Crowdsourced Manufacturing in Industry 4.0: Implications and Prospects

Crowdsourced manufacturing, which has emerged as a pivotal paradigm in the era of Industry 4.0, redefines traditional production models by leveraging decentralized decision-making and collaborative networks. This paper reviews the evolution of the open business model in the manufacturing sector and examines fundamental issues toward a holistic framework of crowdsourced manufacturing. Crowdsourced manufacturing is enacted through a full product fulfillment value chain encompassing value capturing, creation, and delivery through cooperation among various manufacturer crowds, open innovators, and platforms. The workflow of crowdsourced manufacturing involves these decision agents working collaboratively to achieve a synergy of networked information and material flows. An industrial example of tank trailer crowdsourced manufacturing is presented to illustrate the key concepts and clarify the primary technical issues of crowdsourced manufacturing.