Zero defect manufacturing: state-of-the-art review, shortcomings and future directions in research

This paper provides a literature review on zero defect manufacturing based on the content analysis performed for 280 research articles published from 1987 to 2018 in a variety of academic journals and conference proceedings. The review summarises the state-of-the-art, highlights shortcomings and further directions in research. Accordingly, we investigated how zero defect manufacturing was implemented and evaluated the main research patterns in the sample by analysing key factors. Based on the extensive review of the zero defect manufacturing literature, we identified and highlighted four distinctive strategies based on overarching themes for zero defect manufacturing, i.e. detection, repair, prediction, and prevention. Evaluation of current research and descriptive analysis highlighted six major shortcomings of current research in zero defect manufacturing: (i) focus on a single strategy instead of a holistic approach for global optima; (ii) certain industries are under-researched; (iii) full potential of industry-academia collaboration is not achieved; (iv) not enough focus on the beginning of manufacturing lifecycle; (v) cost–benefit comparative analysis is not evident; (vi) standard and clear definition of terms are missing. Finally, we presented four further directions in which an advance of the topic would stimulate scholarly and practical needs: (i) shift from local to global solutions; (ii) investigate pros and cons; (iii) role of people and human activities in manufacturing; (iv) new business models for zero defect manufacturing.