Topological Data Analysis in smart manufacturing: State of the art and future directions

Topological Data Analysis (TDA) is a discipline that applies algebraic topology techniques to analyze complex, multi-dimensional data. Although it is a relatively new field, TDA has been widely and successfully applied across various domains, such as medicine, materials science, and biology. This survey provides an overview of the state of the art of TDA within a dynamic and promising application area: industrial manufacturing and production, particularly within the Industry 4.0 context. We have conducted a rigorous and reproducible literature search focusing on TDA applications in industrial production and manufacturing settings. The identified works are categorized based on their application areas within the manufacturing process and the types of input data. We highlight the principal advantages of TDA tools in this context, address the challenges encountered and the future potential of the field. Furthermore, we identify TDA methods that are currently underexploited in specific industrial areas and discuss how their application could be beneficial, with the aim of stimulating further research in this field. This work seeks to bridge the theoretical advancements in TDA with the practical needs of industrial production. Our goal is to serve as a guide for practitioners and researchers applying TDA in industrial production and manufacturing systems. We advocate for the untapped potential of TDA in this domain and encourage continued exploration and research.