Manufacturing has been one of the key areas that support and influence a nation’s economy since the 18th century. Being the primary driving force in economy growth, manufacturing constantly serves as the foundation and contributes to other industries. In the past centuries, manufacturing contributed significantly to modern civilisation and created momentum that is driving today’s economy. Despite of various revolutionary achievements, we are still facing challenges when striving to achieve greater success in manufacturing in the 21st century. This paper highlights the challenges, particularly in adaptive and collaborative manufacturing, and offers a unique approach to solving the problems.