SUMMARY

The overarching objective of this dissertation is to propose a new design and manufacturing paradigm, namely, Cloud-Based Design and Manufacturing (CBDM), for enhancing collaborative product development in distributed settings. In this dissertation, the following challenges pertaining to CBDM are addressed: (1) the systematic development of a conceptual framework that defines the computing architecture, information and communication flow, the design and manufacturing process, the programming model, data storage, and the business model of an idealized CBDM system; (2) the development of a new approach for visualizing distributed and collaborative design processes, and measuring tie strengths in a complex and large design team, detecting design communities with common design interests or activities in cloud-based design (CBD) settings from a social network perspective; and (3) the development of a new approach that helps identify potential manufacturing bottlenecks that determine manufacturing capacity scalability in cloud-based manufacturing (CBM) settings from a manufacturing network perspective. The research described in this dissertation contributes to the current body of knowledge from the following perspectives: It presents (1) a clear and complete vision for CBDM that defines the characteristics and requirements of CBDM systems as well as an idealized design and manufacturing scenario in a hypothetical CBDM setting; (2) a generic social network analysis (SNA)-based approach for modeling, analyzing information flow, and supporting design communication and collaboration in a CBD setting; and (3) a discrete event simulation-based approach for modeling, analyzing material flow, and planning manufacturing scalability in a CBM setting.