Comment:

Within the Z-Fact0r, the proposed (higher level) DSS, with the support of the knowledge base and the online inspection module (1st level decision support at single stage), produce, verify and validate decisions aligned with the quality control policies, production targets, desired product specifications and maintenance management requirements. Key functional characteristics of the envisioned DSS incorporates among others, techniques for monitoring and predicting product quality, action prioritization, root cause analysis, and mitigation planning algorithms (at product and workstation level). Moving beyond existing solutions that focus only on specific aspects of the production procedure, or that are restrained to diagnosis, the proposed DSS system incorporates autonomous, hierarchical decision support, based on process analytical technologies and newly developed suitably adjusted knowledge-based systems, and  combines product monitoring models and data analytics from heterogeneous sources. The envisioned DSS  takes into account a wide set of multiple factors and criteria, such as data uncertainty, lack of information and information quality, involvement of multiple actors, and real-time response. Thanks to the 5 intertwined zero-defect strategies (i.e. Z-PREDICT, Z-PREVENT, Z-DETECT, Z-REPAIR and Z-MANAGE) the overall solution presents a significant contribution to a spectacular improvement in the overall performance and reliability of the targeted multi-stage manufacturing systems and in the production agility (response to continuous adjustments in production targets).