Publications
Standards Support for the Virtual Enterprise, Paul Clements
This paper addresses the requirements placed on standards activities for the support of virtual enterprises. It then proposes a means by which current standards can be classified and scoped within an overall framework: Finally the paper considers the various approaches taken within these standards activities and proposes some strategies for future development.
Recent developments in global commerce have witnessed the advent of the virtual enterprise. Groups of companies are forming short-term relationships to collaborate on one-of projects. Typically these enterprises form a consortium to bid for a project for while they do not have the capability of winning as individual concerns. In order that the virtual enterprise operates effectively the systems which underpin the separate operation must be capable of interoperation. One means to achieving this is by the adoption of suitable international approved standards.
Assembly Automation, 17(4) 1997, pp 307-314