The Migration of Life Cycle Paradigm into the Manufacturing Engineering

In this paper we present our approach, the migration of the life cycle paradigm into the manufacturing engineering area. We introduce our approach by defining and scientifically founding the new concepts, advanced Manufacturing Engineering, Factories as Products and Factory Life Cycle. We present the used technologies and tools in supporting the factory life cycle activities, by comparing them to other related efforts. We try to give reality to our theoretical work by designing a collaborative, open and standardised platform which facilitates the planning of the factory along its life cycle stages both in digital and virtual states.