Operations simulation as a cloud based service

On-demand digital print service is a form of personalized manufacturing service. Key to the commercial print value-creation chain is the responsive and accurate knowledge discovery and decision making throughout service engagement and fulfillment between content suppliers and print service providers. In this paper, we describe operations simulation of an end-to-end digital print process as means to provide quantitative guide to production planning and execution. We identify the needs and challenges of today's model driven management practice, and rationale of creating a cloud-based operations simulation service. This cloud service aims to deliver accurate, expansive, in-depth and quantitative knowledge in near real-time; this type of knowledge can be applied to guide strategic planning to manufacturing and production management.