Virtual Manufacturing has been used by some companies to improve their processes, introducing more quickly new products in the market. The strategy is to create an integrated environment, composed by several software tools and systems, aiming at generating a new method to develop products. The purpose of this paper is to present the Virtual Manufacturing concept and the paradigms involved in its definition. Then the paper describes the potential application areas and the resulting benefits. In addition, the technical and social challenges in development of a Virtual Manufacturing system are discussed at the end of the text.
Virtual Manufacturing; product development; simulation
