Vision-based automated waste audits: a use case from the window manufacturing industry

Waste auditing is one of the tools used to quantify waste generation in construction processes, especially in industrialized building construction facilities that aim to reduce waste. These audits are organized following a regular schedule to monitor manufacturing activities with respect to the waste generated. However, the identification and quantification of waste through occasional audits of activities at any particular workstation remains a biased, manual, error-prone, and monotonous task. This paper proposes the automation of waste auditing in industrialized construction facilities, using as a case study a cutting station on a window manufacturing line. The waste generated during the cutting process is quantified using contour-based image processing algorithms, and the identification of the material is determined by optimized deep learning classification models. This approach allows the continuous acquisition of waste generation data at the workstation level and enables data-driven waste management decision-making that has the potential to support the reduction of waste in industrialized building construction facilities.