Zero-Defect Manufacturing using data-driven technologies to support the natural stone industry

The manufacturing industry is undergoing a substantial transformation due to the proliferation of new digital and ICT solutions that are applied along the production process chain. In this regard, additional attention has gained the Zero Defects Manufacturing (ZDM) approach having the goal of preventing the product from reaching the customer with quality problems. This paper discusses one ZDM use case in the area of the stone slab manufacturing industry. It focuses on industrial stone process automatization as in the stone detection of cracks, voids and other defects through specific applications that explore various techniques as image processing. An analysis of the added value of integrating such applications in the natural stone processing industry considering the zero-defect manufacturing paradigm is explored.