This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project advances knowledge and understanding by developing a novel target costing system for small companies to collaborate in commercial virtual manufacturing enterprises. Partners in this project include two leading virtual manufacturing enterprises. The original concepts introduced include the cost data and model sharing with controls over access and use to protect proprietary information and competitive advantage. The project will develop an open source desktop and server clients so that companies can easily integrate with their internal financial and other software systems. The project also extensively uses recent advances in open source software infrastructure and components to reduce time to market, costs, adoption risk, and technical obsolescence. The anticipated results of the program will be costing software that will enable virtual manufacturing enterprises so that small companies can partner to provide integrated manufacturing services.
The project has commercial value as evidenced by the letters of support from two leading virtual manufacturing enterprises. These enterprises are partners, investors, and customers for this effort. Through the partners the results will be widely disseminated because the open source client, data formats and web service descriptions that will be published for others to build on. Enabling virtual manufacturing enterprises with cost estimating and management software infrastructure will allow small companies to collaborate and combine their capabilities to realize products with lower cost and higher value.
