System and Risk Analysis of Cloud-Manufacturing System

Abstract

The Cloud manufacturing(C-Mfg) system involves remote distributed manufacturing resources and capabilities collaborating as a single virtual entity. The system receives orders for custom products and provides manufacturing as a service to the end customers. The primary activities of the system, among others, are transaction control, resource allocation and monitoring, distributed manufacturing, quality control, and delivery of consignments to the customers. The actual manufacturing is done by a network of third-party partner manufacturers providing the services to end customers, helping them with cost reduction, shorter time-to-market, and enabling efficient collaboration between manufacturers in the CMfg network. This paper aims to deep dive into C-Mfg as a system and perform a risk analysis to assess and mitigate the risks associated with the system. While cybersecurity and data security-related concerns are deemed the most serious and need immediate management for the system to succeed, the control of data, compliance with manufacturing standards and guidelines, and lack of accountability and ownership are other serious risks that need significant attention. Identifying these factors will help channel the focus on the management and resolution of these risks to establish digital trust in the C-Mfg system leading to the system’s success.