International audienceCurrent market dynamics require European SME's to focus on complex products manufacturing and to build non-hierarchical business networks, to assure competitiveness and sustainability. Such trend demands appropriate methods for network formation and management, including reference collaboration processes and supporting ICT tools. This paper presents a framework to support SME's in the creation and management of non-hierarchical networks designed and developed within the European RTD project Net-Challenge. This framework includes methodologies, processes and ICT decision support tools aiming at the efficient creation and management of these networks assuring quick response times and competitive and differentiated offerings

In order to stay competitive and avoid being smashed by large companies, SMEs need to establish and manage dynamic and non-hierarchical networks to respond to market opportunities, ensuring a quick response, unique products with competitive prices and high product quality. This paper proposes an innovative methodological approach and ICT platform to support non-hierarchical collaboration between SMEs for customised product design and manufacturing. The ICT services are based on mapping a methodology on an open source platform in order to apply low cost solutions to SMEs. Two case studies in the fashion industry have been analysed and used to test the proposed approach for network management.

This study evaluates the use of virtual reality (VR) platforms, which is an integrated part of digital factory for industrial training and maintenance system. The digital factory based VR platform provides an intuitive and immersive human-computer interface, which can be an efficient tool for industrial training and maintenance services. The outcomes from this study suggested that use of the VR platform for training and maintenance of complex industrial tasks should be encouraged and use of the VR platform for that purpose should be further evaluated. This paper highlighted the generic concept of the application of virtual reality technique within digital factory to industrial maintenance and to build a low-cost VR application for training and maintenance system. An application case on virtual reality technique in a power plant operations and maintenance is demonstrated within the scope of this research. Overall research implications on virtual reality concept in industrial applications are concluded with future research directions.

To successfully compete in the market, European SMEs will have to adopt new business models and establish dynamic and non-hierarchical networks, assuring quick response, fast time to market, differentiated offerings and competitive prices. Sustainability will be found in high-variety and low-volume businesses, related with complex products design and manufacturing. This paper presents a Methodology concept, developed by the European project Net-Challenge, supporting SMEs in building and operating non-hierarchical business networks for complex products manufacturing with Engineer-To-Order (ETO) or Assemble-To-Order (A TO) strategies.

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