Empowering Process and Control in Lean 4.0 with Artificial Intelligence

Lean Manufacturing is well known as an effective means to improve productivity and decrease costs of operations, using a series of management practices developed first in Japan and then adapted to worldwide circumstances. Rapid technological progress has opened new business potentials and opportunities forcing companies to constantly introduce more and more advanced solutions to remain competitive. However, the potential of such technologies to support the implementation of Lean Manufacturing is not completely perceived yet. After defining Lean 4.0 which aims to provide useful insight for the integration of lean and Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing companies, AI is then briefly introduced, as a key enabler. This paper focuses on the integration and support of AI to Lean 4.0, mainly investigating the process and control issues through better use of data and knowledge.