Towards zero-defect manufacturing (ZDM)-a data mining approach

The quality of a product is dependent on both facilities/equipment and manufacturing processes. Any error or disorder in facilities and processes can cause a catastrophic failure. To avoid such failures, a zero-defect manufacturing (ZDM) system is necessary in order to increase the reliability and safety of manufacturing systems and reach zero-defect quality of products. One of the major challenges for ZDM is the analysis of massive raw datasets. This type of analysis needs an automated and self-organized decision making system. Data mining (DM) is an effective methodology for discovering interesting knowledge within a huge datasets. It plays an important role in developing a ZDM system. The paper presents a general framework of ZDM and explains how to apply DM approaches to manufacture the products with zero-defect. This paper also discusses 3 ongoing projects demonstrating the practice of using DM approaches for reaching the goal of ZDM.