Abstract
In today's business, consumers are challenging manufacturers by increasingly demanding low volumes of innovative, fashionable and inexpensive products; adopting high quality standards; responding in smaller intervals of time, and with high configurability and parameterization. This omnipresent scenario poses challenging opportunities for collaborative networked organizations. The present paper addresses the main collaborative business processes tailored for responsiveness and efficient use of knowledge on customized manufacturing environments through a lean-based framework proposal for collaborative networks inspired in the Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) methodology. In particular this work describes the ongoing implementation of the proposed concepts through a web-based collaborative portal.

Abstract
The paper firstly reviews the relevant concepts on virtual enterprise operations as well as industrial maintenance processes. Then a virtual enterprise enabling platform is presented. The architecture of the platform and its main modules are briefly introduced. Within this platform, a smart object extension is highlighted. This smart object is used to collect data from remote equipment and pass it to the Virtual Enterprise Management Platform (VEMP) through a gateway. The data collected by the smart object will be aggregated and monitored, using the business intelligence tools of the platform, enabling the implementation of maintenance strategies, rising fault conditions that will trigger a repair business process. In the final part of the paper, it is discussed a business case for a SME with worldwide operations.

Abstract
A virtual enterprise management platform is proposed with the objective to simplify the formation, management, adaptation and monitoring of the dynamic manufacturing process in VE. Within this platform an integration black box is highlighted to monitor the process data. This black box is used as a smart object to collect updated data or information from the business process or equipment within the VE. The raw data for predictive maintenance is collected by the black box from programmable logic controllers via gateway interface. A dashboard user interface is also designed and developed within the scope of this research that acts as a visualization tool to display the process monitored data. The theme of this research is designed and developed within the scope of the European Commission NMP priority of the Seventh RTD Framework Programme for the ADVENTURE (ADaptive Virtual ENterprise ManufacTURing Environment) project. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.

Abstract
Nowadays, it has been observed an increasing awareness and understanding on the subject of sustainable companies and business models, addressing multi-disciplinary approaches that cover not only economical problems, but also social and environmental challenges. Supply chains and especially collaborative networks managers are increasingly aware of these sustainability issues, continuously seeking to meet current human needs while preserving environmental safety. Only this way, focusing on its sustainable growing, it is possible to preserve companies' steadiness. In order to achieve this goal, sustainable networks must ensure that each partner is fully aligned and committed with economic, environmental and social axes that rule the network operational behaviour. Nevertheless, in order to achieve this level of maturity within such complex and turbulent environments, organisations need to improve the quality of their performance assessment approaches, integrating the different sustainability perspectives. To accomplish this, it is critical to establish specific indicators responsible to formalise and evaluate partners' behaviour, according to well-identified objectives, as well as fuse this information in a comprehensive and user-friendly way. This paper presents a new approach, based on a fuzzy logic-based algorithm, for sustainable network performance and risk assessment. © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Abstract
Manufacturing applications address business to business (B2B) with highly customised applications developed for specific requirements, offering highly specialised solution-oriented and service-based software components, systems, and digital tools that aim at a fast and accurate decision-making support system. The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of digital technologies for operations management using manufacturing or engineering apps (eApps), for product design and manufacturing processes. In particular, starting from the specific needs of two companies from mature European industries as automotive and food, this work depicts how this kind of solutions can support companies and improve their operations. In particular, related benefits and challenges faced for the full implementation of the developed tools are highlighted. Moreover a business model to exploit the manufacturing apps is also proposed. The business model proposed for the exploitation of the eApps supports the commercialisation of all the revenue streams offered by this rapidly growing sector taking into account the specific needs of the concerned stakeholders through a diversified value proposition.

Abstract
This paper focuses on process visualization that is applicable to managing a Virtual Factory (VF) business environment. It briefly provides all aspects of implementing the dashboard user interface that is to be used by the VF partners. The dashboard features state-of-The art business intelligence and provides data visualization, user interfaces and menus to support VF partners to execute collaborative processes. With advanced visualizations that produce quality graphics it offers a variety of information visualizations that brings the process data to life with clarity. This data visualization provides critical operational matrices (e.g. KPIs) required to manage virtual factories. Various technical aspects of this dashboard user interface portal are elaborated within the scope of this research such as installation instructions, technical requirements for the users and developers, execution and usage aspects, limitations and future works. The dashboard user interface portal presents different widgets according to the VF requirements that are to be needed to support the visualization and monitoring of various business processes within a VF. The research work highlighted in this paper is conceptualized, developed and validated within the scope of the European Commission NMP priority of the Seventh RTD Framework Programme for the ADVENTURE (ADaptive Virtual ENterprise ManufacTURing Environment) project. Copyright © 2014 SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications.