Cloud Computing for Cloud Manufacturing: Benefits and Limitations

Cloud computing, as a new paradigm for aggregating computing resources and delivering services over the Internet, is of considerable interest to both academia and the industry. In this paper, the main characteristics of cloud computing are summarized, in view of its application to the manufacturing industry. Analytic models such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method for selecting appropriate cloud services are analyzed, with respect to computational cost and network communication that present a bottleneck for effective utilization of this new infrastructure. The review presented in this paper aims to assist academic researchers and manufacturing enterprises in obtaining an overview of the state-of-the-knowledge of cloud computing when exploring this emerging platform for service.