Lean and Industry 4.0 in Brick Manufacturing: A Digital Twin-Based Value Stream Mapping Proposed Framework

As one of the most important industries to face the global housing challenges, brick manufacturing can benefit from the principles of lean and the applications of Industry 4.0 to achieve better organizational, environmental, and operational performance. This study reviews the efforts made on lean-Industry 4.0 integration in brick manufacturing and proposes a framework to support this integration. The proposed framework is based on the use of digital twin (DT) technology to create dynamic and automated Value Stream Mapping (VSM). The proposed framework aims to continuously visualize, monitor, and improve the flow, value creation, and waste elimination in brick production processes. The study also reports the state of the implementation of the framework in a brick company in France as a case study. Validating and testing the framework is possible in different types of manufacturing companies; even out of the brick manufacturing sector.