Product innovation requires a dynamic manufacturing system to meet customers' demand with reduced cost. A time lag may exist in manufacturing systems between identifying a problem and finding solutions for the problem. There is a lack of decision tools for unseen problems in the manufacturing process and it is not well-integrated for product review and production evaluation in the current integrated manufacturing systems. An immersive virtual environment (VE) is employed in this research to enhance integrated manufacturing systems by the integration of product review and production evaluation, and by the integration of the system and users. The interaction between a manufacturing system and users is manipulated in a VE. The VE-based integration of manufacturing systems emphasizes the visualization and users' involvement, which enables a rapid and efficient process of the product development. The VE provides a means of efficient decision making over the entire process of product design and manufacturing and there is a complete integration of the system and users. Concurrent planning, sharing information, and users' involvement are three major features of the system, which is outlined in the current paper.
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