Hybrid Models for Waste Reduction and Sustainable Manufacturing: A Comparative Study of Stoneware Tile Polishing

Hybrid models which combine data-driven and physics-based models have emerged as a trend in manufacturing for improving process efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing product quality. Hybrid models can deliver greater performance benefits than either model by itself. As sustainability becomes an increasingly important issue for the manufacturing industry, hybrid models show potential to assist the transformation of manufacturing processes towards increased sustainability. Hence this paper investigates the potential for reducing resource and energy consumption through the application of hybrid models, based on a use case of polishing stoneware tiles. A comparative analysis between a physics-based and a hybrid model-based approach is presented. For both approaches, the ratio of defective parts is calculated. Furthermore, the environmental impacts are estimated with a life cycle assessment. The findings suggest that the hybrid model-based approach enables reductions in energy and resource consumption, thereby improving the sustainability of the manufacturing process.