RFID-enabled smart real-time manufacturing cost tracking system

This paper proposes an innovative real-time manufacturing cost tracking system (RT-MCT) which integrates the concepts of lean manufacturing and RFID. The RT-MCT is developed for tying lean operational aspects and financial costs together in real-time. The new real-time cost tracking method is vital in identifying the root causes of redundant costs and pinpointing the most costly root causes and their locations so that their elimination becomes a top priority. Furthermore, RT-MCT mirrors the monetary impacts of implementing lean improvements at the various value stream stages in today’s mass-customization production environments that support the decision-making strategies. The system presented is validated through building a simulation model along with extensive calculations to demonstrate that the system is physically implementable using the RFID real-time data.