International Journal of Systems Science: Operations & Logistics

Call for Papers

http://explore.tandfonline.com/cfp/est/cloud-based-simulation-of-manufacturing-systems

Deadline: 31 December 2015

Special Issue: Cloud-based Simulation of Manufacturing Systems


Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) is a new-generation service-oriented networked manufacturing model that provides distributed users with centralized, managed manufacturing resources, ability, and services.

Although CMfg is an extension of cloud computing in the manufacturing sector, the concepts involved differ in several aspects. For example, compared with information services, manufacturing services typically have longer life cycles and depend more on the interaction between users and services. In addition, manufacturing services are real-time, collaborative, data-intensive, complex, highly specialized, and expertise-based. These features differentiate manufacturing services from information services. In addition, not all of the aforementioned manufacturing resources, abilities, or services can be placed in a pool and shared easily. Therefore, it is questionable whether the concepts and techniques of cloud computing can be directly applied to CMfg. Resource service composition is a crucial technique in cloud computing. However, integrating manufacturing services is a considerably complex and challenging task.

This Special Issue focuses on an essential application of CMfg, namely cloud-based simulation of manufacturing systems, or factory simulation as a cloud service (FSaaCS). Some factories, such as a wafer fabrication factory, have hundreds of machines, and each job comprises hundreds of steps. Simulating such a factory is laborious and time-consuming. Nevertheless, to obtain an effective problemsolving and system analysis capability, establishing an efficient and effective factory simulation system is necessary. Factory simulation comprises the following steps: factory and job data collection, model construction, model validation and verification, running and replication, performance reporting, and scenario comparison (optimization). Most of these steps can be placed on clouds, and the factory is only responsible for collecting factory and job data and planning scenarios to be compared. The benefits for a factory include reduced simulation time and investment in purchasing and maintaining simulation software and hardware. However, FSaaCS has rarely been discussed in previous studies.

This Special Issue is intended to provide technical details of the development of cloud-based simulation of manufacturing systems, FSaaCS, and corresponding applications. These details will hold great interest for researchers in mechanical engineering, information engineering, information management, artificial intelligence, and computational intelligence, as well as for practising managers and engineers. This Special Issue features a balance between state-of-the-art research and practical applications. It also provides a forum for researchers and practitioners to review and disseminate quality research work on cloud simulation of manufacturing systems, FSaaCS, the applications of this technology, and the critical issues for further development.

Submission and Review Process

Potential authors should submit the full paper through the website http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tsys. When submitting your article, please select International Journal of Systems Science: Operations & Logistics as the journal you are submitting to

Authors should indicate that their manuscript is being submitted for the Special Issue on Cloud-based Simulation of Manufacturing Systems. After submission, the authors must provide the Guest Editors with the reference number of the paper.

Editorial information

Guest Editor: Prof. Tin-Chih Toly Chen, Department of Industrial Engineering and Systems Management, Feng Chia University, Taiwan (tolychen@ms37.hinet.net)