Internet of Things for Real-time Waste Monitoring and Benchmarking: Waste Reduction in Manufacturing Shop Floor

In today's manufacturing IT system (e.g. ERP), waste streams in operations are rarely tracked in real-time. Therefore, operational decision that is based on late and incomplete information becomes untimely and not optimal. This paper presents an approach for real-time waste monitoring, analysis and discovers waste reduction potential in manufacturing shop floor. The objective of this study is to learn the waste performance in manufacturing shop floor. Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) is conducted to perform waste benchmarking analysis and the outcome is presented as relative efficiency. The efficiency values are then classified using quartile into 3 performance classes: normal, warning and abnormal. With the performance status, it leads manager to discover achievable waste reduction targets and hence empowers optimization of operational efficiency. A case study using microfluidic device manufacturing line is studied to demonstrate real-time waste monitoring and benchmarking.