How Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Impact Waste Management
New AI and ML solutions could help manufacturers and facilities optimize their waste management.
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has quickly become an invaluable tool in heavy industry, and startups are constantly developing new AI tools to help businesses overcome existing challenges.
Facility waste management, for example, is increasingly important as manufacturers look to boost efficiency, improve productivity and make their manufacturing processes more sustainable.
Identifying sources of waste and potential solutions can be difficult, however. New AI and machine learning (ML) solutions could help manufacturers optimize their facility waste management.
For every facility that uses raw materials or components to create a product, waste will be a serious issue. This waste may be solid or in the form of waste chemicals, water and fumes. The waste may be toxic, meaning that it can harm the environment around the facility if not disposed of properly.
There are strategies that businesses can use to get better at identifying and reducing facility waste. Lean manufacturing, for example, is a popular manufacturing method that includes techniques — such as value stream mapping (VSM) and Quality at the Source (QATS) — that help to reduce waste both through top-down and bottom-up process interventions.
Many regulatory agencies, like the U.S. EPA, also publish best practices for managing waste at commercial facilities. Some industry organizations also publish their own recommendations for implementing site sanitation plans or upgrading waste management practices.
However, while these techniques provide tools for waste management, implementation and identification of waste can often be difficult. Patterns of waste may be hard to spot as essential without enough data on facility processes. Waste management strategies may work in theory but fail in practice, or they may require too much additional labor from site staff to be functional.
At the same time, manufacturers face rapidly changing market conditions. Steadily rising demand, supply shortages and new customer expectations have all made facility waste management more critical than ever.
More than a third of global consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products, and some studies have found that consumers will actively avoid brands they view as unsustainable.
Most of the consumers willing to pay more for sustainability are younger, either Millennials or Gen Z — signaling that this trend may become even more relevant as the buying power of those generations grows.
An optimized waste management process does not just help a business save money, it can also help improve the business’s public image. At a time when many brands are trying to go green and demonstrate environmental commitments to consumers, effective waste management has become essential.
New AI-powered tools may help facility managers to effectively identify and manage sources of site waste.
