Cyber-Physical Waste Identification and Elimination Strategies in the Digital Lean Manufacturing World

Abstract

Lean Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 are at times portrait as conflicting paradigms. However, we take the stance that they are two sides of the same coin, and should be considered as mutually beneficial. Based on this understanding, this paper is part of a series where we discuss established Lean practices in the emerging Digital Lean Manufacturing World. In this paper, we specifically focus on the issue of "buffer waste", and what that implies within a cyber-physical production system. We discuss the vicious cycle of Mura, Muri, and Muda, and provide observed examples in industry for "buffer waste" from four different, yet interdependent perspectives: (i) physical to physical, (ii) physical to digital, (iii) digital to physical, and (iv) digital to digital. The results of this study confirm that "buffer waste" is indeed an issue that deserves our attention as academics and practitioners in the emerging Digital Lean Manufacturing environment.

Development of a New Green Indicator and Its Implementation in a Cyber–Physical System for a Green Supply Chain

“…The fundamental pillars of the lean theory are waste reduction and emission reduction, which are also proposed in the CE model [12] Muda, Mura, and Muri, known as the three MUs, are big enemies of lean production efficiency. Muda covers seven types of wastes: defects, overproduction, waiting, transportation, inventory, motion, and overprocessing, while Muri refers to any action related with tangible or intangible stress conditions, and Mura identifies irregular machine or person use [28].…”

“…motion, and overprocessing, while Muri refers to any action related with tangible or intangible stress conditions, and Mura identifies irregular machine or person use [28].…”

Advances in Production Management Systems: Issues, Trends, and Vision Towards 2030

“…Additionally, this transformation must now include the "digital" dimension, preferably by using Industry 4.0 technologies as "enablers" as the foundation for these new DLM systems. In such systems, business processes will be strategically (re-)engineered using the lean thinking principles -value, value stream, flow, pull, and perfection [53] -when adopting digital technologies [35,54]. The goal for this grand challenge is to develop and deploy digital lean solutions that contribute towards establishing a cyber-physical, waste-free Industry 4.0 [35,54].…”

Lean Manual Assembly 4.0: A Systematic Review

“…On the other hand, Lean automation aims at achieving the best possible combination of Lean and Industry 4.0 automation [180]. Industry 4.0 will create new forms of waste, digital waste, and Romero et al conclude that future research would need to focus on new techniques developed to eliminate it [181,182]. Using simulations of Lean production environment can be used to find clustering alternatives that reduce the waiting time without compromising the business productivity [183].…”