-

ing or global manufacturing) from both the academic

community and industrial bodies all over the world in

recent years. A number of strategies and frameworks

have been proposed. Abdel-Malek et al. [8] described

a structure within which a company can outsource

several of its production and design activities via

internet and developed a model to aid a company in

selecting among the available technological and func-

tional alternatives to maximize its flexibility. Mon-

treuil et al. [9] presented a strategic framework for

designing and operating agile manufacturing net-

works, enabling to collaboratively plan, control and

manage day-to-day contingencies in a dynamic envir-

onment. Tso et al. [10] introduced the architecture of

an agent-based collaborative service support system,

which is able to carry out service requests in a

manufacturing information network through some

specially designed virtual agents. Cheng et al. [11]

put forward an integrated framework for web-based

design and manufacturing which is developed based

on Java solution and CORBA-ORG broking technol-

ogies. Offodile and Abdel-Malek [12] introduced a

framework for integrating IT and manufacturing stra-

tegies using the virtual manufacturing paradigm.

Huang et al. [13] presented a holonic framework for

virtual enterprises and control mechanisms of virtual

enterprises under this framework. O’Sullivan [14]

described an information architecture and associated

52 H. Lan et al. / Computers in Industry 54 (2004) 51–67

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toolset for understanding and managing the process

of business development. Akkermansa and Horstc

[15] discussed managerial aspects of information

technology infrastructure standardisation in net-

worked manufacturing firms and presented a strate-

gic framework to guide managers in making sensible

decisions regarding IT infrastructure standardisation,

based on a number of pre-existing economic and

management theories, such as transaction cost the-

ory, organisational design and IT maturity growth

stages. Jin et al. [16] presented a research on

key application technologies and solutions, which

includes a network safety strategy which ensures

data transfer among the leaguer members; produc-

tion data management based on Web/DOT (distrib-

uted object technology) and XML criteria which

ensure data exchange in structure-variance charac-

teristic environments; the network platform which

provides the conversion service of different types of

CAD files. Woerner and Woern [17] introduced a

new web service based platform providing developed

methods for co-operative plant production within

virtual engineering.

To full realize the teleservice engineering in today’s

globalized manufacturing industry and meet the cur-

rent market situation and customer demand, a number

of global manufacturing networks have been estab-

lished by, among others, the Society of Manufacturing

Engineer [18], Lockheed Martin (AIMSNET) [19] and

3M (the 3M Innovation Global Network) [20].

Today’s industries are facing serious structural pro-

blems brought about by their rapid development of

overseas activities under a global integrated manufac-

turing environment. Service and maintenance are

becoming extremely important practices for compa-

nies to maintain their manufacturing productivity and

customer satisfaction in foreign regions. Due to the

inherent problems of traditional help desk support,

some companies have started developing web-based

online customer service support system. Foo et al. [21]

described an integrated help desk support for customer

service via internet. Lee [7] discussed the concept and

framework of a teleservice engineering system for the

life cycle support of manufacturing equipment and

products. A system for remote customer support has

been created in the FCSA demonstrator of the Glober-

man 21 project [22]. The purpose of these systems

above is to provide effective and responsive remote

support to customers in the use, maintenance and

troubleshooting of their equipment.

University of California is studying and developing

a project called the Tele-Manufacturing Facility

(TMF) which is to create an automated RP capability

on the Internet. TMF allows users to easily submit jobs

and have the system automatically maintain a queue.

While it can automatically check many flaws in .STL

files, and in many cases, fix them [23]. RP potentially

offers great benefits when used during the design and

manufacturing process. However, RP must be used in

an effective manner if these benefits are to be fully

exploited. The RP-novices have a lot of difficulties in

getting a global view of the RP technique and in

tackling well founded decision for investment or out-

sourcing of RP tasks because of the very quick

appearance of new and improved processes in this

field. In order to help novices select a suitable RP

process, the rapid prototyping system selector has

been developed by many researchers [24–27]. Quick-

parts.com, which is a privately held manufacturing

services company dedicated to providing customers

with an on-line E-commerce system to procure low-

volume and high-volume custom manufactured parts,

has developed a QuickQuote system. The QuickQuote

system enables customers to get instant, customerized

quotations for the production of their parts [28]. 3D

Systems Company, which is the earliest and biggest

RP equipment manufacturer, has provided RP&M

service for customer via Internet [29].

From these literatures survey, it is clear that most of

studies mainly focused on the strategy and overall

architecture of networked manufacturing as well as

individual function module, there is still no compre-

hensive and banausic networked manufacturing ser-

vice system to support rapid product development.

Built on the emerging researches and our earlier work

(e.g. Refs. [30,31]), a web-based manufacturing ser-

vice system for rapid product development is to be

established.

3. Architecture of the integrated system ofrapid product development

The development process from initial conceptual

design to commercial product is an iterative pro-

cess which includes: product design; analysis of

H. Lan et al. / Computers in Industry 54 (2004) 51–67 53


performance, safety and reliability; product prototyping

for experimental evaluation; and design modification.

Therefore, any step of new product development pro-

cess has a direct and strong influence on time-to-market.

A good product development system must enable

designers or design teams to consider all aspects of

product design, manufacturing, selling and recycling at

the early stage of a design cycle. So that design iteration

and changes can be made easily and effectively. The

more fluent the feedback is, the higher possibility

success of the system has. Design for manufacturing

(DFM) and concurrent engineering (CE) require that

product and process design be developed simulta-

neously rather than sequentially [32].

The integrated system of rapid product develop-

ment is composed of three modules: digital prototype,

physical prototype and rapid tooling and functional

part manufacturing system. The product development

starts from the creation of a 3D model using a 3D CAD

software package. At that stage the product geometry

is defined and its aesthetic and dimensional character-

istics are verified. The main function of digital pro-

totype is to perform 3D CAD modelling. The product

and its components are directly designed on a 3D CAD

system (e.g. Pro/Engineer, Unigraphics, CATIA,

IDEAS, etc.) during the creative design process. If

a physical part is available, the model can be con-

structed by the reverse engineering (RE) technique.

RE is a methodology for constructing CAD models of

physical parts by digitizing an existing part, creating a

digital model and then using it to manufacturing

components [33]. RE can reduce the development

cycle when redesigns become necessary for improved

product performance. Pre-existing parts with features

for improved performance can be readily incorporated

into the desired part design. When a designer creates a

new design using mock-up, it is also necessary to

construct the CAD model of the mock-up for further

use of the design data in analysis and manufacturing.

The three primary steps in RE process are part digi-

tization, features extraction, and 3D CAD modelling.

Part digitization is accomplished by a variety of con-

tact or non-contact digitizers. There are various com-

mercial systems available for part digitization. There

systems range from coordinate measuring machine

(CMM), laser scanners to ultrasonic digitizers. They

can be classified into two broad categories: contact

and non-contact. Laser triangulation scanner (LTS),

magnetic resonance images (MRI), and computer

tomography (CT) are commonly used non-contact

devices. Contact digitizers mainly have CMM and

cross-sectional imaging measurement (CIM). Feature

extraction is normally achieved by segmenting the

digitized data and capturing surface features such as

edges. Part modelling is fulfilled through fitting a

variety of surface to the segmented data points [34].

In order to reduce the iterations of design-prototype-

test cycles, increase the product process and manu-

facturing reliability, it is necessary to guide in opti-

mization of the product design and manufacturing

process through CAE.

The CAD model can be directly converted to the

physical prototype using a RP technique. RP is a new

forming process which fabricates physical parts layer

by layer under computer control directly from 3D

CAD models in a very short time. In contrast to

traditional machining methods, the majority of rapid

prototyping systems tend to fabricate parts based on

additive manufacturing process, rather than subtrac-

tion or removal of material. Therefore, this type of

fabrication is unconstrained by the limitations inher-

ent in conventional machining approaches [35]. RP

potentially offers great benefits when used during the

design and manufacturing process. It can help shorten

time-to-market, improve quality and reduce cost. Over

the last 10 years, RP machines have been widely used

in industry. The RP methods commercially available

include Stereolithgraphy (SL), Selective Laser Sinter-

ing (SLS), Fused Deposition Manufacturing (FDM),

Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM), Ballistic

Particle Manufacturing (BMP), and Three Dimen-

sional Printing (3D printing) [36], etc.

RT is a technique that transforms the RP patterns into

functional parts, especially metal parts. Furthermore,

the integration of both RP and RT in development

strategy promotes the implementation of concurrent

engineering in companies. Numerous processes have

been developed for producing dies from RP system. The

RT methods can generally be divided into direct and

indirect tooling categories, and also soft (firm) and hard

tooling subgroups. Indirect RT requires some kinds of

master patterns, which can be made by conventional

methods (e.g. HSM), or more commonly by an RP

process such as SL or SLS. Direct RT, as the name

suggests, involves manufacturing a tool cavity directly

on the RP system, hence eliminating the intermediate



step of generating a pattern [37]. On the basis of above

techniques, a novel integrated system of rapid product

development is to be established. Its detailed structure is

shown in Fig. 1.

4. The workflow and function design

The workflow of the service system of networked

manufacturing is shown in Fig. 2. The first step is to

log in to the website of SB. Users have to enter their

names and passwords. Those without registration or

authorization can also enter into the system, but they

are limited to viewing the information that is open to

the public such as ‘‘typical cases’’ in this system. The

password entered by the user will be verified by the

system. After entering the SB website successfully, the

system will check the security level of users, and

determine which modules they can access or employ.

According to authentication for the system, all users

are to be divided into four categories: general users

(without registration), potential clients, real clients,

and system administrator. Received job requests from

clients, the SB will perform firstly process planning

which fulfills the task decomposition and selects the

most suitable process methods. It is necessary for

users to get the preliminary product quote and man-

ufacturing time from the SB before the follow-up

process continues. If such results may be accepted

initially, The SB will negotiate further with users by

Video-conferencing system. Once come to term each

other, a contract is to be confirmed, and the user

becomes a real client. The manufacturing tasks sub-

mitted by real clients had better be implemented in the

SB. However, if the SB has no such manufacturing

capabilities or can not accomplish then in time, it is an

effective way that the SB takes full advantage of

external sources to carry out the remaining tasks.

Fig. 1. Architecture of the integrated system of rapid product development.



The next step is to select the appropriate collaborative

manufacturing enterprises to form a virtual enterprise

to complete the tasks by the task assignment decision

system. In addition, in order to monitor the manufac-

turing schedule to ensure smooth production, both

collaborative manufacturing enterprises and SB itself

must provide as quickly as possible the essential

information related to production progress and sche-

dule for the module of production monitor. So any

companies falling behind schedule or failing to meet

quality standards will be closely examined by SB and

users to ensure that precautionary or remedial mea-

sures are made ahead of time or any damaging effects

are predicted.

Referring to the workflow of networked service

system above and the functional requirement of the

digital teleservice system, the service system consists

of nine functional modules: the technique research,

typical cases, information consultation, ASP (applica-

tion service provider) tool set, client management,

Process Planning

Estimate Production Cost

and Manufacturing Time

Business Negotiation

Success?

Contract Management

No

Potential Client Real Client

Client Management

Fulfill?

Task Assignment

Decision System

Production Progress

Monitor System

SB Manufacturing

Yes

Users and SB–Information and Data Flow

SB and CE–Information and Data Flow

Legend

Client Management

Contract Management

Yes

Success?


No

Task Assignment

Decision System

CE Manufacturing

No

Database

Collaborative

Enterprises (CE)Job Requirement

Yes

Production

Progress

Inquiry

Site

Monitor Submit

and

Update

Process

Capability

Login Security Check

Remote Users

Fig. 2. The workflow of networked service system.

TechniqueIntroduce

Reference Document

WebsiteLink

RE

CAD

CAE

RP

RT

Product Design

Function Test

Function Parts

Rapid Tooling

Process Planningof RE/RP/RT

STL Checkingand Fixing

Support Structure Generation

Optimization ofPart Orientation

Optimization ofPart Slicing

Information Management

Relationship Management

Management ofAfter-sale Service

Management of Self Client

OnlineQuote

Estimate Build-time

BusinessNegotiation

ContractManagement

Job Management

Collaborative Manufacturing

Process Monitor

CEManagement

Video Conferencing

Electronic White-boarding

FTP

OnlineHelp

User Guide OnlineStudy

Networked Service System of Rapid Product Development

TechniqueResearch

TypicalCases

Information Consultation

ASP Tool Set

ClientManagement

ElectronicCommerce

Manufacturing Service

Collaborative Tools

SystemNavigation

Fig. 3. Function modules of networked service system.



Electronic commerce, manufacturing service, system

navigation. Its detailed structure is shown in Fig. 3.

These nine components work together seamlessly to

achieve the common objectives, i.e. to provide an

effective and prompt service platform to support the

rapid product development of SMEs. One of the

purposes of the technique research is to enable users

to increase awareness of the relevant knowledge of

rapid product development. In order to help users

better understand and apply these new techniques,

the system illustrates a number of real-life cases. Both

the technique research and typical cases mainly pro-

vide self-help service for users. Depending on the

predominance of specialty and expert, the SB can

answer the queries of clients and communicate with

novices to solve their problems by the information

consultation module.

The ASP tool set provides five useful components

below: the process planning of RE/RP/RT, STL check-

ing and fixing, the optimization of part orientation, the

support structure generation, and the optimization of

part slicing. There are various process methods for RE,

RP and RT as previously described, each of them has

its characteristics and the scope of application. It is

especially difficult for many novices to select the most

suitable process methods according to the individual

task requirement and condition. Three selectors based

on ASP mode, namely, ‘‘RE selector’’, ‘‘RP selector’’,

and ‘‘RT selector’’ have been developed to perform

process planning automatically in the Web Server-

side. In [38], Miller states that .STL files created from

solid models have anomalies about 10% of the time

and those created from surface models have problems

about 90% of the time. Error rates in this range make it

clear that automated error checking is important for all

RP operations. Based on our experience with supply-

ing network-based resources, we know that it is espe-

cially crucial to perform automatic error checking

when the RP operation is not at the designer’s site.

We have developed various algorithms to detect, and

in some cases, automatically fix geometric and topo-

logical flaws. There are two ‘‘firewalls’’ to detect those

flaws: one is integrated with the online pricing engine

that will be operated by the user before the .STL file is

submitted to the SB, while the other is to run on the

SB’s Server-side after the .STL file is submitted.

Because the function of fixing is quite restricted, if

a .STL file has fatal flaws or loses some data during

transferring, it would have to be uploaded again from

the Client-side. Parts formed using RP technique can

vary significantly in quality depending on the manu-

facturing process planning. The process planning of

RP is performed to generate the tool paths and process

parameters for a part that is to be built by a particular

RP process. The steps required are the part orientation,

support structure generation, slicing, path planning,

and process parameter selection. Therefore, it is also

very important for remote users that SB can provide

these process planning techniques. Three sub-modules

including the optimization of part orientation, support

structure generation, and the optimization of part

slicing, have been developed to aid effectively users

in setting RP process variables in order to best achieve

specific build goals and desired part characteristic.

Both potential clients and real clients can employ

freely the ASP tool set.

Electronic commerce module is composed of four

sections: the online quote, build-time estimation,

online business negotiation, and electronic contract

management. Conventionally, the SB may quote

according to the client’s offerings (e.g. CAD models,

2D drawings or physical prototypes) utilizing their

experiences or just get payment after the RP model has

been built. But for teleservice, it is necessary for the

remote users to inquire about the service expense of

making RP prototype before the follow-up process

continues. Hence, an online pricing engine (OPE) has

been developed. The details of the OPE Stereolitho-

graphy oriented have been discussed in [39]. The

accurate prediction of the build-time required is also

critical for various activities such as: the job quoting,

the job scheduling, the selection of build parameters

(e.g. layer thickness and orientation), benchmarking,

etc. Two build-time estimators based on sliced process

and STL have been exploited, respectively. Ref. [40]

presents the principle of a build-time estimation algo-

rithm for Stereolithograpy based on model geometri-

cal features. After clients accept initially the quote,

they may negotiate with SB on the business and

technological details. The Microsoft NetMeeting

which can set up a collaborative environment to fulfill

information sharing, file transferring, Video and

Audio communication etc., provides an ideal tool

for the online negotiation. It is also seamlessly inte-

grated IE Browser, thus clients can call SB at any

moment. As a result of negotiation, an electronic



contract is to be signed. To effectively manage and

operate these electronic contracts, the system also

provides a contract management component. It is

especially convenient and prompt for clients to sub-

mit, inquire, and search contract through this module.

The manufacturing service module which covers

the job management, collaborative manufacturing,

process monitor, and collaborative enterprises man-

agement, is regarded as one of the most important

function modules in the service system. When a

contract is confirmed, clients will formally submit

their job requirements (e.g. RE, 3D CAD modelling,

CAE, RP prototype, or rapid tooling) and sources (e.g.

object parts, digitized data cloud, 2D models, 3D

models, or .STL files). In order to help many novices

submit quickly and easy the manufacturing tasks,

various job and source templates have been created,

while the client can search, modify, and even delete

the manufacturing tasks itself if the occasion arises.

The Collaborative Manufacturing System (CMS) is

responsible for the selection of collaborative enter-

prises (CE). In addition, it is extraordinarily important

and necessary to monitor the manufacturing schedule

and control product quality to ensure smooth produc-

tion. In the past, a SB had to spend much time on

dealing with a lot of inquires from the clients by via

phone calls or Faxes. Now, the Process Monitor

System (PMS) provides various facilities which can

guarantee the tasks to be completed timely. Any

partners falling behind schedule or failing to meet

quality standards will be closely examined by SB and

users to ensure that precautionary or remedial mea-

sures are made ahead of time or any damaging effects

are predicted.

All information (no matter if it is a real client being

ready for a contract with the SB or just a potential one

showing his intent or inquiry) involved in the whole

service process are managed and maintained by a

special Database. These data provide strong supports

for both online business and manufacturing service.

To create a collaborative environment among SB,

users and CE, we have to rely fully on the multimedia

and Internet. Therefore, the service system offers

three enabling tools: Video conferencing system,

Electronic white-boarding, and FTP. In order to make

use of the system as quickly as possible, users can get

help from the system navigation module. These nine

components form a fully-integrated system that is

able to carry out tasks in an efficient and effective

way.

On the basis of the workflow and function module

of service system, the system framework can be

constructed as shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 illustrates the

networked structure of service system.

RE/CAD/CAE/RP/RT

Integration

Define Manufacturing Task Templates

and Set process Standard

ASP Tool Set

Collaborative Tools

SQL Server 2000 Database

System Software Development

Integration of System Platform

RP Service bureaus and Collaborative Enterprises

Online Quote system

Build-time Estimation


Client and Contract Management

Electronic CommercePlatform

Manufacturing Service Platform

Job Management

Collaborative Manufacturing

Process Monitor

CE Management

Technique Research

Typical Cases

Information Consultation

Technique Information Platform

Fig. 4. Framework of networked service system.



5. Configuration of running platform

In order to run this system effectively, constructing a

suitable running platform is necessary and especially

crucial. An operating system (OS) is one of the most

basic software components for running this system. The

operating systems commonly founded on Web Servers

are UNIX, OS, Linux, and Windows, etc. Windows

2000 Advanced Server is a better platform for running

business application. Better SMP scalability, improved

networking performance, and support for more physical

memory have a profound impact on the performance of

Windows 2000 Advanced Server in an application

server environment. Hence, we select Windows 2000

Advanced Server as the operating system of the running

platform. Web Servers including Apache, IIS, iPlanet,

CERN, and IBM WebSphere, are frequently installed

websites at the present time. Internet Information Ser-

vices (IIS) 5.0 which is integrated Windows Advanced

2000 Server is a new release Web Server of Microsoft

Company. Not only being a Server, it also provides a

number of other Internet services such as FTP, News,

WWW, and SMTP, etc. With tighter integration

between the operating system and IIS, it offers perfor-

mance gains and higher availability for Web Servers

and sites. Normally IIS can not execute Servlet and Java

Server Pages (JSP), configuring IIS to use Tomcat

redirector plugin will let IIS send Servlet, and JSP

requests to Tomcat (and this way, serve them to clients).

Tomcat3.2 of the Apache Software Foundation is

selected to act as the engine of JSP and Servlets.

Database Server adopts SQL Server 2000 Relational

Database. Exchange Server 5.5 is to be used to imple-

ment the mail service function. In order to prevent

InternetInternet

InternetInternet

Web Server

Client B

Client C

Process Planning Server

CE A

Intranet

"#$%&

Files

Online

Server

Pro/ E

RE EquipmentElectronic Commerce Server

Client D

Collaborative Enterprise Service Bureau Client

Client A

CE B

CE C

CE D

RP Equipment

CAD Workstation

RT Equipment

DBMS

Fig. 5. Networked structure of service system.

Table 1

Configuration of running platform

Software component Software product

Operating system Windows 2000 advanced server

Web server IIS 5.0 þ Tomcat 3.2

Database server SQL server 2000

Mail server Exchange server 5.5

Proxy server Proxy server 2.0



hacking system, two firewalls based on package filtra-

tion and proxy Server, namely, Cisico2511 router and

Proxy Server 2.0, have been established. The overall

configuration of Web platform is shown in Table 1.

6. Design of internet application

6.1. Browse/server model

The model of information service based on WWW

falls into two broad categories: Client/Server (abbre-

viation C/S) and Browser/Server (B/S). C/S is a two-

tier model where a connection is built directly between

the Client and Database Server. In comparison, B/S is

a three-tier model where a connection is built between

the Servlet or Application Server and Database Server,

and the Clients obtain the data from the Servlet or

Application Server. In the three-tier model, it is the

middle tier of Servlet or Application Server objects

that deal with all Database access operations. B/S has

the same benefits (e.g. highly interactive, graphical

user interface aids productivity) as C/S, but avoids the

enormous distribution and maintenance problem.

Besides an operating system and personal productivity

software, the only software that the user-end needs, is

a Web Browser that can run Java Applets. The B/S

architecture allows developing professionals to focus

on development and maintenance tasks on the Server

side in spite of the increasing number of distributed

customers. Therefore, there are a number of advan-

tages for a B/S model: thin Client (platform indepen-

dent), central software storage and control, high

interactivity, economy in system development, main-

tenance and upgrade. Due to the distributed and

heterogeneous nature of clients and collaborative

enterprises, this service system is based on B/S struc-

ture which can fit the distributed and heterogeneous

environment of networked manufacturing. The struc-

ture of B/S model is shown in Fig. 6.

6.2. Choosing a server-side language

Creating dynamic Web pages that interact with the

user showing customized information is the pith of

Web application for B/S model. With the rapid devel-

opment and prevalence of Internet, a variety of solu-

tions have appeared which enables the development of

Web application to become more and more simple,

convenient and effective. Four Server-side scripting

languages including Common Gateway Interface

(CGI), Active Server Pages (ASP), Person Home

Pages (PHP), and Java Server Pages (JSP), are fre-

quently used now.

CGI scripts are inefficient and difficult to be used for

writing Server extensions. Each time someone hits a

CGI script, a new process is created on the Server; if a

script is written in an interpreted language like Perl, the

Server has to start up another Perl interpreter, consum-

ing more processing time and memory. The situation

gets even worse when it resides on a site that is getting a

few thousand hits a day. Another disadvantage with

CGI is that a CGI program can not interact with the

Web Server during its execution because it is running in

a separate process. Microsoft attempted to change all

this when they introduced Active Server Pages, which

allows developers to use simple scripting to access the

Server and its extensions. ASP is almost as efficient as

writing code directly to the Server’s application pro-

gram interface, and it is more efficient than CGI

because it runs as a service and can take advantage

of multithreaded architectures. But while ASP provides

an efficient way to return dynamic content, it essen-

tially limits one to Microsoft platforms, and even the

Database

Client-side Server-side

Database Server

Web Server

Inter Operability

Components

Web Browser

Fig. 6. Structure of browser/server model.



simplest of scripting mistakes can crash or hang the

Web Server [41]. PHP is an open-source Server-side

scripting language for creating dynamic Web pages for

Web applications. A particular strength is that it can be

used to develop Websites on a desktop system and

deploy then on secure Servers such as those found

commonly only running UNIX or Linux. The PHP

drawbacks that we have found are predominantly in its

weak abstraction for Databases (each Database back-

end is accessed through a different interface. In other

words, PHP is limited to using a small handful of free

Database APIs, none of which are compatible with each

other), underdeveloped library mechanism (lacking

Peril’s true ‘‘module’’ concept) and occasional linguis-

tic quirks [42].

In response to ASP, Sun Microsystems gave the

world Java Server Pages (JSP) technology, which is

based entirely upon Sun’s popular Java programming

language and gives developers the advantages of devel-

oping in Java in a more relaxed, script-like environ-

ment. JSP is a better solution generating dynamic Web

pages in contrast to ASP, PHP, and CGI. Together, JSP

and Servlets provide an attractive alternative to other

types of dynamic Web scripting/programming that

offers platform independence, enhanced performance,

separation of logic from display, ease of administration,

extensibility into the enterprise and most importantly,

ease of use [43]. JSP/Servlets has been widely applied

by many electronic commerce providers such as the

famous E-Business. EJBþ JSPþServlets are almost to

be a standard of developing electronic commerce.

Hence, it is a better decision to develop dynamic

Web pages by JSP and Servlets.

6.3. Constructing development platform

The running and development environment of JSP

and Servlets is especially complicated. The running

and development framework of JSP and Servlets is

described in Fig. 7. The application development

platform is shown in Table 2. The development kits

of application are reported in Table 3. Figs. 8–11

illustrate the Home page, Web page for manufacturing

service, Web page for remote STL checking, and Web

page for client management. The web page for user

interface of online pricing engine (OPE) in Internet

Explorer 5.0 and a case of online quote are illustrated

in Figs. 12 and 13 respectively.

7. Case study

To illustrate exactly how the service system works

and the benefits it can bring to the users and service

Web Browser

Development Kits HTML/Servlet/JSP Web Pages

JSP/Servlet Engine

Java Running Environment Web Server

Operating System

Database

Client-side Server-side

Fig. 7. Running and development framework of JSP and Servlets.

Table 2

Application development platform


Operating system Windows 2000 advanced server

Web server Internet information server 5.0

Database server SQL server 2000

Web browser Internet explorer 5.0

Java 2 development kit J2sdk 14.0

JSP/servelets engine Tomcat 3.2

Table 3

Application development kits


JSP JRunStudio 3.0

JavaBeans JBuilder 6.0

Web pages create Frontpage 2002

Image processing Adobe Photoshop, 5.0 CS

Animation Flash 5.0



Fig. 8. Home page of service system.

Fig. 9. Web page for manufacturing service.

Fig. 10. Web page for remote STL checking.

Fig. 11. Web page for client management.

Fig. 12. Web page for opening a local .STL file in OPE.

Fig. 13. Web page for price result of the .STL file in OPE.



4 Task Assignment (CAD Modelling)

Service Bureaus(Internet)

6 Online Collaborative Design And Modification

10 Consign Mock-ups

Shaanxi Productivity

Promotion Center

Chongqi Productivity

Promotion Center

A Company

5 Electronic Contract

(CAD Modelling)

7 Submit CAD Models

4 Task Assignment (RP)

8 Deliver CAD Models

5 Electronic Contract (RP)

9 Submit And Inspect Mock-ups

3 Electronic Contract (Mock-ups)

2 Business Negotiation

1 Submit The Task Requirement

And Relevant Resource

RP Equipment

Fig. 14. The workflow of case.

Fig. 15. 3D CAD models submitted by Shaanxi Productivity Promotion Center.



bureaus, an actual example is now presented. Let us

assume that a company was working on a new design

of the curing coryza apparatus for which a number of

physical models would be required. The model was

purely for the purpose of design visualization and

would be used as a means of communication with

other functional departments in the organization. The

task requirement and relevant resources were sub-

mitted to SB by the job management module of the

service system. After receiving the job requirement,

the system would firstly perform the process planning

by which the job was to be decomposed into the 3D

CAD modelling and making prototype, and SL was

selected as the most suitable process for building the

mock-ups through the ‘‘RP selector’’, while the ser-

vice system offered the preliminary product quote and

manufacturing time for the user. Accepted initially

such results, the user continued to negotiate further

with SB by Video-conferencing system. Once a com-

mercial, a contract was to be confirmed in the end.

Subsequently, the 3D CAD modelling and prototype

making were assigned to the Shaanxi Productivity

Promote Center and Chongqi Productivity Promote

Center respectively to complete. Finally, the green

parts would be checked online and delivered to the end

user. The detailed workflow is represented in Fig. 14.

Table 4

Result of process planning

Process step Collaborative enterprises Finish time (day) Price (RMB) Remark column (add days)

CAD modelling Shaanxi Productivity Promotion Center 2 1200 0.5 (Deliver CAD model)

Making mock-up Chongqi Productivity Promotion Center 3 6400 2 (Consign Mock-up)

Fig. 16. Mock-ups submitted by Chongqi Productivity Promotion Center.



The result of process planning is reported in Table 4.

The 3D CAD models submitted by the Shaanxi

Productivity Promote Center are illustrated in

Fig. 15. The mock-ups fabricated by the Chongqi

Productivity Promote Center are shown in Fig. 16.

In contrast to the traditional development mode, it can

cut the new product costs by up to 50% and the time-

to-market by 75%. Consequently, the costs and lead

times are substantially reduced using this service

system to develop new products.

8. Conclusions and future research

In order to meet the current demand of rapid

product development, a novel integrated system of

rapid product development based on rapid prototyp-

ing is proposed, and a networked service system

which offers better support for the rapid product

development of small and medium sized enterprises

is established. A Java solution is used for construct-

ing the networked manufacturing service system

based on the three-tier Browser/Server mode. Since

Java technology is introduced to this research, the

infrastructure can be easily extended into a standard

JINI computing model in the future. The service

system which includes the technology information

platform, E-commerce platform, and manufacturing

service platform, provides a production collaborative

environment for users and service bureaus, enables

the share of manufacturing resource and can effec-

tively aid the rapid product development of small and

medium sized enterprises. This system has been

employing in the Northwest Productivity Promotion

Center. It has been shown from a number of case

studies that the system has a high potential to speed

up the new product development. As a result, the

implementation of such a system will represent a

fundamental shift of enterprise strategy and manu-

facturing paradigms in organization.

Networked manufacturing and manufacturing ser-

vice system based on Web are new manufacturing

mode in term of mission, structure, infrastructure,

capabilities, and design process, which need more

detailed research and theory building. Many renowned

companies and universities have been involving in the

further development and new application of net-

worked manufacturing service system. The significant

contribution of this paper is to construct an actual

networked manufacturing service system to support

rapid product development and demonstrate how to

develop a networked service system based on Java-

enabled solution. Further research will be focused on

the product collaborative commerce (CPC), the col-

laborative service support, and the detailed structure

and formulation of the central-monitoring mechanism

of such a partnership system.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by The National High

Technology Research and Development Program (863

Program) under the title ‘‘RP&M networked service

system’’(No. 2002AA414110), and the ‘‘Tenth Five

years’’ National Key Technologies R&D Program of

China under the title ‘‘ Research and demonstrator of

rapid manufacturing integrated system based on rapid

prototyping’’ (No. 2001BA205B10-CMTT1001).

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Hongbo Lan is a PhD candidate in the

department of mechanical engineering

at the Xi’an Jiaotong University. He

received his MSc degree in mechanical

engineering from Shandong University

of Technology in 2000. His current

research interests include networked

manufacturing, computer integrated

manufacturing system, rapid prototyp-

ing and production service system based

on Internet/Intranet.

Yucheng Ding is a professor in the

department of mechanical engineering,

Xi’an Jiaotong University. He gained his

PhD degree in mechanical engineering

from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 1989.

His major research interests are rapid

response manufacturing, Telemanufac-

turing, rapid prototyping and reverse

engineering.



HTTP://WWW.SME.ORG/GMN

HTTP://WWW.AIMS.PARL.COM

HTTP://WWW.3M.COM

HTTP://WWW.SDSC.EDU/TMF/

HTTP://WWW.LTK.HUT.FI/RP-SELECTOR

HTTP://WWW.QUICKPARTS.COM

HTTP://WWW.3DSYSTEM.COM

HTTP://WWW.MICROSOFT.COM

HTTP://WWW.PHP.COM

HTTP://WWW.SUN.COM

Jun Hong is an associate professor in the

Department of Mechanical Engineering

at the Xi’an Jiaotong University. He

earned his PhD degree from Xi’an

Jiaotong University in 2000. His areas

of research interests include CAD/CAM

integration, networked manufacturing,

information integration and CSCW

systems.

Hailiang Huang is a post-doctoral

fellow in the Department of Industrial

Engineering and Management, Shanghai

Jiaotong University. He obtained his

PhD degree from Xi’an Jiaotong Uni-

versity in 2002. His principal research

interests are networked decision support

system, database system and SCM.

Bingheng Lu is a professor in the

department of mechanical engineering

at Xi’an Jiaotong University. He re-

ceived his PhD degree in mechanical

engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong Uni-

versity in 1986. His research interests

include rapid prototyping and manufac-

turing (RP&M) technologies, Internet-

based manufacturing, rapid product

development and advanced manufactur-

ing system.



A web-based manufacturing service system for rapid product development

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