Collaborative platform for remote manufacturing systems using industrial internet and digital twin in the COVID-19 era

In the wake of COVID-19, significant influence on the manufacturing industries has been observed in the past year due to the restrictions of in-person communications and interactions. As a consequence, manufacturing efficiency has reduced remarkably all over the world. Despite the great harm to the industrial operations under the pandemic, the opportunities for remote collaborative manufacturing system also arise. Effective and efficient remote manufacturing systems for the real industries have been highly demanded. Through the integration of industrial internet and digital twin systems, the remote manufacturing system can be largely facilitated. This paper proposes a general framework for the remote manufacturing system during the COVID-19 era. The concept of the intelligent collaborative remote manufacturing system is firstly reviewed, as well as discussions of the current pandemic situation and its influence on the industries. The current commercial platforms of the systems are also presented. A case study on the lighthouse factories at the Foxconn Technology Group is finally presented for understanding the implementation of the proposed strategy. The effectiveness of the framework has been validated in the real industrial scenarios, and great economic and operational benefits have been obtained. The proposed framework offers a promising solution for the remote manufacturing system under the current pandemic. Copyright © 2021 by ASME